2019 Garden Plans

My favorite part of spring is starting to plan the gardens.  So full of hope and possibility, even when the garden boxes are still covered in snow!

My Mom came over the other day and we started to plan what seeds I need to start so that we can have items ready to transplant come the end of May.  Some things grow really well at her house (like beets, cabbage and squash) so she is going to grow those for me in exchange for me starting some seeds for her.

Such a great trade, if you ask me!


My plan for this year is as follows:

Onions - small amount - never been able to grow these before so going to give them another try

Snow Peas - small amount - only for fresh eating

Spinach - fresh eating only

Cabbage - Mom to grow two cabbage for me (process to kraut)

Radishes - a very small amount - for fresh eating on salads only

Beets - Mom to grow as many as she can for me.  Then help me can them as my stash is running low.

Potatoes - try to grow a few hills - never tried before!

Leaf Lettuce - fresh eating only

Carrots - grow much less than last year!

Chard - double the amount from last year

Green Beans - grow as much as I possibly can!

Sweet Corn - 1 row in the outer garden

Popcorn - 1 row in the outer garden

Cucumbers - try a direct sew this year - growing enough to make a few quarts of dill and refrigerator pickles is the goal!

Zucchini - 1 plant - fresh eating and shred for quick bread

Summer Squash - 1 plant

Peppers - 1 jalapeno, 2 poblano, 2 orange bell, 2 cali wonder (start seed for Mom too)

Tomatoes - 2 Barry's Crazy Cherry, 1 Mini-Bel (for Great Grandma) 2 Roma/Amish Paste for both Mom and I, 2 German Johnson for both Mom and I

Pumpkins - 1 hill of Mini's, 1 hill of Jack-o-lanterns, 1 hill of Pie


Additional Goals:
Fill in the two open beds with soil

Install Landscape Fabric, Pea Gravel and three long, narrow beds.

Plant raspberries, blueberry bushes and strawberries into the three long narrow beds!

One additional apple tree - Choose from Honeycrisp, Cortland or Wolf River.

September 15, 2015

Built two raised bed gardens this weekend with the help of my mother-in-law Sue.

A New Skill - Lefse Making Lesson

On Saturday, a group of young ladies and I headed to my Grandmother's house to learn the lost art of lefse making.  It is only a lost art in my family because my Grandmother is the one who always makes it, so none of us have ever had the need to!


Most of us love it (or have family that does) so it was time we learned how to make it before my lovely Grandmother is no longer able to teach us - she is 85 years old and while she still lives at home by herself, she isn't getting any younger.  Although, she did seem busier than all of us the entire day.  Running around, doing the dishes - we had to tell her to stop so we could take over and help!

Half of our potatoes getting ready to boil.

We all thought it was going to be a much harder task than it was!  We made quick work of 10 pounds of russet potatoes (peeling and slicing to get ready to boil).  Then it was into the living room to sit and chat while they boiled. 

Ricing the hot potatoes.

Once we riced the hot potatoes, we added the shortening and then let them cool.  Now, Grandma has never used a recipe, so the last time she made them, she wrote down some instructions on about how much shortening and flour she adds.  Thankfully, we were able to follow pretty well.

Making sure the mixture "feels" right!  Love this woman!

After the potatoes cooled (and we ate a wonderful lunch of homemade meatballs, mashed potatoes, gravy and peas) we were ready to begin the last steps.  We added the flour and rolled the dough into small balls. 

The special rolling pin.

We rolled out the dough as thin as we could.  This is the stage where not having the right consistency of dough really makes or breaks the process!  Our first batch was excellent - the second two were okay. 

Cooking the lefse.

Once you cook the lefse on both sides, they get placed under a towel to begin the cooling process.  After we made a fairly substantial pile, we transferred them to the porch (not heated) and placed them on a sheet in a single layer (or double layer is okay too) and covered them with another sheet to let them dry and cool.

The fruits of our labor!  Yummy!

Our batch of lefse was pretty large, so we all went home with a large Ziploc bag full.  Mine went right to the freezer (lefse freezes very well) so I can enjoy them at a later date.  I still have some of the leftovers from Christmas that Grandma made for me in my freezer and refrigerator to enjoy.

Amanda and Grandma Donna.  Our expert teacher!

Grandma was such an excellent teacher.  She showed by example and then let us take turns at all the jobs.  She thought we did a great job!

Leah and myself (My sister-in-law)

Leah has lots of family that loves lefse.  She is of Norwegian heritage and knew many more traditional dishes than we did!  I would be excited to try some that her family makes!
 

Nicky and me (Nicky is an old family friend from way back - plus she family too - Stacy's sister-in-law)

Nicky was also excited to learn the process.  Now there are four of us ladies that can all get together and make lefse every year!  While you could do it by yourself, it would be so much more fun doing it as a group!

Me and my silly sister, Stacy.  Usually one of us is making a silly face in our photos together. She wins this time!

It was such a blessing to finally take the time to have Grandma teach us how to make the lefse.  I am so very glad we had this wonderful day with her!  It will be a memory I cherish long after she is gone!

Christmas Ornaments

A glimpse into our Christmas tree this year.  Nothing too fancy, but beautiful anyway.

The real tree - in our upstairs living room.

An ornament capturing the moment William asked me to marry him.

Homage to A Christmas Story

Elizabeth's high heeled shoe ornament. 

Elizabeth's Cinderella shoe ornament - it plays music...  And she likes to hear it often.

Ornament from William's Step Mother back in 2001 when we had our first home together.

Eddie's first ornament

Miss Elizabeth at 1 year old.

Mr. Edward - less than one year old.

One of William's ornaments from his childhood

Elizabeth's first ornament - made by me when she was less than a month old.

Me as a kooky child - so far the only ornament I have from my childhood.  I need to raid my Mom's tree for more!

Garden Harvest - July 16

We had a great garden harvest last night for this early in the year (Zone 3).

1. Enough garden peas for a meal (blanched and frozen last night)
2. Enough kale for two large pots of soup (blanched and frozen last night)
3. Two cucumbers - which will be sliced and eaten on crackers tonight
4. A few small carrots from thinning out the patch (most were eaten directly in the garden!)
5. Enough beans for two large meals (my absolute favorite summer vegetable!)

I am going to get everything possible out of this garden before August 15 when we have to be out of our house for the closing.  Everything I can get my fingers on will be preserved or eaten.  Of course, the garden looks great this year too - hopefully the new owner will appreciate it. 

Eddie and Libby helped me pick the green beans - Libby picked beans, Eddie picked plants.  I know he wants to help, but it is hard for me to see him pull up an entire plant that is heavy with blossoms, knowing we will not get to eat those beans!  He also tried to pull out my sunflower plant.  Luckily, I stopped him in time!

On a side note, so far my use of grass clippings as mulch to keep down the weeds is working wonderful.  I need to have William save a few more loads to mulch the kale and carrots, now that they are properly thinned.  Should have had him do it last night when he mowed!

I am going to miss my little garden.  But I am going to enjoy creating a new one!

Green is Good

Things are finally starting to green up outside.  It is about time!

Inside the house are my seed starts and they are coming along nicely.  In the next three weeks I will be able to put them outside.  I can hardly wait!

Cucumbers, Broccoli, Cauliflower

Tomatoes - These need to be transplanted into cups so they can grow more before going outside.

Peppers

Jade Tree starts.  Cut from my original tree which was too large for my house.

A tropical plant that seems to do well in my house.  Not many tropical plants do well here, but this variety does.

Art Time!!!

 

I was brave this past weekend and let both the kids paint at the kitchen table.  It was Eddie's first time painting and he really seemed to like it - especially the painting on his face, the table, the chair, etc...

 

We taped down his paper and his paint palette so we could try and avoid more mess, but he was really good about figuring out how to make the messes on his own!  Even with throwing a white t-shirt over him, he still got paint on his clothing, but since it was washable paint, I didn't worry too much.  After all, what fun is painting if you don't get a little of it on yourself! 

 

Their paintings turned out great and I can't wait to get them matted and put on our walls. 

 

Elizabeth is just like me - notice how she is standing on her chair, not sitting?  I was the exact same way in elementary school - eventually the teachers just put my in the back row and let me stand through class.  I fear in today's society, she will be diagnosed with ADD or ADHD and they will try to put her on medication.  When in all reality, she is a little girl who has been cooped up and forced to stay inside all day and she just needs to move her body!

 

Making Simple Freezer Meals

I took some time this weekend to make a few meals for the freezer.  We have been so busy lately during the week that once I get home from work, trying to make something healthy doesn't always seem possible with the limited time frame we have to work with. 

 

 

 So I made a few meals for the freezer to get us through the next few weeks!

 

- Chicken Salsa Pockets (Cooked Chicken, Salsa & Cheese wrapped in a Pizza Crust)

- Beef Taquitos (Beef, Beans, Rice, Salsa, Sour Cream & Cheese)

- Bean and Cheese Burritos (Refried Beans, Cheese & Salsa)

- Cooked Chicken Breasts (To use on Salads or in Casseroles)

 

I love having these quick things in my freezer to pull out and throw in the oven.  Even easier for me than ordering take out or a pizza (at least in the area where I live!). 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Photo Cards - Or My Attempt at them....

I tried to take some pictures of the kids the other night so we could send out some photo cards for Christmas.  Needless to say, my photos didn't turn out that great!  Here is a sampling of the best...

Does she look like she did something to make him cry?  Maybe pinch him?

Be still my heart.  I just want to cuddle him.

Her funny smiles never cease to make me laugh!

This is what I get when I tell her to stop talking.  She talks more...

Not a bad one, but Eddie looks a little dazed.

 

The absolute best one I have from the whole session.  Unfortunately, you cannot see Libby's face very well.

Since it is so close to Christmas now, I will be lucky to get out New Year's Cards to everyone...  Maybe we just skip cards this year. 

Pumpkin Carving

 

Pumpkin carving this year with the kids was a blast.  Especially because I didn't have to do any of it!  William did it all.  I think he had fun with the drill.