We were extremely blessed by wonderful, glorious weather over the past several days. Oh, it felt just like summer. It was the kind of weather that this heart of mine was created for ~ blue skies, warm sun, lots and lots of green, and the rich smell of the soil.
We kept ourselves quite busy outdoors. There were gardens to be planted, berry patches to be weeded, landscaping to be cleaned up. And then, of course, there were the fun things like bike-riding, kayaking, flower shopping, and partaking of lots of yummy summery foods.
We did manage to get our big garden completely planted as well as all of the raised beds. Ian and Lily were a big help this year which meant a little less work for Brad and I to do. The large garden (large, as in, bigger than our home!) has become home to lettuces, onions, broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, corn, peppers, and green beans.
My raised beds are mostly herb beds, but I also planted a whole bed full of different lettuces, and then tucked some carrots, parsnips, beets, radishes, a couple variety of peppers, and cherry tomatoes into the open spaces in the other beds. Unfortunately, a rogue chicken escaped from the chicken yard and tramped all through one of the beds, most likely partaking in the kale, parsley, dill, and basil seeds I had planted in there. So that will need some additional work.
Yesterday, the boys went kayaking and Lily and I went to several local nurseries and did some flower shopping. Oh, how I love that annual shopping trip. We came home with a whole car-full of flowers which I then potted in the afternoon. This morning I am enjoying their beauty as I sit here on the back deck enjoying yet another beautiful, sunny morning.
I have really enjoyed all of the light summer cooking and grilling that has filled these last several weeks. I took advantage of the wonderful weather this past weekend and put our grill to good use. Yesterday, my parents came for dinner so Lily and I made two strawberry pies for dessert. We hardly ever have dessert in our home, but I always make this strawberry pie every year when the strawberries are in season. This year I really wanted to be able to enjoy the goodness so I substituted my regular pie crust recipe for this one which uses coconut oil (instead of shortening) and used an all-purpose gluten free flour instead of wheat flour. Everyone gave this crust a thumbs-up.
2 comments:
Hi, Amber. I was at my sister's yesterday and she is a green thumb extraordinaire! She has a huge patch of rhubarb and I remembered you had said you had some trouble growing it for some reason. I asked her about it, and she said to tell you that it loves nitrate. If you have any aged (a couple months at least) chicken manure, that the plant should thrive and flourish with that as a fertilizer. I'm going to put this here and on facebook, because I don't know which you will be most likely to see. lol
It is so wonderful seeing your family all work together planting the garden. The meal and pie looks yummy. Making me hungry.I look forward to see and hear all about your growing season.
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