TreasuresInTerraCotta

We finally finished up our school work during the week of Memorial Day.  The boys were so excited to finally be on Summer Break like everyone else.  But at 7:50AM on Monday, June 1 I actually heard the words, "I'm bored."  *Deep Breath*  Fortunately, after that they kids found plenty to occupy their time and we hardly even left the neighborhood.   Our first week of Summer Break ended up gloriously uneventful and I only heard "I'm bored" once or twice a day.  We stayed at home a lot, made lots of messes, and got to know the neighborhood kids better.  We had to buy some walkie-talkies, replace a bicycle pedal, and get a case of Gatorade for the kids.  Here's what we were up to! Legos.  Blankets make clean up ten times easier!  Star Wars Lego building. Riding Bikes with the boys in the neighborhood!  (Not all of them are in the picture!)    What the driveway looks like some da...

The tomatoes have gotten their second wind.  All three, the Romas, cherry and Mr. Stripy have some tomatoes.  The bell peppers are happy. We had quite a few so I made stuffed peppers recently.  I cut them in half because they were so long and irregular shaped, so they were more like bell pepper boats stuffed with the yummy rice concoction. Because it's fall and I had a lot of squash and fruit on hand, I pulled out this beautiful tin that Michelle sent me after I had one of the babies.  For the first time ever I planted garlic.  Now I have some sprouts.  Some of my herbs, like this mint, are bouncing back after the hot summer.  And last, but not least,  because it's November in the desert, I killed a rattle snake this morning.  No Kidding.  But no pictures.

We picked our first butternut squash today!  Ever! It looked like the right buttery color, so I told the boys they could pick it.  They had planted seeds that we saved from a butternut squash last year.  I was surprised that they came up, but there are two or three more growing out there.  They are even smaller than this one, but they aren't ready yet.  We'll see how they grow. Boys are funny! Tonight we're making Kimberly's Curry Butternut Squash Soup recipe.  Yum!

The garden continues to provide a bit of a focal point most mornings either watering or harvesting or searching for bugs.  Not to mention providing cucumbers, jalapenos, bell peppers and lots of tomatoes.  I haven't bought any from the store in months now.  If I could just perfect growing limes, garlic and cilantro I could make salsa any time!  Every year I probably end up with hundreds of garden pictures, but I just can't get enough of them.  They never fail to make me happy or to surprise me when I look back and see the changes. I feel like I have finally started to make progress on the learning curve of Gardening.  The soil in my two bed areas is rich and deep.  I know what grows well in our area.  I've started doing things without realizing that I'm doing them.  I'm getting volunteer plants.  And the garden is producing. So it's time to branch out.  We dug a new garden bed in late June and planted a few seeds when the r...

Our garden is growing tomatoes!  We have to pick them a bit before they are perfectly ripe or the birds and groundsquirrels and rabbit will eat them.  But that's not trouble since the boys like to go out and harvest tomatoes every day.  As soon as the tomatoes have started to turn orange the kids (and the cousins and the friends) want to pluk them from the vines. We leave them on the counter until they turn a nice red.  My favorite use for them is salsa.  My favorite recipe is a variation on the recipe for Tableside Guacamole from the Flying V Bar & Grill at Ventana Canyon. Salsa Fresca 3-4 roma tomatoes, diced 1 jalapeno pepper, chopped fine 1 handful cilantro, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1/2 tsp Kosher salt 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper Juice from 1 large or 2 small limes Mix all ingredients together. Serve with tortilla chips, on tacos, with veggies, etc. Most recipes also call for 1/2 a re...

A little garden update.  Everything is growing big and filling in their allotted spots.  Fortunately, a few of the volunteer tomatoes have been uprooted by the dog or ground squirrels, or otherwise died of neglect.  There are three tomatoes on the right (from pots) and one in the back left (from seed).  And the three "squash" plants near the front include yellow crook-neck squash, zucchini and cucumber. In this little bed are more tomatoes, the jalapenos and bell peppers.   Just for fun, the boys and I made some painted some rock markers.    Jalapenos almost ready to harvest. Rock painting by Andrew. Zucchini blooming. Calvin's rock marker for his Earth Box.  Abstract art. A turtle...a frog...perhaps this is abstract art too! Mr. Stripey Heirloom tomatoes growing big and round.  I can't wait to see how these grow and what they look like and how they taste.     We used some ...

Volunteers in the garden are one of my greatest joys.  I don't do anything and something unexpected pops up...sometimes where the little plant was last year, sometimes in a new place completely.  And they are free.  What's not to love about volunteers.  Even their name is inspiring.    Basil is poping up in the pot from last year. Marigolds are springing up everywhere, which is not surprising.  We throw all the spent flowers back into the garden with their beautiful long seeds.  I read about leaving tomatos to rot in garden beds and letting them spring up of their own accord by Brett Markham the author of Mini-Farming books .  So at the end of the season last year, we tilled a lot of rotton and forgotten roma and cherry tomatoes back into our two little garden areas. To me, tomatoes seem a little fussy, especially when you read about when to plant seeds indoors and when to mo...

The boys and I have been working in the garden off-and-on for a few months now.  First, we have a few herbs for use in the kitchen or that the kids like.  We've had the Mint plant in the blue pot for years.  We just sheer it down almost to the ground when it dies back in the winter and every year it pops out again...which is why I would never, never plant it in the ground.  The kids like to pick leaves to eat when they are playing in the yard.  So this year we added some Chocolate Mint (on the right). The basil I planted in February didn't survivie the snow .  Happily, Basil popped up in the pot where I had it last year.  There are at least five little plants, so I am hoping a few of them will hang in there.  We use basil in salad dressing and some Italian dishes.  Parsley: Curled leaf from years past and some flat leaf parsley from seed.  Here is the main part of our garden.  We dug in two bags ...