love is the answer

Camping: Foster Falls, TN

A weekend of camping, climbing and chilling with family and friends.

 

After camping breakfast in Chattanooga, TN.

  

 

Mt. Mitchell

Great Saturday!!  We drove to Mt. Mitchell.  We stopped along the way and had lunch in downtown Burnsville.  What a cute town.  It reminded me of Stars Hollow (from Gilmore Girls).  Along the way we stopped to pet horses, pick wild flowers and check out a new campground.  Mt. Mitchell was beautiful but foggy so some of the views were limited.  My kind of day!

Yes I Can!!!

Ok, so my canning experience was a bit of a flop.  For one, I thought I was going strawberry picking, and I didn't know that there wasn't any until late next month.  Instead, we went to the farmers market and got some there.  That day, we had to run a bunch of errands, so I didn't get home till around 5pm.  I was still determined, but at this point I was kind of wiped out (not a good time to take on something new).  I had expectations of this wonderful day calmly canning with the kids.  It ended up with me stressed and frustrated the whole time.  I did can some strawberry jam but it looks runny.  Madison loves it so at least it won't all go to waste.  I will not give up though.  I'm just going to have to try again...yes I can!!!

The whole weekend was not a flop though.

We planted two more raspberry bushes and one blackberry bush.

My lettuce box is really sprouting.

Tyler and I had a blast doing this seed project for school.

I'm enjoying the yearly blessing of birds building nests in our ferns.

 
 

Garden Support

Today I put up some supports for my growing garden.  I bought a raspberry plant yesterday, which I brought home and planted  immediately.  A wonderfully, helpful lady at the nursery told me that needed to get some supports for it.  I am going to be patient this year and pull off all the flowers so I can have an abundant little crop next year. 

I decided that it would be silly to buy support sticks when, well, sticks are free and everywhere!

I used these,

to make this:

I also used a piece of fencing that I inherited under my porch to support my cucumbers and cantaloupe.  Well its not really supporting anything yet, but in a few months....

My gardens are really coming along and bringing me such joy! Have I said that before??

I've been up to a few other things today.  I used this recipeand made some whole wheat bread.  I want to strawberry pick this weekend and can (for the first time), some strawberry jam...but more on that later.  Oh, strawberry jam with homemade bread will just be perfect on Sunday morning!!!

Also, I tried out a little method I learned on my new favorite show, The Edible Garden.  You hammer flowers and leaves onto a natural white material, let it dry, and then cut it up for little cloth covers to put on top of your home canned goods.  Now, I did this on the fly, but it worked.  I definitely want to use a bit more patience and artistic ability to improve the result.

 

Spritz Cookies

Recently, I went to a consignment store and found a cookie press.  It was a pampered chef cookie press.  I usually love stuff from this company.  I have a garlic press from them which is phenomenal!  Unfortunately, the cookie press did not work.  I went on-line and found that is has terrible reviews.  At this point though, I had a batch of dough and a strong desire to make these cookies.  I went and bought a Wilton cookie press ultra II.  This one worked perfectly!!  The kids enjoyed trying it too.  I went to get my camera, to take pics and when I came back, there was Tyler, using it in his own special way.  Yes, it is not only a cookie press but a shooting machine, ugh!!  I have never been in to buying him anything that resembles a gun but, boys will be boys...I guess.

In other news, my garden is doing well.  I am planting and growing all these veggies yet, I am in denial that I will actually grow real food.  Maybe its because its my first time.  I just use patience, patience, patience.  I can't stop checking on my guys to see if anything new is happening.

I have been looking for small magical touches to add in my yard.  I was so excited the other day when I came across this dude at Goodwill.  Isn't he just perfect?

Inspired

This spring has me so inspired in so many ways. 

My garden brings me joy everyday.  In the morning I putter around and check to see who is bigger and growing well.  I think my guys (the plants) are going to be wonderful producers.  I have a new favorite show, I want to be this woman!  She is so rustic and earthy. Its called The Edible Garden.  I can watch the same show over and over until the next one airs.

Here are some current garden pics.

In my square foot garden I am growing peas, broccoli, lettuce, onions, kale, and cilantro so far.

In another area, I tilled the ground with some compost and peat moss.  So far I have planted corn, kale and brussels sprouts in that one.

This is the corn:

This row has the brussels sprouts and kale:

I can't wait for the fear of frost to pass so I can get my tomatoes and peppers going.   At night, I lay in bed obsessing about what else I can plant.  I'm thinking potatoes, garlic, cucumbers etc...

I have also been sewing again.  I seem to go through sewing phases.  I will sew almost everyday for three weeks, and then it might take another month before I start up again.

Here is a little wristlet clutch type bag I  made:

I also made a cool reversible bag. You can get the tutorial here.  I finally found a use for this awesome vintage tree fabric that I bought at a thrift store.  The whole bag was made from thrifted materials so I think it probably cost me like a dollar to make it.

I'm also loving that its yard sale season.  The other day I found two awesome plant stands for only ten dollars! Now, my container plants look even better!

Into the Swing of Spring

My wonderful husband totally hooked me up with a super awesome birthday gift.  A porch swing!!!!  I've wanted one for so long and I'm so thrilled to finally have it.

I think I'm gonna sew some pillows for it.

Well, getting the swing made me want to spring up my porch.  I still had my dead mums in the pots by my front door and decided to freshen them up.  I've never done much container planting but I wanted to give it a shot.  I picked up a few plants at Lowe's and got to it.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

MUCH BETTER!!!
 
  
 

Spring Happenings

Oh the joy of spring!  It feels so good after having a long, hard winter.

I'm super happy because my broccoli and onions are doing great.

and check out these two BFFs!  

 

A Warm Day

We are finally having a bit of warm weather here.  On Monday, we enjoyed it by planting some seeds and getting our garden ready.  I bought this book to use as my gardening bible.  I read it cover to cover and I am doing exactly what it tells me to do.  I really want to enjoy having my own organic produce in the  months to come.

On this day, according to the book, it said to plant pepper and lettuce seeds.  I used paper egg cartons instead of little pots.  I read somewhere that when your seeds sprout, you can just cut them apart and put them directly into the ground.

We wrote with a sharpie on popsicle sticks to identify our seeds.

I bought all the supplies for my four square garden and got to work.  First, we had to drill holes in the 2 by 6 by 4 untreated wood. 

Next, we used screws to put the box together. 

The third step was shoveling the grass out of the 4 by 4 area. 

After that, we put weed cloth over the area.

Then, we placed the frame on top. 

Now this is where a lot of hard work came in.  We had to mix compost, peat moss and vermiculite on a tarp.  This was a bit tricky, but we got it done.  The picture only shows some the compost, so trust me when I say we had a huge pile of stuff to mix and move. 

Finally, we filled the box with our new perfect soil.  We still need to make a grid for the top.  Hopefully today will be that day.  Since I still have extra soil, I want to buy some more wood to make a 3 by 3 foot garden for Tyler.

Thank You Mr. Sun for FINALLY coming out!!!

  

Sledding again

It has been a pretty snowy winter here.  After the first few hot chocolates and homemade soup, it can get old.  Well this past weekend, Willy and I decided to make the best of it.  We built a fire out back and took the kids sledding.  Madison had a friend sleep over, so they decided to stay in the car and chit chat....tweenhood, its a whole new thing for me.

Another thing I've worked on during these times has been a pillow for Tyler.  He drew a picture that I traced and embroidered.  It came out pretty cute and he really loves it.