Dreaming of spring

This time of year always begins to wear on us - too much time cooped up inside, too little sunshine, too much cold.

We begin to feel a little hopeful when the seed catalogs start to arrive in the mail.  My dad has already called and asked about my wishlist for our combined seed catalog order. The tradition of collaborating in planning our separate gardens is one that I love.

This month's Midwest Living has a feature on a plant about which I know very little, but it has made it's way to my wishlist.

Hellebores is touted as an early bloomer, but I can't figure out if it will grow in Kansas. It has an old-fashioned look that
I love and the idea of having early blooms is certainly attractive.

I will have to see if we can some to plant as an experiment.

Plant geek: garden update

 Our garden is looking beautiful!  The recent rainfall has helped everything stay green.  The moisture has also caused the weeds to grow like crazy and we have been putting in a little extra time to try to pull weeds when the temperatures are a little cooler. 

I guess we always have plenty of "therapy" to keep us on track.  The best therapy is pulling a bucket of weeds - at least that is what I tell myself.  If you agree, we have plenty of "therapy" to go around (and extra gardening gloves).

 Our cucumbers are really taking off and because of my husband's diligence, they are growing up the fence like we had planned.  I am always amazed at the tendrils on a cucumber plant - beautiful and amazing how something in the natural world works so well.

 While this is a dragon fly, I want to joke that it is the same size as the mosquitoes in the yard.  One of the downfalls of all of the rain is the chiggers and mosquitoes...not fun!  I am trying a new insect repellant from LuLu and Max.  I am a big fan so far.

 We try to grow new things in the garden each year. This year's grand experiment is the tomatillo!  I am super excited to try to can some salsa verde.  I am doing some reading to make sure that I know what I am doing, but I am pretty sure that we'll just take it one day at a time and see how it works out.  The plant has set on some small fruit - a good sign.

I planted these on a whim and sort of forgot what I had planted.  They almost got yanked out of the ground when we thought it was a weed.  Thankfully, I put two and two together and remembered they were part of the actual garden plan.

 The plant also has some blossoms, so we must not be messing up too bad.

We also pulled a bunch of onions tonight.  We have some giants in the harvest.  My husband thinks we should enter them in the fair and I keep threatening to put him in open class.

The sacred ordinary

 I was driving home from work and a radio show mentioned "the sacred ordinary."  This phrase stuck with me.  It was so fitting for where we are right now - feeling blessed and challenged in the most excellent kinds of ways.

Even though we are doing so much, we have been really intentional about spending quality time together doing things we love.  We are also loving the cooler temperatures and the rain which means any outside work has been so much more enjoyable.

We have enjoyed the blue skies and these awesome puffy clouds.  They seem really magical, especially since in a typical June we are seeing the temperatures climb.  Not this year - it has been beautiful!

These clouds, the weather, our green grass, rain, and our growing garden - some of the many ordinary, but sacred things I am celebrating.

 Don't tell my husband that I love this collection of old doors that he has temporarily placed against our chicken coop.  I think it makes a great backdrop - for what, I don't know. (But, if any photographers have a need for some old doors, I know a guy!)

These vintage, chippy, perfectly imperfect doors - one of many ordinary, but sacred things I am celebrating.

This might be my favorite plant that we have blooming right now.  These hollyhocks are south of our garage and continue to come back each year.  I ordered them from a catalog because I loved the deep purple, almost black color of the blooms.  I am also a big fan of this plant because it seems so old fashioned.

These hollyhocks  - one of many ordinary, but sacred things I am celebrating.

Plant geek: What do you do with an afternoon off?

 The weather for the past week has been spectacular in Kansas. It is so rare for us to have temperatures this cool in May.  We are also experiencing low humidity which is simply a miracle.

The spring weather also has me anxious to do some serious house cleaning and to work on the garden and flower beds.  We have a pretty good start on the garden and last Sunday was one of those all day cleaning days.  There is still so much to do!

I had been thinking through my schedule and discovered an afternoon with no appointments.  I went ahead and decided to take some vacation leave and see what I could accomplish.

It happened that the weather was super - sunshine and a cool breeze.  The blue sky and white clouds were stunning.

My first order of business was weeding in the garden.  Weeding isn't necessarily fun, but with a beautiful view and great weather, it's not so bad.

 I enjoyed seeing what was growing and loved thinking about the possibilities ahead.  Our potato plants have the tiniest of buds.  (I am a huge fan of these little flowers.)

 I was also glad to see that our rabbit prevention system worked for our broccoli.  Our broccoli plants were rabbit food until we put up this crazy contraption.

 My weeding continued to a couple of flower beds around the yard.  The clematis was blooming!  And, I am sorry that I didn't give it some attention earlier because a lot of the growth was trailing on the ground instead of around the support of the old school bell.

 One of my favorite sights in both leaving the house in the morning and coming home at night is the violas by our cellar door and the pansies by the front door.

 This deep purple clematis is near our garage.  It's never had better blooms.

 The irises are blooming in this amazing rotation - first, the white flowers and then it's just this chorus to different colored blooms.

 And, the columbine is beautiful again.  This color is "old fashioned" to me.  It makes me think of my grandma and how much she would have liked these blooms.

So, on an afternoon off, a plant geek works a little and geeks out over whatever is blooming at the moment. I am also saying many prayers of thanks for the blessing of beautiful weather.

Plant geek: New life for old doors

 We are still sorting through our pictures and memories from our trip to Asheville.  One of our stops was the Biltmore Estate. We loved so much about this place, including the conservatory.

I totally geeked out, surrounded by beautiful plant and blown away by how artfully things were arranged.  It was also wonderful to experience green plants and blooms since we are still a few months away from the start of gardening season.

In one of the sections of the conservatory, the curators used vintage doors - just how we like them - with peeling, chippy paint as a display for wreaths.  Instant plant geek crush.

Check out this backdrop.

 And, this option with the simple wreath and small pots attached.

We still have this screen door at the studio.  I am thinking about dressing it up for Valentine's Day.  I might not be able to work out the live plant option, but maybe something else.

It's tomato season

 It's tomato season which brings with it some emotions.  While gardening and canning are very relaxing activities for me, there is a moment when it feels a little like a giant race against the clock.

We are extremely grateful for the delicious tomatoes to enjoy fresh and the chance to preserve some for us to enjoy later - it just isn't easy or fast work.

We have these brief flashes of panic and stress because the tomatoes ripen at their own pace. We may not have the time or energy to deal with the volume of tomatoes that presents itself at any given time.  However, you can't put off ripe tomatoes.  They just don't wait for anyone.

I usually feel that all of summer is a balancing act of joy and gratitude for a crop that we GET to process into delicious salsa, sauces, and more, and pure panic and stress that we will let good food go to waste or will spend hours in the kitchen when we are so tired that we can hardly stand.

This week was a great example.  We had a very hectic weekend with a lot of driving all across the state to meet our various obligations.  We picked tomatoes and canned a batch between going here and there.  We already had enough waiting for another round of canning and my husband asked me if I had seen the garden.

This was what I found!

After Monday's haul, we had every flat surface in my kitchen covered in tomatoes!  My mom joined me on Tuesday night to put up a batch each of pasta sauce and salsa.

While none of the tomatoes are blue ribbon material at this point in the season, they are delicious.  There is nothing better than a counter with beautiful jars of salsa and pasta sauce.  All the hard work pays off when we enjoy the great food.  In the meantime, I spend time calculating how to arrange my schedule around canning sessions.

Garden update

 This is the time of year where all of the work in the garden begins to really pay off.  On July 4th, we spent the afternoon working in the yard and garden. The temperatures were mild for this time of year and we had some time to spend.  We continued the battle between us and the weeds that seem to be taking over every vegetable and flower bed we own.  Weed pulling is boring and tedious work, but might be the best therapy for me.

Our garden entrance with the "walk on me" thyme is blooming the delicate little blooms that I love.  We have also had really good luck with all of the other herbs - basil, parsley, thyme, chives, and cilantro. The cilantro has started to bolt and go to seed, but it was delicious while it lasted.

I am really disappointed in our clematis this year.  It has only put on a few blooms, where in previous years, the plants have been loaded with the pink blossoms and it has been a focal point for the garden.  The lack of a wow factor means that the school bell looks kind of bare.  We did find one bloom hidden on the backside of the plant.

We were happy to see that we had a few more ripe tomatoes.  We had a half dozen of the small grape tomatoes about two weeks ago and then nothing. On July 4th, we had three more little tomatoes ripen enough for picking.  This is significant because in my family, it was always the goal to have the first ripe tomatoes by July 4th.

 

 We also picked an enamel bowl full of onions.  I am excited to have garden fresh onions for our salsa and for some canning that will begin soon.

 

 We also dug potatoes.  Ugghhh...always hard work.  We were happy with the result.  We planted two varieties this year and both seemed to do well.  I look forward to making some potato salad and all of the other variations of potatoes we enjoy.

 I can't help but think of the movie Forrest Gump and Bubba's list of all the ways to prepare shrimp, only insert potatoes.  This is my future.

Let the gardening begin!

 There is this moment in our garden when things look really good.  It is the moment when we are ahead of the weeds, the plants look healthy, the temperatures are not yet blazing hot, and all seems right with the world.

This weekend was that gardening moment.

We actually had the chance to put some plants in the ground and to do some weeding.  I also got to set out the plant markers I made this winter.

Inspired by a blog post by Pam on Simple Details, I thought I would try to make these plant markers.  We have a ton of bricks - literally a ton - left from replacing the sidewalk at a rental property.  We dug them all out of the old sidewalk, stacked them, loaded them, moved them to our house, unloaded them and stacked them again.  During the whole process, I kept wondering what to do with all of those bricks.

 I still have two that I would like to make - rosemary and parsley.  And, maybe I should make a few sets to give away.  We would still have just shy of a ton of bricks left.

 We also planted our tomatoes and peppers.  See?  Doesn't everything look right in the gardening world.  Now, give it three weeks and we will have all sorts of weed pulling to do.

And, these little beauties are the volunteer violas that pop up around our grill each spring.  My husband moved them to a planter to protect them from the first lawn mowing of the season.  He's a good guy to humor his plant geek.

Canning tomatoes

Canning merges several of my loves.  My plant geek, garden loving fool gets very excited to see our work result in delicious food.  My foodie/cooking fanatic side loves the challenge of finding new recipes and perfecting the process.  Our canning and preserving efforts are a family affair with me learning at the elbow of my mom.  And, I know that by gardening, canning and learning from my mom, I am honoring a long legacy of women in my family who have participated in these same activities.

I will forever savor hearing the "POP" of a jar sealing as it rests on the counter, fresh from the canner.  And, for as long as I can remember, my mom and I count them together as they sound off during the sealing process.

This season has been productive so far.  We have several quarts and pints of pasta and pizza sauces and a spicy tomato sauce that is something new for us this year.

We have likely reached the last of our big batches of tomatoes for the season.  The tomato plants are looking really sad with the heat and lack of rain.  I am holding out hope that we will get some moisture and they will rally for a late summer crop.

My more realistic thought is that I will start to scout the local farmer's markets for some tomatoes. At Saturday morning's market, there were a couple of vendors with canning specials on tomatoes, so I will have to do some more investigating.

One of the fun things about canning is that it turns your kitchen upside down.  I would give my kitchen high marks for cleanliness, but the clutter is laughable.  There is never enough counter space and you have to have enough supplies on hand which means jars, lids, rings, bowls, pots, and other canning tools everywhere.  The process is like musical chairs - moving and stacking, moving and stacking.  Last week I went through all of the supplies and tried to consolidate.  Now, I have neatly organized piles and stacks.

Still, I love this season.  One of my favorite ways to relax is to peal a pile of tomatoes and work them into a counter full of beautifully preserved food.

Founding Gardeners

I am waving my plant geek flag today.

Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nations by Andrea Wulf is a book that has been in my pile to read for some time.  I have been chipping away at it over the past month or so and it has been a delight.

I am a history nerd and a plant geek, so the book has a lot of appeal.  I just finished it yesterday - on Independence Day - and it was a fitting time to bring the book to a close.  The subjects of the book, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Adams - were our founding fathers who shaped our country in many significant ways.  I did not know they each loved agriculture nor did I recognize how their love of agriculture shaped their political decisions and vision for our country.  The whole book was fascinating.

One of my favorite parts of the book, speaking of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams:

Their time on the political stage might have been over but their passion for their country had not diminished.  For them, working the soil, experimenting with new vegetables and examining plants was a patriotic act as well as an assertion of their belief in America's future.  Planting trees, Jefferson wrote in June 1812, was a joy even when it was "for a future race."  The saplings they nurtured now would shade the next generation of Americans.  "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past," Jefferson wrote to Adams in the summer of 1816, their friendship now well and truly recovered.  "So good night.  I will dream on."

Early garden bounty

 We are really excited to have some garden produce to enjoy.  Last night we dug some potatoes and pulled carrots.  We even had some tomatoes to pick!  (We are well ahead of our July 4 self-imposed standard to good gardening.)

We had more potatoes to dig and onions to harvest.  For once, we tried to work with moderation in mind.  My husband got an early start this morning to try to beat the heat.  We have had several days of 100 degree plus days with high humidity - even early in the day, the heat makes working outside difficult.

I really got a kick out of the two intertwined carrots that we pulled.  Isn't that cool?

Garden update

 We are enjoying a much needed rain this evening.  My flowers and garden plants needed the relief, though my husband has been helping them along with some water on a regular basis.

We got on the ball this year and put out some of our decorations.  The entrance to the garden has one of my favorite old chairs that I bought for $1 at a yard sale, a painted sign from Wal-Mart clearance and a rooster from Target, also on clearance.  The insect hooks on the fence are from one of my favorite home decor stores and were super affordable.

I really love the feeling of this entry way before you are in the larger portion of the garden.  The walkway has some limestone rocks and walk-on-me plants like miniature thyme (and a few weeds, too, but who's counting).

On a mission for spray paint for a project, I stumbled on some of the healthiest and best cared for plants of the season.  A local hardware store had some excellent varieties and all were in great condition.  I picked up a few things to round out some planters and to add to the garden.

 I also found this beauty - boxwood basil.  This might not be a new variety, but it is new to me.  I love the dainty leaves and can't wait to try it with the star of our garden - tomatoes!

 We have a few baby tomatoes on the vine.  My family standard of garden success, passed down for generations, is to have the first ripe tomato by July 4.  Will we make it?

The lantana (sunrise rose improved variety) is one of my new favorite container plants.  We installed some of these in the concrete planters near the garage and I am loving how they look with some Mexican heather and sanvitalia (million suns variety).

All of these beauties will look refreshed tomorrow after this wonderful rain.  Happy day!

What's blooming - columbine

 Earlier this spring, I posted about several plants blooming in the yard and highlighted some of the first blooms on the columbine plant on the east side of the house.

While we were getting ready to load alpacas I had a "whoa" moment when I saw the oodles of blooms on the columbine now.

Just for fun, look at the earlier post and then check out this beauty.  It is a showstopper this year!

Where Women Cook magazine

My mom and I share subscriptions to several magazines.  There are two magazines in particular that we are always excited to see in our mailboxes - Where Women Create and Where Women Cook.

The most recent issue of Where Women Cook was another great collection of profiles of female bloggers, authors, cooks, chefs, and even artists who cook!  They include at least one profile of a male cook in a feature called, "the men we crave."

I am a huge fan of the photography in these magazines.  The images inspire me.  Even if the article is about cooking, I am soaking up great ideas for entertaining and home decor.  Plus, these magazines just fit my style and interests so perfectly.

It is always a treat to settle in with an inspiring read with great images.

Loved these cute little cones of flowers.

Inspiration about canning and preserving food.

Lilacs in a mason jar - simple and beautiful.

I love this old truck and the chalkboard menu.

Loads and loads of blooms

 We have been watching the progression of spring blooms in the yard.  The clementis started to bloom last week and today it was in rare form.

Get a load of all of those blooms!

You might remember that I posted about the first blooms on this point of pride in the yard.  We had an idea for a showy climbing vine on the post that holds the school bell.  The bell, a gift from my in-laws, is really special to us and has a featured place at the garden entrance.

Before we left for Topeka yesterday, I ran outside with my camera for a little photography practice and the chance to just enjoy some of the new blooms.

Love these blooms!

The impression of this gorgeous plant is the exclamation point on the garden this time of year.

Just can't get enough!

A bee was also enjoying the blooms this morning.  She put on quite a show while I was snapping photos.