Showing posts with label Summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Summer. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Mid-Summer Update (Photo heavy post)

My Rue playing in his new "cat fort"
 
Some gorgeous lilies from my mom's garden! (Thanks mom!) 
 
 My kiddos by new herb garden. This was a spring bulb/rose garden. I managed to kill all of the roses. Boo! So this year I ripped almost everything out and planted herbs. This garden is right by the kitchen, perfect spot to plant herbs. The smell is awesome too!
 
(Fun tip: use the wine bottles to keep the delicate plants hydrated. Instead of buying water-globes) Although I do get teased for having an alcoholic garden. Ha ha ha!
 
 I trained the morning glories to grow over my alligator.
 
 I feel lucky, I never planted these they just show up every year. (I think these may have be a result of bird droppings. Yay for re-seeding plants!)

I had planted two varieties of clematis back in spring. Unfortunately they didn't survive. (Bugs, heat and rabbits.)
 
 I have been really busy! I dug this entire garden out. It was full of over grown hostas and half-dead irises. I split all of the annuals...which left me with tons of plants. I decided to add some more colorful  and fun textured foliage.
 
 These didn't get as tall as I had hoped. They will be moved up front next year.
 
 I loooove the colors! They also have such fun frilly edges.
 
 
 I fell in love with this vine flower the first time I saw them. The dark center makes me think of a black-hole. (Yeah...I'm a bit odd. Ha!)
 
I ended up planting two of these.
 
My first kohlrabi of the season. Yum! (Notice the Buddy bum on the left. Cute!)
 
 My sweet little gardening girl! She always stays close and wants to investigate the garden.
 
 The cabbage patch. (Please ignore all of the weeds. Its been too damned hot to be weeding.)
 
Cucumber vines.
 
 Zucchinis or butternut squash-to-be. (I forgot which...they look the same.)
 
 Green pepper blossoms. Yessss! This is the first year they have survived. The animals have always eaten them. Boo!
 
Garden tip: For repelling animals pests, I use a three prong approach: Liquid fence, smelly compost and cat litter. Yes, you read that right.

I put soiled cat litter into plastic bags and place them around the garden.(Double and triple bag it to prevent contaminate your soil/veggies.) When they don't stink anymore I throw them away.

This have been the most effective pest repellent for me.
 
 A funky bug on a volunteer sunflower. (Another gift from the birds)
 
 Pumpkin blossom. I thought it would be fun to try mini-pumpkins.
 
 Tomatoes. YUM!
 

 
 Thank you for pollinating my tomatoes little bee/bug thing!
 
 Nature's jewels: rain drops. (Brussels sprouts)
 
 Lovely purple cabbage.
 
 The cabbage head is beginning to form. Yay!
 
 Ha! Cabbage head made me think of the Kids In The Hall skit... (Cabbage head is such a creep!)
 
 Bud guarding the raspberries.
 
 Boy, the birds were good to me this year! They gave blackberries this year too! We ended up with 7 volunteer black berry canes. Awesome!
 
Raspberries. They are big this year!
 
 
 Blossoms form the mock-orange tree.
 

 
 A cool cucumber tendril.
 
I hope you enjoyed the tour through my gardens.
 

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Keeping Berries Fresh

My Raspberries are ripe, which is awesome. Keeping them fresh…isn’t easy.

Fresh summer berries + summer heat = mold.



Luckily I found a solution.

Take the berries out of their packaging(if they are store bought), and soak in a large bowl with 1 part vinegar, and 10 parts water. (Don’t put the fruit back in the original packaging, it can re-contaminate the berries.)

Remove the berries from the water and lay out on paper towels to dry.

Place in a clean zip-lock bag, or plastic container with lid. Keep refrigerated.

I actually use this to wash all of my produce. It works great.

~♦~♦~♦~♦~♦~♦~♦~♦~♦~~♦~♦~♦~♦~♦~♦~♦~♦~♦~~♦~♦~♦~♦~♦~♦~♦~♦~♦~

Unfortunatly I couldn't find where I found this tip out...sorry! If you google vinegar berry wash....Tada!

Friday, July 20, 2012

Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral


Wild Bergamot AKA: Bee Balm (top) and Wild Raspberry (bottom)
Tiger Lily
Fence Post



Our new camera allowed me to get a much better shot of this barn. Yay!
This one is my favorite. My cute babies!

 
Enjoy the photos!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

"Jersey" Girls

Not what you were thinking...right?

They have gotten so big!

Cute and curious girl!

Todd feeding the girls.

Queen Anne's Lace

: )

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Greatful For Our Country

Valentine is such a cute girl!

♥Happy Birthday America!
♥So glad this story had a happy ending.
♥Rasputin had an MRI today, hopefully they figure out what is wrong soon. (Fingers crossed!)
♥Greatful that we have insurance!!!
♥Fresh peaches
♥Finding some cool lace headbands (On sale!)
♥Having an awesome cook-out with my Mother-in-law and her husband.
♥Super awesome bacon and cheese burgers. (Bacon and cheese mixed in the burgers, YUM!)
♥Shooting pictures of her cute cows
♥Seeing Rasputin smile while floating in the pond (at his mum's house)
♥Figuring out how to make inexpensive flowered hair clips (Tutorial tomorrow)
♥Finding the BMI Project (Its not what you think)
♥The Bloggess is so funny!
♥This cat is awesome!
♥Getting my hair trimmed. (I don't feel like a sheep dog with hair in my eyes)
♥So glad we have air-conditioning!!!

Happy 4th of July!


I found this adorable corgi to wish you a (belated) Independence Day!
Hope you had a safe and happy 4th!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Keeping Cool!



Here are some fun videos of corgis keeping cool:
Swimming Corgis!

Corgi Flop

Corgi Snow Tunnels!

Monday, July 2, 2012

Melty-Monday




Cutie-pie shar pei patrol!


Awesome:
♦Terrible wedding cakes: What they ordered vs. what they got!
♦Super awesome beach cakes
♦I like the Bloggess's take on being child-free.
♦I don't normaly go for mushy stuff, but this proposal is pretty cute!
♦The F***ing Weather (funny, but obviously has swearing)
♦Eye bombing...cracked me up!

Noms:
♦To go along with the beach cakes, starfish cookies.
♦Rice noodles, with peanut lime chicken.
♦Potato chip brownies.

♦Use an existing item to make a pattern.
♦Website that converts a photo into a cross-stitch pattern.
♦Make your own deodorant. (If anyone tries this let me know how it works!)

Feminism:
♦This is really irritating!

Self Care/Healing:
♦You're not perfect (What!?)Its OK, your human. (Warning: Some coarse language)
♦Another great post on how to choose a therapist.

Rest in peace, Nora Ephron:
♦Her Obituary
♦Aunt Peaches says good bye
♦An assortment of writers write about her
♦IMDB
Have a great week!

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Fantastic Thursday



♥Rainer cherries are in season!
♥Seeing the movie Hatchi. (If you watch it, have tissues ready!)
♥Our raspberries are ripe.
♥I went on a baking spree!
♥Finding a new show to watch. Supernatural
♥Aunt Peaches made my day!
♥I found some volunteer Tomatoe plants in our garden : )
♥Bud finally trust us, and sort-of listens!
♥I found a lot of cool new blogs, including a Budhist one. Neat-O.
♥Rasputin found a cane to help him walk easier. (He is having foot problems *sad face*)
♥Our morning glorys bloomed. (RIP Coconut Mojo)
♥Strawberries were on sale at the store. (3 cartons for $5!)

Have a great Thursday! Stay cool, don't melt!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Cranberry White Chocolate Scones

I used to really dislike white chocolate. I thought that it tasted like soap. Then I met my (adopted) Mom. She is allergic to chocolate.

I really enjoy giving people fresh baked goods as gifts, so I had to change things up. I stared to add white chocolate to things for her.

I realized that white chocolate taste pretty good baked in things. (I still can’t just eat white chocolate.

Cranberry  White Chocolate Scones
Ingredients:

♦4 2/3 cups Bisquick
♦6 Tablespoons of brown sugar
♦6 Tablespoons of butter (softened)
♦½ Teaspoon almond extract
♦½ cup craisins
♦½ cup white chocolate chips
Directions:
Mix ingredients together into a dough. Roll out on a floured surface. Roll dough out in an oval shape about ¾ of an inch.
Slice rough edges of the dough to form a rectangular slab. Cut into large squares. Cut the squares diagonally to form triangles.
Roll remaining dough out again and cut into triangles. Continue until all dough has been used.
Place scones onto baking sheet. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
Bake for 10-12 minuets.
Makes 12-16 depending on the size you cut them.