Tag : CSA

4 posts

201706/22

Back at it…finally

It has been a while girls and boys. Every time I sat down to write a post, I just couldn’t. I was stuck…blocked by emotion. Not sure how to move on with my blog while still dealing with the grief of losing my mom. Somehow it felt wrong. I know that is crazy talk but it took a while to move beyond that thought. So here I am…back at it.

I’ve been busy with a number of things…

such as this wreath. It came together quite nicely from some clearance items. I’m thinking about hanging it under the eaves on our deck. I haven’t actually taken it out there to see if there is enough wall space but I think it would be a lovely addition to the space.

I’ve experimented with some acrylic pours that I’ll share in another post.

The sun is finally out today…we’ve had rain, rain, rain today. I found this cute little nest laying in the yard after a recent storm.

Today was also the first CSA drop off date. They were supposed to start last week but there had been a terrible hail storm that had taken out a lot of the crops. I have to say that I am very pleasantly surprised at the high quality and quantity of produce I got today.

Those carrots are so good!!!!! They taste just like I remember as a kid…only not so gritty. I used to pull them out of the ground, swish them in the rain barrel and eat them.

Around home | Blog | Crafts | Creativity | Kitchen

T Tuesday: late June garden edition

Last week for T stands for Tuesday I promised an update on my garden this week.

T Tuesday late June garden edition

It’s flourishing! Tons of blossoms. I think we are just at the cusp of production.

There are already jalapenos on the plant…

and roma tomatoes…. come on fresh salsa!

The deck box garden is doing really well too.

I ended up pulling up the horse radish that was growing in here since there is another plant in the big garden space and planted my Egyptian walking onions instead. I saved the bulbs from the top of the plants last year in a paper bag in the shed. They overwintered out there will seemingly no ill effects.

The planters along the railing are also looking great with the herbs and green onions. I’ve been thinning the green onions by using them…so nice to have those fresh green literally right outside my door. I couldn’t be happier.

It meets Marvin’s approval as well.

Over the weekend I adding a little bit of ambiance to the deck with a string of lights.

We have yet to try them out at night but I think they will be a lot of fun.

I also noticed some birds have been very busy….

I do remember seeing a chickadee hanging around here quite often. I’d have to bet he is the guilty party.

I’m also going to continue to share my CSA box each week as I really believe that its well worth the cost to bring fresh organic veggies to your table each week…provided you have enough people to eat all those veggies.

Week 2: cilantro, basil plant, kale, green onions, garlic scapes, mixed spring greens, head of leaf lettuce, strawberries, carrots, kohlrabi, broccoli and white turnips that are eaten like radishes. Can’t wait to see what the next box brings.

Today I’ll be finishing a commissioned seamstress project. I was asked to shorten some curtains and sew lining fabric behind the thin linen for some actual light blocking.

What are you doing today?

Around home | Blog | Outdoors

CSA, gardening, T Tuesday

15 Comments

halleday

201606/21

T Tuesday: CSA edition

Last week we received our first box of produce from our CSA. What a bounty!

All of that came from the 3/4 bushel box on the table.

Another really cool feature is a “swap box” at the pickup site. If you see something in the box you’d rather have, you can swap it out for something in your box. That’s how I ended up with 2 bunches of radishes. I swapped the second bunch for a bag of arugula.

Carrots, beets, bok choy, garlic scapes, mixed spring greens, spinach and radishes all in week one! AND the basil plant in my deck box. I knew from seeing the boxes last year that we’d likely get one so I didn’t bother planting any…just left a spot for it instead.

Between the CSA, our home garden and the garden space at my in-laws, we should be eating super healthy this summer!

I’ll update you on my gardens next week. They are growing like crazy. I’m so happy to walk out there every morning to see the growth. I don’t even mind having to pull a few weeds and use the watering can to hand water the spaces with our collected rain water.

I hadn’t realized until just a few days ago how much my focus changes to the outdoors in the summer. Likely because our winters are so long and sometimes harsh that we tend to spend as much time as possible outdoors.

Mini-me and I are off for a small adventure today since J is at work!! He got his first job and is at his second day of training today.

What are you doing today?

Around home | Blog | Kitchen | Outdoors

T Tuesday: planting edition

Yesterday morning before the impending rainfall I hurried up and planted my garden. I had planned to plant over the weekend but when Mr. G went to rototill the garden we discovered millions of ants and larvae under a stepping stone smack in the middle of the garden! Crud! I grabbed a flat shovel and scooped off all the larvae and hoards of ants and threw them away. YUCK! they were crawling all over us.

While Mr. G went to work with the rototiller, I went inside to look up garden safe solutions to my ant problem. I made a concoction of water, borax and sugar, then soaked some cotton balls in it and placed them in a plastic lid in the freshly tilled garden. I never actually saw any ants drinking my mix. I think it was the heat of the blazing sun that drove them away…that and the search for the larvae. Fingers crossed that they are gone for good.

In the big garden I have the usual fair…although I am trying cucumbers in this garden again. In previous years I haven’t had good luck with them but this year I purchased some really nice healthy looking plants instead of starting seeds. I planted them close to the fence so they can crawl right up.

Some of you may remember last fall that I decided to just leave my herbs in the garden and see what happened. Well the rosemary died as many told me it would but the sage and thyme are flourishing, I cut back some of the thyme just to make room for a tomato plant. I’m drying a couple of bundles…it smells so heavenly.

I made a last minute addition of a jalapeno plant near the gate. I was planning to put it in the deck box garden but changed my mind. Do you see my plant stakes I’m using as row markers?? A pink teapot and a purple butterfly. I think the teapot works for beverage related post…right?

My deck box garden has just two things…our favorite little yellow pear tomatoes and the horseradish plant I tried to eradicate last fall. Guess it didn’t work. :) My worm tower is definitely looking weathered like the rest of the garden. After it rains again I’m going to try and find some more worms to live in the bin. I fear some of red wigglers perished over winter as the scraps in the tower aren’t going down as quickly as before.

The deck boxes have flower, herbs and onions. I grew green onions from seed in half egg shells this year. Just an experiment. Likely won’t do it again unless these turn out amazing. The shells were hard to crush before planting without crushing the fragile onions. I did find two volunteer onions in the big garden so I moved them to be with their friends.

In addition to the onion volunteers, I found some dill and thyme growing from the dirt I had dumped from the pots last fall. Mother Nature can be very persistent.

I still have 3 tomato plants that I plan to put in my in-laws garden plus whatever seeds I have left.

We also purchased a CSA share this year. We had joined a different one a few years ago and liked the produce but the cost vs amount we received just didn’t make sense or maybe that should be cents. *grin* Our neighbor has been using this CSA for 7 years now and I’ve been able to see first hand the wonderful boxes of farm fresh veggies they get each week. So excited for it to start. Just a couple more weeks! I’ll be sure to share with you our bounty.

Playing taxi driver for my mom today unless her plans have changed

What are you doing today?

Blog | Outdoors

CSA, gardening, T Tuesday

11 Comments

halleday