Skating in a Christmas card....

Ahhhh....what a beautiful time we had skating in a Christmas card this Christmas Eve morning....
(see big blog photo above!)

Hello Everyone! It's been awhile, I know.....BUT alas...it is January 1st and time to get back to....to....well.....stuff you meant to keep up with but life got in the way...... :)

I wanted to let you know that my fingers are startin' to tingle as I imagine my 2011 garden in my head. Had to take a peek at the Johnny's Seed on-line catalog over Christmas....had to stop though...not ready to start pickin out seeds just yet. Have to organize my thoughts about what I want to do first...all you type A people will know what I mean by that...maybe you won't admit to it, but you'll understand none the less...

Well, HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! I'm looking forward to sharing with you again my garden journal for 2011 along with a little of my life journal as well.

I'll leave you with this Bible verse for theNew Year:
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone; the new has come!"
2 Corinthians 5:17
Praise God for His mercies are NEW every morning! Thank you Father in heaven!

Alison

"We went together like peas and carrots...." Forrest Gump

Well, carrots are not ready just yet BUT, I do have the peas....

Looks like I'll be having peas for lunch today! We've been harvesting lots of sugar snap peas this year; best year ever for this crop! I think I'm coming to the end of the peas though. This might be the last of them. I've let this last bunch sit on the vine for a little while so the peas inside would get bigger. You can still eat the whole thing but it's fun to break them open and scoop out the brightly colored smooth peas. I think I'll steam them a little and then eat with some good Amish melted butter.....yum.

Who do you go together with like "peas and carrots"?

OH SNAP! Sugar Snap, that is......

Sugar Snap Peas -
I've been picking a small
strainer full every
morning...just love these
peas, they are so sweet
and crunchy. We eat them raw; alone or in a salad. First successful year for this crop!


Pole Beans doing well so far - Peter Rabbit has disappeared for the moment. Second T-Pee was planted just the other day in order to scatter harvest a little.





Rest of raised beds - we're on the 3rd cutting of Romaine Lettuce, Radish; not so good this year??? Cutting Swiss Chard this week. Plum Tomatoes doing great so far. Little worried about the tomato blight threat this year...anyone know anything about this?

How does YOUR garden grow?

One Potato, NEW POTATO....Three Potato, Four....

Awesome! I have successfully grown NEW POTATOES, as opposed to old potatoes, I guess???

Anywhoo, I was outside this evening checking my potato plants and discovered some red potatoes poking through the soil. Wow, already? Well, had to look this up and read about it... I learned that these are NEW POTATOES. They are the first to poke through the soil and you can harvest these. By harvesting these now it leaves more room for the MAIN CROP potatoes to grow; harvesting them after the potato stalks die off.


So, excited I've included a picture of them and a recipe for NEW POTATO POTATO SALAD:

2 pounds of New potatoes unpeeled
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3 hard cooked eggs peeled and chopped
1 1/2 cups of minced celery
1/2 to 1 cup sweet onion
1/2 cup mayo
1 - 2 teaspoons prepared mustard
1/2 chopped sweet pickles with some juice
salt and pepper to taste
dash of cayenne pepper
fresh chopped parsley
paprika

Scrub potatoes, do not peel, cut into 1 inch cubes. Cover with water and add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Boil until tender. Drain and let cool.


Combine potatoes with remaining ingredients up to parsley and paprika. Sprinkle with last two ingredients when done. Serves 6-8


My NEW POTATOES are boiling as I write...My hubby and I will be taking fresh potato salad to work tomorrow for lunch!

Here Comes Peter Cottentail Hopping Down.......

AND RIGHT INTO MY POLE BEAN PLANTS!!

Cute little guy...well, I think it's actually a girl. (or a doe, yes same as the deer from what I've read).

Sitting on the porch the other day after a wonderful time spent with family and friends on Memorial Day, we watched her, with her butt facing us from the hillside, digging into the hill. Couldn't figure it out until the next day after work that she was making a nest for her kits (the Internet is awesome!) Anyway, I gently pulled back the straw and fur that she had placed in a shallow hole in the hillside and it revealed about 3 baby rabbits, ahwwww, how cute.....NOT! All I could think about was how close the bean plants were to that hole and boy would those babies be hungry once they realized they were bunnies who like veggies! Oh well, I love nature so I said my "ahww how cute" and went on with my business.

However, the next morning when I took the kids up to see Peter Rabbit (who is really a girl but I love literature too!) the hole was empty???

Enter 3 legged neighborhood cat (slash) bobcat......I could tell you a story about this cat that would curl your toenails....maybe another time; it's late (well 9:46pm - I go to bed early these days)...I'll save it for writers block.

Let's just say for now that knowing this cat (slash) bobcat, I shuddered to think what might have happened. I just made up a lame story for the kids and we just kept moving on up to see the.....a....see...the....ya, the grapes "Come along kids, baby rabbits must be out for a walk, do you know where your grape juice comes from......."

Chamomile Makes Me Smile!

Good Morning Everyone! It is a beautiful day, isn't it? Heading outside on my front porch rocker to read the next couple of chapter's of this great book someone very nice, lent me to read. Oh, and that chamomile just makes me smile!

Check out the pipes!

Yes, this is mister backyard farm.....STUD! My hubby of 26 years! I'm the idea person, he's the muscle that makes it happen. Love you big guy; couldn't do this without ya!