Thinking Spring

I've been getting my garden supply catalogs and it is really making me itching for spring to start. My visit to my friends mother's garden really got me thinking about how I would like to expand my own veggie garden. She had the set-up that I dream of having some day. But until I get a couple of acres to work with, I will have to keep thinking on a smaller scale.

This year I would really like to try growing some good pesto basil (sweet and spicy with no anise flavor), Romaine lettuce, kale, French green beans (non-fuzzy, stringless, sweet and crisp), leeks, garlic (some hot some not), and maybe even some sweet onions. I already have some idea of the varieties that I would like to try: "Genovese", "Parris Island", "Blue Curled Vates", "Fortex", "Lancelot", "Inchelium Red" & "Silver Rose", and "Walla Walla". Please let me know about your variety recommendations, especially if you are a northern gardener (and, let me know where I can get it!).

Of course, this means that I will have to build new veggie beds. I currently have one 4' x 16' raised bed that my husband and I made with 3 x 4 landscape timbers, a hammer drill, and rebar. All the materials, dirt included, ran less than $100. When I get some more time, I will post the plans for this very easy raised bed. It is 7 years old and still looks perfect.

I GOT A GNOME!!!

February 15th was SSB and my anniversary. We have been together 16 years. The flowers behind the gnome were from SSB. He has very good taste.

The gnome and the garden statuary in front of him I got at Target, of all places. I'm so excited! I always wanted a gnome!

What a wonderful anniversary!

Turkey Meatballs

These meatballs I made on the spur of the moment. We needed something to eat and I was sick of boxed meals.

I thawed out a pound of ground turkey.
My husband ground some dried rosemary in the mortar and pestle (about 2 tsp).
I minced 1/3 of a sweet onion and 2 cloves of garlic.

In a bowl I mixed the ground turkey, 1 egg, 1 sleeve of crackers - crushed, the onion, garlic, rosemary, 1 TBS oregano, 1 TBS basil, salt and pepper, and 2 TBS olive oil.

I formed the mix into bite-sized balls and place them on a cookie sheet.

They were baked in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for about 20-30 mins.




These came out slightly crispy on the outside which was fantastic. I served them with spaghetti and marinara sauce. The meatballs were YUMMMY! I will definitely make these again, but I would serve them with a sweeter sauce next time.

Rain Garden, Here We Come!

My husband and I met with the DNR rep today to sign the paperwork for the watershed project. He said that we would be shooting for a $1000 budget with the project grant picking up 70% (that's $700 for those mathematically challenged readers).

Our plant list consists of things like Joe Pye weed, milkweed, asters, various grasses, echinacea, goldenrod, queen of the prairie, trillium, and ironweed. There is a much bigger list, of course, but these were some of the plants that caught my eye. I'm very excited about the plant choices, in fact.

They are also pushing the rain barrels pretty hard. I don't know much about them, but I am hesitant to get one. Three reasons: I'm concerned about stagnant, mosquito infested water; I am concerned about the way it will look; and I am worried that they will have to "modify" our current old-fashioned rounded gutters (they would be VERY DIFFICULT to fix or replace!). If any of you have rain barrel experience please feel free to either ease or feed my fears.

Thank Goodness for the River!

Over the summer we were sent a letter by a local land trust stating that our property was located within the boundaries of the Kinnickinnic River watershed. The land trust is putting together a project that they hope will reduce the pollutants that run off into the river.

That's cool, but what does that mean? That means that if I agree, they will substantially help fund turning my front yard into a garden.

Wait, let me think about this... HELL YEAH!!

They haven't pinned down a specific amount, but they alluded to the upper hundreds and possibly into 4 digit amounts, depending how critical the researchers have found our particular property to be - and how much we want to spend ourselves. We are supposed to meet with them next week to go over the agreement, so I will know more then.

The really lucky thing is that I have been concentrating my gardening on our back yard and have pretty much left the front yard alone. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the space. We were actually going to start work up there next year on the tea patio using all those bricks that we got from the chimney. Now someone will actually help us pay for that!

Thank goodness for the river!

Designing Blind

Every fall I am faced with trying to figure out where to plant my new bulbs.

I hate it.

I feel like I'm designing blind. I can't see where the other bulbs are. I can't see what the colors, sizes and textures look like together. I always seem to miss the obvious bare patches even though I do keep maps of my plantings.

I hate it!

This morning as I was waking up, I came up with a brilliant plan. (Right before waking up and right before falling asleep are the most productive times for thinking for me.)

Brilliant Bulb Plan:
Instead of planting the bulbs directly in the ground in the fall, why not plant them in biodegradeable pots. In the spring when everything is coming up, you can just take the blooming pot and plant it, pot and all, where ever you need it!

BRILLIANT!!

Bulbs are at a deep discount right now, and I could probably still get my hands on some potting soil. I might just try this out this year.

Creamy Italian Chicken Soup

This is another of my invented recipes. Despite the name, this has no dairy in it. The creaminess comes from throwing the broth into a blender.

I started with one pound cubed bonless, skinless chicken breast and two jars of tomatoes that I canned from my own garden (not this year, of course *sigh*). I put this into a crock pot on high. Yay! Crock pot!

Then I added some Italian seasoning (~1/16 cup), extra basil (~ 1 tsp), extra oregano (~ 1 tsp), three cloves chopped garlic, sea salt (~ 2 tsp), and some cayenne pepper (I just dusted a layer over the top and mixed in). I chopped a medium sweet onion, fried it until it was well caramelized, then added that to the soup.

I let this cook for about an hour or so. Then I drained the broth from the chicken and threw the broth in a blender. I hit "Liquify" for a minute or so until it was smooth. Then I threw everything back into the crock pot with about 4 chopped carrots.

I let this cook on low for another few hours (until we got home and were hungry cause it smelled SOOO GOOD!!) Although the picture doesn't show it, I did cook up some egg noodles to add shortly before serving. This soup was a big hit with my family. My son ate almost all of it!

I Fell Off the Face of the Earth

I know, I know. you've heard this excuse before; but IT'S TRUE!! I've been really busy!

I pretty much gave up on my garden for the year about a month and a half ago.

It was going so well too. Oh well. It was still a pretty good year, and there is always next year!

Today I planted the bulbs that I got from Brecks. I got a coupon for $25 toward my order, so I figured, "Why not?". The prices in the catalog were expensive, but I was really impressed with the quality of the bulbs that I received. They were probably the best looking bulbs that I have ever bought.

I got Bright Parrot Tulips and Elodie Lilies. (I would have posted pictures, but Blogger is not cooperating - the other reason that blogging has gone to the wayside for so long).

I'm not sure how often I will be posting, but I'm shooting for once a week. Wish me luck.

Pesto Bread

My goodness how the time has gotten away from me! It has been nearly a month since I last posted. I have been working 12hr days at my jobs. Plus I have been laying a wooden floating floor in my dining room and living room. (You will have to go to my main blog to see the progress of that).

I was at a kiln firing party this weekend. Someone brought some wonderful toasted bread topped with pesto. I loved it so much that I decided I had to try to figure out how to make it.

It was actually quite easy.

I sliced some semolina bread into 1/4-1/2 slices. Place them on a cookie sheet in a single layer.

I got my basil from the garden that the kiln was in. It was a huge beautiful garden at a nearly self-sustainable home just outside of town. My dream home. Seriously.
And of course I got permission to pilage!

I used about 3-4 cups chopped basil mixed with 5 cloves of garlic run through a press and enough extra virgin olive oil to coat all the basil. I also sprinkled in some sea salt and pepper.

Once that was all mixed well I added a large handful of pine nuts (a little over an 1/8 cup)and mixed well again.



I piled the pesto mix onto the slices of bread and lightly drizzled a little more olive oil over all.

I baked for about 25 minutes at 350°F.



You can eat this straight up or sprinkle with some Italian cheeses like Romano, Parmesan, and/or Asiago. I had a four cheese mix (with all of the previoulsy mentioned cheeses plus Provolone).

Mmmmm!!

Another Mystery

A few years ago I got these bulbs from someone. It was either my mother or a neighbor's mother. I was told at the time that the bulb would send up foliage in the spring that would die back by summer; then in the fall, the bulb would send up stalks that would bear some pink lily-like flowers. I planted these about two or three years ago. Each year I did get the foliage just as they had said that I would, but there was never a stalk to be seen in the fall.

Well earlier this week as I was going to work, I see this:


I knew I was finally getting flowers. Oooo! What would they look like? I was giddy with anticipation!

This morning one of the buds finally opened up.


Interesting. Delicately beautiful. A little exotic - I like that.

But what are they?