Summer Cooking

Summer has finally shown up where I live. They days have been warm and sunny lately which tends to change our food choices. We lean more towards Popsicle, cold salads, whatever we can cook on the grill and iced tea. But sometimes eating like that can get old fast. We start to miss our normal meals but who wants to run the oven in the middle of the hottest part of the afternoon? The summer heat also makes me feel lazy and lethargic. I really just want to kick back with a good book, watch the kids splash in the slip-and-slide and relax. Isn't that what summer is all about?

So to make my afternoons and evenings seem as lazy and work-free as possible, I get all my cooking done in the morning. Right now I've got the windows open so the house can cool down and I'm cooking homemade mac and cheese, baked potatoes, and dessert. I wandered out to the garden and grabbed some baby spinach and threw together a green salad that is chilling in the fridge, the iced tea and lemonade are all mixed up, and the Popsicle molds are full of homemade frozen treats all by 10am. Do you know what that means? The rest of the day there will be no more, "Mom, I'm hungry!" where I'll have to stop what I'm doing and throw together some food. Everyone can feed themselves whenever they want. Just go to the fridge, grab what you want and I'm pretty much off duty until tomorrow morning.

So Mom's....give yourself a break. Get up early this summer, get the laundry loads going and the dishwasher running, cook up a bunch of food and then kick back and take the day off. Then the rest of the day just relax and enjoy the happy kids and warm days. We deserve a summer break too!

Taking Stock

I got out in the garden today for a bit to weed and take stock of what made it through the wet winter. I've got....

• Volunteer potatoes from some that I must have forgot to dig up from last years harvest. They look sturdier and more bountiful than they did their first year.
  
• Three rhubarb plants that I started from seed last year. They are too young to use yet but next year I'll probably have rhubarb coming out of my ears. They were in pots and got transferred, one into each bed.
  
• I tried garlic for the first time last fall and lo and behold, they survived. Looking forward to my very own garlic braid this year.
• The pears, plums, apples and cherry trees haven't bore much fruit in the last two seasons so anything we get there will be a bonus.
  
• And my new hazelnut tree is taking root. I'm hoping for nuts in the next few years.
  

The garden is ready, the paths are cleared and the beds are weed free! I won't be starting from seed this year, but buying starts from the local farmers market and maybe the nursery. I'm hoping to snag my hubby for a few hours this week so we can pick out what we want to grow this year. Hopefully our eyes won't be bigger than our stomachs.

A Nutella Tree?

This is my Nutella tree. Well, ok. It's a hazelnut tree that my sister dug up for me from their own property so I could have one of my very own. But, I see a huge Nutella supply in my future.


And she also gave me some zebra grass that I intend to plant in front of a really ugly cement block wall outside my master bedroom patio. Hopefully it will camouflage it.


It's a beautiful day here in Washington state and all my obligations are filled for the day. So I've slipped on some shorts and I'm headed out into the backyard to get the garden ready to plant and soak up some sun.

Ahhhh. Bliss.

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Progamming.....

Good morning! This is birthday week for me (39) and the minute I found the 50% off coupon for our favorite beach motel, I knew what I wanted to do. So within hours we had packed and drove away. Right now I'm staring out my window, watching the Pacific Ocean tide come in and the sun shine on the beach. Ahhh.

Which means....

No menu plan this week. I'll just be winging it when we get back home. We'll still have the weekly grocery round up sometime tomorrow and blog life will get back to normal in a few days.

In the meantime, I'm going to soak up the sun, sit in the hot tub, and nibble on my leftover fish and chips.


I'll leave you with a link that a friend sent to me. It will show you how to make mini-outdoor green houses for your garden starts. I love this idea!

It's Time to Think Garden

Can you believe it's nearly spring? We have a short growing season here in Washington State so to get the most out of it I need to either start seeds indoors or buy starts that are mature. But we all know which way is cheaper and ultimately more fun for the kids. We have a big sunny window that spends a few months of the year growing our garden seeds before they get transplanted outside in late May (it's been well into June the last few years). I'm doing a little something different this year with my garden. The last few years have been a total flop for me. There has been enough for a few months of fresh veggies and fruits but absolutely nothing to preserve. So, I'll be building up my soil using the Lasagna Garden method again this year because it's easy and I need an easy garden.





And then I'm planting a canning garden. I have three beds and I'll only plant three crops....but lots of them. I'm hoping to can pickles, so I found these cucumber seeds that are ideal for pickling.








We also use lots of diced tomatoes, salsa and marinara or spaghetti sauces so one of my beds will have roma tomatoes in it.










And in my third bed it will be all about green beans.

I chose those simply because we buy lots of these things at the grocery store and hopefully I won't have to buy any of these for a whole year if I play my cards right.

So if you're planning to have a garden this year. Now is the time to get your game plan in order. Get those seeds, map out what containers or beds you'll be using, and if you're planting crops that take a while to mature, start planting your seeds indoors soon.

Buy Local Through A CSA

There’s been numerous times that I’ve chosen an orange or apple at the grocery store that looked deceptively beautiful and brightly colored only to bite into a tasteless watery piece of fruit. I think all of us would probably agree that freshly picked produce tastes much better than the kind that was picked before it was ripe and then shipped thousands of miles over several days to a grocery store near you losing much of it’s nutrients. For many the solution to tasteless nutrition-less produce is to grow your own. Fresh picked carrots are sweet when eaten directly from the soil they grew in. In fact most produce that is locally grown has a distinctly different taste than the kind at the store. But what if you don’t have the time or space to grow your own? Then a CSA might be your answer.

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It’s a way to partner up with local farmers to not only provide us with fresher and healthier products but it helps the local farmer have a steady stream of income so it can stay afloat. In a nutshell, farmers offer a certain number of “shares” to the public. The “share” or membership guarantees that each person receives a box of fresh produce each week during the growing season. Many farms grow year round while others function mainly from May to October. With some farms, having a membership means that you can have a say in what crops you’d like planted each year. Many not only offer shares in their produce but in eggs, breads, honey, cheeses and flowers.

Bonnie Doble from Pacific Way CSA is a passionate local farmer. She offers eggs, chickens, turkeys and flowers as well as garden fresh produce. “CSA’s are great for trying new foods that aren’t available at supermarkets. Most supermarket produce is bred for longevity not freshness,“ She also adds. “Now is the time to sign up for a share because that way the farmers know how much to grow.”

“CSA members usually get the first and last crops of the season. When we go to the local Farmers Markets we can only take crops that we can pick really fast since we’re pushed for time,” says Michael McKee owner of Willow Grove Gardens, a certified organic farm. “CSA members get a much wider variety of crops to choose from. Also the crops that are grown in smaller numbers, such as pears and apples, are reserved specifically for members.”

If CSA’s aren’t for you then plan to attend a local Farmers Market. Many farmers bring their produce to town and sell it directly to the public. During peak season this means an abundance of locally grown food. Farmers Markets in our area usually run from April or May until October and offer everything from herbs, starter plants for your own garden and other farmed or craftily made goods.

When you purchase local foods, not only are you eliminating the environmental damage caused by shipping foods thousands of miles but you are helping to support local business and economy. Every dollar goes directly to the farmer and you get the benefit of eating healthy unprocessed foods that taste better.

To find more CSA’s and Farmers Markets near you visit http://www.localharvest.org/

GCC Shopping Round Up & Garden Update

I don't know about your growing season but here in Washington State, the last few years have just been a flop. We haven't been able to get past the frost until almost June and then our Fall keeps starting earlier and earlier. Out of the 10 tomato plants I put in the ground this year, I've harvested one tomato and I have a handful of cherry tomatoes that look pretty darn green. The weather is already getting chilly and the rains are starting to visit and there just isn't much heat left to ripen my tomatoes. I went out and trimmed them up a few weeks ago, hoping to divert some of the nutrients towards more blossoms and lo and behold, I found plenty of new flowers today. So a friend of mine suggested making a little green house out of plastic wrap. I wrapped it around my tomato cages, hoping to accelerate the little bit of sun we have left. We'll see how it works.


In the meantime I have four little pumpkins growing so I'm looking forward to homegrown pumpkin pies during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays this year.


So this week, due to all the birthdays and the eating out, I blew off my menu plan. I just got some basics since I have plenty of bread in the freezer and fruit and veggies in the crisper.

Win-co

2 gallons milk $3.96
mozzarella cheese $5.59
cheddar cheese $4.48
eggs $5.59

Grand Total $19.62

Would you like to tell us about your shopping trip? Please link directly to your post, not your homepage, and please include a link back here to the Grocery Cart Challenge.

Free Garden Paths!

I got to spend some quality time in the dirt this weekend. I harvested the first of the carrots...

and found all kinds of baby pumpkins, pickling cucumbers, a few baby green beans and some green cherry tomatoes all waiting to grow and ripen and end up in my family's tummy...or the freezer...or the canning cupboard. My one gardening downfall though, the thing that makes me growl every time I wander out there, is the paths in between my raised beds. They are full of weeds that usually get left untended until they grow higher than the beds. Then I'll take the weed eater out there, whack them down and it looks nice for about a week until they all start to grow back. And because I'm so cheap, I've been trying to figure out really thrifty ways to solve my problem. This weekend I was finally able to tackle the job and I'm pleased with the FREE results.

I started by whacking the weeds down (again) and this is what I was left with.


Next I grabbed FREE flattened cardboard boxes from the recycle bins behind some local stores and laid them along the paths making sure to overlap them and get as close to the edges as I could to keep the weeds from sneaking by. I didn't bother to cut them into pieces either. I laid them down whole so they left a double-thick cardboard layer. The cardboard serves two purposes; it smothers the weeds underneath while also slowly decomposing to form rich organic matter in the garden.


Here's the extra fun part. I noticed some neighbors had hired a company to come out and chip up some branches and chop down a few trees. My smart husband decided to go over and see what they were going to do with the wood chips. Turns out they were more than happy to drive them right over to our driveway and dump them in a pile for FREE. It saved them the cost of having to dispose of them and they also gave us the wood from the trees they chopped down too. So we got several rounds of free firewood waiting to be split and seasoned.

So we spread our free wood chips on top of the cardboard to make nice tidy organic paths that will keep the weeds away for a several seasons before enriching the soil as they decompose.

Ahhh, project completed.

How To Start A Compost Pile

Being frugal means nothing goes to waste. When you use something up you stop to re-evaluate if there is some other creative way to use it. Can the container be used for something else? Would it make a fun craft project for the kids? Can that bone be boiled down for soup,? Does it have another use? And when you finally think you’ve got every inch of life squeezed out of it, then you toss it. Often times the last stop at our house is the compost bin.

Starting a compost bin is simple to do, doesn’t cost much money and takes very little space but some people may be wondering why bother? For us there are two reasons; it cuts down on our weekly amount of garbage and provides nutrient rich soil for our yard and garden. Did you know that roughly 40% off our garbage could actually be composted? It’s possible to put that waste to good use instead of sending it to the landfill and consuming all that energy to get it there.

So here’s how you can create simple and cost efficient compost for your own home.

First you need something to create your compost in. There are lots of different things you could construct, but to keep it simple a plastic garbage can with a lid will do. Not only is it reasonably inexpensive but it has a handy lid to keep critters out and is easily transportable around your yard when you’re ready to spread your nutrient rich soil around.

Next you need to make several holes in the sides and top of your bin. You can use a drill or even a knife to cut these. This will help air and moisture get in but will keep the neighborhood animals from getting at your garbage goodies. The holes need to be roughly ¼ to ½ inch in diameter and about a foot apart all the way around.

Then pick a place to keep it. You want to choose a place close to your house for easy access but also not too far from where you want to dump your finished compost. You’ll also want your bin to get some sun and rain when it’s available to aid in the decomposition, so don’t keep it in a covered area.

Now you’re ready to start adding to it. You’ll want to put a shallow layer of dirt in the bottom to get it started and then the fun begins. Here are some common everyday things that you can toss into your pile…


Paper napkins
vegetable or fruit peelings
Burlap coffee bags
Pet hair
Wood chips
dryer lint
Hay
Old spices
Pine needles
Leaves
Matches (paper or wood)
Bird cage cleanings
Paper towels
Grass clippings
rabbit or chicken manure
Hair clippings
Stale bread
coffee grounds
Wood ashes
Sawdust
Tea bags and grounds
Shredded newspapers
Paper shreds from your office shredder
Egg shells
Houseplant trimmings
Aquarium plants
Kleenex tissues
Tree bark
Q-tips (cotton swabs: cardboard, not plastic sticks)
Expired flower arrangements
Tobacco wastes
Guinea pig cage cleanings
Shredded cardboard
Peanut shells
Bread crusts
Cooked rice
Wooden toothpicks
Moss from last year's hanging baskets
Stale breakfast cereal
Pencil shavings
Brown paper bags
envelopes

It’s helpful to keep a container in your house to hold your raw materials. I use a recycled Costco dishwasher soap bucket under my sink to collect our kitchen scraps. The smaller the scraps that go in, the quicker the decomposition will happen so chop or crush them before putting them in the bucket. Also, you want to be sure to keep a balance between your brown ingredients (paper scraps, dirt) and your green ingredients (kitchen scraps, grass clippings). Make sure that your compost is damp. Most of they year my wonderfully wet climate takes care of this for me, but during the hotter summer months you want to make sure it is moist. You’ll also need to turn it periodically to keep air flowing and to speed up the decomposition process. The handy thing about the garbage can is that all you have to do is secure the lid and then tip it over and roll it around a couple of times. The other option is to use a pitch fork or shovel and stir it up a bit.

You can expect your pile to give off a little heat. That means it’s doing it’s job to break down into soil. Also you’ll probably see a few bugs and generally that’s not a problem. There shouldn’t be much more than a sweet dirt smell coming from your bin. If it starts to smell strong than your balance of green, brown, and wet ingredients may be off or it’s possible that you’ve thrown something you shouldn’t have into the bins. Never throw meat products in there.

So don’t be afraid to jump right in. Now is as great a time as any to start reducing your landfill waste and nourishing your yard.

For more WFMW ideas, go HERE.

Are You Thinking About Your Garden Yet?

I can feel it starting...the urge to dig in the dirt, daydreams of what to plant and how to expand. I've been thinking about how to solve my mole problem (a layer of extra small chicken wire in the bottom of my beds) and how to trim the apples trees so that the sun light can still get to my garden. I've been making lists of what worked and didn't work last year and I'm almost ready to buy my seeds.

So I was really happy when I got an email from Scott at Hometown Seeds letting me know that they were having a promotion. By entering the coupon code thanks, 10% will be reduced from the total cost of any order. The code will be good through February 28, 2010.

So if your green thumb is starting to twitch go check them out. They have a huge assortment of vegetable, herb, flower and survival seeds.

Gayle, Gayle, How Does Your Garden Grow?

It's time to put my garden to bed for the winter. I took a walk through the damp withering plants and found a handful of green beans.



Not enough to make a side dish but definitely enough to put in one of my soups this week.


I also found that I had several green cherry tomatoes and at least 6 romas left on the vines. I pulled up the root ball and hung them upside down in my garage to ripen. The nutrients from the roots goes back down to the tips of the plant and turns the green tomatoes red. So we'll be eating a few more garden fresh tomatoes by next week.



Next I'll be using the Lasagna garden method to build up my soil and get it all healthy and nourished during the winter. It also provides amazing weed control so next year I basically just walk into my garden space and begin planting again. No digging, no tilling, no weeding.


I've already starting making a list of new veggies I'd like to add and expansion ideas for next year. I'd like to grow fresh lavender, more fresh herbs to dry and store, more leafy greens, and maybe grow just one crop in each raised bed so I can have plenty to can next year. One bed of tomatoes, one bed of green beans, one bed full of cucumbers for pickling and then one experimental bed for new or smaller crops.


Good news. My transplanted artichoke plant that spent the whole spring and summer recuperating from it's move from my mothers garden to mine, is sprouting beautiful new shoots and I'm looking forward to fresh artichokes on my dinner table.


How does YOUR garden grow?

Pumpkins Aren't Just For Carving

This was pumpkin carving week at our house. The kids picked four of the largest pumpkins they could find so you can imagine how much pumpkin guts and seeds we ended up with. Now, most everyone knows that pumpkin seeds can be roasted and salted for a great healthy snack.




We sorted the seeds from the goo, tossed them in a frying pan with a little olive oil and salt and toasted them up.




But that's not all you can do. We set aside a few hand fulls of seeds on a towel to dry overnight.




The next day when they were dry, we put them in an envelope....




Labeled them with the date....




and now we have seeds for next years pumpkins without the cost of a purchased seed packet.


So when you're carving your fall pumpkins, don't forget to save a few seeds for planting. They can be grown in a flower bed, or along the side of the house and your kiddos will love watching them get bigger and oranger for next years pumpkin carving day.

Garden Progress

I was asked a few days ago about my garden so I thought I'd post a few pictures.

I've still got some roma's.....

and cherry tomatoes growing.

A second round of summer squash. You can see two new ones growing here.

Some green beans...

Lots of basil...

Our pumpkins by the front door...

About two weeks ago I planted a second crop of carrots, broccoli, and lettuce, hoping to get one more harvest in before it turns cold. What's left in your garden?

The Easiest Way To Weed

I prepared a little video for you guys explaining my secret to weeding.




And no, the company did not send me a free one just to get me to talk about it. I just love the thing that much and think everyone who works in a garden or yard needs to spare themselves the back breaking labor and get one of THESE BABIES.

ok. i'm done being a nerd now.

For more WFMW tips go Here!

And if you already have one please share in the gushy love fest. I'd love to hear about how much you love yours.

Walk With Me In My Garden

All but one kid was gone this morning, a rare occurrence in this house. Hubs was downstairs doing work in his home office, Elijah was glued to a new video game that he recently bought with his hard earned lawn mowing dollars and I actually had free time. So I spent the morning in the garden.

Buttercrunch Lettuce

Squash

My first roma tomato of the season

I had mentioned I was going to try my hand at front yard gardening and here are some pictures.



This is my walk to the front door and if you look close under the window, you will find our pumpkin patch.



Out of at least a dozen seeds, we have three plants that actually survived. I chose pumpkins for the highly visible front yard because they just look so full and pretty when they are growing and I figured the vines will fill out my barren patch of dirt. Plus they will be so close to my front porch where they will become decorations during October and November before I turn them into pies.

What the heck is this? It doesn't look like a weed to me.

I also found a mystery plant in my garden beds that I can't identify and I need your help. I think it might be a pepper plant that decided to carry over from last year. Or maybe it's just a weed gone crazy. What do you think it is?

Garden Update

Well, it seems my homemade fence is a success. There was dear (or elk?) poop all around it when I went out to mow and weedwack today. Unfortunately I now have smaller critters to deal with. Almost all my lettuce, cucumber and green beans have been nibbled so I'll be taking a trip to my favorite garden store for some organic bug killer. If I could just wring their little necks I'd do it.

I did find out that to keep slugs off my plants I can circle them with crushed egg shells (thanks Berdie) which I always have on hand. So I went compost diving and dug them back out and crunched them up. It seems that the little slimy guys don't like to crawl over the sharp shells. Diatomaceous earth works well too but the egg shells were free.

I like free!

Also, while weed wacking I came across two mature kumquat trees in the back corner of our yard. I forgot we even had them under all those vines and weeds. So I cleaned them up, trimmed them and I'm looking forward to some Kumquat Marmalade this winter. They are a citrus fruit that blooms in the winter so I have no idea why some crazy person thought they could grow in Washington State.

Hello.....rain?

I've also been dabbling with some front yard gardening. I have all kinds of flower bed space in my front yard and while I like flowers, I would rather have edible plants growing. So I'm taking it one bed at a time and I've planted a pumpkin patch in the bed under our front window. I figure it's so close to the house that the deer and elk will leave it alone. It's where the kids (who are in charge of the pumpkins this year) are planting their starts and they are growing well.

So as soon as my garden doesn't look so pathetically nibbled I'll put up some pictures. Until then, I'm dreaming of fresh homegrown produce. I'm so envious of all you out there with longer growing seasons who are already getting to eat the fruits of your labor.

Leave me a comment and tell me how YOUR garden is growing.

Excuse Me While I Pat Myself On The Back

I finished my garden fence today. This was no small feat since I was on my own building it. It's way beyond my ability level to build stuff but I did it and I've been breaking my arm patting myself on the back today. It's definitely a girl fence but if it keeps the elk and deer out than I'm a happy girl. I should finally be able to get all my plants in the garden tomorrow.

Been cooking this yummy Crockpot Mac & Cheese today for the rest of the family while I'm off tonight helping a friend run through a dress rehearsal for her dance studio. (See my recipe in my previous Menu Plan Monday post.)

Hope your day has been productive!

How To Start Your Veggie Seeds Indoors

This is a rerun JUST because I realized I needed to start my tomatoes in the next few weeks. So if you're starting to think about your garden yet...and you should be....then let's get started soon!

Oooh I love spring. Spring to a Washingtonian means respite from the gray, wet, gloomy winter and a little bit of sunshine to glow off our pasty white skin. It also means fresh laundry on the clothesline and sprouting seeds for my garden.

I've been working on starting my seeds over the past few weeks and just in case you want to get your garden going, I though I'd post how we do it.

First of all, starting your seeds indoors about four weeks before you plant them in your garden is a good way to save money. Starting from seed means not only having control over the soil that your plants start growing in (think organic versus chemical fertilizers) but it is also much cheaper because nursery grown starts are marked up at least 200% more than the cost of your seed and potting soil.

I start my seeds indoors so they are well established and hearty before they are moved outside in the elements. There are some seeds I start directly in the ground like carrots but for the most part I give my veggies a healthy start in my nice climate controlled house.

First I find a nice sunny window for my plants to sit by. I happen to have a giant unfinished window seat in my house that I use for this but any window ledge or table placed in front of a window that gets several hours of daylight is a good place to use.

I make my seedling pots with black and white print newspaper not only because it's free but because when planting time comes I can just plop the whole thing into the hole. The newsprint will decompose and enrich my soil in the process. You can find out how to make the pots HERE. Then I fill the pots with potting soil and plant my seed to the depth it says on the packet.

Then I use clear plastic bins to set the plants in and give them a good watering. The bins not only protects the surface of my window seat but it also lets the light in better than a colored bin and serves as a bit of a greenhouse as the sun heats it up. The deeper walls protect the tall plants from being knocked over by kids, flying pillows from pillow fights or stray balls that get bounced in the house when I'm not looking.

I label the bins with the name of the plant as well as the date that I started the plants. This helps me to keep track of which plants I have in each bin and when it's time for them to go outside. Then I lightly water them every other day and watch them grow. It usually takes about 6 days for them to poke through and by four weeks you'll have a mini-jungle in your window, ready to be transplanted outside.

I'm no expert on gardening. I've only been doing it for a handful of years. I started with two or three plants the first year and each year I add a new plant. That seemed doable to me as a beginner and I've just kept that tradition up over the years. This year we have green beans, peas, squash, pickling cucumbers, a variety of lettuce and tomatoes, carrots, pumpkins, broccoli, and our new seed.....watermelon.

I can't wait to sink my teeth into my own low-cost produce and put my savings towards other things like meat and dairy products.