Summer Flowers

A small sampling from our garden:

Nite Nite!

After a wave of Tyler photos, I couldn't resist posting this one before I go to bed.

Sweet dreams Little One. Good Night all, and may God bless you!

I Love the Flower Boy!

Tyler and Paul have a morning routine that never varies. Once Julie or I have fed him breakfast, Tyler and his Grandaddy go out into the garden to see the flowers. Invariably, Tyler comes in the house with a flower that Grandaddy picked for him.

Cicadas!

We have just ended a rare experiece - the emergence of the 17 year cicadas. We had hundreds of them in our yard and in our town. Although it was not pleasant walking down the sidewalk, trying to avoid them (they were everywhere), they are certainly interesting critters. When Julie was 3 years old, we took a picture of her with one of them on a stick. Now we have a photo of her son, with a cicada that had landed on him without us realizing it. Tyler was on his way up for a nap when Paul saw the cicada on his hand. We got some good photos before we set the cicada free.

A cicada on a tiny hand - "Quick Grandma, Get the camera!"

"Careful Baby, don't squash him!"

During our strolls together (which Tyler and I continued in spite of the many cicadas we had to maneuver around), I often thought about how odd the world must be to the cicada. To emerge after such a long time. It was a sort of insect Brigadoon!

Square Foot Gardening

I have been very busy with woodwork refinishing and gardening, which explains my absence from here! I am using a method of gardening called Square Foot Gardening. We started this two years ago, and with each year it gets better and better. Paul built two more boxes this year. I am happy to say that we are enjoying the first fruits of this garden:

Radishes

Here is the garden:

Paul is going to finish laying the garden blocks down in the back.

I need to plant more seeds!

And here is a close up of the first square I planted:

In the corners: Flowers

Foreground: Carrots

Middle Front: Beets

Left side: Sugar Snap Peas

Right Side: Radishes

Back: Lettuces and Leeks

I have been methodical about writing down not only what I planted when, but I have also been calculating the projected harvest dates as well. So I have a separate page called "Harvest 2007" that has the weeks of summer and what will be ready during that particular week. I had to use a calendar and the seed packets to calculate the harvest dates. It did not take all that long, and now all I have to do is consult the Harvet Schedule each week to see what I can pick!

In the Garden!

Today I worked for a long time in the garden. No white dress however! I was in my gardening ensemble, which is clothing that does not mind getting dirty. I was trying to get a photo of an elusive cardinal who feeds from our birdfeeder. I had no luck, so instead took some photos of spring beauty in the backyard.

Lilac

Tulip

Honeysuckle

Cheddar Chive Muffins

This morning I made a recipe for breakfast that we all enjoy often. It's actually a muffin recipe, given to me by my sister, but we always make it in a cast iron skillet and cut it in wedges. It is delicious, and even more so now that we can include fresh chives from our garden that survived the cold winter.

Here's the recipe:

1 and 1/4 cup milk (or milk substitute)
3/4 cup mashed potato flakes
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 and 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 TBSP sugar (or other sweetener)
2 TBSP chives
1 TBSP parsley flakes (optional)
1 TBSP baking powder
1 tsp salt

Heat milk in a saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in potato flakes. Let stand for about 2 minutes, then whip with a fork until smooth. Let cool slightly. Turn into a medium mixing bowl. Beat in egg, oil, and cheese. Combine remaining ingredients and stir into potato mixture just until moistened (batter will be thick). Put into a greased muffin pan (or use paper muffin cups to line the muffin pan) or into a large, greased, cast-iron skillet. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm. Enjoy!