Weekend Gratitude

This weekend we took a trip to Central Oregon--my homeland. It's been nearly two years since we've made the trek, and oh was it good for my soul. Good to connect with family and friends, and with the place itself. The fresh air, the high altitude, the big blue skies, the clean streams, the scent of pine and sage and juniper, the high desert flora and fauna.

Feeling grateful for...

...the gracious farmers Jim and Debbie at Fields Farm who took time to show us their endeavors to grow food for Central Oregonians in a high desert climate (cold, dry, and sandy), and to answer our many questions.

...the sight of my daughter walking through the same meadow and aspen grove I learned to love as a child

...the sound of those aspen leaves rustling in the breeze, and the low coo of the mourning dove

...road trips over mountain passes with John Denver on the stereo (and only a little protesting from the toddler!)

...coming home to good neighbors and a garden suddenly taller, lusher, and full of veggies to harvest.

...hard working fathers--Happy Father's day (belated)!

Around the garden

Time for our weekly survey of the garden--thanks to Farmama for the tradition!

These poor ladies, all cooped up in their coop. Hopefully we'll be able to let them out to roam the garden soon, when the tender seedlings grow a bit more sturdy. In the mean time they get healthy supplements of weeds and slugs.

First strawberries this week! All gobbled up by the toddler before they make it to the house.

The peppers were the last of the seedlings to get planted out. So late this year, and it's still just cool and wet and dreary.

First nasturtiums. They reseed themselves and spring up every year around our front walkway. A cheerful welcome.

Poppies are about to pop!

And now for this dreadful eyesore. We discovered leaf miner eggs on our beets and chard this week, so decided to try covering them with an insect barrier fabric. I was resistant to allowing such an ugly unnatural abomination into the garden, but after tasting our first delectable beets yesterday, I decided it was worth it. The leaf miners destroyed our beets and chard last year, and nothing we tried to control them worked. So we found this row cover material at Johnny's Seeds--it's called Agribon--you can see it here. It's an experiment, and it's ugly, but if it means we get to eat home grown beets and chart this year, I'll take it! Anyone have experience with row covers in small home gardens?

This week brought several tasty additions to our meals--garlic scapes (first time I've ever tried them--yum!) sauted with pasta and scrambled with eggs, rhubarb in sauce and muffins, beets in Luscious Beet Salad from my favorite cookbook Feeding the Whole Family--such a delicious recipe! Not to mention all the fresh herbs--cilantro, sage, basil, parsley, thyme, oregano, rosemary...such a delight to have these plants growing out the back door.

Happy gardening!

Summer capris (aka hobbit pants)

Time for more toddler pants! Sometimes it seems they're the only thing I sew. They do have a way of working up to the top of the to-do list simply by necessity, as store-bought pants never seem to fit my little one. It also seems that most of the shorts out there these days are very short, and don't provide any coverage for sun protection or knee-scrapes.

So I made up these hobbit length pants for our little curly headed kiddo who, when wearing said pants, appears to have just walked out of the shire.

I used the same Quick Change Trousers pattern from Anna Maria Horner that I've used for every pair of pants since I bought her book. Instead of making them reversible, I just used one layer. The double layer of the reversible pants is a little heavy for warm summer days (warm summer days, where are you?) I also left out the back yoke for simplicity's sake, and shortened them up for beach walks and breeziness.

I also tried my hand at front pockets for the first time. I used this great tutorial from Dana at Made. I altered the pocket pattern to make it small enough for the amount of fabric I had left. The fabric for the blue pants is the remainder of a piece I found at Scrap, and the khakis are from a thrifted pillow case. She had a smaller pair from the matching pillow case last summer, and they were her most worn pants. They matched everything, hid the dirt, and were light and airy and soft and comfy. There are so many patterns out there for pillow case dresses, but they work great for little pants too. If you cut them right, you don't even have to hem them!

Summer days, we're ready for you!

Soothing Nap Tea

A few years ago, I naively bought one little German chamomile plant, and one little lemon balm and planted them in the backyard. They would be nice herbal additions to my garden, I thought. This was before I realized their vigor and fecundity. Every year since then, these nice little herbs have spread their seed throughout the garden, establishing themselves as forces to be reckoned with--cheerful and sweet-smelling forces at that.

 

Lately I've been trying to replace my coffee and cookie nap time snack with something more healthful and soothing. I had been wanting to make tea from the backyard herbs but wasn't really sure how to go about it.

One day when I was out surveying the garden, I plucked a sprig of lemon balm and a few chamomile blossoms.  

I came inside and put on a pot of water to boil, covered the herbs with the water, and let them steep for a few minutes.  

And that was all! Fresh delicious herbal tea, reviving and calming both.  Since then I've made it in the evening, too, and my husband has started requesting it. Both lemon balm and chamomile are traditionally held to be calming for the nervous system and digestion--a helpful quality for frazzled mothers (and fathers) of toddlers.

When thinking about the effect herbs have on us humans, I like to observe the qualities of the plants themselves. It's encouraging to see how chamomile and lemon balm, with their subtle and soothing traits, are so hearty and profuse in their growth habits. We think of peace and calm as being passive and weak, but these herbs are strong and assertive. And I like to think that as they work in our bodies, they bring that strength as well as the calm--a strong peace that won't be easily shaken by the day's worries and stress. 

Wishing you peace and strength today!

Weekend Finds

It's been a lucky weekend...

...for I found

~ a fabulous stash of fabric scraps (in a cool jar) plus those four wonderful books and a few other treasures that wouldn't fit in the picture...all for a pittance at a generous crafter's yard sale

~some early morning peace and light on a solo walk through the park

~enough sunshine in these partly sunny skies to dry the sheets on the line and share a meal or two outside

~and a few unhurried moments to sit and reflect on it all.

Wishing you a bit of luck in the days ahead...

Around the garden

Joining in again this week with Farmama for a walk around the garden...

 Aren't these garlic scapes fascinating? This is our first year growing garlic, so this phenomenon is new to me. So elegant, like swans.

 The carrots are growing slowly but surely. These are Bolero, from Territorial Seeds. We tried some Scarlet Nantes, too, but their germination was very poor.

 We got the twine up for the bean teepee.

 More irises blooming, and several of these little critters (anybody know what they are? I need to do some research)

 First peas popping out!

 Sunny yarrow is blooming.

And the delicate but hearty rock rose just started blooming this week, too.

Happy gardening, everyone!

Around the garden

Time for Thursday's garden check in...

In honor of these first days of June, our June Snow Dogwoods have started blooming:

 We planted these trees in our parking strip with the help of Friends of Trees a few months after we moved in to this house 4 years ago, and they have flourished. So satisfying to feel them growing strong and establishing themselves in this place.

Here's a macro look at the backyard:

 The former lawn site is starting to take shape as a vegetable garden...still takes some imagination, though!

 Garlic is coming along! This is the first year we tried growing garlic...so far so good. Hopefully we'll be able to harvest it in another month or so.

 Kale is calling out to us--Pick me pick me!

 And I can't wait for these beets to be ready. Last year our beets (and chard and spinach) were destroyed by leaf miners...I'm hoping we'll get a few good ones harvested before the bugs find them.

 Blueberries already plumping up!

 This is the broccoli (or kale, I'm not sure which) that I direct-sowed to replace the chicken massacre. I wonder how long they will elude the slugs...

 I'm very excited about this future bean tee pee. I always saw them in gardening magazines when I was growing up and thought it would be so fun to have a tee pee made of beans! They're Kentucky Wonders.

We transplanted out the tomatoes a couple weeks ago and they seem to be recovering from the initial shock now.  It has been another long cold wet spring, and summer is being awfully coy. Please sunshine, stay awhile?

Squash would like some sun, too, please. We tried starting these inside and transplanted them out last weekend. We've never had luck direct sowing them, so hopefully this will help!

 No sunshine, but maybe this first cheery marigold blossom will do. From seed I saved last fall!

Slim pickin's in the hoop house these days. Just the heat lovers, and curious little gardeners! Have you seen the children's book The Curious Garden, by Peter Brown? Inspiring story, especially for those of us who live in the city.

Happy gardening!