May 23rd

May 23rd, 2011

This photo is sadly kind of blurry, but I love the way that my bulbs are coming back this year! We planted a few new things, but mostly all this green is coming back from last year. Also, I love how nice my Mother's Day hanging baskets are looking.

May 18th

May 18th, 2011

Today we spent a lot of time trying to catch up on the to do list (which seems to always be what we do for the first week after a semester ends).

We had lots of yard stuff on the to do list. While we were at the store getting supplies I finally found a bird feeder that I liked. I have been wnating to get one for a while, but haven't found one I liked. We hung it and it was fun to see the birds start coming to get food! I put it where the dogs can see it from thier favorite stop on the foot of my bed in case they decide the like to watch the birds!

May 7th

May 7th, 2011

Today was the first Farmer's Market here in Sun Prairie. There weren't very many stalls set up, but there was a great selection of organic veggies, herbs and flowers! It was great!

May 6th

May 6th, 2011

The flowers are blooming! I have been jealously watching my neighbors flowers bloom, and finally mine ahve popped out some color! That's what you get for having your flowers in the shade! But, I had to use the sunny space for growing food!

August 18th

August 18th, 2010

Today Jonathan harvested stuff from the garden while I was at work. Dion made spaghetti squash and home made tomoatoes for dinner, so Jonathan pulled everything red off the plants so that he would have enough. Turns out he had enough to start with so now we have a big pile of tomatoes that Jonathan harvested today. Also yesterday our neighbor came over and gave us her CSA box for the week. What an awesome gift! Corn and potatoes and carrots and cherry tomatoes.

So about the picture. Jonathan picked some squash blossoms today, and when Nicholas and I got home tonight they had them for a snack. I love that they enjoy eating them so much!

August 14th

August 14th, 2010

Today we had a very special lunch. I like to call it Sspancakes... Strawberry Squash Blossom Pancakes. Jonathan liked calling them squash cakes. They came out pretty well. I wasn't very adventuresome with the batter, I just used bisquick and mixed it according to the directions on the box. Then I mixed in sliced strawberries and chopped squash blossoms. I served them with the maple syrup we got in March when we went to the maple syrup farm.

The one in the picture is mine cooking. The boys both had some too. Jonathan loved them. Nicholas did too. But Nicholas was pretty funny. I gave him his plate and waited for him to eat half. Then asked him if he liked it. He said that it was super tasty. Then Jonathan told him what was in it. Nicholas's face fell, and his lip pouted and he started trying to cry because he didn't want me to put squash blossoms in them. The whole time he was still putting more pancake in his mouth. When I pointed out that he was enjoying the pancakes and liked them, he decided not to cry about it, and immediatley got over it. What a crazy kid!

August 13th

August 13th, 2010

Technically this picture was taken last night. I finally decided to take the big spaghetti squash off the vine. Hopefully it is ripe. There are a few more babies out there so if I did it wrong, I can learn from my mistake and pull it off at the right time next time. When I looked it up to see what the books said about harvesting winter squash, it said something about the vine color and hardness... time will tell. Jonthan is hoping I cook it soon!

August 11th

August 11th, 2010

This week our family did some cat sitting. Jonathan and Nicholas were very enthusiastic helpers. They were determined to get the cats to play. The cats weren't so sure about their new friends though. But, Jonathan did convince Pekoe to play with this mouse tied to a ribbon, and Nicholas got creative and got the cat to chase his dancing fingers.

We also got to get a bunch of ripe stuff out of the garden since the cats weren't able to pick peppers and tomatoes! We see a lot of salsa in our future with the pile of tomatoes we have at our house now! It is a very colorful bunch. Our tomatoes are all red, but the ones that we brought home today are yellow, purple, orgnge and brown... not a red one in the bunch!

August 9th

August 9th, 2010

Another garden crop. This is the very next trip out to the garden from the last one I put up. We love the little tomatoes they dissapear. They come from two different plants, one is a cherry plant, and one I have no idea. I thought I planted a roma plant but they don't seem to be romas... I think they might be grape? Whatever they are they are tasty, and not quite as sweet as the cherry tomatoes. The big ones are great too. We have been having a lot of sandwiches for lunch, and sometimes even dinner, because they are just so tasty with the fresh tomato slices! Mmm. Maybe I will go home and have some freshed tomato slices right now. Sounds like a good lunch!

August 4th

August 4th, 2010

Is it time for another garden picture yet? I think it is!

Every time I pick stuff from the garden I take a picture of it (well almost everytime... sometimes when I pick something with the express purpose of giving it away I forget to snap a picture of my haul). This is what I got on my trip out today. I try to go out every other day or so to get whatever is ripe. I am glad that we had tomatoes today because we ran out at dinner tonight... this should hold us off until I go back out again on Friday.

I know that the squash could have used a few more days on the vine, but I was taking advantage of the low mosquito population today to do some vine rearranging, and so I pulled these off so that they didn't get damaged in the process (I am sure they will ripen up just fine on the counter... still beats what you get at the grocery store!).

The leafy stuff is basil. The funny thing is that our basil is smelling kind of funny lately. It happens to be planted right next to some mint, and I think that there is some cross-pollination going on over there because or basil has the distinct odor of... you guessed it. Mint.

Also, happy birthday to Grammie Jeannie! We were all thinking of her today and are excited for her to come see us in just over a month!

July 29th

July 29th, 2010

Nicholas... tomato thief. He asked permission to go outside. Dion says to me, "Chris, did you know Nicholas is outside?" Why, yes. Yes, I did.

So I went over to the window to see what he was doing outside. This is what I found. Nicholas harvesting almost ripe tomatoes from the garden.

We had a little lesson on how red is red and how a ripe tomato is soft... before you press really hard on it.

We now have 5 partially ripe tomatoes sitting on the window ledge over our sink. Here's hoping they ripen.

Also, in related news. There is a cute video of Nicholas on You Tube. Go to You Tube then go to SkylineDriveInMovies channel, or search for Nicholas DeWald. It is called Nicholas DeWald problem solver.

July 20th

July 20th, 2010

Garden crop. I didn't have the patience to get beans, there are some ripe ones but there are just so many mosquitoes! I also have some almost ripe summer squash, and my spagettti squash are getting bigger!

This is really exciting today because this is our first full size red tomato ever! I can't wait to eat it! I will have to find something special to do with it..

July 13th

July 13th, 2010

This afternoon I braved the mosquitoes in the garden (and have plenty of mosquito bites to show for it). We have tons of green tomatoes, I can't wait for them to ripen. I have a few baby spaghettis squash and summer squash, and tons of cucumbers and beans. It is fun to have a garden that always has something to harvest! I do wish I could get rid of the swarms of mosquitoes...

June 26th

June 26th, 2010

Before I leave town again tomorrow to go to the ICLS Conference in Chicago, I thought I would take a photo of my garden. The plants sure are getting big... most of them aren't ready to harvest yet, but it has been fun to watch them progress. The boys will have to check them for me while I am gone, and hopefully we will have some stuff to eat during the two days I am back before we go to Costa Rica. If not, Mark will be enjoying some vegetables while we are gone!

June 21st

June 21st, 2010

When we got back from our trip it was one of my first priorities to check my garden (you know after I said Hi to Marley and all...).

We have some tomatoes right now, they are still green, but the plant shown in this photo is pretty prolific, and I can't wait to see them ripen!

May 31st

May 31st, 2010

We did lots of fun things today but by far the most exciting part happened just before bedtime. As I was opening the windows to cool off the house, I noticed that our peas appeard to be ready to eat. So the boys and I went out to see if we indeed had edible food in our garden ready to harvest. It was very exciting to eat our snap peas off the vine. They were delicious! What a great bedtime snack.

May 18th

May 18th, 2010

I finally built my trellises. Last year I kept meaning to do it, but never managed to get it done. This year though I promised myself that I wouldn't miss out. This one has tomato plants starting to move up it. I am so excited about how the garden is progressing so far this year! It isn't even memorial day!

May 17th

May 17th, 2010

Along with the service berry for the front yard we picked up some lilacs for the backyard. We planted them along the fence by the cemetary to add a bit of privacy, both for us and for the people visiting their loved ones!

May 16th

May 16th, 2010

When we decided to get rid of the HUGE evergreen in our front yard we knew we would replace it with a new tree. We decided on a serviceberry. They are pretty, ornamental and have edible fruit. We finally picked up our tree, but I couldn't decide where to put it. I took pictures of it in several places in our yard, and emailed our two favorites out to some friends. The overwhelming vote was for this location in front of Nicholas's window.

May 5th

May 5th, 2010

While I was gone my hostas seem to have grown. They are still small but they look so nice and happy and healthy!