April Showers

It was quite an uneventful day in the garden today. The April showers have started and it's going to be off and on all weekend - total bummer.

I did put on a coat and hat and made my way outside a few times today to check on my greenhouse full of peppers, tomatoes, marigolds, eggplants, herbs, and cucumbers. Amazing everything seems to do better when the weather is rainy and warm.

8 sunflowers have sprouted in the cucumber patch. I realized I need more if I plan to use them as a trellis for the cucumbers. I think this idea is going to look really pretty when everything is in full bloom and the bees will love the flowers.

The kids played a lot of play dough and crafts. This keeps them busy for hours. Give them a rolling pen, some cookie cutters and a clear working space and they are immersed in there work. While they played it gave me a few minutes to sketch out some more ideas for the greenhouse/office. If you follow me on Pinterest you are probably seeing a few ideas I have pinned. I am just combining all the elements I like and drawing up some plans.

I do have a quick tip to share today. I really don't know why this idea has never popped in my head before.

When prepping a jar of homemade chicken broth for the freezer I cut some notebook paper to fit under the ring of my mason jar then labeled with the contents and date.

Totally easy and I can see at a glance what I have and the date I threw it in the freezer. It also saves time when washing, no more scrubbing permanent marker off lids or jars.

How do you label jars? What kind of system do you have when organizing your freezer? Leave a comment, I love to hear from you!

Hope you all had a wonderful Spring day where you are!

DIY - Building a Greenhouse/Office

How was everyone's Easter?
Ours was fantastic. We did our traditional egg hunt, had our family over, and delicious food was served, which we ate too much of. We played tag with the kids and worked in the garden making a new compost area.


While in the process of making the yards more permaculture friendly we have decided to build a greenhouse. It has actually morphed into an office, potting shed, greenhouse.
We have been getting a few ideas from "Your Homemade Greenhouse and How to Build it" by Jack Kramer. You can see our rough sketches of the elements we would like.

 Some of the ideas we have are a seed drying area (I am a hoarder of heirloom seeds), office area, potting bench, a 5x6 greenhouse attached with running water, storage area for garden tools and chicken feed. We are also running power out there since most of the time we will use the green house in the middle of winter when it gets darker earlier.

You can see the more detailed sketch of our idea.

We are still in the early planning stages. We do hope to have the shell and greenhouse up and running by December. In the meantime I will work on the planning and save the seeds from this years crop for a bigger crop of heirlooms next year.

Any of you have a greenhouse/potting shed? What elements are you favorite about it?

Happy Gardening!

Making Cards and Other Stuff

I have found a new addiction Pinterest. Fun and awesome all at the same time. I would be on there all the time if I didn't have family or an artsy crafty hobby to tend to.

Anyway I have been busy in the garden since my green house blew over and I had to start my seedlings all over. It was worth the wait. I have so many chilies and tomatoes I will have to sell them so they don't get thrown into the compost.

Extra money never hurt a hobby!

I started dabbling in card making. I was inspired by Helen (Scott's aunt) who makes wedding invitations. They are so beautiful.
I am no way going to do wedding invites but basic card making I can do...I love glue and glitter and gluing little things together. And drawing. When I have more me time I might actually get back into drawing, I am pretty good.
I make basic blank cards for Thank You notes, love letters, break up threats...you can actually write whatever you desire because they are blank and well, I just decorate them for you. I sell them in sets of 7 cards with envelopes and each set has a theme. Allison (above) is photographing the theme pack "Thank God I'm a Country Girl.
You can get the cowgirl boot custom glittered in your favorite color!!!

Check out my Etsy shop to browse. I have many more things coming soon. Baby items, because I sew too. So maybe patch work baby quilts, pillowcase dresses...

My mind in over run with craft ideas (thank Microsoft for the post it notes on the desktop), just wish I had more time in the day, but then again, don't we all.

An Experiment

Scott bought me a very small, but invaluable asset to my obsession with starting all my plants from seed.

As you can see it was a rainy day. None better than to take pictures of my germinating seeds. All the seeds were planted on Monday. Before the storm.

In every pot there are 2 seeds, except the basil. They are such tiny seeds that I just added a pinch. When it comes to thinning I will have to figure something out.

I chose a lot of heirloom varieties like this Sebastopol Tomato. The story goes that the seeds were held onto by a lady for 70 years. Just had to try. I wish I had planted  a few more San Marzano Tomatoes though. I like can sauce and salsa for winter and it would be nice to do some plain tomatoes of this tasty kind.

I also did a few standard veggies, California Wonder Bell Peppers, Straight Eight Cucumber and Black Beauty Eggplant, all of which I plan to sell at my roadside market this summer.

Has anyone tasted a Cherokee Purple tomato? What is the flavor and the best use for it? Sandwiches? Salads? or Just off the vine warmed by the sun?