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Recent Entries to this Blog
Time Flies
Posted: 12 Jan 2012 Posted: 07 May 2010 Posted: 20 Dec 2009 Posted: 03 Dec 2009 Posted: 14 Sep 2009 All Entries |
lulu1107's Blog
Time Flies
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 7:44 pm Wow! It has BEEN a while! I guess I don't multitask as well as I have always thought I did. In May, 2010 I was swept off my feet and fell madly in love, starting a whirlwind roller coaster ride of a relationship that lasted almost a year. Funny, one of the things that brought us together was my love of gardening and his love of unique foods. He would walk past my two fig trees in front and knock on the front door with the remnants of a fresh fig in his hand. We'd kiss hello and I'd hand him some freshly dried tomatoes to taste, or an Asian pear, or a taste of something fresh cooking. Next, I dated a fellow gardener, but we spent most of our time at HIS house!! With dates hitting three plus days per week, my garden was feeling the pinch. Yes, thankfully, a lot of my plantings are permanent or perennial, so they had been well established and were fine. Still, the guilt crept in, as well it should! This year I am hoping to finally be able to mesh my passion for gardening with my newest hobby of dating! There are raised beds to use now and I will employ every time-saver I can to be able to enjoy the fruits and vegetables of my labor, without compromising my life in the world outside the garden.. This blog entry has been viewed 723 times
Anticipation...Anticipay-ay-tion is making me wait...keeping
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 6:45 pm The long winter is over. Camping indoors in front of the online dating sites, looking wistfully at the Raintree catalog and with regret at the several feet of snow outside has given way to SPRING!!!!!!! My daycare children share my love of gardening. We have had our cool season garden planted (and added to on an almost daily basis) since early April. Our first window box salad is now on our plates. Of course, my 23 year old son and I had to test out all of the great salad fixings first...just to make sure there was nothing wrong with any of it!!!! I casually mentioned to my son that the lettuce is ready to eat, then found myself in the middle of an invitation to make a great salad with it. So... I puttered around the herb garden and the yard and added basil, oregano, parsley, walking onion stalk, carrots, kale, perpetual spinach,and Italian dandelion to the window box lettuce. The only thing that wasn't from the garden (besides the peppercorn Ranch dressing) was the pickled pepper rings. I reminisced to my son that he had "tasted" this for the first time when I had been pregnant with him. "Yeah, I remember!", he smiled! This blog entry has been viewed 176 times
Winter Gardening...I Guess It'll Do for Now
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 7:19 pm It's been hard saying goodbye to the garden for another few months. There are ways to try to recreate the joy and bliss of gardening outdoors.... I started a sprout garden inside. I discovered that a LOT of things will make great sprouts..like the garlic chives that have reseeded in my herb garden every year! I researched the topic and found that fennel, basil, all kinds of brassicas, lentils and lots more are great as sprouts. Broccoli is many times more nutritious as a sprout than as a full grown vegetable. My gears are turning...can I pull off the feat of making pesto from basil sprouts?!!!! Another way to keep up the gardening is to crank up the 'ol Aerogarden again. I just can't get the pump working again. How about microgreens in a shallow pan of light soil INDOORS? Of course, the ultimate boost is to rummage through the freezer and discover a lost stash of dried tomatoes (yes, I freeze them after drying...suspenders and a belt, I guess) or sweet blackberries. Yes, many of the trees and bushes are bare, but I did my homework when I put all of this in...mixing evergreens with deciduous, adding grasses, bushes that kept berries into the late fall, etc. There may not be any flowers (except the lavender and marigolds), but the husband and wife Cardinals are a beautiful and engaging replacement. Soon I'll walk around the yard, gathering rosemary, holly, bittersweet and pine boughs to decorate the porch and windows the way people used to. I feel better already! This blog entry has been viewed 262 times
Switching Gears
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 11:04 pm My daycare kids and I took down much of our sunflower maze, harvesting the huge heads of seeds as we went. I cut big lengths of the stalks for them to carry, drag, and otherwise play with. Then they helped me put them in the compost pile. After all that, we put our sunflower heads on a table in the sun to await further instructions! (I need to quick research how to properly dry and roast the seeds.) We will be roasting sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds this week. MMMMM! Next to harvest will be the amaranth. They say you can pop it, as well as bake it or serve it like a porridge or even like a rice. I'll look into that, too. One of my new students is allergic to a LOT of things, including corn, so we may just have stumbled on a replacement for popcorn! We will be very careful to research it first, then try only a little until we know its effect on him. I can't wait to taste popped amaranth! Fennel seeds are ripening nicely. Too bad the squirrels got most of the fruit, that would've gone nicely together. I finally gave up on nursing the old sour cherry tree. It had been coaxed back, giving us quart after quart of cherries and still leaving plenty for the birds, but, as the last two years came and went, it became too much of a struggle. The canker had girdled the tree, so I hired one of my tutoring students to chop it down, just like good ol' George Washington supposedly did! No regrets. This is all part of the circle of life...Yes I will compost anything I can't use in my wood stove! This blog entry has been viewed 250 times
A Sad End to a Great Friendship
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:17 pm A horrible accident befell our butterflies yesterday, on the day they were to be released. It's so sad. I had been acclimating them to the outdoors by putting them near outside or actually outside in a shaded area. My daycare kids and I had studiously prepared ourselves for the honor of being their care givers. We watched the instructional video that came with the caterpillar kit. We kept referring to the little information pamphlet. We even googled information on Painted Ladies butterflies. We even kept logs of their progress! As usual, I had lovingly set the butterflies outside...this time on the front porch. It gets very little sun in the early part of the day and, when the sun got to the point of being direct they would have been protected under the table that sits there. Kyle (my 8 year old nephew), worried about his little friends, moved them to a shady spot by the front door. This spot only stays shady for a short time. A couple of hours later, while heading out to check the mail in the 90 plus degree heat, I exclaimed in horror that they were dead. (They were all exposed to the sun and laying on the bottom of the little "butterfly hotel.") Of course I realized instantly that I shouldn't have let Kyle hear that. So, I did the only thing I could. I said I'd open the habitat outside and leave them in a shady place to recoup...."Perhaps they were just stunned." Then I quietly and gently placed them in the mint garden to 'rest in peace', being careful to hide them. The next part is just short of LYING! I came inside and proudly showed Kyle the empty butterfly habitat. He assumed they had recouped and flown off. I plan to let him believe that because it would devastate him to know he caused their demises. He was riddled with guilt as it was. We did, however have a serious talk about checking with the grown up at all times about whether or not an action will be safe or not. I did so wish they could have had their freedom. What do they say about good intentions and roads? Last edited: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:20 pm This blog entry has been viewed 295 times
All Aflutter...Almost
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 11:48 am Well...I never do things the easy way...but that makes life fun, albeit a bit messy. As far as I'm concerned, it a child shows interest in a subject, we will learn about it. Over the years I've become a temporary expert on jets, tanks, snakes, sharks, dinosaurs, all because a child led the way. Our eldest daycare student, Kyle, age 8, is now into caterpillars. It started about 2 weeks ago, when he discovered a very unique, extremely fuzzy tan caterpillar on our outside climber. He immediately became attached and literally adopted it! Of course he wanted to put it in a jar or a coffee can and "take care of it". I don't even want to think of the countless little creatures that have died that way, baking outside...forgotten in the hot sun. So, I suggested that Kyle find a nice home for the caterpillar in the oak tree that towers over the climber. I said he probably would eat that kind of leaf. Kyle was not prepared for the little guy to disappear amongst the leaves...He literally grieved for the rest of the day. Always one for finding a solution, I suggested that we order some caterpillars or google the kinds that are found in MD and look for some more. After two weeks, our Painted Ladies caterpillars came. We are even keeping cute little logs about their progress! Its a great activity for all of the kids. Yesterday the caterpillars started forming their chrysalids and will be moving to their new "digs", the butterfly house. The kids are excited, the moms are a bit grossed out, but tolerant! Kyle even found two more little black caterpillars yesterday! They were respectfully left outside at the end of our play time. We still check the parsley and fennel every day for Black Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillars, but, probably due to those long weeks of coolness and rain, none yet. I think we should try ladybugs the next time... then I'll build up to being able to do the same with Praying Mantes, without screaming or making a face! I'm glad Aiden, one of the two witnesses to Jake the Snake, is perfectly happy with his growing collection of TOY snakes! This blog entry has been viewed 231 times
Hands Across the Water..Hands Across the Sea
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 12:22 am (Like the old Paul McCartney song goes...) I have been researching permaculture as it relates to vegetables and have discovered some incredible things! I googled perennial vegetables and eventually tripped over some names that weren't the standard items one usually sees on that list. When I saw Good King Henry and found out it was basically like a year round spinach, I was intrigued. A little later, after more goggling....Perennial Broccoli...WHAT?!!!! Yep, a plant called Nine Star.To me it seemed like a cauliflower and some have called it that. (Even better!) I was impressed! Then came Perennial Kale. Amazing! As I got deeper into this world of unusual perennials, I began seeing more and more UK and French websites and forums.... So I had a chat with a few people on an Irish forum. Someone on that forum was searching for perennial veggies, so she and I exchanged info. So, here I am, wondering how you mail a seed order form to BC, Canada, the wonderful nursery that has most of these unusual perennials. I'll find out tomorrow at the post office! This blog entry has been viewed 417 times
A Child's Mini Wonder House!
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 2:39 pm I've been trying to add more play places to our back yard. Money is always a factor, so no fancy stuff. The other day I found a great idea. It's basically for a willow or forsythia house! The cool thing is that it is a year round structure. The article I read said that seasonal dooryard gardens could be planted next to its "door", an opening. In fact, why not make a vine door out of a piece of lattice or something? The door would not move and would be open, but it would add to the effect. Depending on the time of year, bulbs, annuals,etc. could be in the little dooryard garden. If the willows had an internal pvc pipe support, or had some willow branches added for horizontal support, perhaps some windows and all-weather curtains could be added. Very small bushes could even adorn the "front yard" of the structure. I favor the non-flowering structure ideas, to be sure there are minimal encounters with bees in an enclosed area. Positioned near the Sunflower maze,it would provide hours of fun! I hope I fit!!!! This blog entry has been viewed 218 times
The Supreme Compliment
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 2:24 pm Over the Independence Day weekend I did what I'm used to doing...I worked and puttered. Friday and Saturday were spent literally clowning around (I'm a clown) at local events. Believe it or not,several hours in a full clown costume in the sun, face painting and making balloons may be a lot of fun, but it's tiring! So, what did I do to relax afterwards? I puttered in the garden with my three dogs close by. Now that's bliss. Of course there was a lot of sitting and watching the garden grow, too! Several of the neighbors were having a get-together on their back deck next door. The first thing on my agenda was to harvest. So there I was, in my comfortably frumpy garden clothes, with cucumbers and squash hanging out of the pockets! There's nothing better than having several hours to play in the dirt! This group of neighbors is actually focused around 4 men who love to compete with each other, share great ideas, talk sports and yard work...etc. The women kind of group together and the men do the same. When I first moved here 10 years ago I knew next to nothing about yard work and gardening. Slowly I have learned and am still learning. As I was busying myself in the garden on the 4th I was honored with the recognition that these neighbor guys usually reserve for each other. It was brief and simple, but a nice surprise.... One of the neighbors announced that I could grow anything (I wish) and he asked me how I do it.I was so honored I could only smile and stammer. He announced that I needed to come and touch all of their gardens (some sort of a good luck charm, I guess! The funny part is that they all have fantastic vegetable gardens! As someone who is self-emplayed and who kind of stays to herself, it was nice to get some recognition...although I garden for other, perhaps more selfish reasons...the joy of plucking a fresh fruit or veggie and popping it into my mouth!...Or, the serene, beautiful green private world that a garden creates...Still...it was nice to be one of "the guys" for a brief moment! This blog entry has been viewed 201 times
When Life Gives You Lemons...Make Lemonade!
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:49 pm You know the expression... When life gives you lemons. How true it has been for me! As a self-employed person, I've had to think outside of the box many times. So...what to do about the fact that I went through yet another spring without being successful at growing cabbage, brussels sprouts and cauliflower? Actually, the broccoli didn't do well, either. Hmmmm.... I've researched things and I have at least two factors against me...soil that tends to be acidic, due to the nearby oak (I may not be liming enough to compensate), and the garden probably is infected with clubroot. Could white fly also be a problem? There are a couple of ways to handle this... One, put together a raised bed elsewhere. Okay, that's on the agenda for late summer (fall garden).Two, eat the plants as sprouts instead. Why not just sprout them?! Aparently broccoli sprouts are quite a bit more nutritious than their full-grown counterparts. Problem solved.Yippie!!! This blog entry has been viewed 247 times
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