Weekend in the garden

We are not gardeners. I definitely don't have a green thumb. However, I think gardening is one of those things you have to just keep doing until something works.

Last fall, we planted a little patch of salad greens - arugala, Swiss chard, kale, and spinach. The spinach was pretty sad and wimpy, the Swiss chard slow going, the arugala was OK, and the kale went crazy!

We have enjoyed such a mild winter, that most of this little patch is still working for us. We plan to plant some tomatoes, and perhaps some herbs. I love using fresh parsley in my homemade hummus!



This weekend we weeded and mulched our little salad garden. We planted two new Stuart pecan trees, and then watered and added compost around our other established fruit trees.  We also pruned back our blackberry bushes so they are ready to grow for blackberry season!

Every season we find ourselves going back to the same books for garden reference:



And now that we are incorporating the kids into the garden work more - and they are SO enthusiastic, I have a growing wishlist of resources for them as well:



What are you working on in your garden?

Back to the Blog

Hi.

It is February 1st and I really haven't "blogged" in a while, but that's ok. It happens.

We have been enjoying, and sometimes not enjoying, the ups and downs of the North Texas winter. 70's one day and 30's the next will drive anyone's nose to drip at an alarming rate. We have chickens. We love them. Really, they are awesome and you should get some too.




Our girls love them. And they lay eggs... giant eggs. Did I mention that the girls love them?




We made cards for Thanksgiving.



I spun some yarn... dyed by the lovely Dawn of Daybreak Dyeworks.



The girls colored pictures of chickens.




I spun some more.... Daybreak :)



And I bought some fiber... from Daybreak Dyeworks!



I cut up a quilt.



The girls busted out their water colors.

And I spun more Daybreak - surprise!



I washed a fleece.



Crocheted one of these crazy hats.





Made Helen cry by trying to take a picture of her new sweater... a Bulle.



And some other stuff... including...

Starting to read a couple books.

The Mission of Motherhood: Touching Your Child's Heart of Eternity by Sally Clarkson

and 

Our Lady of Fatima by William T. Walsh

Ordering a bunch of seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, so that we can pretend to be real farmers.

I also roasted a pretty darn good chicken last week (from the store, not the backyard)!

That is about it, welcome February!

September Garden & Chicken Update

September was all about our garden (though I knit quite a bit too!).

This month we did some major plantings, tended some seedlings, and started construction of our much anticipated chicken coop. Garden work is not cheap, but it is very rewarding!

I am attempting to cultivate my "green thumb" which for the most part has been pretty black in the past. I think I have had issues with a few of the realities of gardening...

1. you have to garden outside, it is dirty, there are bugs, and you can't knit while gardening.
2. you have to actually water your plants... this is a big one for me.



So, rather than tilling up a patch of soil, I am keeping it small and close to the backdoor where my little seedlings are easily watched and watered. This is a collection of purple pole beans, kale, and cabbage.



We also planted Swiss chard in the flower bed! It is doing well :)



On a larger scale, we are adding to our "orchard" with three blackberry bushes and two fig trees.



This fig tree over looks the chicken coop, and the second fig tree is planted in the chicken yard. I hear chickens go crazy for figs :)

Here is a look at the progress on our coop. With the help of our next door neighboor we were able to get all this done in just a couple of hours!











The coop is a "hoop-coop" style inspired by a lot of internet searches! Primarily this Egg Shaped Hoop Coop and this very serious Permanent Hoop Coop. We chose this style because in the Texas Heat we knew our chickens would need a lot of ventilation, it is also a fairly reasonably priced coop for the number of chickens it can house comfortably. We plan to start our flock with twelve birds.

Spring has come to Texas

I promise I have been knitting... and crocheting too!  However,  I can't seem to finish anything... so I need to get an "On My Needles" post together soon.

In the mean time, we are enjoying spring.  And, lots of winter rain means lots of spring flowers this year.


Purple Salvia, reseeded for a third year on its own!


One of our newest rose bushes, rescued from the Walmart clearance rack two falls ago.


Forgot its name "fire-bush-thing".


Very exciting BABY PEARS!!!!


Just starting to bloom amaryllises.


And, a really nice place to swing my babies. Love that tree.

Tons of Zucchini

Friday I found myself the happy acceptor of a huge bag of giant homegrown zucchini. This was wonderful considering that our own small garden not only did not produce any this year... but it wasn't planted at all! What fun it was to have such a gift and get to play "what to do with all the zucchini" even though we didn't grow it ourselves.

First I made two loaves of loaded zucchini bread. A mix of white and wheat flour, cornmeal, and several spices made these loaves just fabulous... and as you can tell we had to taste test even before taking the photo!

Second, I whipped up some squash stuffed pasta shells with shredded zucchini, yellow squash, onions, and orange bell pepper. That paired with the mozzarella cheese and fire-roasted tomato sauce made for a really fresh supper... even though by this time the oven had definitely over heated the kitchen.We still have about four large zucchini and one large yellow squash left, so we shall see what other cooking I can come up with!