LIFE: Small Things

I should probably start numbering these posts so I can actually make a note of how on point I am at keeping this little series up. But anyways. Another two weeks have flown by, flown by so fast I'm not actually too sure where the time has gone. That's the thing I find the hardest about this adulting game, time goes so much faster as an adult. Yesterday actually marked ten years to the day that I packed up my life and moved into freshers accommodation at Newcastle University. Ten whole years ago. It feels like yesterday sometimes. I miss that city. Like so much, blah.

So a thank you has to go out to all the forms of social media for being my brain memory back up for the exciting happy things of the last two weeks, here goes!

• Cats chasing the yarn while crocheting - I'm sure they think they are helping. 
• Working on two cross stitch projects - my seaside piece which takes me right back to all the Yorkshire seaside towns and Flossie, which would be me circa 1880's or something ... 
• Watching the trees along the street and in the park slowly starting to turn a burnt orange at the tips
• Working my way through the HUGE graphic novel collection my local library has - joining said library has brought my love back for reading for sure - happy happy times. 
• All the wild sunflowers that have burst into life around the garden. Wild sunflowers have upwards of 20 flower heads per plant which is just incredibly beautiful.
• Watching all the bees not only on the sunflowers, but on the Sedums I grew from cuttings over the winter - mental note to do more of the same this year
• Thoroughly enjoying The Girl On the Train - a little obvious in parts but well worth a read all the same.  
• Currently reading A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott which, if you're a fan of either the 1930's, Hollywood and or Gone With the Wind then I'd highly recommend it. Being a fan of all three myself, it's becoming one of my favorite reads in a long while.

So that pretty much sums everything up!

GREEN FINGERS: All the Garden Goodies

Once July rolled around - all the goodies started being ready for picking down in the veg patch. Bowls of raspberries, freshly picked herbs, cucumber plants taking over and the first attempt at carrot growing is all complete and food is being made. And you know what, even my wild patch along the fence edge (above) isn't looking too bad either. 

Since sowing them in April, I'd been eagerly awaiting being able to dig up my carrot crop. We went for the Kaleidoscope Mix from Burpee - a range of seeds that result in a rainbow of carrot colours. From red to purple, white, orange and yellow. Purple, yellow and white being the traditional carrot shades btw. They took about 80 days before getting set to be pulled but even then you can see some of them actually really on the thick or large size. They've been a little hit I will be honest, possibly half my fault for not thinning them out quick enough, but even still it wasn't a very large harvest and they took an age to germinate. All but the purple carrots keep their color throughout, they aren't as sweet as your typical carrots but tasty enough. I'm going with the standard orange "normal" carrots for my fall crop, I might try these colorful ones again for next spring.

Also I'd highly recommend keeping and cooking with your carrot tops - they are a great addition to stir fries, salads, sautee them with some garlic and you're all set. Somewhat bitter but very delicious. 

There is nothing as tasty as a freshly picked radish with your lunch. Nor do I ever find store brought ones come half way as strong. These were a super cheap packet from Burgess, I tend to sow about 15 radishes every over week to spread them out. These have come out so fat and juicy - delicious!

My tomato plants are leaning over and heavy with their bounty. Every day I go out and hope for a hint of red to their green outsides - they are slowly, so very slowly turning red. These are the mortgage lifter - a heirloom variety which are the juicy sweet large (they tend to way 1 to 3 lbs) types so we still have a bit of a way to go. But I can't wait to get my mouth around one!

Considering only five of the original 12 (yes really we over brought) cucumber plants grew I'm starting to wonder if I'm soon to turn into one of those green vegetables. They are seriously taking over my veg patch. I'm just not up on really what to do with them all ...

Zucchini's are averaging about one or two a week which are getting lovely tossed into whatever curry I'm cooking that week. I have a huge list of recipes I want to try so I'll be honest, I could do with them getting into second gear! Sadly the cilantro bolted while we were away so it's all gone to flower, I'm hoping I can try and get some coriander seeds from it so at least there's that. As for the basil - I've been making so many fresh basil chicken green curry. Nom indeed. 

As for those raspberries, well those are my favorite! The harvest has died down in the last week or so, but we were averaging about 2 cups a day. So lots of raspberry pies like the one you might have spied in my small things post, and sauces are being baked and I can't wait! 

For the rest of the season, well there's all those remaining radishes and spring greens, I'm still waiting on my peppers (which have just started growing) and then it's time to get thinking about fall and winter veggies! Exciting times still lie ahead.

Have you been growing anything this year?!

LIFE: The Small Things

While I've been thinking about restarting my small things posts for a long while. I never really get around to sitting and typing them out. Then things change and they get forgotten. But I've been having a rough couple of months with my health which is boosting my health anxiety/stress to new levels to I thought it was high time to use and type this out as a relaxing way of remembering happy things and distracting that over thinking mind of mine.

Old printed cross stitch designs

After my mam taught me how to cross stitch back when I was about 5/6, everyone use to buy me those old printed samplers on linen. They'd have some simple design, often a quote and you got to pick the colours. I found such an old Paragon design at an estate sale the other week and it brought back so many memories. I don't think I ever actually finished such a design in the past, I normally loose my patience with them because it was always so hard to get your stitches neat but i'm up for a new challenge. This one was half started, somewhat messy and half the stitches pointing in the wrong direction. After spending a couple of nights pulling it all out I'm off to dig out some folksy PA Dutch shades of thread and get started! 

Plus while i'm not a fan of quotes, it speaks a lot to me at the moment. Give to the world the best you have and the best will come back to you. 

In other cross stitch news - too many ideas, not enough time to stitch them all.

Soft Parade

Nothing better then a Michigan made beer, but a Michigan made beer fermented with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries is even better. Short's Soft Parade is delicious for this time of year.

Fresh from the garden

There's nothing more exciting at the moment then heading out into my vegetable patch every morning and coming back with a full bowl of raspberries, perhaps a cucumber or a zucchini and all the fresh herbs.

Home-made pie

Not only did I bake my first ever zucchini loaf, developed a love for eating carrot tops, but I've been busy baking all those raspberries into pies. With Michigan blueberries on offer the other week in Kroger, I throw some of those in too. The lattice topping needs work, but you don't need to look at that too long with how yummy it tastes.

Toaster Ovens ...

Not sure how I went about without one of these - it toasts, it bakes, it broils. It's magic. #EasilyPleased

My wild patch

From one free pack of wild flower seeds, the little wild patch along the edge of my veg patch has become one of my favorite places to go for a wander. There's so much colour. It's getting to that time of year to start thinking about plants for next year, there's certainly going to be more poppies around my garden.

Netflix

With most of our shows on summer break, Hulu (and not having cable) has taken a back seat against Netflix. Murder She Wrote (seriously you don't want to know Jessica Fletcher she attracts death), NCIS, Property Brothers, CSI: Miami and Hotel Inspector alongside Parks & Rec and Rules of Engagement - yeap all over those.

As you can see, i'm old before my time and that's the way I like it. What little things have been rocking your world lately?

GREEN FINGERS: Things Learnt From a Year of Gardening

The end of June marked a year of us being home owners. Work on the house is slow but for us there's no rush so works been focused on the garden. Working from home, our garden is my getting away from the computer time, I love going out a couple of times a week early in the morning working away with my fingers in the dirt and so far it's been going rather well. It's always great when your hobbies and interest teach you and make you appreciate things and life a little more, so I thought i'd share the big things that a year of gardening as taught me.

Gardening is teaching me the importance of being patient 

I always want everything to be flowering or growing or doing something right now. I'm not so good on the waiting two weeks for delicate little seeds to poke though and show me some sign of life. But i'm learning, if all be it slowly. I'm seeing the worth in being patient enough to give cucumber plants a little longer before tearing them up, i'm seeing the patience of watching a flower bloom into life. (although in reality you can spend loads of money and shove patience into a weedy corner by buying everything at full height and flowering, plants rather than seeds etc, but yeah, saving the pennies).  

Gardening and Pinterest fails go hand in hand

Pinterest is full of gardening ideas, whether you want a little container, something for the birds or how to create some funky art work. It's all there. Oddly enough most of my failures that so happens to occur more often that not when it comes to Pinterest happens in the garden. Like this attempt at a bird feeder made from an old baked bean can, piece of twine and a stick. Yeah that didn't last long ... 

It's awesome to know exactly how your veg is being grown

Part of our reasoning behind the vegetable patch is to be a little more healthier in our eating. While we were already eating a lot of organic veg it that was something I wanted to continue and expand, especially when you can save a lot of of money doing it yourself. We have the space and I have the time and enjoy I so why not?! I know exactly what is or isn't growing onto, around or in the soil around my patch, none of those crazy chemicals.

It grounds you

Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing worse than the feeling of soil under your finger tips, but there is something magical about getting down and dirty in the soil. Seeing the insects crawling around, hearing the birds tweeting, even the pesky squirrels deadheading my flowers. My garden is as much their space as it is mine.

Not everything grows

Wild flowers haven't been the biggest success nor were growing onions from seed. Seeds need to be sown a little further apart and other times, things grow like there's no tomorrow. Our raspberries grow like weeds and our wild sweet peas seem un-killable. It's all about learning what works best and growing with the flow. But knowing that sometimes, not everything works out and that's okay.

It's super rewarding

Seeing flowers bloom that you planted on a cold winter day, cooking up a stir fry with everything you grew yourself. Filling your house with the smell of sweet peas you battled with training up a cane triangle that continues to fall over. Every little thing, all those long hours, all the watering, all the bug bites for a bowl of raspberries daily during picking season. It's been well worth it all.

Do you garden?

GREEN FINGERS: And In The Veg Patch

What a month June turned out to be in the veg patch. From another cold snap, so-much-rain, some rodent visitors to lots and lots of things bursting into life, it was high time I got around to sharing it all (and for myself for next year). 

The first things have been picked from the veg patch that's the super exciting thing! Cilantro and basil have been growing wonderfully. Plan is to use them as and when I need them especially in my curry making and seal the rest up in the freezer.

We would have had lettuce a lot sooner if it had not been for a visitor of the rodent variety. Story goes me noticing about two weeks ago how my lettuce had been practically all eaten, a strawberry plant ripped up, the same with two cucumbers. Now we always blamed the squirrels and it was kinda gutting for it to happen again. Later the same day out in the garden was one huge fat Groundhog, a veggie eating rodent. He'd gone on to murder my sweet potato plant and had started nibbling the cilantro. 

The end result?! Turning the veg patch into Fort Knox with some wire fencing. If the Groundhog is still around (he was last seen charging under our deck) he's been kept out of the veg patch that's for sure. And I offer all my apologize to the overlord of squirrels for constantly blaming them for everything vanishing previously.

But onto more positive experiences - lots and lots of veg (tomatoes, courgettes/zucchinis whatever you want to call them) have flowers, our raspberries are starting to form berries, our cucumbers are growing like there's no tomorrow (and have a couple of flowers) and we have some bushy carrot tops. 

What's even more fun and entertaining while pottering about in the veg patch is seeing all the insects, all the bees and butterflies buzzing around.

SNAPSHOTS: How Does Your Garden Grow?

Oh Michigan weather really can't make up it's mind. The result of this passing weekends downpours have resulted in some not only soggy looking squirrels but a far few droopy looking flowers, with temps forecast in the high 80's (that's in the 30's if you're in Celsius) it's all swings and roundabouts. It's also the season Michigan based bugs can't say no to trying my British skin, so gardening gets even more adventurous. With wigwags for creeping sweet-peas, the board leaves of sunflowers to the start of the wildflowers blooming, it's getting a little prettier and ever more colorful in the garden. From poppies to peonies, some roses and iris's, the gardens growing up rather well.

GREEN FINGERS: Recent Garden Happenings

The last couple of weeks, hotter days and a couple of heavy showers and the garden has sprung to life. So much life I'm behind blogging it all. As much with weedy life too as it is with flowers. But that's neither here nor there. I've fallen in love with the late flowering Original Poets Daffodils (shown above) which have the most delightful scent to match that charming red tint around it's trumpet. 

Shopping lists for spring bulbs 2016 are being penned out. More crocuses, more daffodils, even more colour. Bulbs to replace all but one of the tulips that my fuzzy squirrel friends enjoy dead-heading before they have a chance to bloom. Only one pictured below, survived long enough to flower. Do they bother with the neighbours tulips?! Nope, no, just mine. Damn it. 

My eye for capturing all blossom of Magnolia has been replaced by the deep purples of the Lilac tree. Another border is home to all my inherited poppies, all furry and promising those eye catching bright reds and oranges. More inherited unknown plants have finally been named, peonies and Irises both hanging on the edge of flowery promise. Everything that got a very thorough pruning - the roses in particular are seeming all the better for it, I'm just hoping they gift me with some flowers this year. 

But all the main exciting events, for this time at least has been occurring down the end of the garden, hidden away in the veg patch. After Flower Day shopping haul from the Eastern Market our plot is full to the brim with goodies. Home made trellises were constructed for the zucchini, tomatoes, bell peppers, Serrano peppers and cucumbers. We have a patch of strawberries and inherited raspberries with a rhubarb edition, lettuces and radishes. A small herb collection of basil, coriander and chives, the odd sweet potato plant and carrots fill out the remainder of the space. While I've already called time of death on the onion seeds, I have great hopes for everything else.

We've even had a few new and interesting feathered visitors too - regular Blue Jays and another Woodpecker variety, some fluttery butterflies passing through and a fair few bees. It's all turning very exciting even if the weather isn't fully cooperating with highs and lows everywhere between the 30's and 80's. I've had this garden nearly 11 months and after finding some of the original photographs when we moved in, it's great to see how it's all coming together although as soon as I finish off a garden post, with all the new flowers coming to bloom daily, it's already behind the times.

GREEN FINGERS: Things Down The Garden

I've become one of those people that enjoys a daily wander around her garden. I love trying to spot any differences, perhaps a new bulbs sprouting through the soil, trying to poke it's way through some of the remainders of fall crispy leaves. With April showers firmly heralding springs arrival, things are starting to happen in my little patch of land, and most of this weekend was spent enjoying the sunshine while trying to create a bit of order. 

What will be the veg patch. 

One of the happy occurrences of inheriting a garden is not knowing what may, or may not be hidden under your soil. I have to be honest, I wasn't expecting any spring bulbs to pop up, but hiding away a couple of crocuses have appeared, a few green shoots of daffodils in the front, and some bulbs of unknown plant origin are circling the magnolia tree. Granted in the time since planting my old additions into the soil, I'd actually forgotten just what bulbs I did buy, but I know these ones weren't mine.

Little little sunflowers

Slowly warmer days, sunnier skies and the decreasing chance of frost has allowed me to get back into the garden and get my hands dirty. From cutting down some plants to get my vegetable patch cleared out, raking up leaves from autumn (yes really, my excuse is that they kept the soil a little warmer for the bulbs over the super cold winter months) and working out what needs doing. 

My orders for vegetables have all been made and I'm far to excited to get them planted out in May (the chance of frost lingers around until then sadly). For the next couple of months i'm going to pretend to know what i'm doing when it comes to planting carrots, radishes, broccoli, bell peppers, tomatoes and onions to name but a few. Adding a couple of rhubarb plants and starting off a small herb patch. 

Not to mention all the wildflower seeds, sunflowers (that are taking over my kitchen) and some new plant additions to try and brighten up the shade. On Saturday I pretended to know what I was doing in pruning some roses and moving a load of raspberries. I even added in some stepping stones from a mix match assortment of falling apart pavers that once hid under the pine tree. They are wonky, they are chipped, but I laid them and that pleases me. Hopefully they'll survive. It's all exciting times around here I tell thee.

FOOD: The CSA Cookbook

If there's one thing i'm looking forward to this year it's getting my fingers dirty and starting off my veg patch. But what's daunting is what to do with all the veggie goodness that the earth gives up. Let me be honest here, i'm not the biggest vegetable fan, I should be, I want to be, but I need help. I need inspiration. I need recipes that get me thinking outside the box, that liven them up a little. Luckily there's a new cookbook that, if you're anything like me, will get you rethinking, gets you creating and gets you working in your garden and kitchen. 

The CSA Cookbook by Linda Ly offers over 100 seasonal and globally inspired recipes for vegetables whether you receive a community supported agricultural project, you pop to your farmers market or you're growing them yourself. And if you're not doing any of these, then this cookbook might get you curious enough to start. 

Recipes are no waste, so they'll challenge you to using all parts of the plant parts you might otherwise throw away - from the leaves, to the flowers and seeds. As Ly states, the CSA Cookbook is all about celebrating "the art of using the whole vegetable in your day-to-day cooking" (page 15). And that is something I can get behind!

Drawing on her own experience homesteading on the California Coast and celebrating the good life, Linda Ly is also the author behind the award winning blog Garden Betty (which is awesome btw!). Recognized by HGTV and Country Living, Ly provides a down to earth, hands on approach to thinking creatively. The CSA Cookbook shines with her personality, her creative approach in a way that's approachable and inspirational. 

Recipes are presented clearly with vegetables you're more than likely to find in produce boxes or ones you might have growing in your vegetable patch. Additional ingredients are ones you'll most likely already have, or they are easiest enough to come by which is always a winner when i'm hunting for recipe inspiration. With gorgeous photography throughout, you'll be drooling as you flick though, bookmarking the recipes as you go. I certainly have my eye on the herb infused vinegar's.



This cookbook will certainly be a big inspiration and help in getting my vegetable fix that's for sure!

I was provided the CSA Cookbook for review purposes, all thoughts as ever, are my own.