What we are eating...

i've been working on putting together an 'Around the garden' post to participate in the 'around the farm' blog hop over at the the inspiring Farmama blog. However, we've been stuck waiting for rain...so at this point my 'garden isn't looking all that exciting. So instead of posting pretty garden photos, i thought i'd pictures of our recent harvests.

i'm honestly amazed that my garden is doing as well as it is, and still producing during the recent heat wave. By garden, i mean mainly my cold crops planted on the front hill. My main garden is still rather empty. i have lots of seeds in the ground, but without any real rain they are just sitting there. The weather has not really been idea for cold weather crops, and yet mine are still thriving.


Although my spinach all went to seed about a month ago, my leaf lettuce is doing fine. It still looks great, and isn't bitter at all. My first planting is producing well, and i have a second planting that is almost big enough to start picking. i had a few specialty lettuces that didn't last the heat. i'm still getting a few leaves here and there, but most of it either didn't germinate at all, or bolted as soon as it came up. Regardless, we have been enjoying lots of salads. This one pictured is mainly green leaf lettuce, with a few random leaves from the mesclun mix. A few nasturtium leaves, snowpeas, broccoli and onion.

We just started getting blueberries. Although between the kids stripping the bushes first thing in the morning, the fat little robin that is sitting on the fence post..and the chickens, i will surprised if i get any frozen this year. The bushes are loaded, but the kids have them eaten before i've even finished my first cup of coffee.

It is looking like we will have a nice crop of raspberries. Although again, i'm competing with the kids who are out there every morning stuffing their faces. :) So i'm hoping to pick enough for jam, but not sure it will happen.


A little peek at what we are harvesting this week. i am getting Swiss Chard, sugar snap peas and lots of fresh eggs. i had a few potatoes look blighty, so instead of risking it spreading to the rest of the plants i dug the potatoes early and burned the plants. i have potatoes planted in a couple different beds this year, so i'm hoping to get a decent crop.

My broccoli was absolutely perfect this year. It really makes no sense with the weird weather pattern we had this spring, but i'm not going to complain. i harvested a dozen heads this week and i had NO worms. i haven't even seen any cabbage moths hovering around. So i really can not explain how i managed to grow perfect, worm-free organic broccoli in 90 degree weather...but i did. :) One of the problems i always face with broccoli (besides the worms) it that the heads are always ready to harvest at the same time. This year i froze several heads, we've had broccoli for dinner every night and i still have 3 heads in the fridges. i have another dozen plants that were planted later, and i'm not sure they are going to do much.


i'm still getting a good amount of asparagus. We enjoyed the garlic scapes so much that i made them again last night. We saute'd the scapes in olive oil, added asparagus and snow peas. When everything was tender crisp i added a pat of butter and splash of lemon juice. It was so good!!! i'm a bit bummed that the garlic scape season is so brief, and will be making a point of planting more next year.


Lastly, we have cherries! These are from our neighbors tree, ours are not producing yet. They have 3 huge trees just loaded with cherries, and they don't spray them or use them. So every year they tell us to come and pick as much as we want before the birds get them all. So we went over a couple days ago and picked a 5 gallon bucket full. i've been working on freezing and canning, and we have been eating them by the handful.

i love this time of year where the kids can wander around the yard grazing on fresh organic foods. They munch of fresh pea pods and eat berries until their bellies hurt. Our meals now always include fresh organic garden produce and tasty fruits. So nice to get away from the canned and frozen veggies we ate much of the winter. It always feel so good to grow and provide so much for our family.

As you can tell by my lack of craft posting, i have had to temporarily put my crafting on hold while i adjusted to having both kids at home, and worked on getting the garden planted. My garden still isn't completely in. i haven't even turned up the 3 sisters bed...still waiting for a good rain. We are slowly beginning to find our rhythm again, and i am hoping to get these projects finished soon, and new ones started.

Garlic Scapes and sugar snaps

Wow, how is it already Friday again? This week has zoomed by super fast. i'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that it's already June...and now i've got 10 days till my daughter's birthday. Yikes!! i've been planning to make a new doll for her, so i really need to get working on that! i actually have the doll base made, made it months ago, just haven't gotten around to finishing it at all. i've been wanting to pick out a really fun yarn for her hair, but have yet to make it to the new yarn store in Floyd when they are actually open. Despite the online hours being listed as Friday 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. After three trips all the way to Floyd only to find them closed, i can attest that they close around 5pm, or whenever they happen to feel like closing. Tonight i am going for my 4th attempt to check out the yarn shop. Fingers crossed that they are actually open, and that they have something completely fabulous to use for Sage's new doll.

i finally have a new camera, so i can start getting pictures of my garden and projects again. This week has been spent almost entirely in the garden. The kids not only planted their own garden, but also helped me to (almost) finish planting mine. We had one thundershower come through, that really helped to soften up the soil and it helped to perk up my cold crops.


My peas went from being sad and wilting to flowering and producing peas within days of the rain.

My garlic has also begun to send up it's flower shoots, otherwise known as garlic scapes. When the scapes are coiled like a pig's tail they are delicious and ready for harvest. The Garlic scapes can be removed to encourage the plant to focus it's energy on the actual bulb. Many farmers remove the scapes and just throw them out. Until last year, i had no idea that the garlic scapes are edible. Yesterday, i picked a handful of the garlic scapes and started to look up recipes. i decided to try something similar to the Garlic scape and snow pea recipe i found here.

One of our favorite ways to eat snow peas is lightly saute'd in olive oil, with minced garlic, a nice drizzle of sesame oil and a splash of tamari. So i made the recipe similar replacing the minced garlic with the the garlic scapes.

First, wash and clean your snow peas, removing the ends if need be. Wash your garlic scapes and cut them up. You can cut them in small pieces, slice them diagonally, or leave them whole. i cut mine in half, so that i have three inch long stems, and then the curly tops.

Heat up your olive oil and add the garlic scapes. Cook a few minutes, until you notice the scapes turning bright green and soften up a little. Now add your snow peas, and drizzle a bit of sesame oil over the top and cook another minute or two. i like my snow peas to be bright green and tender crisp. Now splash a bit of tamari on top, stir it up a few seconds more and then remove from the heat and serve immediately.

These were really good served this way! The garlic scapes do not have a strong garlic taste, it is very mild and a bit nutty. It actually reminded me a bit of really thin asparagus. They also made a really unique looking dish. My daughter who is usually quite picky and normally won't try new foods even asked to try them, and she liked them!

i still have a ton of garlic scapes to use up, and here are a few more recipes i'm looking forward to trying white bean dip with garlic scapes, garlic scape soup, and garlic scape and swiss chard pesto!

It is always fun to discover a new food treasure, and these garlic scapes really are a fun and tasty little treasure. They can be pickled, sauteed with butter, grilled or roasted and served on pizza, added to soups or salads, pulverized into pesto. So many uses for this interesting looking part of the garlic plant.

Hiking at the Cascades

Earlier this week, my camera broke. So i have no pictures to share of our week and weekend.

The week was pretty uneventful, trying to get back into the summer routine of having two kids at home. We've been hula hooping, planting seeds, making giant bubbles and just spending lots of time outside. Our Brown Thrasher babies left the nest, and i was pretty bummed not to get any pictures of them leaving the nest.

This weekend we went hiking at the Cascades, in Pembroke Virgina. We come every spring, to cleanse and purge ourselves from the heavyness of the winter. We come to let the energy of the waters wash away any lingering negativity, and mental stagnation.

We came later than usual this year, and i was a bit disappointed by the lack of wildflowers and amount of people here. Although we saw few people on the actual trail, the falls were uncomfortably crowded. The hike to the main waterfall is incredibly beautiful, and i usually stop about every three minutes to take a picture. This time there were very few wildflowers blooming, just lots of stinging nettles all along the trail.

Without my camera, i couldn't take any pictures of our hike. Since we come every year though, i thought i'd share a few photos from past years. It was fun looking through them, i seem to always take the same pictures every year. It's interesting to see how nature changes and progresses, huge logs break down and decompose over time, rocks erode away. Plants change according to the weather conditions.

These were taken in 2008 or 2009.

We always take the lower trail to the falls which is a bit more strenuous then the upper falls, but also much more beautiful and magical. The path is mainly stone, and there are are huge boulders, lots of stone steps and it twists and winds all along the edge of the river.

The falls here are almost 70 foot. This photo was from last year. When were there this past weekend, there must have been at least 50 people here. It was the most i have ever seen there. Many folks were wading and swimming. The water is always cold, but you can swim in the pool in front of the falls.

This photo is from 2008. On the right is Kenan and Sequoia walking up to the falls.

This year Kenan took both kids up to the falls, and let them play in the shallow water near it. i stayed on the bank pretending to take pictures. :) The rocks to get to the falls are extremely slippery, and i wasn't in the mood to fall. Both kids were soaking wet by the time they made it back to where i was sitting. On the hike back we took the upper falls, which is a much easier hike and always seems to go a lot quicker. This is one of my favorite parts of the summer, just getting out and hiking with the family.

You can see my Cascades Album from 2008 here. It's funny, Kenan just shaved his head last week, and in these photos from 3 years ago...he had also just shaved his head. These photos were taken almost exactly 3 years ago ( we went for our anniversary) and it was the last time he had shaved it. Our photos would have looked almost the same, except that the kids are a a bit older. :)

11 years ago....

Now you will feel no rain,
for each of you will be shelter for the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
for each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there will be no loneliness,
for each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two persons,
but there is only one life before you.


May beauty surround you both in the
journey ahead and through all the years,
May happiness be your companion and

your days together be good and long upon the earth.

(from the Apache Blessing that was part of our our vows)

Wordless Wednesday: Hooper in training

Yesterday i decided to make us all hula hoops. i made one sized perfectly for Sage, and she has really taken to it. She is still working on keeping the hoop up and spinning, but she is learning quick!

You can see more Wordless Wednesday posts here.