beginning

Stocking up for winter. That's butternut squash, picked beets, dilly beans, pizza sauce and cucumber pickles, and it's just the beginning.

pickle me beets

I used to hold an opinion about beets. Beets were the food that nobody really ate. They were there in the grocery store, but you never saw anyone buying them. Beets? Ick.
Three things changed my opinion:
1. Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robins
2. Falafel at Abu Nader
3. Our friend Kristin - she made us a salad once with fresh steamed beets, and it was heavenly

Since changing my opinion and deciding that beets are indeed delicious, I was delighted when Dave planted a mess of them this year. They are beautiful plants, the greens are edible, and it would be our first foray into picking for the year.We were terribly surprised to find them already to harvest, with the biggest beets being as big or bigger than a fist. We pulled them all up this weekend.
And got right down to pickling. We followed internet instructions here and here.
We started by chopping off the greens (and saving them for a big salad later). And boiling up the beets with skins on.

After the beets were cooked,
We peeled off the stems and skins.
And heated up the beets with onions and pickling solution - we used apple cider vinegar, cloves, and cinnamon - I'm not sure what else.
Dave spooned the beets and onions into our heated jars.

Then used a ladle to fill them with the liquid.

He put the lids on.
And them lowered them into the boiling water to seal them.
(we learned a little about water displacement when he did this).
After boiling for half an hour, he pulled them out,
And left them to cool!
I took off for the yarn store after the excited part was completed, so he heard the lids pop while I was gone. I was very jealous, next time I'll stick around.

We'll keep these beauties on the shelf for 6 weeks, and then we'll try them. It's a shame we didn't taste it before we put them up because the whole house smelled delicious. Beet-y and vinegar-y, it was intoxicating. I can't wait to see how they turned out! Dave did a fantastic job (and the lion's share of the work). I can't wait to pickle and put up more foods this year - we're definitely doing cucumber pickles, plus maybe picked beans and canned tomatoes and sauces. Fun!

garden update

I have done a lousy job keeping the blog updated with garden photos. Yesterday in the rain, I snapped a few shots. Who can resist lilies with raindrops?The first tomatoes are coming in nicely. These are a variety called Siberian.
Beets have been a ravishing success. Can't wait to pickle these beauties:
Nothing more delicious than peas right off the vine. I had my first taste this weekend, and these were as sweet as ever.
Nasturtiums are a new experiment this year. They are very other worldly - we were happy to see the first blooms.
Oh the greens. We missed out on spinach, arugala, and tat soi - they just bolted too quickly. We're still enjoying the romaine and the red romaine, as well as simpson's black seeded lettuce and bok choy. Here's one of the sections of red, with onions growing like crazy behind.
The garlic is doing that thing that garlic does. Scapes? Scopes? We have 3 varieties, and they've all shot out their beautiful little flower thingeys. We'll try these in an omelette tomorrow.
The bay plant is doing well. We hope to keep this one indoors and see if it'll live for a few years.
There are canna lilies all over the garden, and they are by far the showiest flower we have. They are tall, stately, and bright beautiful red. I think these ones by the composter will bloom first.
And now, the thing you've all been waiting for: Baby Gus in striped pajamas. I think this is pretty darn cute.

the ivy

Much of the household has suffered since Dave has been sick. He takes care of so many things - the pets, the cleaning, the garden. I'm mostly useless when I get home from work, but I have kept all 3 pets alive and done a decent job in the garden (I hope). The cleaning has gone out the window, even though I have managed to vacuum a few times. I forgot to sweep the kitchen floor, and this morning saw some ants marching in. Note to self - Dave also sweeps the kitchen daily!

Anyway, last night when I was watering things, I made sure to pay special attention to the Boston Ivy. This plant was our star purchase at the Friend's School Plant Sale, and it has already had a rough year. Due to many unavoidable obligations, it had to stay in its little plastic pot much longer than the rest of the plants from the sale. It was the last thing in the ground, and I think it was at least 2 weeks after we purchased it that Dave was finally able to take the time to make a nice space for it.

With his being sick, I was worried that this prized little plant would wither and die, so I've been careful to water it and check on it daily. Last night, I saw something cool.It has begun to climb the siding. Tenuous, yes, but it gives me hope just the same.

where he sleeps

There is a lot of debate among some folks on where you're supposed to put your baby to sleep. I've felt a little conflicted about that, but am learning to get over what people thing you should do. Gus has slept with us in our bed or next to the bed for these first 2 and a half months of his life. I usually put him down next to us to start, and then between us after the first feeding. He falls asleep faster when he's in our bed, and at 2 am, that's what I'm most interested in. I don't sleep well with him in our bed, though, especially once he begins to half-wake. He snuggles up to me, and that usually involves flailing arms and repeated kicking. I've taken more than one kick to the boob, and I'm getting tired of waking up to someone pulling my hair. After our adventure to the fabric store this week, I made this:Baby bed extraordinaire. Now I'm the first to admit that I'm not much of a seamstress, but I think this turned out okay. I bought 3/4 yard of 2" foam, and used some leftover padding for the bumpers. The bumpers aren't actually meant to prevent him from going anywhere, in fact he rolled right over them this morning. They're more for decoration and to slow him down, so he can't get too far too fast.I think it turned out great, and he seems to like it just fine. It's softer than what he was sleeping on before, and I'm convinced that the reason he likes our bed better in the middle of the night is because our mattress is soft. I put him in it for naps too, so he's getting used to the idea.
It's nap time now, though, so I have to quit posting and start showering - soon he'll be awake!

What Dave isn't telling you

Dave decided that blogging just isn't for him, so it's up to me to tell you what 's been going on in our garden. As I've mentioned, Dave has been home with Gus and I for the past two months. Besides helping me care for the baby, doing the grocery shopping, preparing most of our meals, and doing the majority of the laundry, he has been gardening. But he only gets time in between juggling the responsibilities he has for his family right now. Hardly any time at all, right?

And yet, he's installed a new shade garden:Parts of this garden were planted last year, but only this spring has it really begun to take shape.
He's got big plans for moss to start growing alongside all of these other beautiful plants.
He's started planting around the new shed we got last year. Not pictured - the new and improved pumpkin patch and the morning glories.
At the end of last season, he put in a second rain garden, full of native plants:
He's been working hard on the front garden, and it's starting to look really good:
He finally got a chance to fill in the railroad tie garden on the side of the house:
Oh, and then there's the vegetable gardens.
Aside from the 7 raised beds that he has planted or transplanted seedlings to,
I see tomatoes, bok choy, garlic, cucumbers, lettuce, peas, asparagus, beans,
arugula, sweet peppers, hot peppers, dill, caraway, eggplant, spinach, rosemary, squash, peppermint, and parsley, to start.
He has also established a new work space for tools, complete with a hose.
And he made a new space for potatoes and corn, and has been using the cold frame since we had such a cold spring.
I didn't mention the raspberry transplants or the boulevard garden, or the rain garden from a few years ago. The lot has been transformed from it's original state - full of weeds and weedy trees, patchy grass and virtually no flowers. From this:
To this:
And those photos don't even begin to capture the scale of the change.

It's an amazing garden, and an awesome yard. It's all a credit to him, my master gardener husband. Gus is going to grow up in a place where he can tell the difference between radishes and beets, tat soi and bok choy. He'll know where the carrots we eat come from, and his first food this fall will be heirloom butternut squash, grown here in our yard. That's pretty special, if you ask me.

I'll try to do a weekly garden post, to keep you apprised of the changes. It's hard to believe it's only the middle of May, and so much is already growing!

Answer

"Momma, were you a crazy person when I was a baby?"
"No honey, but apparently I looked like a total hippie."

Plums in bloom

The plum tree began to bloom today, reminding me that it's been a year since I started this here blog.
When I went back to look, though, I realized that the tree bloomed a few weeks earlier last year. I missed my official blog-o-versary.
Too bad. It's still been roughly a year, and I'm glad to say that I've kept a moderately good record of what this past year has been for us. The pregnancy, mostly, and the past two months with Gus. Dave doesn't think he'll continue to update his blog, so I hope to add more photos of the garden here for him to remember what he was working on.

Today, for example, was the Friends School Plant sale.

This is the second year that we've gone, but we were much better prepared this time.

Dave got a cart.
We stood in line for wristbands, and got in group number 3.The sale itself was chaos. There are something like 700 volunteers, thousands of shoppers, and what must be millions of plants.
I'd say we did pretty well, though. From the time we got in, we only spent about an hour shopping. We got tomatoes, eggplant, bok choy, lavender, thyme, rosemary, parsley, hot peppers, bay, begonias, coleus, boston ivy, and two juniper bushes.That's all I can identify from the photos. I know there's at least a few other things in there. All in all, it was a fun morning. Gus slept through the whole thing, and wasn't even cranky on our way home. We'll definitely go back next year.But we may start even earlier!