Category Archives: gardening

scenes from the nest

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How’s your week going, lovelies? It’s been another glorious week in northern Michigan. I realize it seems trite to use the word “glorious,” but it’s true. More blue skies, more sunshine, more gasp-worthy fall color, more 70s, more tomatoes! This might be it for our “Indian Summer,” but it will not be forgotten any time soon. And I’ve got the mosquito bites to prove it – strange in mid-October, no? And that too, after using the best sunscreen mosquito repellent I could find. I’m in the midst of a bunch of nesting projects and thought I would just share a glimpse of some of them with you, along with a few shots from around the nest that we’ve been loving. Enjoy!

1) Wasabi Powder.

We decided to paint our house a light chartreuse-y green that’s called “Wasabi Powder” and we love it. The little birdie calls it yellow, but it’s decidedly not yellow. The pictures also turned out a bit on the mint-y side, but I know you can use your imagination. Ahem. Nothing like a really big project right before the baby is born, right? Ha!

2) Harvest Time.

I was thinking about cleaning out the garden earlier last week when things were wet and chilly, but 70 and sunny arrived–and stayed–bringing with it a slew of ripened tomatoes. I can’t quite believe I’m admitting this, but I’m a bit sick of fresh tomatoes. Salsa, anyone?

3) Bulbs!

Our bulb order finally arrived. I am especially excited about the orange tulips that I plan to plunk in the front. Won’t they look great with the new green if they squirrels don’t get to them first?!

4) Leafy greens.

Remember when the little birdie and I planted some dark, leafy greens? Our kale has arrived so that means that little birdie #2 will arrive shortly too. Wow!

5) Taking time to enjoy the flowers.

We’ve had a crazy morning glory crop this year. In fact, I have to remind myself next year to provide them with some thread/twine so they can more freely climb the fence and not just each other. And the mums have been lovely too. So nice to have such bright spots of color here and there.

What’s been happening in your nest, lovelies? How are you enjoying this beautiful time of year in your neck of the woods? I hope you’ve been having a good week!

tomatillo crush

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She first fell in love with gardening when our peas came on strong and I couldn’t keep her away from the trellis. Then there was the red hot flame of potato farming. And this week, lovelies? The seduction of the fruit-filled lanterns of the tomatillo has proven to be too much to keep this little birdie tied down to any root vegetable. I can’t really blame her. They’re like beautiful little Chinese lanterns dangling at just the right height for her cherubic hands to reach. A challenge to reach some, but most just need to be spotted and plucked.

So what will we do with our tomatillo bounty? Thanks for asking… We might make some roasted tomatillo salsa like last year, but I’ll reserve a bunch to make our favorite easy-peasy, delicious posole (tomatillo, hominy, chicken stew) that I found in Cooking Light several years ago. One of those go-to recipes that I don’t even have to glance at anymore. I just grab the ingredients and start throwing it together. What recipes are tried-and-true to you? Do you have a favorite way to use tomatillos? Please share in the comments area. I would love to know; we’ve got a few to spare.

topatoes and beets, oh my

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I think the little birdie just might trade in her dancing shoes for farming “topatoes.” And I might just join her. I had no idea growing potatoes would be so fun. Maybe it’s so gratifying because we had no idea what was happening down in the dirt. It’s not like other vegetables that you can easily monitor every day to see how things are shaping up (or not). With the potatoes, we just decided one day we ought to dig down and find out. Crossing fingers, we dug and easily upturned some beautiful little guys. “Topatoes!!!”

Some of the tigger melons (or delicata squash?) from across the garden were starting to crowd out the beets so we harvested a bunch of those too. I can smell some roasted veggies in our very near future. Autumn, we are happy you’re here! Do any of you like to do anything in particular with your beet greens? Treat them like kale or chard? Any ideas?

Licking our lips in northern Michigan…

tomatoes, finally!

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It seems that for the last couple of months our garden just kept getting greener, wilder and more overgrown, but wasn’t producing much of anything. I wondered if we would ever harvest anything but herbs, salad greens and peas. And then seemingly overnight we are giving away big ole brandywine tomatoes to friends, neighbors, even the appraiser who came by this morning. I noticed that we’ll have a head or two of broccoli this week and it got me wondering about the fingerling potatoes in the ground… The dark, leafy greens we planted last week are sprouting too. Pretty soon I’ll be complaining that we have too much to keep up with – be careful what you wish for, right? Make haste and get the canning jars out, lovelies! It’s tomato season. Finally!

What are you harvesting from your patches of green, lovelies? Any fun farmer’s market finds lately? Cheers!

 

nesting: dark, leafy greens

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The little birdie and I worked in the empty patches of our garden yesterday afternoon. Early summer’s bright greens and peas are only a healthy memory now. It was time to turn our minds and spades toward fall. We weeded, turned soil, dug trenches, planted seeds and watered. Hardy, healthy, robust, iron-rich kale and spinach will take up a couple rows. We threw in a couple rows of beans too because somehow I forgot to plant them earlier this year. We’ll see how they do…

It dawned on me as the little birdie was burying the seeds with soil (her favorite part of gardening so far) that–with a bit of luck–we’ll be harvesting these dark, leafy greens right around the time little birdie #2 is due to arrive. Must have been on my mind as I chose these particular things to plant. Probably what my body will need most. And, who am I kidding?, some halloween candy to balance things out…

the jungle

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It doesn’t seem to matter what I do OR neglect to do. My garden seems to turn into a jungle, a tangled mess of green stuff. Last year, I overplanted two small beds. This year, we expanded the garden to take up half the back yard and I actually followed the directions on spacing the seeds and starts that I bought. I only bought four tiny tomato plants, but I’ve lost count of how many we actually have growing now in the garden because at least a couple dozen have sprouted from last year’s compost that we mixed into the soil.

And it’s not just a tomato jungle. See that pumpkin plant? I did not intentionally plant it either, but it’s taken over the south half of the garden. You have to be careful when standing near the garden that its curly tendrils don’t quickly wrap their sticky, prickly selves around your limbs. We have to keep retraining the pumpkin plant to stay in the garden or else it would probably spread across the lawn and happily find its way to the hammock twenty feet away. Crazy stuff! And the weeds? Sigh. They’re back. But you knew that would happen, right?

While the heat wave of 2011 has not mixed well with my psyche and growing belly (and butt), the garden seems to be absolutely thrilled. So at least one of us is happy with it.

How’s your garden growing this year, lovelies? What have you been able to harvest where you live?

it just doesn’t get any fresher

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I don’t really like peas. Sugar snap peas, yes. But shelling peas? Not so much, thank you. So I’m not sure what made me throw a shelling pea seed pack in my cart late this winter. I think it might have been because they’re such a beautiful plant and easy to plant for tiny hands? Regardless, it was one of the best decisions I’ve made this year! Picking, shelling (shucking?) and eating the peas right off the vine is one of the little birdie’s favorite things to do right now. “S’more peas, Mama?” or “pick SELF, Mama!” are common words out in the back yard this week.

I just love to hang back and observe the little birdie in her work. She’s so focused and serious about the process. So proud of what she can do! I watched her reach high for the peas she wanted, pull hard and yank them off the vine, sometimes making her tumble back into the dirt or on top of a broccoli plant: “uh oh!”  Then over again and again, undeterred.

I was full of awe at her determination and in those moments, I thought again how I had no idea I could love someone so much. At the same time, wondering how I could find more love for the other little birdie on its way. Trying to remind myself that I’ll be surprised again by the capacity to love, to expand, to nurture.

on weeding

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A miraculous thing happened last night. Lots of late summer sunsets and parties caught up with the little birdie and she went to sleep at 6 p.m.! Lovelies, this has NEVER happened before. I’ve heard of children going to sleep at a reasonably earlyish time and sleeping for twelve hours, but Wren is not one of those. I was cursing myself for putting her down so early because I knew she would wake up at 7:30 or 8 and then be up for a few more hours, arrggh. But she was so crabby and we just couldn’t take anymore of each other. Usually when Wren naps in the afternoon, I rush around and try to cram in as many things as I possibly can because I never know when she’ll wake up and require my attention. Could be in 45 minutes or the very rare, three hours.

So what was I to do with this gifted time? Read a book? Take a bath? While those sounded appealing, I just couldn’t ignore the garden anymore so I went on a long-overdue, no-holds-barred weeding rampage. I know, right?! I have some extra time and what do I do with it? Weed. Because I over-planted last year’s garden, it didn’t have any weeds. But this year, well, a completely different story. One ripe with clover. Sigh.

The thing about weeding is that there’s just no space for the kind of feverish activity that I usually cram into any extra time that lands in my lap. I was forced to slow down, be methodical and eventually let my mind wander. After about an hour or so of bending over, my preggers heartburn kicked in and I had to take a break. I went inside, drank a glass of water, consumed a couple Tums, aka “Mama’s medsin,” listened for the little birdie and hearing nothing, headed back outside. It took about another solid hour of bending and pulling, oof.

Miracle: the birdie didn’t wake up AND the weeding is done. For now anyway. And it actually looks like a garden again with pleasingly distinct rows of strawberry plants, asparagus ferns, fingerling potatoes, beets, carrots, tomatoes, nasturtium, basil, dill, tomatillos and peppers. Where the parsley is hiding I still have no idea, but I’m still holding out hope that it will emerge. Slow to germinate, right?!

The same simple geometry cannot be found further south in the squash and melon patch. I came across an absolute deluge of volunteer plants likely from last year’s compost and my rule became: if it looks even remotely edible, it stays. A few tomato plants here, what looks like tomatillo or maybe a couple sunflowers there, and a pumpkin or two? So let’s just say it’s even more organic down there…

Once I settled into the weeding routine, it reminded me a lot of my yoga practice. The way my mind wanders and my body protests at first, then my mind slows and focuses and my body finds its flow. I’ve been really missing my ashtanga yoga practice during this pregnancy so maybe that’s why I found the weeding so gratifying, almost meditative. The sun crept lower, the traffic quieted, I stopped hearing lawn mowers, edgers, radios.

“They know, they just know where to grow, how to dupe you, and how to camouflage themselves among the perfectly respectable plants, they just know, and therefore, I’ve concluded weeds must have brains.”  ~Dianne Benson, Dirt

The weeds will certainly be back and I’ve got to admire their resiliency. Albeit completely terrorizing!

What are your thoughts on weeding, lovelies? Do you also have a love/hate relationship with them in your garden?

the iris farm

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Did I tell you we now have a two year old living with us, who sometimes turns into the Tasmanian Devil when tired/hungry/over-stimulated/doesn’t get what she wants? Oof. We really needed to get out of the house yesterday for a change of attitude and perspective. And a trip to the iris farm worked. For about an hour of the day, yesssss! She decided to leave her grumpy pants at home and we had a great time. She had another melt-down in the garage when we got home, but then promptly slept for two hours after that, so that but-I-WANT-to-drive-the-car-NOW, Mama!!! meltdown can be forgiven. But obviously not yet forgotten. Sigh.

 

Yesterday, I wished that I too could’ve been 35″ tall so I could wade through a forest of irises. Then sit and pull them toward me, letting the smell fill up my entire face.

What did you do this weekend, lovelies? This is the first official week of summer vacation here in northern Michigan and it’s a near-perfect day. Looking forward to playing at the park this afternoon with my little birdie. And eating a popsicle. Or two.