First Day of Summer!




We have had a very good spring for gardening.

 A nice blend of cool and warm, rain and dry.... everything is doing quite well just now....  But that can all change in an instant.  Today's forecast is stormy - rain, wind and hail with the possibility of tornadoes.  Guess I won't go shopping, I'll stay home and dink around on the computer and maybe do some sewing.....?

 Here is an update on the gardens:

 Our vegetable plot up at Mt. Hope church is doing well.  Everything that I had planned to have in by this time is planted and growing.  I did not get good germination with my bean seeds, so I have already planted more.  Just this week we got compost and filled in the last section with the "no-dig' method: laying down cardboard and piling the compost on top and planting directly in that compost.  This is supposed to suppress all weeds and give you clean soil that you can keep nicely.  Here is a picture:
Our veggies at Mt. Hope.  Our plot ends where the straw ends.... except the potatoes... I ran out of straw.

I continue to help out at the historical farm's Victory Garden.  I need to get a new picture of it, as so many things are up and growing there.  This coming weekend is a "Day at the Farm" event for families, and I will be "hostessing" at the garden.  I have been doing my homework and learning all about WWII and the Victory Gardens.  I love researching these kinds of things!

Petersen Farm Garden, taken June 11, 2015


Other than gardening:

 I have been doing a few other things....  For example, last weekend I took Elvis to a couple of Obedience trials, and he has finished his Novice Obedience title.  He is now CH. Utchati Jailhouse Rock, RE, JC, CD (the CD is the title he just earned).  I am so glad to have finally accomplished this!
  
Leg 2 earned at Chicagoland Hound Assoc. 6-13-15
Leg 3 and Title CD, North Shore DTC, 6-14-15


And finally:

This past weekend was Father's Day.  Saturday we got even more gardening done at the house, enlarging the front border and adding plants that I hope off-set the profusion of day lilies that I have!  This spring, there was virtually nothing blooming across the border, and what few other plants that I have there are overwhelmed by the lilies.  So I took a trip to Northwinds Perennial Nursery in Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago, and tried to find plants that would bloom earlier and later than the lilies, and have different leaf and bloom textures.  Here is what we got done:

My wonderful worker bees!
Front border finished!




Now on Father's Day, I did not have DH do any work....  Instead, I fulfilled his only wish: To have salmon from Pike St. Market in Seattle, and his mom's recipe of potato casserole.  This is what we came up with... and yes, the salmon was ordered from Pike St. Market...

      

We had salmon, potato casserole, fresh peas and pea pods from our garden, and for dessert, homemade strawberry shortcakes with whipped cream.  Everything from scratch....  The food was great, the weather was pleasant, and we had a lovely dinner out on our new deck.  Perfect!

Sorry about the spacing of the photos.... this program is not very cooperative....

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A post of his own

Image
 At last, the search has ended. We -or rather I- had given up.  We even went to the local shelter to see if we could find a suitable companion for us and for Archie, but (fortunately), no dice. And then I got a message from a friend.  They were at the Afghan Hound Club of America National Specialty.  I had jokingly sent them a message the week before to have a good time - and "find me a dog", never imagining that it would happen.  You don't go to a dog show to get a dog.  No one there wants to place out their dog.... or so I thought.  They sent me a message that said "we found the perfect dog for you!" It has taken a month, lots of messages back and forth, a major transportation hurdle, but he is here! Meet CHINO Chino, age 'not yet 3 years'.  Just as promised, he is delightful.  Sweet, calm, friendly.... everything we wanted.  He gets along fine with Archie, even if they are not quite ready to cuddle up together. sharing the sofa and snuffling about in
Read more

Adjustments

Image
 September has been a season of adjustments.  Adjusting to a new school year, and with that, the adjustment of managing grandchildren after school.  This year both of the 2 youngest kids have new "schools". Grandson #2 has moved to public school kindergarten, and that left Baby Girl the only one at the day care that was 5.5 miles from my house.... so my DiL was able to get her into their church's preschool/daycare program, which is located very close to the boy's school - both of which are geographically half-way between their home and ours.  PERFECT!  I can leave baby girl (who is no longer a baby, but almost 4) at her school until 6, but I don't.  Why make an extra trip? So I have all 3 for about 3 hours every afternoon. In addition to after school care, the boys have "activities" that necessitate either a large snack or supper before 5:30pm, so some weeks I feed them dinner 3 nights.  Not a big deal, but it does require planning.  Children do not like
Read more

Summer's End

Image
 Summer has been.... summery.  We have had HOT dry weather in May and June, and then in July we started getting the occasional rain shower and some cooler weather ... mixed in with the hot and dry.  I was able to turn off the sprinklers and only set them to go manually on a few occasions... good thing as the water bill for June was double what we usually have to pay!  But while it did not flourish, the City water did keep the garden alive so when the rains came, it took off! I believe this was our first good rain, on July 4, of all days! Rain to celebrate the 4th Jim got to work on his garage project, starting with using all the insulation that he stockpiled two years ago! Hanging insulation. After the rain, it's starting to look like a garden, finally! In July, Archie had a bout of Pancreatitis, and while he had a rough time, he is recovered at last! This was a pretty sick doggie! But he took time off from rabbit chasing to recover... for a bit.  Then he was tempted to chase a bun
Read more