The Garden, 2015

I think it's year three of my gardening adventures. I remember once upon a time having big gardening dreams. Bill bought me a subscription to Fine Gardening. I have a huge book filled with all manners of gardening knowledge. My gardening ambition was boundless.

And then I had my first real garden. 

That sounds much more dramatic than what it actually is. If the idea is to get some soil, plants some seeds or seedlings, maintain some sort of regular watering and watch it grow and produce, then that's what I did. That is, me and the Lord and a few children.

Even though I start prepping my garden beds and planting later than I should, I have no end of joy loosening up the soil, smoothing it out, and tucking tiny, precious seeds of hope in the blank, black canvas. 

See? It's a bit much.

My gardening plan involves index cards and roughly sketched garden layouts for rotating crops and what shouldn't be planted next to what. Strawberries are taking up a good end of this bed which I proceeded to fill in with basil, cilantro, tomatoes with radishes planted in between and jalapeños.

I squished a lot in this bed. Parsnips, green beans, peas, spinach, lettuce, two kinds of carrots and cucumbers. You might know that some of these are early season plants while others are planted a little later but because I started so late everything went in at once. There is no succession planting, early crop/late crop plants here. My motto is "Plant late, shove everything in."

This is about a month later looking at the same bed but from the opposite direction. Some things are actually growing although I've managed to drown them in too many grass clippings. I can tell you for certain is that waiting for parsnips to germinate is dumb and I cleared that space up and re-planted it with more green beans. I'm learning that in my small space, you've got to earn your right to stay and they didn't. And while we're at it, here's a list of vegetables no longer welcome in my garden: zucchini (I'll just ask a neighbor for some), onions (once the leaves bend over they're done growing and that's just not sturdy enough for me), potatoes (oh, I do love a homegrown potato all mashed up but they take up a lot of space for so little). I've benched broccoli for the moment and I'm afraid to say it because I love homegrown peas but they might be benchwarmers for a year or two.

The other bed looking the other way has some very sickly looking jalapeño plants, now that I look at them. It might explain why they produced so poorly. The tomatoes are coming in the best yet. And the strawberries in the back are ok. They have one more year or I'm reclaiming their space. You can tell how thick the grass clippings are. Lesson learned there. 

That's an old iron headboard next to the garden (and another one leaning against the fence that I've yet to place somewhere). The cucumbers did well this year and climbed up the bed. I feel it one of my gardening victories.

 Oh gosh, cilantro! I'm so proud of you for growing this year but you came on strong before the tomatoes were ready and that's just not right. I don't know what to think because it seems this is the story of all my friends' cilantro as well. I'm letting the strawberries creep in on your space.

That's the end of my garden pictures. I know it's an abrupt ending but that's kind of how it went with my garden. All on. All off. Now my garden looks sad. A few tomatoes hang from weakened stems, hoping someone will find their green-ness appealing. There were some red ones left to be picked but someone has a smart dog who knows when her invisible fence collar is off and helped herself to all the ripe ones. Yes, I know it was you, Lucy, because you get super guilty looking when I come around and also you left red poop all over the yard. But to redeem her, she's taken a fancy not only to tomatoes but to green beans. 

We were able to pick enough for us to eat fresh for meals without being overwhelmed. I did make a few refrigerator pickles with some of the cucumbers with this recipe. It was my best year for tomatoes and I canned over 20 pints of salsa with them. I planted six jalapeño plants and I barely got any from them whereas my friends had two plants and were almost overrun with peppers. I can't imagine my life if mine produced like theirs did. I hardly watered this year because of the abundant rains the Lord provided which in turn gave me a lush garden. (All I need now is a collection of Russian nesting dolls.) (Please, someone tell me you get this.)

I don't even know what is going on with this picture with the black border.
This was our last big harvest. Audrey is holding all the carrots but Ben pulled them. 

As though it isn't obvious enough, no one is going to be asking me for gardening advice. But for once, I'm okay with just letting my garden do its thing and not try to coax it into perfection. Which is what my friend Deanna told me the first year. 

When a Boy Wins a Fish

This past weekend Luke won two goldfish from our church's carnival. He named them Apricot and Shiny. 

Apricot and Shiny lived in their plastic baggie until Monday afternoon when I frantically remembered that I needed to get them into something bigger. I emptied a glass jar that contained seashells, ironically. 

Here they lived and swam and enjoyed the hubbub of life with a family. 

That is until Wednesday mid-morning when I noticed Shiny was lying awfully still at the bottom while Apricot seemed to sort of gasp for breath at the top of bowl. 

I wasn't sure how Luke would respond once he was home from school. It took him a bit to say anything but, surprisingly, he didn't break into huge tears like I was anticipating. We decided we would see if anyone had a tank and aerator for sale and if so, we would get it for Apricot.

I did find what was needed and had arranged to pick the supplies up later in the evening. Luke was gone for supper but the other two were here when Ben noticed Apricot swimming sideways and sinking to the bottom. Apricot would swim desperately around the bowl then float listlessly to the bottom. Essentially, the kids were watching the fish die.
  

 So many thoughts ran through my head today about this whole situation.

• Winning goldfish from a carnival is like a classic childhood dream come true. 
• Seeing Luke love his fish and care for them- making sure they didn't get jostled at the carnival, making sure their water didn't spill while he had to play a soccer game before we got home, insisting that I move them into a container while he was at school- was making it worth the hassle.
• Even though I waited quite a while to find the proper equipment for them, I was still concerned for how he might respond when he found out one was dead.
• Unfortunately, I found it funny watching Audrey and Ben watching Apricot die. Maybe I should have talked it out with them a bit more? Nah. If the 8 year old gets it, so can the 16 and 12 year olds.
• I was sort of happy that I wouldn't have to spend any money on our free fish. Free carnival prize? Hah! I was totally going to deduct the cost of set-up from our fundraising pledge. (just kidding)

But here's the main thing I thought of all day long. Years ago at a women's retreat, our pastor's sister shared some things about their mother. One of the things she said their mother did was let them have all kinds of pets. From how she described it, it sounded like they had a multitude of pets and wild and crazy ones at that. I'm sure it came at no small cost to their family and her personally to house and care for them. Marie did it because she wanted her children to learn about God's creation and caring for them. About the cycle of life and death. That story has always stuck with me. Now here was that story happening to us. It caused me to readjust my heart in the matter. 

Not enough, however, that I'm going to go out and buy replacement fish. (The person who was selling me the tank was very understandable to the situation.) 

P.S. Never underestimate the entertainment factor of flushing fish down the toilet. I bet Marie had that in mind, as well.   

Spiced Carrots and Honey Mustard Chicken

Ben and I harvested the carrots the other day. Besides our cherry tomatoes, this was our one crop that turned out well. At first he wasn't thrilled to join me but then he got to see what all those months of watering and waiting had produced and went to town pulling the rest for me.

He liked pulling the really big ones.

To Ben's right is a good crop of kale, in the middle are the carrots, and to his left is the broccoli that never would be.

We didn't thin them as recommended and so we pulled several clumps. 

I've had this carrot recipe for a long time. I made them for the first time when I needed to feed a bunch of guys who came over to help our re-roof our first home. In the kitchen I had help from the guys' wives: Marcia, Michelle, Miranda, Mindy and me. We cooked up a feast for our hungry bunch and these carrots were on the menu. They were a hit then and they are a hit now.

Spiced Carrots 

• 5 large carrots, julienned or sliced
• 2 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Place carrots in saucepan; cover with water and cook until tender, about 8-10 minutes. Drain. Pour butter, sugar, salt and cinnamon over carrots and toss to coat. Serve immediately. Serves 4-6

Depending on the size of carrots you are using, this may or may not make 4-6 servings. I'd say, make more than you think just in case your kids gobble them up. 

I served them with Honey Mustard Chicken. This recipe comes my friend Jayme via our church cookbook, though I've made some modifications for boneless breasts. You could replace the chicken with pork chops and it be equally yummy.

Honey Mustard Chicken

• 4-6 chicken breasts or boneless pork chops
• 1/2 c. butter, melted
• 1/2 c. honey
• 1/4 c. Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. curry powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Place chicken in a baking dish. Combine butter, honey, mustard, curry powder and salt and pour over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until tender and cooked through. Baste occasionally. 

I'm not a food stylist or food blogger, but this is still a yummy plate of food.

Are you enjoying this What 2 Eat series? Is it helping with your own weekly menu planning? 

Chicken Parmesan Bruschetta and the Garden

Remember way back to early summer and the story of our garden? When those green dreams were dug into warm soil to be carefully tended on and lovingly nurtured?

Only to come out the next day and find that rabbits do indeed like Everything but especially the broccoli.

Ah, yes, that garden.

Our garden, my friends, has been the subject of sore and delight depending on the point of view taken. To me, a still novice gardener, it is somewhat sore because of the plague of the rabbits. Before I installed chicken wire around the whole thing, it was literally an open salad bar for those critters. I know the word got out- free greens in the Ward's backyard. After chicken wire installation, they stayed away but my poor plants looked weak and wearied. I brought in friend after friend to advise and console me. They all assured me something would grow. 

Now that we're nearing the end of the growing season or at least the end of the growing season of vegetables I know how to grow, I can report something edible has been exhumed from the now bunny barricaded patch. 

We've had approximately 12 strawberries, 10 consumable radishes, 1 pot's worth of mashable potatoes, a small saucepan of green beans, 4 cucumbers, 16 jalapeno peppers, 11 very small onions, 2 green peppers, 20 various tomatoes, and an ice cream bucketfull of grape tomatoes. We are still waiting on the carrots and kale. I'm afraid the broccoli, the one lone surviving broccoli, is not going to make it. 

My friend, Deanna, says its all about experimenting and learning as you go. I've got a lot of going still to learn.

All that being said, we actually have had enough tomatoes to eat and give away without being obnoxious. My grape tomatoes are actually sweeter than my sister's and that's pretty much all the gardening success I need right there.

Today's What 2 Eat recipe is a culmination of staring at tomatoes piled on my counter, knowing we needed a break from pico de gallo and tomato caprese and were going to have BLT's on the weekend. Ok, I don't need a break from any of those things. It's the rest of the family. I drew inspiration from two recipes stuffed in my recipe collection and came up with this.

Chicken Parmesan Bruschetta

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• Pepper
• 2 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh basil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper 

• In a shallow dish, beat eggs together. In another shallow dish, combine Parmesan cheese and pepper (to taste). Dip chicken breasts in eggs then in cheese mixture, turning to coat. Place in casserole dish along with 2 tablespoons butter. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, uncovered. Turn over, add more butter if necessary and bake another 15 minutes until cooked through.
• Combine chopped tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. 
• Serve chicken with tomato mixture on top. 

 

 My kids aren't fans of stuff on top of their meat and chopped tomatoes. I served it all separate and they had to eat a small spoonful of the tomatoes, which they did (and didn't die, amazingly). 

What's on your plate this week and did it come from your garden? 

Is a favorite summer memory from your garden? Tell me here.

     

On Running...Nature and Self-Talk

I'm carrying my phone with me on runs more these days. It keeps me in communication with the fam while I'm gone, especially on long runs. Occasionally I stop to take a picture or two.

I came across these two the other day. When I showed the pictures to Ben and Obi, Obi said it looked like they were walking home from a date! It was morning so they must have be the party all night, sleep all day kind of birds.

Just felt I should take their picture. I felt they were standing in solidarity with me- We get up to eat. You get up to run. Each of us just doin' our jobs.

Over Memorial Day weekend, I had a long run on schedule and decided I could finally get to Geode park a few miles down the road from Bill's parents and check out all the roads for myself. The snails were my favorite though I'm sorry to say a few got squished during my run. I hear a soft crack underfoot and after examining what it was, found that snails covered the roads like nightcrawlers usually do! I tried to avoid them but couldn't. 

 Also on that run, I was surrounded by six- 6!- dogs that came barreling out from some house!! I was at a stand still for nearly ten minutes before I felt I could slowly start to move on. Besides being so scared it's a wonder I didn't mess my shorts, I was really angry that that many dogs were roaming free from one house, never mind it being in the country. A half a mile down the road, I was finally able to start running again although two dogs continued to accompany me at least another mile and a half before turning back. At the edge of the park, I met another dog but it was too old to do anything other than hop off the porch and bark. One last dog greeted me at the beginning of the park and ended up running most of the way through with me. 

Yesterday's run confirmed that I am not a fan of dogs off leash. I ran past a house in the country that is on one of my normal running routes. A dog came out barking and though I slowed down before taking off again, he decided he would help me finish my run. I ended up being way short on distance for the time I needed to be out so I extended my route which took me along Hwy 69. Well, I ended up having to keep that dog out of highway traffic (I ran along the very inside of the shoulder, which is quite wide.) to keep it alive. It followed me well until I got to town and then decided every single tree, sign post, and flower bush needed to be marked. So much for my run. Bill was just leaving for work when I came around the corner and he gave me and the mutt a ride back to his house; the dog panting over my shoulder and me fuming. Owner of a chocolate brown lab with no collar whatsoever-  I know someone was home because a car was in the driveway when I ran past and when I returned your dog the car was gone. You didn't come looking for it. You're lucky your dog didn't get hit or impounded because that's what I intended to do. The next time, I'm just gonna pepper spray it. Take care of your dogs (because you have more than one and this isn't the first dog of yours to come out at me), even if you live in the country. 

Moving on... You all get the magazine American Motorcyclist, the journal of the American Motorcyclist Association, right? For those of you that do you will remember this story from March's issue. I'll recap for the rest of you. Dave and Jody Perewitz are a father - daughter team who have built and ridden a motorcycle that set  a land-speed record. The story is obviously about how they got to that point. In building that particular motorcycle Dave said "We did everything in very small steps. We never rushed to go fast."

Don't rush to go fast. 

Put in the training, bit by bit. As Bob confirmed, Dr. Leo Marvin is a genius.

Also knocking around in my brain is my own phrase "Run your own race"

And I came across this quoted by Theodore Roosevelt "Comparison is the thief of joy."

I'm running because I like to run. I'm racing because sometimes having a goal at the end of the training is good for both the motivation to train and the completion of the training, whether it shows up in race day results or not. 

Well, there you have it. I've spilled my guts on running for the last week. You know all my secrets. I wear goofy socks, eat fried food, feel at one with nature and talk to myself. Running is so healthy for you. 

Garden Beginnings

We're on year two of our gardening adventures. I know some people spend all winter long planning which seeds to purchase and start and more. I didn't. I spent one day. I brushed up my notes from last year's garden and figured out a plan. 

The next day I headed to a local greenhouse to pick up the plant starts I needed and that evening the boys and I put them in.

Notice Luke balancing on the edge. I said they could do that as long as they didn't fall into the beds. So far so good.

Ben is helping me put in chicken wire for trellising the peas. We learned last year that even though the pea seed packet says they are bush peas they still need support.

Luke and I putting in lettuce and spinach seeds.

That's round one of this year's garden. Round two is me vs the rabbits. 

Wildlife on the Run

So the other day I was on my 10 mile run. I was barely into mile two, still the warm-up phase for me when I rounded a corner and there crossing the road was a baby possum. It was moving it's little possum butt at a leisurely pace and I was hoping it would get far enough across before I intersected it's path, therefore being close enough to sprint away if it noticed me and decided to purse, chase, attack- whatever possums do. I didn't know. Maybe it was the sloshing of my water bottle, maybe the sluggish breathing of one not quite warmed up with a nice warm sun radiating off the pavement, but it noticed me. And stopped. And turned toward me. I would like to say that it cocked it's head in a cute little way which would have signified to me that it was safe to pass but it didn't. So I stopped. Like I said, I don't know what possums do when threatened but I wasn't going to purposefully find out. I took some good swigs from my water bottle and waited the little creature out. It only took a minute for it to be bored with me, turn around and return from whence it came. I commenced my running and thus ended my first ever stand-off with a possum.

The break was nice and I hit a bike trail that took me behind a housing development and rounded up onto a gravel road, one side being the several acre lots and the other a cow field. Just before I reached the end of the bike trail, I met a mini wiener dog (pardon for the dog breed ) named Shorty. Of course I didn't know Shorty's name until the owner realized someone else was on the trail and called out to it. I commented that it was a nice day and she concurred. Then she informed me that there was a cow loose up ahead. Oookay. I've lived in small town Iowa my whole life. I lived the first 10 years of my life on a farm with livestock. I married a man who grew up on a farm. His parents still live there and I even run through Dad's cow pastures, past cows and the whole nine yards. Cows are not new to me, nor are they alarming to me like this woman indicated. Still, I had never encountered a cow on my runs around my town and it brought to mind my grandpa.

I cannot remember exactly what grade I was in, either 5th or 6th grade, and I was running some sort of meet. I think I might have been running a 200m. Anyway, I looked back over my shoulder and my grandpa, who happened to be there, saw me do that. Well, did I hear it!!! Never, ever look back! And also, run like a bull was chasing you! I've never forgotten his words.

Which brings me back to my situation... Exactly where was this cow loose? What did Shorty's owner mean by loose? Was it a bull or a cow? The unrestricted cow was not quite a quarter of a mile ahead and fairly occupied with the greener on the other side of the fence, across a gravel road, up a steep ditch and into the green, green field behind the housing development. She took notice of me (yay, a cow with no calves!), gave me a quick once over and went back to filling her seven stomachs. The lady warned me that if the cow charged I should get behind a tree. Heh- there are no trees growing next to gravel roads lining pasture fields. I was stuck with a measly signpost. I estimated that I could outrun the brown beast before it clambered out of the ditch in it's pursuit. Besides, I had just chewed my own cud of a handful of Sports Beans so I was fueled if I needed to high-tail it out. I kept my pace easy, not doing anything to spook the poor dear who would soon be harassed back into her proper confines. I passed her with ease, though I did look back (sorry, Grandpa) just to make sure the only ones getting fired up would be the neighbors (If you build a housing development in the middle of a pasture, they will come?).

I don't have any pictures to share with you as I don't carry a camera or phone on my runs (not yet anyway). My possum and cow story pales compared to some of the more "wild"life spotted by the rest of you. It's just a story to tell. Maybe it will keep your next run humorous!

Psst... I still don't know what to do about possums.

Building a Garden

When I was a kid, my siblings and I used to go to someone’s house who’s cars had CB’s. We had to pick out our handle- our name other’s would know us by. I chose “Green Thumb”. I was an aspiring gardener- which to my 8 year old self meant very little other than eating spinach straight out the garden.

Fast forward a bunch of years and my green thumb, well, let’s just say, it hasn’t fully developed yet. I like to think of my green thumb as really more of a lovely chartreuse color. I’ve managed to be able to plop a few plants in the ground and most of them have made it, give or take a rose bush (it’s a hearty little thing and should win an award for still making it under duress conditions). I’ve yet to venture into successful veggie growing.

This year, that’s all going to change!

Thanks to a crew of 6, our backyard now has two 12’x4’ raised beds.

So you’ve got to start things off right, which includes at least two trips to your local lumber/home improvement store- in our case, Lowes. In the first trip, you must take 3 kids, park at the opposite end of the store in relation to where your stuff actually is, load the timbers in one of those non-steerable cart thingies, have 2 kids try to ride while you push it to the main aisle, only to find you must actually go back into the store- halfway into the store- to pick up your other things and so then decide that somehow your raised garden bed will stay together with a glue gun, staples and Japanese Washi Tape but no way are you going to navigate that wheeled disaster back through the store for 10 spikes.

You will not get the same special memory any other way.

Note: On the second trip, you send your husband, who really knows what’s going on anyway with the boys. On the third trip, you leave the kids home to have popcorn for supper while you go with your hubs. Drop that silly notion that this trip is romantic. That has wore off loooong ago. It’s just quiet and you can think for once and have a full conversation with an adult for 30 minutes.

 Ben got permission to dig in the middle of the beds. Like everything he really enjoys, he went after it full gusto.

What does Norm always say (besides safety glasses are your best tool)? That’s right- Measure twice, cut once.

I’m demonstrating how to hold a spike.

Audrey took ownership of a few jobs- drilling holes for the spikes and putting in the screws. But first, she needed a few tips and Ben and Luke supervise the supervisor, supervising the worker. Reminds me of a joke…

Lucy is really the main job site supervisor. Obviously here, she’s making sure Mama’s garden will be level. If she’s gonna have to jump into it, she wants to clear it evenly.

Again, lots of supervising. Notice Ben’s hole. At one point he tried to put Luke on his back and then stand on the shovel for more leverage.

Can sleeping on the site get you fired?

Here it is, all finished. Now to fill it up!

Albert and Darling

I hope you don’t mind, but today is not about our aviary patrons. It’s about a brother and a sister. Let’s meet them, shall we?

Here they are.

They started off as two wee little seeds planted in a plastic cup by Luke at preschool. Oh, yes- those kind. We all know, the likely-hood of those seeds growing into anything but a soggy mess (due to zealous watering) is pretty slim. But somehow, Albert and Darling made it past that initial stage and into the actual ground.

We watered, monitored, watered again, checked on them, let God water them, let God grow them and waited some more wondering if we would ever get anything beyond those first few leaves.

Albert took off like a shot! Oh my! We were always surprised at his growth whenever we checked on him. He was tall, he was handsome and he went out for track where pole vaulting was his favorite event.

One night a strong wind blew through town and besides re-arranging everyone’s lawn furniture and causing a general ruckus, it also knocked the wind out of Albert. We found him laying in the bushes, not uprooted, but still with a neck injury. So Bill made a splint from a fence post, propped him back up and we waited to see how Albert would recover.

Well, Albert is quite tenacious. What was thought to be an career ending injury, straightened back up and on he grew!

Meanwhile, little Darling was never much of a sprout. She just didn’t grow. If Albert and Darling are twins (paternal, of course) then I’d say Albert got the lion’s share. We watered, watched and waited on her just as much as Albert and on she grew, but at her own pace. We were never negligent of her, but when Albert was such a show-off, we sort of forgot about Darling.

Then, lo and behold, one day while picking tomatoes, Audrey said there were two sunflowers. I rushed out and there was Darling, peeking from behind one of Albert’s gigantic paws. She was so pretty and quite shy. With her permission, we were able to capture her fleeting beauty.

Overshadowing her was her big, hulk of a brother. That old neck injury had played it’s hand again and there stood Albert drooped over. Since his glory days have long gone, he’s resorted to gloom and despair and is now an emotional eater. Darling just waits for her glimpses of the sun as the breeze attempt to lift brother’s shade for her.

I saw her the other day and she was fading fast. She always was a delicate thing and the onset of heat had “done her in” as she quoted a line from her favorite musical character, Eliza Doolittle. Perhaps, if I get a chance, I will see if she is available for one more autograph. I have no doubt there is more to be heard from her brother. He may yet have another moment in the sun.

Charles and Phoebe

Thanks to a birthday gift to Ben a few years ago, (build your own birdhouse) we’ve been slowly establishing the Ward Fly-In Diner. Over the years we’ve added a couple of things to the menu and a few more dining areas. Here are a few of our regular customers.

At this feeder we have thistle seed and our first American Goldfinch. His name is Charles.

Charles likes to check things out for himself, but keeps to himself for the most part, except for his pretty little chirp to us know he’s there. He’s not quite as formal as his name implies, but Charles still fits the best. Only once, when I put fresh seed in the feeder, did I hear him talking while he was eating. It was then that I learned that he sometimes goes by Chuck and that his manners are not as impeccable as his bright coat might suggest.

Charles is not single. He’s got a wife. Her name is Phoebe. (He’s quite loyal to her, so not to worry.) I believe Phoebe is much more refined than her husband. (She would’ve tsk, tsked at some of his table manners had she been there.) She is quiet and reserved and afraid of too much publicity because she is a very good, protective mother.

Mostly Charles comes and he can stay for quite a while. Phoebe will come, but very irregularly. I think she must visit her mother often, getting wise advice on being a wife and mothering.

We have had one other goldfinch visit. He is much younger, perhaps the son of Charles and Phoebe, but I can’t tell yet. When he’s around the two males squabble a bit. I have another two feeders to put up and I could fill this one further so there was more leg room, so once I’m done expanding the dining area, we will see how these two interact.