Emily Nice's Blog

Another produce post

2012-01-30T21:56:00.000-08:00

So, I didn't get all my produce and products in that one HUGELY long post so thought I'd give it another try....

Zuchinni, shredded, measured, bagged and frozen. Fourty something cups worth...

(My freezer is full of produce- zuchinni, squash, red orach, swiss chard)

Grape juice from my own grapes!

And Chokecherry syrup from my own cherries.

Was NOT a good year for melons -so tiny.

So my roommate was awesome about asking our new acros the street neighbors if we could have their leaves. They said yes (I know not suprising) and then they showed us their chickens. I noticed they had grapes on their fence and so asked if I could come pick them later (it was dark by that time) and they said yes. So I was brave and the next weekend got some more leaves and picked a ton of dark purple grapes. I was even braver and asked the other neighbors if I could pick on their side of the fence. They were shocked as they didn't know people could just pick and eat food from outside, but said yes.

I got too bags FULL. And now have all this lovely free dark grape juice bottled downstairs. YUM

Its amazing how those vines probably haven't been cared for in over 15 years. I can't imagine the haul if they had been tended. The trucks are big around as a tree. Unfortunately they might get pulled out next year as the neighbor said its hard to keep the weeds down along the fence with them in the way :(

Used the last of my hot peppers from the garden and a bucket or so of tomatillos (they are all volunteers in the garden now) to make delicious green sauce. I bought a pH meter because I wanted to be able to make and can my own recipes without buying an expensive pressure canner. Turns out that botulism can't grow below 4.7 pH, so I canned my tomato sauce, salsa, and chili sauce worry free!

This picture shows my counter after a busy day of canning. I did a few of my tomatoes batches by color for fun. I also tried to make some green tomato ketchup after the frost and that didn't turn out so good. It tastes like chili sauce which I've never cared for. I think it was the pickling spice that I don't like. Too much cloves...

I bought some second hand apples pretty cheap this year. I didn't can any (I still have quite a bit from last year left) but made great dried apples and many apple crisps. Just used the last in a skillet apple crisp (the iron skillet I got for Xmas) that was very tasty.

ok this one has nothing to do with produce. Its melanie doing her mini tri. But when she came to visit I made her help me can some things so I guess in a way it does. Alec wanted this gorgeous Brandy Boy type tomatoe and carefully put it in his hat to take home. The hat got sat on (by me) and this is the result.

This is what I did with the sorghum. I cut it into lengths, smashed those with a hammer, and put through the steamer. Boiled that down till I got a sweet juice. Needed to boil that down further to get a syrup but it got lost in the back of the fridge and I just threw it out cause it was growing something I didn't want to taste :( but next year I'm sure I'll do better (especially if I can use that empty lot and put a whole stand in!!!

These beans were from last year. This year I didn't get as many brown ones...

The end till next garden season!

past Melanie Post

2012-01-28T11:41:00.000-08:00

So back in May 2010 Melanie broked herself up pretty good and so I went to check things out. I'm curious that way.

I took random pictures and so I will inflict them on the world now.

Melanie wasn't up much for pictures when I first got there. I went shopping to make sure we had lots of food since I didn't know how long I would be able to stay and wanted to make sure Melanie had easy stuff. Actually Melanie is really good about keeping her freazer full of ready to go lunches, but it made me feel better to do stuff.

By Sunday Melanie was more sociable. Drugs are great.

I made a quiche thingy. More veggies then eggs :)

it might have gotten over cooked but not because I was distracted or anything. nope. not me.

We went to her appointment and that made me mad.

they didn't unwrap her arm carefully and didn't even have a softer place for her to put it. I was like, ummm did you not hear the part about the shattered elbow/arm?

Melanie wasn't too happy either because she would have to go in for surgery and it wouldn't be right away.

We went to Melanie's work for a little bit

I did some of my work too...

And before I left made sure Melanie could get in and out of her car and drive safely...

texting and driving is even less of a good idea when you have a broken arm but Melanie likes to multitask.

Hope nobody else breaks anything for a long time, but if you do I may come and buy you food since thats all I know what to do in a crisis :)

wherin I become a real fisherperson

2012-01-26T21:23:00.000-08:00

This summer I had the oportunity to go fishin' a couple of times just up the canyon. And what was crazy was I actually caught a fish. It was suprising and somewhat alarming! Good thing there was a guide type person nearby who helped rescue the fish and keep me from loosing my pole. I really do enjoy fly fishing and seeing a fish come and eat my fly is amazing!

We stopped at deer creak to watch some kite boarders. Clicke on the picture and you can see them.

Cathy is a real fisher person (not like me)

I even went fishing when we went to ID for Natalie's baptism

In the fall, 0ur friend Craig took us on a lovely day trip to the upper Provo. The Provo goes over a series of beautiful falls. I had no idea there was so many lakes up in the Uintas, its a lot more wet then the mountains in NM. It was beautiful!

Hi Cathy. Hi Emily

Of course I had to cross to the other side and then take a picture to show how amazing I am.... :)

We ate a picnic lunch and hiked over to Trial Lake- or was it Washington?

Beautiful!

Either way Cathy started casting and caught a fish every minute or so until we had to go.... And I caught a couple

We went back a week or so later and camped overnight (I usually sleep under the stars but for some reason that night I kept thinking bears were going to get me so I didn't sleep much) and I caught more fish, not even by accident :) So I is a real fisherperson now.

jamie visits

2012-01-24T21:02:00.000-08:00

So I got to spend some time with Jaime and Kade this past summer/fall. Somehow I mostly ended up with pictures of Kade....First we went to visit Melanie and Melissa in Vegas and to cheer Sarah on a marathon. Goood job Sarah! Jamie and Kade rode back to Utah with me and were very patient as my car decided to die and a 6 hr trip took a lot longer.

Kade loves stickers, and I happen to keep a lot.

Kade was also a big fan of my yard and he grabbed a tomato and munched on it like an apple while exploring. Then he found the berries and ate those all. Then we found the sweet cherry tomatoes and you can guess what happened with those.

He was even happy when we put him in the chicken coop - no chickens yet so no worries about germs.

He is a sweet happy guy and fun to hang with and Jamie too, except when she takes pictures of me with my own phone.

Then it was Courtney's wedding (Congrats Court!) so Jamie and Kade and Melanie came to hang out again. It was sure fun to see everyone.

Sad that I didn't get any pictures of the actual events....

Things are growing- and not just mold in the fridge

2012-01-22T20:21:00.000-08:00

Spring? well up until yesterday it was feeling like spring wasn't far off, but then we got the white stuff. I don't really mind it. I think it was pretty today wiith the white snow and blue skies, similar to winters in NM

Anyways I'm in the prep for Spring. I put in a big order through Bakers Creek.... the second picture is my wishlist cause even though it doesn't look like it, I really was trying to restrict myself until the end when I got carried away with tomatoes....

These seeds were ones that Gage ordered. He saw me drooling over my catalogue over the break and asked what I was doing. He said he was interested so we looked things over and here is the result:

I took a few seeds from some of the packets because I haven't tried most of them before either so it will be fun. After talking to Amy, I picked out some more seeds to send to MT along with a green beaded lizard (that Gage made with Melanie), and a lost CtR ring. Hopefully they will get their seeds before long!

Some things are already growing in my house. In a couple of months there will be more starts. I can hardly wait! The only problem is that since I went overboard with tomato varieties this year, I will have to actually choose which ones to plant.

My plan this year is to ask the owners of some empty lots near my house if I can put a row (or 2) of tomatoes and a couple (like 7?) hills of squash...

On other news I already accomplished my new year's goal 2012. It was to print out all 12 months of goal sheets. I'm getting lots of check marks so I feel good about myself. I finally got one check mark in the exercise column last week.... 15 min on a bike and my legs were like jello :)

garden and products

2011-10-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

Last night it froze (at least I think it did, I'm stuck in St. George so not for sure about it). This makes me sad. I don't feel like I got enough out of the season.

So here are a few (too many) pictures (and words) to document this past growing season. I thought I had more pictures of produce, but oh well., there still ends up being too many.

Tomatoes: first one at a time, then to baskets,

then to boxes. My biggest haul (other then picking all for the freeze yesterday was 3 boxes worth plus the two baskets

what did I do with all of those? I gave some away, but then mostly they were made into weekly pasta sauce (food process the whole tomato then boil down by half, add spices and its sooo tasty.

In this second photo I needed to do all the tomatoes that were about to go bad before going on a trip, and I decided to seperate out some white tomatoes and some green ones and (the two smaller pots)

I also canned, salsa and TOP sauce (if you are really nice I might share some relish

Of course the best thing to do with fresh garden tomatoes is to eat them fresh. Numerous sandwhiches were made delicious in this manner, as well as salads....

Next- Cabbages and peppers. From the earlier post you saw a big head of regular, green cabbage that I grew. I think I had a 3 or so green ones and 2 purples. I found a delicious recipe for pickled cabbages and peppers which was awesome as it used two of my garden produces this year.

These peppers aren't from my garden, but from a farm stand near my work (3 for a dollar! and they are much bigger and tastier and more variety then the super expensive store ones). I don't know why I didn't get any pictures of mine (both sweet and spicy) were really good this year.

I found out that if I use the purple cabbage it turns everything pink when processed. This isn't as apetizing and looses all the beautiful mix of colors.... but if I give you some you better not say anything. I stayed up one night till 2 am trying to get everything preserved and that makes me onry... I made 5-6 batches of this stuff with each batch a little different. It will be fun to try and see what tastes the best.

beans, peas, and cukes: Peas did well this summer and were all eaten fresh. Beans did ok but stopped producing fairly quickly (they need to be kept picked better). I didn't get any pictures of the dragon tongue beans which is sad because they looked so cool! I didn't end up preserving to many of my own so I bought some farmer stand ones (again supper cheap) to put up plenty of dilly beans (sorry no picture). Cucumbers did well and I will plan my favorite varieties again (from Asia and Australia). Ended up eating all of them fresh or giving them away so didn't make any pickles with them.

Also a picture of a kohlrabi. I like them but they haven't done super well and I think I'll use the space for something different next year.

My zuchinni on the other hand were very prolific. I gave a bunch away and made some zuchinni pickles which were nice and crispy, but I got the brine wrong and they were way too sour :( oh well thats what next year is for!

I found out that lima beans are better from the garden but they are a pain! First you have to pop them them out of the pods, then boil for 5 minutes then de-hull them. All that work for a tiny bowlfull! Won't plant them again, even though they were more desease resistent then some of the other bean varieties.

I got tons of grapes. YAY! and they are super, super tasty. So sweet its like candy. Was able to share lots of these, the rest I froze and I'm waiting for my new steam juicer to come in so I can juice them.

Beets did ok this year, not as many as I anticipated, but there are still some out in the garden. By all reports they are supposed to be fine after a light frost...

Egg plants did better towards the end of the season, took awhile to get going, but got some fun ones. Liked the varieties I did this year (including white fingerlings) but only made my delicious eggplant o'brien once (another way to use up tomatoes too).

winter squash and melons. Only a couple of melons made it through, even though I had built them such cute teepees to grow on. For rude. It was a hard year for these products. I did get a number of winter squash but not enough to put up the huge numbers I need for squash mac and cheese. I'll need to buy some from the farmer's stand.

Lettuce: Did pretty good, learned I don't like arugula. Spicey mustardy. blah.

My carrots struggled to get up this year. Found out that the snails were eating all the babies as soon as they popped up so its a wonder I got any from my 3 plantings. I planted lots of different colors. These are a crazy looking called "snow white". I had to pick them before the frost as the green part was sticking out above the soil. They are huge!

I have posted earlier about my jam making exploits with the various berries I got this year. I really needed to do more with my berry patches this year, but didn't get around to it which means next year won't be as good.... This is a picture of choke cherries and a tart mixed berry jam I put up.

have you ever noticed that I make big messes when I cook or preserve food.

I planted some for fun vegitables this year. Some were good, some not so much. A suprise was okra. Who knew that you could grow okra outside of the deep south? Well it was a successful experiment and I'll probably repeat it cause they are fun!

Turnips are icky. The end. well not really cause I tried to pickle some to see if they are edible this way.... will probably just sit in my food storage until I throw them out or the end of the world comes and I actually need to eat them... there are some still out in the garden, but they might remain there. speaking of icky I don't know why I plan swiss chard every year. Well I guess I do cause its pretty and grows well. Too bad its icky.

These are the sorghum canes I grew. Suprisingly enough they grew pretty well considering they weren't in an ideal spot. I really wanted to make syrup out of them but can't figure out a way to get the juice out! They are like sugar cane but a little smaller and less juicey with (to me) a better flavor.

I didn't actually plant this... but some amazing mushrooms grew this year. This one smelled really good and was HUGE but I didn't dare eat it..

Also not pictured:
Potatoes- red ones did great (although nothing like my nephew Zane's), yukon golds not so much.
Onions- used them throughout the year and would have a better harvest if I didn't try to crowd everything so close together- some got way overgrown by the zuchinni and didn't get very big. Others I didn't harvest soon enough and they started to grow again. Not good.
Brocoli: previous posts showed I grew some big heads but they get buggy and bitter and I don't pick them often enough, so I will try and refrain from planting next year (the little plants are so cute that I can't help myself and will buy them without thinking).
Tomatillos: come up as volunteers and always get lots
Spinach, Parsnips, Garlic- didn't do well this year

I was asked to present a little on preserving harvests through drying and freezing for a relief society thing. I ended up going way over board (I know shocking) and packed my car full of things to show.

learned lots. namely to stop going overboard. ok guess I didn't really learn that.

Finally, here are some pictures of my pots pretty well filled out. They got even bigger then this but I think there weren't enough flowers in them.

The end of garden 2011. Unless I take a picture of whats in my front room when I get back.

Where is the summer going?

2011-07-17T15:58:00.001-07:00

It sure has gone by fast so far!

It turned from this:

Into This, practically overnight:

And from this:

Into this:

I tend to work behind and this year is no exception. With my Hawaii trip coming in the middle of spring, and the very wet and cool spring, things got off to a slow start

Lots of dirt digging and tree cutting and planting

I bought and then hauled cattle panel as part of my effort to trellis the garden

Some plants really enjoyed all the water and coolness:

Others did not

(my seedlings that got over rained on and then sunburned so I ended up replanting a lot)

Some animals like wet
(this worm was much bigger, but he shrunk up cause I was messing with him)

Some not so much:

Strawberry season...
It started out with just a couple of handfuls

Then I used my shirt to gather them....

eventually I needed to use actual containers.

There was too many to eat fresh, so I made freezer jam. YUM!

The strawberries are just about done now. Same with lettuce, spinach, brocoli and peas.

Today we ate the first zucchini, and tomato (it was already growing from the store). Will be awhile before we get a regular supply but the zucchini will provide, I'm sure.

As the strawberries are winding down, the raspberries are picking up. The saskatoon and Dew berries were also ripe so I wasn't sure what to do. Decided to cook down the currants and blackberries then will strain them. Chop up the saskatoon, raspberries, and strawberries and will add them to make a mixed berry jam.

I got my pots filled just this past weekend.

Still so much to do!

I worked on some things even after dark by using the piano light attached to a long extension cord.... that stopped after one night when i got sprayed with water and then electrocuted by the light... guess its not water proof :)

this is red orach, or mountain spinach. It grows like crazy in my garden and reseeded itself handily from one sad plant last year.

These "branches" that I cut off were taller then me.

I ended up wth a grocery bag and gallon bag full. I read up about it and one guy back east was selling it for $32/pound at the local farmers market.

I cooked some up and it takes like a cross between spinach and beet greens. Now I have to figure out how to preserve it. Maybe freezer?

The juice is very red.

lastly some silly pictures of my first giant head of sweet tasty cabbage. Not sure how to preserve this one either....

Hawaii 2.0

2011-05-15T19:19:00.001-07:00

Aloha! A week ago Saturday I returned from Paradise. Again. I'm so blessed! There were only two downsides: feeling a bit guilty that I was there again, and having to come back :)

Last time I posted about it, I got bogged down in the details so this time hopefully I can just provide some highlights: [edited to add sorry I still got carried away with the pictures, but i really did restrain myself]

Stayed on Kauai at the Marriott Resort with this amazing view of Kalapaki Bay where the cruise ships came in early mornings

Went with Cathy and Jennifer again. While there, Jen found her birth mother which was pretty amazing.

The resort had this awesome pool which I usually swam in every evening after a day at the ocean. It went around in huge circle with spitting fountains, water falls, and hot tubs in pavilions

Every morning I'd go running along the golf course that border the ocean, then come back and get ready to go out for the day.

Saw the Waimea Canyon

Spent most time in and sometimes watching the ocean from different beaches

Went Standup Paddle and even caught a couple of waves!

Went for a hike along the Napali coast and saw a cool round rock beach and took pictures from a sea cave

Saw lots of misty, green mountains often with waterfalls and even played in some (waterfalls that is)

Jumped off some cliffs (ok just rocks)

Forged some streams and bushwacked through the jungle

Hung out on a swaying bridge

Went Snuba'ing here:

Learned that feeding fish is way fun so had to repeat that by getting food from a dive shop.

Ate awesome shaved ice and other favorites (hulu pie and simin)

Went to the farmers market and got some really great fresh food and fruits, also picked some delicious limes from the place we stayed last time. Also tried this special fruit which ended up being really nasty (I think it wasn't ripe).

Enjoyed flowers/trees and wild life

And wore out my flip flops!

family and garden

2011-04-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

last week some family members did the meanest thing to me.... they left :(

My front yard tulips opened just for the occasion so at least I can still look at them.

Melanie came for the weekend and I don't know if she'll be up again soon since I put her right to work in my garden and didn't let her stop till it was done.... just kidding. I did let her eat. She was such a good help and she admitted that my style of gardening is a good workout (lots of digging and bending and hauling, and cutting, repeat and repeat). I feel bad that she got sunburned. I forgot that Vegas girl has been out of the sun, cooped up inside and up in Seattle where the sun don't shine.

Angela and Mom came to stay over Friday night on their way to Idaho, and I even got them to plant a few onions and pull a few weeds while we waited to get Alec, his friend, and Cora over for dinner and an evening walk to Farr's for icecream.

Gaige and Amy came Saturday evening and stayed over till they caught their ride back to Montana on Sunday. We went to Hot Pot for dinner and had an early night of it since everyone was exhausted. I made squash mac and cheese for Melanie before she headed back. I noticed that if I work hard on Saturday/Friday that the Sunday meal is less impressive and vice versa.

I don't know why everyone came on the same weekend. I'm not complaining, only its easier to say goodbye if I know I've got someone else to visit the next week. This way I probably won't see anyone until fall... :(

Melanie helped me get the 2 pea beds ready, an onion bed, potato bed (which takes a LOT of work), cleaned off a window bed and the tree bed. Really got me a good start for spring planting! I planted the peas Tuesday, various lettuces and greens Friday.

Yesterday, Saturday, Cathy came and helped me dig the back wall bed and the bed for the beans. Two shovels are twice as fast as one! I got my other early vegetables all planted (khol rabi, beets, parsnips, replanted lettuce that the cats walked over), but ran out of poops before getting the last onion patch planted. I also worked on "trimming" my neighbors tree.

This time I decided to not just cut everything that hangs over my side of the fence, but to go back a bit and cut of branches that start on their side and end up on my side.... hoping that it'll let more light unto that part of the garden.

All thats left before I leave for vacation is carrots. Thats a shorter bed due to the rhubarb so it shouldn't take too long. I'll only have three long beds left to prepare left in the main garden when I come back! Fortunately I'll still need to work on the side beds and that will take wielding the pick axe so I'll be a happy camper :)

As I worked pretty hard yesterday, today's meal won't be too spectacular. Fortunately ham just needs to be heated through, nothing too complicated :)

Just wanted to wish you all a happy Easter. I love watching the earth be reborn in spring. The optimism that this year my garden will be great. Tending my garden brings me great joy, and as a labor I try to remember the more important things and the lessons that come from tilling the earth. The scriptures have a lot of gardening references.... I'm grateful for this time of year to reflect on the real meaning of life and the ultimate gift and sacrifice given in spring 2000 years ago.

old post of random fall 2010 pictures

2011-04-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

I guess I forgot to schedule this post cause I just found it.... Actually I found several old posts so those might be coming the rest of the week. Even though the frost kills things its actually kind of pretty. I took several pictures but the rest got lost. I was proud of the huge dhalias so I kept trying to get a good picture and it didn't work.

So I gave up.

I bought this new kitchen gadget. Me buying a kitchen gadet? I know shocker.

I am actually going to need it cause for some reason my dehydrator stopped working and I still have bags of apples to process. Yummy applesauce. But sad that I can't keep making dried apples. [edit- I got the dehydrator working again]

(thats mama's hand demonstrating the process) We had fresh applesauce with our halloween dinner.

new year resolutions

2011-04-07T10:09:00.000-07:00

I usually make several resolutions involving saving money, eating healthy, taking care of myself spiritually/emotionally/mentally and working out. Unfortunately I don't usually go beyond thinking of setting them, let alone starting. However, last year I decided to stop drinking soda (I grew up calling it pop or coke but I've switched to calling it soda cause its fun to say if you draw out the ooo. Try it: Sooooda, see wasn't that fun?) and with only a couple of relapses I've done well. I've only recently stopped craving it even though I never really drank that much of it before. I can't imagine how hard it must be for people who get hooked on much more addicting things.

Anyways this year I decided to limit myself to eating out once a week. This has actually contributed to not spending as much money and eating healthier as byproduct goals. It hasn't helped tons though because when I do go out now, I tend to splurge :) But I've done really well, in fact a couple of weeks ago I didn't even eat out once! Last weekend I didn't quite do it (see post about Tom and Alec), and this week I got a couple of "snacks" to go with my lunch so not doing as well but overall its a vast improvement. (this picture doesn't really go, but I was proud of the 18 cups of pureed squish!)

This week, I printed out my monthly goal sheet and put it up on the fridge to mark up daily. Just that small step has put me back on track for some things that I really do want to do everyday. Shiny Sink is back and with it all the benefits of having a cleaner house. Just by breaking things into small doable chunks I feel better about myself, my home, etc.

So how are you doing on yours?

Alec and Tom

2011-04-04T21:14:00.000-07:00

I only touched on the subject of going to lunch Saturday with Tom and Alec in the previous post. Well thats cause I wanted to do a whole post just on them. Thats cause they're special :)

ps this picture is from my birthday

Its been fun having Alec up here at college. Its crazy to see my nephews and neices growing up so fast, but its fun to get to know Alec as an almost grownup. I always mean to invite him to dinner, but never think to do so until to late. He should just invite himself ;)

Sometimes we go shopping together as I have transportation. One time we found something that I've only seen in Taiwan. Alec actually bought some so he could shock some people.

On Friday we went to a BYU men's volleyball game. Those are very fun. I went to one several years ago and the place was packed and its just amazing to watch how high those guys can jump and how hard they can hit! This game wasn't quite as packed but still fun to watch. It was over pretty quick as they won 3 straight in a row.

We went to In and Out before the game and then to the Malt shop for shakes afterwards. Pretty good shakes but scary place! Saturday between sessions we went a little lighter with Zupas. It was fun to get to spend time with Tom too. I've got great brothers and sisters in law. Tom's been around for quite awhile now and has always been like another brother.

Conference Weekend

2011-04-03T20:26:00.000-07:00

Conference equals spring! It was funny to see it all snowy today. I meant to get a couple of pictures of my first daffodils blooming in the back window garden, but forgot so I just went out there. My new phone has a flash! Poor daffs.

I do enjoy conference. its nice to get things in perspective and remember the things I can do to make my life better. I'll also admit its nice to not put together a lesson for sunday. Last year I was glad to not have to teach too, but this year our little guys are much easier :)

I was pretty tired today so I decided to cook up the remaining squash from downstairs for squash mac and cheese, and preserve the rest in the freezer. Besides 3 small squash (2 baby blue hubards, and a mystery volunteer) all that was left was bubba. It cooked up pretty good, and had more flesh then i thought it would. Very mild and fairly sweet. Not great for pumpkin pie but perfect for my needs. I found it worked better to squeeze out some of the extra juice to keep it from being so soupy.

Have you ever squeezed cooked pumpkin. Its kind of a fun experience :)

Friday I got home from work early enough to do plenty in the garden. I dug up potatoes and since I had already worked on it a week or so ago, it was much faster going. Cathy was nice enough to stop by and keep me company.... I also got some of the back wall garden cleaned off before going to play.

Saturday was also a beautiful day. I organized my primary stuff during the first session of conference so now the spare room will not get as messy, hopefully!. In between conference sessions I got some of the house work done as well as ate lunch with Alec and Tom. Then it was out in the garden after the afternoon session where i finished digging for potatoes, shoveled all the dirt back, planted broccoli and cabbage, put down cow poops on the bed where the peas are going, and finished cleaning the bed around the fire pit. This lasted till it was too dark to see anything. I also planned out the garden on the computer so I know what goes where. I really hope to do more vertical plantings this year to try and fit more things in. We'll see how it goes. Then the rest of the evening was finishing house work. I'd let it go a bit long but the house was looking much better when I started so thats good.

Digging out the potatoes took a lot of work. Some of them were over 2.5' down. I think this year will be better since I planted to shallow the first year and too deep the second. 3rd year is a charm, right? I also need to find a way that saves me from skewering so many when I dig them up. I got some great big ones so I must be doing some things right. Now I need to figure out how to use them all up in a hurry. Any suggestions?

I had hoped to get the peas planted yesterday, so hopefully that will happen this week. I can plant the onions now that the old potato bed is all dug up and turned over. Just need more poops :)

i love these nasturtiums. They just popped up and are already taller then the older seedlings. For some reason they look like hands lifted up in prayer to me (hard to see in this picture)

Whats commin up?

2011-03-29T17:53:00.000-07:00

I love wandering around the garden when its not actually snowing to look at what is popping up.

Lots of baby parsley where its gone to seed.

Tons of red orach is coming up so I don't think I'll ever have to reseed it. Now I just have to figure out what to do with it.

Fennel is greening up, and unfortunately has proved rather invasive without producing many bulbs.

My garlic experiments seemed to work. Last spring I took some that was growing on the counter and put it here and there in the garden. It grew and I took the biggest cloves from each new bulb and replanted it. Now each of those are growing and looking well.

Seeing buds on most of the fruit bushes, little pussy willow looking things on a couple of saskatoon bushes, swelling pink buds on the bush cherries, and the leaves are popping out on the elderberry bushes.

The rhubarb bush that I semi-divided is doing well. The hacked off sectioned is also growing:

The grass is starting to green up and perennials are putting new leaves or greening up too. Tons of work to do!

First loads of cow poop were purchased Saturday to get the beds ready that will have peas planted in the next couple of weeks.

In bad news, cats got in the hoop house. I let it go a little long between waterings and the cats thought it was a nice, warm, dry place to hang out apparently. They wallowed out nice soft beds. grrrr Can see some radishes were coming up but most of the lettuce was literally wiped out.

Friends

2011-03-28T17:55:00.000-07:00

I have been really blessed with great friends. Allison gave me this amazing water bottle after I was admireing it. Mama had one like it that I was playing with the night before. I wanted a new one, but didn't want to pay $8 for something I can get for couple of bucks- yes I know its ironic that I will put down hundreds for dirt! What I love: 1. Easy drinkability. Never fails that I end up with water on me from typical reusable water bottles. 2. No straw - those get nasty cause you can't clean 'em good. 3. Counter thingy that helps you keep track of how much you drink. 4. Fun pop lid to play with! 5. It reminds me of Allison every time I use it :) I did have to bling it out a bit since Mama's is the same color...

You may notice in the background of the picture, our wall of brackets. It was so fun filling them out that we also did the women's bracket. I really liked the first round when I got to use the highlighter a lot since games were going on so often. Now its not quite as fun, especially since a lot of mine is kaput. So far someone who shall remain nameless is the clear leader...

Hummus

2011-03-27T21:28:00.001-07:00

My first spring flowers! I've also got some wild violets blooming :)

Today I made hummus and it turned out pretty good. I want to experiment some more with the recipe, ie less tahini maybe substitute some pine nut or almond butter, add some roasted stuff?

Of course with humas its best to have fresh pita bread so I found an easy recipe and made it. I could eat it all day, it was pretty easy and very tasty. Didn't really go with the stackups for dinner but no one was complaining!

What have I been up to? Not too much. I have stopped at the plant nursery, but only once. I stopped to get some cabbage and brocoli. When I first looked down at my hands I had pansies, new seed trays, and celery. hmmm not off to a great start. I did end up with some broccoli but they didn't have any cabages so I bought some seeds. I'll see how those turn out. Its actually not too bad since it all fit into one small box.

Even though I have been scrupulous in staying away from the nursery, I have still have managed to buy more seeds in addition to my massive Baker Creek's order.... oh well. I think I have 16 or so tomato varieties. That doesn't count the two or three varieties I always buy!

What did I get from Baker's Creek? Dragon Tongue Bush Bean (dutch origin), Henderson's bush Lima Bean (don't usually like lima's but thought maybe fresh would be alright), two chinese long beans, Atomic Red carrot, Jaune Obtuse du Doubs Carrot, Snow White Carrot, Dishcloth gourd, Canton Bok Pak Choy, Mizuna Green, Corn Salad Dutch, Red's Red Sweet Sorghum, New Zealand Spinach, Anise Hyssop, Siam Queen Thai Basil, Slo-bolt cilantro, Elephant Dill, German Chamomile, Rainblow coleus, Zebrina Hollyhock, Yellow Torch Mexican Sunflower. They threw in a packet of free Love-In-A-Mist so I'll try those too.

Here is the setup so far. Yes my seed setup has grown to a shelving unit with 3 shop lights with seeds in various stages of development. Can't believe how fast some of the cukes and tomatoes have taken off. I don't worry too much about the tomatoes as if they are leggy you just bury them deeper to help with root development. But cukes won't be happy if they're pot bound... I'll have to wait and see how it turns out.

My birthday phone is up and working. Its taken me awhile to get used to the idea of having a big 'ol phone but as my other phone was pretty beat up I decided to try it out. I already lost the instruction manuel. Fortunately those are available on line!

Man it takes a lot longer to load pictures from an actual camera vs a cell phone. I think I'll still use cell phone pictures for the less important ones!

Spring!

2011-03-06T12:38:00.001-08:00

I was going to post earlier but couldn't find the cord for my camera. Kate said she would loan me her card reader and then I realized that I can put the card directly into my laptop. Yay! course I do still want to find that cord....

Anyways here is some little tulips and daffodils coming up in my front flower beds!

Here is the same group of tulips only a week later!

Saturday I was pretty productive so today I'm tired and have a headache.... Anyways I did some laundry, cleaned the kitchen blinds (I like blinds but cleaning them is so icky that I'm not sure they are worth it!), planted my hoop house, got 3/4ths of the stump garden cleaned off, covered the roof and another side of the chicken run with wire (ran out of staples and patience to finish the last side), cleaned the bathroom, did some dishes, straightened here and there, prepared primary lesson, and played on the computer and watched some tv.

Forgot to say what I planted cause I'm sure you're dying to know... I tried various lettuce mixes, couple kinds of spinach, some radishes, beets, and parsnips. Might also try some brocoli and cabbage in there. Sarah asked last time what the water bottles were for. Its to help regulate the temperature fluxuations, ie the water will warm up during the day and keep it from getting too warm and then give off that heat at night to keep from getting too cold. Seems to be working so far although our temps have been pretty mild.

I got a new shelving unit so I can start more seeds this year and hopefully save some money that way.... I now will buy another light fixture and some more starting boxes! I'll post a picture when they are all fixed up, but I can tell you it already looks better then the chair set up I've used in the past :)

As I mentioned, I got some tv watching in yesterday. Kate bought the complete set of "As time goes by" which is a cute british sitcom. We have watched lots of it this past week! Last night wasn't feeling too well (maybe dehydrated?) so made some tea and then decided to serve it in style. Yes its still sitting here today while I type this. Do you like cream and sugar or lemon with your herbal tea?

And of course we had biscuits with our tea.

Happy spring to you!

Ducks

2011-02-23T19:23:00.000-08:00

I saw some Rhoan/Khaki campbell ducks for sale on KSL classifieds (which is one of my favorite places to look for stuff). I wasn't sure about this cross as the add said they hadn't started to lay. Yesterday I finally decided to ask about them. Don't know what took me so long. Even with the coop mostly in planning phase, Ducks could've worked. Ducks aren't as picky as chickens so I could make due with even a box in the garage at night for them.

Anyways the seller got right back to me (which doesn't usually happen) and said that they had just started to lay everyday for the last 3 days and aren't sure they want to sell them.... maybe for twice as much. Then a few minutes later he sent another email that his wife had decided she wants to keep them.

I thanked him for getting back to me and said if he didn't mind I had questions about raising ducks. He was nice enough to get back to me. I really appreciate the info they gave me, mostly about if you have ducks and chickens you have to keep the ducks out of the chickens' water.

I also wanted to post some valentines from Hannah and Natalie that I put on my door at work. Natalie also sent a sparkly name but I felt I had better leave that at home.

Presidents Day

2011-02-22T19:40:00.000-08:00

My presidents day was awesome. Mostly because I was going to have to work and then didn't. So I spent the first half of the day in my pj's! I read lots of farm/homesteading blogs (I want some icelandic sheep now) and such. Here is a hillarious video called "The Bridge Of Peril" that makes me laugh.

The rest of the daylight hours were spent a bit more productively.

I set up my spring hoop house.... hmm could use some more water bottles. Also the plastic sheet was too fat and not long enough so maybe I'll need to buy a new one. It looked ugly so I didn't take a picture.

I can tell its been a long winter when I got tired just turning over one bed, sawing up 10 rebar pieces and chopping down the rest of the main garden. .... ohh my aching back! Now just need to chop up the flower beds. I also planted some bulbs we were given in the fall. Hope they make it cause I do like tulips.

This feral cat has decided that he isn't that wild cause he likes to be scratched. Sometimes he remembers that he is wild and will get scared. I think getting Pongpong fixed made him even more friendly. The other 3 are still not very friendly but gradually get closer. Nangua is still not fixed. I think she had more kittens but she is too quick for the cages. When its warmer (and her possible kittens are able to be without her), I'll try again.

The evening was spent again less productive but I did get some laundry done and started some more sprouts so I wasn't a complete lazy bum.

This is my mini tray sprouter which I really like. I keep it under the heating vent in the living room as its warmest there and they sprout really fast.

Yes this is a different combo of sprouts then the previous picture.

action shots

2011-02-21T09:42:00.000-08:00

Iwas in a bit of a bad mood yesterday but not sure why. Maybe cause I got some bad news from work. Maybe because I took a short nap (generally a mistake for me), maybe cause I stayed up late the night before and woke up later then I meant to. Maybe because I didn't eat breakfast or lunch, just grazed. Anyways it was a good Sunday our sunbeams were good and after church there was chocolate which is always good so really I shouldn't have been the least bit ornery.

I even did a crockpot meal of pork, onions, and shrooms so there wasn't much to do besides mashed potatoes, cornbread, and reduce the gravy. I think I like beef better then pork in this combo btw.

Anyways here is another camera post:

Thorpe got a new "Monkey" for christmas. He always goes right in and gets his new lovey every Christmas morning and is probably the most content of anybody with what Santa brings.

I used Thorpe to try out the sport or action features of my new camera. I can scroll through these fast on my camera and watch it happen. I don't know how to do that on blogger, but maybe if you scroll down fast you can see it in action?

Group 1

That was fun, maybe I should try more frames per second? Second Try:

Ok got the timing wrong on this one. I'll try throwing the monkey this time

Hmmm no real action here either. It was late and Thorpe was just not into it. This last series continued with Thorpe picking up his monkey and laying down. I think he was done.

"Its late people. Just let me love my monkey in peace."

new camera

2011-02-19T12:26:00.000-08:00

For Christmas I got a new camera! I read the instructions and tried out some of the settings. So the next couple of posts I might put some of my results.

Here is the food setting. Its a little person's left over cornbread. I think it turned out great! :)

Mom's beautiful amarylis and geraniums were blooming so I tried some close up flower shots.

This is a african violet of sometype that I picked up years ago from a Ricks horticulture sale

I was trying for a reflection shot but couldn't quite get the settings correct.

Nice

2011-02-16T09:10:00.000-08:00

My middle name is Nice. This is to remind me of what I should be. Whats great is I'm surrounded by people much nicer then me and I hope one day I can live up to my name.

So my cute roommate gave me a valentines day present that I wanted to share.

I'm not sure if you can read it, but she gave me a puzzle of my homestead. She pointed out that there are orchards, mushrooms in the woods, horsies, aspargus by the stream, lots of flowers, a great place for fishing with salmon and trout, and there are ducks. On the side panel she wrote: "Not pictured are the extensive vegetable gardens, compost piles, greenhouse, barn, chicken coop, bird houses, vinyard, hot tub, wifi, sheds, hammock, bbq, smokehouse, summer oven, firepit, water features, pumpkin patch, cows, chickens, goats, sheep, and other misc critters."

It is so perfect! I guess I do talk about these things quite a bit and having it all written out like that just shows me how ridiculous I can be :) Oh well, one can dream. Thanks Kate, you are so great for putting up with me! This really made my day and gave me a good laugh. I love to do puzzles too.

Someone else Nice, is my friend Cathy. I've been going with Cathy to some high school bball games to scout/recruit. Well she is doing the recruiting, and I tag along. I go because A. its good for me to be out of the house, B. I like to spend time with Cathy, and C. its pretty funny. I always wondered why the little freshman had a hard time and in watching HS bball I realized its because its almost a different game! It reminds me of watching little kids play soccer where the goaly sits in the goal and all the other players mob the ball. Ok its not quite that bad, but the courts are a little smaller, the girls are typically smaller, and there are lots of jump balls, wierd fouls, and even funnier plays. Half the players can be on the ground at any given time :)

I also like going because I can ask Cathy questions about bball that I really don't understand. She is good at explaining but somethings still don't really make a lot of sense. Probably cause soccer is the sport I'm most familiar with and I feel those rules are pretty straight forward.

Thanks Cathy for being a great friend!

ps I had to sneak this photo as she is a pain about having her picture taken.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T19:49:00.000-08:00

I didn't remember to send anything to all you folks I love, so consider this your valentine!

I actually really like this holliday. Whats not to love? hee hee, get it Love?

Love is great! Chocolate is also great and easy to love.

Remember back to getting the valentines for classmates in elementary school? It was usually some cartoon caracters or something similar for school. Sometimes mom would splurge and we could even put a few of the heart candies in each small envelope. Always had to make sure not to send anything "mushy" to any of the boys! For special people (Mom, Dad, Grandma, best friend, etc) we would make elaborate lace and construction paper valentines. My mom could make the best hearts ever! She is super talented.

Mom would often make a heart shaped pizza, and sometimes heart shaped pancakes or muffins for breakfast(mom is pretty clever she put a marble on the side of each muffin tin). We would often decorate some sugar cookies and then eat them. Never was a really elaborate or stressful holliday (other then hoping my valentines weren't too lame or I'd accidently give the wrong valentine out).

Dad generally would get mom some chocolate (which she was generally generous with sharing) and a flowering plant the day after (half price you know) and there you have it.

Someone very sweet gave our house a heartattack and left some delicious sugar cookies which may or may not now all be eaten.

Didn't want them to get stale! In keeping with the family tradition of day after sales, I might get myself some more fun socks :)

ps to my sisters who were a bit jealous of my time with Bethanie, the spare room is open :)

Weekend with Bethanie

2011-02-13T21:54:00.000-08:00

I'm just finishing up canning some applesauce that I started Friday. Canning isn't too hard, but I think it would be nice to have someone come behind me to clean it all up. My jars are from my Grandmother and I love picking out the "pretty" ones to can in first. One of the jars had an old label from '85 on it which was fun to see. I got 12 pints.

I think I should have people come visit more often, it was amazing how much I got done in anticipation of Bethanie coming :) I won't list the stuff that needed to be done because its somewhat embaressing that those things were put off. Anyways, its amazing what positive motivation can do. I even had time to hang out with Cathy before Bethanie arrived.

Anyways, back to the fun part of the weekend. With Bethanie's arrival being later, we didn't do anything but talk that night (ummm ok so thats what we did most of the weekend :) Saturday we talked over hot apple cider and then made some breakfast together (I really do like steel cut oats I need to make them for myself even if its more fun to make things for company). Then our exciting eventures began. Bethanie had said the one thing she wanted to do was go to Costco, so we did. We got 5 bags of those uncooked tortillas for her to take back home. Got some other tasty stuff too. Went back home to unload and eat some lunch (pita wraps with costco chicken). I opened a jar of dilly beans and Bethanie is the first person besides me to think they are pretty much awesome (I sent her home with a jar so I hope she wasn't just pretending to like them).

After lunch we went to see the Carl Bloch exhibit at the BYU museum. We checked out the other exhibits there too, but as Bethanie said, we should've seen the others first as many of the other artists displayed weren't quite up to that caliber. Then again, I don't know much about art. We also wanted to see Mitch's thingy at one of the other buildings but it was closed (had weird Saturday hours).

We just made it in time to watch Cathy's "pink" game, and they won! WhooHoo! Then we watched some of the men's before going to get some grub (we did score some Jamba Juice which I think Bethanie had been craving, between the games). After driving around looking for a place that was open, and being indecisive (who me?), I dragged her along to my favorite Pizza place (P7/12)and we tried some very fancy food. It was all very tasty and we felt very cosmopolitan with truffle pizza, farro and root vegetables (with a maple vinigret), and Bethanie got an "herbal soda" that was brewed with burdock, dandylion, and anise.

It was rather late at this point (for Bethanie) but she stayed up even longer while I worked on the lesson for Sunbeams. She helped color and cut out some activities during the meeting which was very nice of her considering she was for once not having to watch any children. Bethanie came with me to primary and it was sure fun to have her there. I'm happy to report she knew the right answers :)

I repeated last week's Sunday meal since it was tasty and I still had ingrediants to use up. We had squash mac and cheese, sweet spicy port, homemade applesauce and spinach.

After our late lunch it was so beautiful that we went for a walk. Can't wait till spring!

I was sad to see her go, but now that she lives so close I'm sure it will happen again. I'll need to go see her for a weekend that she has a concert. Bethanie said the drive wasn't too bad and Jim was a bit jealous that we watched basketball.

Thanks Bethanie for a great weekend!

Projects

2011-02-10T20:06:00.000-08:00

Ever heard of aquaponics? Its something that I think may be fun to try. Not anytime soon as chickens is the current project ....

Anyways its really cool. Its a cross between hydroponics and aquaculture where you raise fish, the water feeds the plants and the plants clean the water that goes back to the fish. In a good system you also have worms that you can feed to the fish! There are lots of DIY info out there (lots are really ugly and I wonder why they don't spiff them up a bit?). I would like to raise trout in the winter and Tilapia for the summer- except that Tilapia is illegal in Utah. So maybe catfish in the summer... except that catfish keep wriggling even after you knock em on the head.... icky!

Hope that as soon as the snow is melted off my incomplete chicken coop project, I can get it done in time for spring Laying. I'm looking forward to getting some new gals in my yard! Of course I've got other projects on my mind too. Really I should be working on my small hoop house to get some salad greens going too. Maybe once I've completed the chicken project I can get some ducks!

This is the khaki cambell ducks. They produce 320-350 eggs a year and as they are ducks, they are hardier then chickens and won't eat as many garden plants. They are quieter then chickens and I think very cute. I think watching them splash around in a pool to keep cool would be way cool.

Not many people raise this kind so I'd have to get ducklings which would be way fun too! Do you think I could get FMLA for that?

Bethanie is coming for a weekend getaway. I love having her closer then Wisconsin! I'm very excited! We'll probably mostly hang out at home, but maybe I can come up with some exciting Utah things for us to do :) taking suggestions

Note: I know its been forever since I posted. I was on a roll before, but then my friend experienced a horrible tragedy and my silly posts seemed so pointless. I know it doesn't make sense, but I've never claimed to be very reasonable.... Anyways, once I got out of the habbit and then it had been so long.... well it just got overwhelming. BUT, I do want to get back into it, so we'll see what happens from here on out.

rotisisisisary

2010-11-18T11:00:00.000-08:00

I got this kitchen gaget when our toaster died and Mama's oven was no longer working. I picked this one because it was bigger and because it has a rotisary capability. Its so fun!

Here is uncooked naked chicken.

Here is finished product. Yum!

The problem with chicken is its not easy to center on the spit if you can tell. I've also done pork and turkey cuts which turned out fabulous. Maybe I should try cow next?

Fall

2010-11-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

Had a nice fall here in Utah this year. Usually its so short but we had a number of nice days and the trees all had the chance to show their colors before real windy days took it down.

So beautiful.

Had a picnic with Cathy and Kate at the dry canyon trail head. There are some crazy big houses up that way. This was sometime last month

A couple of days later I went on a nice fall hike with Cathy. We went to see a waterfall and then kept walking up into the mountains.

It was beautiful.

I saw these berries and ate them they were way tasty. When I looked them up I think they may be elder berries. Whats wierd is that the elder berries in my yard are icky tasting. And with as good as these tasted its strange that none of the wildlife has eaten them. So maybe its not what I think it is. I always try berries and such in the wild, most are not so good.

These are what mine in the backyard look like but I also saw this photo on google for blue elderberries.... what do you think?

Did I ever post this?

2010-11-15T15:00:00.000-08:00

Pictures from when Melanie and Angela (and her friend, and her dog) came to visit. Melanie, Kate, Alec, Cathy, and I went "rafting" down the Provo earlier that day but because I still had the raft until Monday we wanted to get good use out of it. I attempted to fish but couldn't really do it. Melanie, Angela, and I all got into the water to swim. That lake bottom is really muddy gross. But we had a good time (except Thorp). Until the mosquitos came out.....

(See previous post on mosquito bites)

fall camping

2010-11-13T18:22:00.000-08:00

Went Camping at the turn of the seasons last month (could've been September since I haven't kept track well). I don't know why I don't do this more often. It was quick, easy and just really nice to be out and about.

Had steak, asperagus, chips and garden salsa, and garlic bread for dinner

Kate stayed in her happy yellow tent.

Cathy slept in her car. I slept here. See my set up? I guess I don't really rough it when I go camping.

We sat around the fire and watched the stars until it was time to go to bed.

I slept pretty good that night, only the stars were bright and kept me up. Shooting stars freak me out a little and once I thought there was a bear going to eat me but that was just wind.

In the morning there was frost on the blankets.

The morning we had a yummy pancake mix, eggs, turky bacon and hot chocolate. I like camping. I also like eating.

cure for mosquito bites

2010-11-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

In looking in my photo folder I came across some pictures. I was trying to get some good ones to show the massive amounts of bites that Melanie and I had after boating on Utah lake. So of course I thought I would share ALL of them. more is better right?

can you see them on her arm and legs?

yes we love white legs. Don't you?

red shows up even more on pasty legs.

are you all itchy now? I get itchy anytime someone mentions lice. Unfortunately someone is mentioning that pretty frequently and I'm itchy a lot.

I threw in this picture cause its in my photo file and its more white legs. I found lots of bruises while in Hawaii. I think the newer (redder) bruise was from the airplane arm rest thingy that I kept hitting on the flight, not sure where the rest came from (they were all over my legs)

Back to the topic on hand. No cure for lice itchies but Melanie and I did find a cure for mosquito bites:

Pizza. It cures all.

ps this is from Andy and Simi's newish pizza place. Yum.

Garden Catch up

2010-11-11T17:00:00.000-08:00

I forgot to get pictures of all my fall garden harvest. I had a bunch of veggies to share with Melanie and Mom when I went to Vegas to cheer on her latest triatholon. I had a bunch of sweet peppers and hot peppers, more zuchinnin, eggplant, tomatoes, and extra large cucumbers. My phone died and I didn't have a charger so there are no pictures of the Vegas weekend. Sad. It was fun and the drive was much easier cause Alec came with. Melanie did a good post on it so I won't be too sad that I don't post about it.

I found random pics of veggies in my folder so I decided to post them instead.

couple of big baskets of tomato

some tasty garden salsa just about all et up.

found some tatoes. Next year I'll do better. I've learned a little each year.

I cooked them up the other day (crashed potatoes-yum!) and maybe its all in my head but I think garden potatoes are more fluffier then store ones.

Chinese Long Beans

I'll grow these again cause they were so fun!

these green zebras were tasty and prolific. I'll grow them again too.

big bowl of beans

I think this basket was from the first tomato harvests

Bubba growing- think he would've gotten bigger if given more water and more fertalizer

my largest tomatoe this year. About as big as my hand/head.

some plants acutally get prettier in the fall

first weird carrots of the seson. they were very tasty.

Whats left to do in my garden? Pull up and dispose of the squash. Harvest the dried beans and dispose of the plants (both squash and beans get a lot of disease so I don't compost them back into the ground). Harvest the potatoes-which is a lot of work. Put up a smaller hoop house and see if I can keep some greens going over the winter for winter salads and such. Turn over the leaves and dead plants throughout the garden to aid in composting. Prune the grapes and mulch for winter. Dig up the "dew berries" in the front (very prickly and not super tasty so out they go). Now its pretty cold so I sure don't feel like doing this anymore....

Obsessive?

2010-11-10T21:00:00.000-08:00

So Tuesday night when Kate learned it would probably snow she started raking up the big pile of leaves (see previous post) and all the newly fallen ones to cart to the backyard compost pile and garden before they get really wet and hard to move. We started it a bit late, like 9:30 (which is really late now as they changed the time again- wish they would just keep it the same) and it was frosty cold.

Well after we were done I noticed that our neighbors acorss the street and down one (yes the naked neighbors) had raked up all their leaves into a couple of piles by the street. They have two trees so they were impressive piles. From past observations they bag them up and throw them away.

Not this year. Yes. I stole my neighbors leaves. In the dark night. I guess they could figure out they went to our house because there was a kind of trail left but with the wind from the incoming storm it was covered up by morning.

In my defense it was dark and late so I couldn't just ask.

If any of you are thinking to yourself why? I'll just leave it that leaves are exceptionally good for gardens. Duh.

Leaves

2010-11-10T16:58:00.000-08:00

Its amazing how just a few leaves can quickly turn into this:

Here Kate is finishing raking up the leaves into a big pile.

(this is the week after Haloween so already there are a ton more leaves)

Here she is jumping

Can you see her?

Here she is :)

Kate takes much better pictures of me. Maybe her phone camera is better?

We put the tarp over the top of the leaves so Mama could have a turn before the leaves get all wet from the storm come in. I don't think it worked though. Sad for her.

hoop house

2010-11-09T21:51:00.000-08:00

I had some troubles with my first snow fall. The hoop house didn't really hold up so I've had to do some rearanging. I've gotten some tomatoes to ripen under this, but the other day it got pretty warm and I think it kind of cooked the plants. I don't understand as its not really sealed well. Oh well it was a fun experience and there was still a few basil plants alive (nothing compares to fresh basil).

Ironically this tomato I covered with a sheet as an after thought and even though the sheet gapped open in the snow fall, its still alive...

It snowed again a bit last night/today so we'll see what happens.

Halloween

2010-11-08T20:12:00.000-08:00

My Halloween wasn't quite as cool as Melanie but I still had fun.I got my car all decked up. Then cause it was raining they cancelled trunk or treat. Sad.

Paused to take a picture while filling the trunk.

Unfortunately because the trunk or treat was called off, the candy passing out didn't go the way I had planned. Not all the kids made it around the church before leaving. So this bin may or may not still have a bunch of candy left in it. I did ask to see their tricks and got some pretty clever ones (including a one handed cartwheel/roundoff from a fairy) so that was good.

I had some costume options which is what I like. I was planning on switching it up a couple of times during trunk or treat but only got to do it once.... here are some pics.

Halloween dinner wasn't too special but it was fun. Dinner in a pumpkin with whatever I had laying around the home, and the mummy dogs well they were pretty easy and not too bad.

2010-10-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

Ick this is what I woke up to Wednesday morning.

at work I noticed it snowing but the sun was shining so I didn't think it would be THAT bad. The sun was still out so I figured it would blow over..... wrong

This year I had tried to prepare before the first frost. I started by picking and pulling the tomatoes out front (and one in back) the night before. Here is the trash can full - those front ones got really big!

And here is the tomatoes I picked. They are in different boxes so I can try and tell when they ripen. Since some will be red, some pinky, some yellow, some orange, and the green zebra's will stay green, its important to not mix them together!

Picked a bucket of tomatillos in the dark.

not bad!

brought in the squash- sure didn't get as many this year. oh well.

I had left the bigger pumpkins (bubba and bubba jr). on the front porch.

I moved the big pots in next to the house to try and keep them a little warmer... not all of them made it. I do want to try pulling out the geraniums to see if I can keep them over for next year.

I brought these ones in for some reason that I can now not fathom.

I took cuttings from all the coleous this year to try and make next year cheaper.... we'll see how it works. The lighter collored ones already died.

Before I went to Vegas I had picked the onions, covered the ones that didn't get big enough to see if they grow next year. I also didn't get as many of these this year. Combination of too much shade from over zealous zuchini and not enough water?

Cut two pretty daliahs because didn't want them to die yet. I think I only did one bocquet this year... that was dumb.

I got my hoop house all ready to go but doing it in the night wasn't easy... I found that since I didn't plan for snow the clothespins weren't strong enough as you can see.

I guess it was a bit windy too cause I know this outside tomato was well covered the night before... It actually survived pretty well.

On the bright side the lover is now back on active duty!

New Project

2010-10-26T21:02:00.000-07:00

I think I stopped blogging because the Hawaii posts were making me too depressed. I might go back and finish them another time but in an effort to keep going, I thought I'd put those posts on hold.

As most of you probably know I have a new project. I have wanted to get chickens for a really long time, and I think I've even blogged about it. Well I asked the landlord and he said yes so I started looking at chickens (from KSL classified) and coops. I had already done some research so I knew what I wanted and thought I could design it on my own. But I also wanted something cute. Once I found this picture I knew what I wanted.

Oh its so cute!

Unfortunately its taking much too long to finish this project. But at least I have something to do and to put off when I want to :)

I put together the run first. I figured it was easier and I could figure out what I was doing. It did go together pretty easy. Once it was all together I realized it was way tooo big. Umm chickens don't need a 4' tall run! I didn't have to make additional cuts cause Lowe's cut each 8' 2x2 in half but thats why its so big.

I didn't plan to add a human sized door so I did that afterwards. I've stained it a couple of times to help weatherize it.... hopefully. So now I just need to staple on the hardware cloth around the outside, add some wheels (its so big I want to be able to move it around easier). I think I'll use regular chicken wire for the roof as its lighter weight.

I got a bunch of free pallets so I could use the wood for the outside of the coop. Many, many hours and blisters later this is the sorry pile of only semi usable wood I was able to pull off and I've had to rethink my idea of free wood...

The rest of the pallets still sit in the backyard mocking me.

I've gotten the 2x4's bolted to the wagon and now just need to afix the flooring to the 2x4's. Which I've painted on the underside so it can withstand the weather.

I thought I'd attach this picture to show why some things are going slow. Coping saws aren't really designed for this. Fortunately the cuts haven't had to be real acurate yet....

I did just purchase this tool hoping that any future cuts can go a little faster and a little straighter :)

Monday

2010-08-30T20:48:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful day! Monday morning was a bit rainy but it was still fun to run along where I could see the ocean. We did some shopping and looking around. Cathy brought us to the best shave ice on the island, "Ono's." Its like a cloud.

We went Kyaking this day up the Wailu River. Since we were kyaking and that involves water, didn't bring out the cell phone to take pictures...

My arms did get tired.

But it was way fun and really cool to see everything. We hiked up to a waterfall and it was great to see the "jungle." Can't believe how many flowers and different greens there are. It was so pretty!

The water coming down was pretty cold. Swam over and stood under it. It was realy cool. I've never done that before.

We paddled our kyaks a bit further to a "swim hole" where Cathy and I jumped off some rocks. I don't generally go for that, but it wasn't too bad!

I don't know why, but the videos turned out awfully small so you can't really see anything. The first one has a guy swinging off a rope into the water, and the next one is Cathy and I jumping.

Pretty tired when we got back, and we hadn't planned lunch well. We wanted to try a plate lunch but most of the places close early so we went to Bubbas for burgers

As the sun came down stopped at the ocean for a bit where the powerfull waves came crashing in. I loved it and could watch all day! Took a dip in the pool and the stars were so bright!

That night started the great Yatzee tourney. I'm not good with dice.

Sunday in Hawaii

2010-08-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful day. I was actually glad it was Sunday so I could rest up a bit, and let my sunburn heal. Yes, after all the warnings and all the reapps of sunstop I got burned on the backs of my legs, and two stripes down my back where I forgot to get under my straps... Actually not as bad as it could be. Jennifer's back was fried and Cathy had some red skin as well.

This chapel is actually in Kapa'a because I couldn't find a picture of the Hanalei one and I had forgotten to take my phone with me to church (unlike some people I could name, I don't text during church :). It was similar to this one. Cathy and Jennifer have a picture of us in front of it.

It was a very small branch. Most of the people there were visitors. I guess living in paradise for some people means they don't really need God. It was great to be there with no responsibilities in the middle of God's beautiful creations. Made me ever so thankful.

We stopped to get some pictures of the lookout between Hanalie and Princeville. Those Tara fields down there supply most of the State's Tara. Sad I didn't get any. I loved yutou on the mission.

(it didn't look like this when we stopped as it was misty and rainy).

After lunch and some rest we headed out to drive around and see the sights.

We drove up to Opaekaa falls and Wailua River Overlook. The falls wasn't running very high even though there had been lots of rain. Couldn't get very close to it either, but I loved all the green.

On Monday this, Wailua, is the river we kyacked up. These fields were were the royalty lived, and the river is/was considered sacred.

There are 6 temples lining the peaks of the valledy, and this was the ruins of one.

There were chickens there too

The rain moves through pretty quickly

One of the things on my list was to see a lighthouse. The Ninini lighthouse was free so thats the one we decided to go find. It ended up being quite an adventure to get there. We decided that it was named as a taunt. We drove on this crazy dirt road that just up and ended

Then drove around through the marriot.

We could see the thing, just couldn't get there!

(This is Nawiliwili bay- got to love the names)

We walked through an old golf course under reconstruction, and as its in Lihue, the airport, saw some planes coming in low.

After walking around the point we finally found it!

For some reason I didn't get a picture of the actual lighthouse, so I had to borrow one again...

Thats Jennifer

The planes really feel super close, like you could just reach out and touch them.... There was a man with his little boy there watching the planes. Reminded me of stories of my dad when he was little.

I loved watching the waves crash against the rocks. I love the different colors in each wave. I love the sounds, and the power in it. I love that we had talked about in church, the voice of Jehova sounding like the rushing of great waters...

We then drove to the south side of the island to check it out. We saw where Cathy and Jen has stayed 10 years ago when they came before (Poipu). And since we were down on that side (the Sunny, drier side, we crossed something else off my list, and saw the spouting horn. The waves were even more mesmorizing down here with the sun going down and the sounds of the waves and spout. I guess before you could go right down there (you probably still could as we saw some people down closer on the other side), but too many tourists were dumb and got swept off to sea so they put up a fence.

hmmm self portraits leave something to be desired.

I didn't quite time it right to get the spout really big in the picture, so you'll have to take my word for it. It originially was even bigger, but the sugar cane guy here got annoyed with the salt spray stunted his crop right there and threw some dynamite down there. Jerk.

The little park right there had lots of chickens (of course) and flowers but these looked familiar. Mangosteen. Hint: while amazingly delicious ripe, the unripe fruit is the oposite of eddible.

I tried eating lots of different berries and such around the island. Most of my experimenting was not favorable, but the coconuts, avacodos and limes made up for it. Should've done my research on edible plants in hawaii before going :)

It was really interesting to see this part of the island. Its a lot drier and not as green. I saw dragon fruit growing everywhere, its like a tropical cactus.

Saturday in Paradise

2010-08-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning dawned bright and early, with the time change I was up to watch it. It was amazing. All the birds singing and colors in the sky. So fun to see the different types of birds.

Brief rain showers would come by and the morning was nice and misty.

One of the things that would be a reoccuring theme on this vacation is the roosters in the morning, in the afternoon, and basically everywhere we went :) So even thought the rooster would wake me up, I didn't mind because, I was in Kauai!

This picture wasn't quite as cool as the other sunrise one, but you can see that there is a lovely jungeling garden right outside of our back Lanai. So many different shades of green, and it seems that every tree and bush has flowers! Also interesting to see plants that I didn't recognize. Did see coconut, avocado, and banana trees.

These avocados and limes were growing back there. We really enjoyed the limes, and the avocados were amazing, although they didn't ripen till right before we had to leave.

We walked around explored the place. I went on a "run" and I must say running in paradise is not nearly so hard as doing it anyplace else...

We decided to go snorkeling and the ride took us through beautiful countryside. At every turn on this vacation it was like being in a post card.

We stopped at a farmers market and I got some "apple" bananas and some longgan! It was so cool to see and be around things that reminded me of Taiwan.

Then we came here. Tunnels beach on Hanalei bay. Oh wow. Snorkeling was so amazing. The minute I put my face in the water there were fish everywhere. Fish of every shape and color. and sea turtles. I swam with sea turtles!

The water was amazing, so clear, just the right temperature. Did you know that the ocean is really salty? I don't recommend drinking it :)

We had packed our lunch and eating on the beach made it all the more tasty. We watched kiteboarders out on the reef.

By evening we were pretty tired. Took a dip in the pool and just enjoyed the ocean breezes.

Aloha

2010-08-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

Anyone missed me? Probably not since I'm not really a regular blogger and all. Well I didn't blog last week because I was in HAWAII!

It doesn't even seem real now, now that my body is getting back to Utah time, my ankles are no longer swollen from the red eye flight, the sand is no longer in my hair and the reality of going back to "real" life is sinking in. However, I have the pictures to prove that I really did go and I really was there.

IT WAS FREAKIN AWESOME! I'm so greatful that Cathy invited me to go with her and Jennifer to Kauai. Its my favorite island (ok so its the only one I've been to). We stayed up on the north shore and it was so green and so pretty. AND whoever invented the ocean gets two thumbs up from me. When I went to visit Jamie in CA I took a dip in the ocean but it was night and dark and cold, so I didn't really swim. Kauai was my first time to really swim in the ocean. I'm a big fan of water in general, but this took the cake for me.

So now I'm debating on if I should just post the highlights, or do the gory details. I'm sure none of you really care, and would probably be very bored with 5 days of posting on the subject.... but this blog is more for me, and I'd like to record the trip because it was so great. Who know if I'll get another chance to go, I hope so because there are still things I'd like to do and see over there....

I had so much to do before leaving, including bringing in garden veggies:

I didn't get everything done, but one thing that was important was to make sure I had pretty toes as I knew I was headed to paradise and pretty toes are imperative. Good thing my priorities are so well adjusted, huh?!

The nails have little flowers on them. They don't look like that anymore... sand, ocean, and such takes a tole on cheap nail polish and applicays...

The flight was long but not too bad as I was pretty excited. Even the airport was cool.

We did food shopping for the week, ate at Hamura's Saimin (oh yum! could eat that everyday)

and drove off to the North Shore where we stayed at the Cliffs. This is a quieter Island and the Northern part of it is even quieter and less populated. To me that was perfect. Even though I was very excited to be there, due to the time change i was also very tired so no real exploring until the next day.... Aloha and Mahalo for your patience.

other veggies

2010-07-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

I grew these for the first time... Kohlrabi. It is very tasty, and wasn't too hard to grow. I'll try to grow even more next year.

Cucumbers. Guess which one is called Japanese Long?

They are really mild and have grown well.

almost

2010-07-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

purple cherokee

brandy boy

green zebra

my mouth is watering

visitors welcome

2010-07-27T18:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, Melanie and I didn't eat any pie or have any beer (root or otherwise) so we didn't officially celebrate PieandBeer Day. We still had fun.

We went to the Pioneer Celebration at North Park in Provo.

Old cars, including this fireengine.

There were little boothes, including a guy that told us he was one of 17 certified tatting instructors in the US. He knew a lot about lace.

Melanie got a frozen banana and that was way tasty. I bought some bananas afterwards so I can try it myself.

Then we went to check out the Provo Farmers Market. In which there was maybe 3 farmers. The rest were fair type boothes. Melanie got some honey and I bought some garlic, and then we got some tasty vitals. Melanie got a bowl of chicken (huli huli?) and rice for $2 and I got a way tasty buritto and a lamb taco (they were out of carne asada). We also got some mint lemonade which was so tasty and refreshing that I'll have to make some myself.

It was a nice day and we spent some time in the great outdoors.

Hung out at the home, and wanted to go to the rodeo but it was all sold out :(
Instead we got some dinner at Rooster, and then some dessert at Farr's icecream

We spent the evening out on the porch enjoying the cool of the evening and chatting, later on with Cathy.

Although it was a short visit and Melanie was sad to go, I was sure happy she came, and wanted to let others know they are welcome to come visit too!

To even it up, Melanie posted too...

cherries and chicks

2010-07-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

My little cherry bushes are producing a small handful of berries this week. They are not tasty. Don't know what to do with them as there isn't enough to turn them into something tasty.... Maybe I'll freeze them and then add them to rhubarb or something similar later. Rhubarb is also not tasty until messed with.

Everytime I go to the local farm type stores, they have these there. I want one! They don't actually carry the kinds I want. Yes, I've done some research and have a list of chickens that would work for my backyard.... I'm desperate that way.

Our landlord seems to like me so maybeI should ask him.....

Family Reunion Ends and odds

2010-07-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

HAPPY PIONEER DAY EVERYONE. We are going to have some rootbear and some apple pie so we can celabrate appropriately (PieandBeer Day)

Beautiful morning, but I was not happy to be leaving. I had thought about going to Vegas with Melanie to make the reunion last a bit longer, but her house was full and I think she was still all stressed about the reunion.... so i was very sad.

I had breakfast that morning, hard boiled eggs, bacon, and various types of hot cereal with all types of toppings, and toast for those who preferred. I brought way tooo much food. Still had a gallon of OJ left, 1 large pkg of bacon, 18 hard boiled eggs and 18 raw eggs, 2 loaves of bread, and tons of cereal left. Oh well. At least no one was hungry.

We cleaned up the homes, got packed up, took pictures, and everyone headed out.
,

Here is the side of the cabin when I tried to burn it down.

Here is my stuff bag with my pedometer and key chain light that Melanie was so awesome to do.

One of the little towns on the way back (I went a different way back) was having a festival so I stopped and got a yummy prime rib sandwhich. That made me feel a little better.

It was good to be home and to get to work in my garden. Mama had a party there that night so we worked to get the home and yard looking spiffy. Even though I was exhausted it was nice to get some of the things caught up...

2010-07-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

Biscuits and Gravy.

No more words needed, but this is me writing so I will use more words cause I want to.

There is a little place not far from my house called Joe's. He is hillarious. His biscuits and gravy are the best I've ever had.

I'm not a biscuit and gravy connoisseur, in fact I'm fairly new to the whole concept. First time I had it I was in 11th grade (went to a school retreat thingy at Sonlight Camp in CO).

Its probably a good thing I wasn't exposed earlier. This way its not part of my everyday repertoire, which could have disasterous results. Biscuits and Gravy in general, and Joe's in particular, is a heart attack on a plate. But, oh so worth it.

Family Reunion Day 4- Closing Ceremonies

2010-07-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

My last post on the family reunion got a little long so I thought I would post seperately for what we did that evening. Nathan and Neita had some very tasty vitals and then we watched a couple of videos put on by the Idaho Helm clan and the Parkinsons. I've got some tallented Nephews and Neices.

After looking over the results, awards were presented for the different events (for mine there were plastic shot glasses on a string, seemed appropriate for a balloon toss?).

Then the medals were given for the different age catagories. Melanie got these way cute things to commemmorate. The little guys sure felt special! I had gotten a bunch of leis and it worked perfect for our closing ceremonies.

Lots of strong peeps

It was a great family reunion. We had a lot of fun and it was in a beautiful place. We were only missing Jim and Angela. I'm guesing that at the next reunion Alec will be on his mission which is a crazy thought!

Bethanie and Aaron provided a very tasty dessert of strawberry short cake. Tried to make the night last as the next day was leaving time....

Squash Mac and Cheese

2010-07-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

For Dinner on Sunday I made something scrumptious so I wanted to share. The bread didn’t turn out so well. I tried one of those no kneed breads and it was way to wet, it just kind of spread out, and the knife cut didn’t work because there was nothing to cut. It actually tasted ok, so I’m not sure if I measured wrong or what happened. Oh well. I probably won’t try it again until the winter because it heats the house up so much (you bake it at a high temp inside a duch oven).

Of course the calabacitas and cantaloupe was good, but the star was squash mac and cheese. What you say? You don’t like squash? Well try this my friend and your tastebuds will beg to differ. I still had a banana squash on the counter from last fall and it was starting to look a little wrinkly so once I saw this recipe I thought this would be a good way to use it up.

You can't really tell from the picture but this squash is huge. 18" long and about a foot tall.

I got the recipe from here and then I doubled it, upped the squash, used whatever cheese I had on hand and did the salt and pepper to taste -not as much salt and accidentally way more pepper (the lid popped open and so I had to scoop up the top layer- I think I left my pepper grinder at the family reunion. Definitely need to replace that!), and left out the paprika.

For the cheese I used the end of a bock of chedder, some pre-shredded frozen sharp chedder, a bit of mozzarella, some cotjia, and some pre-shredded italian mix. Due to the Cotija it wasn’t smooth, but it worked really well with the smooth squash puree.

I don't take beautiful pictures of food, but we had already eaten half of this as it was so tasty!

The end result was so good, that I cut up, cooked, and pureed the rest of the squash to freeze for later. I can make it at least 3 more times since I have 7+ cups left. It is amazing how such a big squash actually doesn’t hold that much since its mostly hollow.

One bad thing about cooking in the house is our kitchen was in the 90’s by the time I was done. (according to the instant read thermometer I used to check the bread). It felt so good to go into the living room to eat dinner! We keep the door closed as our swamp cooler really only does one room anyways, but its not been keeping up very well with the higher temperatures.

The microwave also quit a few times cause it got so hot making my time in the kitchen pretty long, but was still totally worth it.

4 cups (dry) small pasta (elbow, shells, etc).

Cook as directed and drain. While cooking, melt

2T bs butter over medium low heat in a saucepan and add

2 Tbs flour. Whisk and cook for 2 minutes. It will resemble a paste.

Slowly add 1-1/2 c milk.

Continue cooking and whisk until combined, and almost bubbling.

Next add 1.5-2 cups squash puree,

3 cups cheese,

4 Tbs cream cheese (I think you could leave this out or add sour cream or something else if you don't have it),

Salt and pepper to tast (if your squash is really sweet will probably need a bit more salt, and I like lots of pepper).

Stir until combined and cheese is all melted. Add sauce to the pasta stir it up, and serve!

It was even good the next day and the day after that for lunch :)

Pride

2010-07-19T22:38:00.000-07:00

So the washing machine stopped working. grrr. Could hear it running, but no movement. I decided to see if I could fix it. The internet is amazing! I looked up various sights and thought I new what was wrong with it. However, the only way to tell for sure was to take it apart.

Mama and I followed some instructions on the web, and it was amazing how we were able to take the thing apart. We found a u-tube video to help us, and sure enough we pulled the motor out and found that it was the drive coupling. The only thing that was different was we couldn't figure out how to pull the pump off. We still managed to pull the motor off, and as soon as that happened, there was the broken coupling.

Since it was memorial weekend we had to wait to get a new part, but it cost only $13. Then we followed the directions in reverse and put the thing back to gether and it worked! The hardest part was figuring out how to get the cabinet back on, but we watched the u-tube thing a couple of times and on it went.

Yay for us!

Family Reunion Day 4

2010-07-18T23:00:00.000-07:00

I needed to wait until other people posted about the family reunion so I could steal their pictures for my post. Mom did a great post about the olympic events (see here), and Aaron, finally posted an album for his pics. Yay!
This is my favorite:

Anyways Day 4 had a few scary moments, but was still great. The parkinsons provided morning breakfast of cold cereal. There was something about Neita claiming the Special K cereal, but I think everyone got what they wanted. Then we went to zions to do the narrows together.

I had Aaron take this picture of some of the "hanging gardens" that were really pretty.

While on the bus, dad didn't feel so great and so he got off, and then collapsed. Fortunately it was onto a bench instead of the ground. A whole crowd of concerned Helms rushed off the bus. Felt pretty scared and helpless, but he ended up being ok, fortunately. I had asked the bus driver to get help, and I guess his radio didn't work. By the time he figured this out, Dad had started to come too, and didn't look so bad anymore. Dad was pretty embaressed about the whole thing, but probably would've felt worse if the EMS had responded. Think it was a hypoglycemic response to the lack of sleep, sugary breakfast, and heat.

So although that put a damper on things, and Mom, Dad, Jenny, Bethanie and kids stayed behind to recover at the air conditioned lodge, the rest of us set out.

After a short walk we came to the end of the trail and had our lunch.

Whoa whats on my cheese?

Yum, cucumber

(Thanks Aaron for the flattering pictures :)

Some weren't that prepared as they only had flip flops and such. I had suggested using their regular shoes for the water, and walking back in flip flops, but they all seemed to do ok.

There was a big crowd and most of the walking sticks were gone, so I went about finding enough while the others finished lunch. I ended up going with Sarah most of the way who was doing it bare foot!

It was really fun. I liked it where it got deep!

It got pretty deep, pretty quick on the short people, but they were good troopers!

Wyatt decided to see how deep it got and had to swim. I tried to help him and got my stuff bag wet, but not as bad as Wyatt! Poor guy he was pretty cold for the rest of the trip.

I was really impressed with Neita packing Malina where it got deep, one expects it of the brothers to pack the kids around (I guess Nathan carrying 2 is impressive). Joel feel asleep but all the other shorter peoples seemed to like it to! I hope Aaron also posts his videos as he filmed a lot of it.

Couple of group photos at the place were we turned around.

Here is a picture of those who were taking a photo.

Beautiful Waterfall coming down into the river

Taking a rest in the shade, although it was plenty cool in the canyon with the cool water on your feet

More pictures of us hiking:

Theres Alec with his manly stick

Aaron had an even more manly stick.
Thanks Aaron for all the great photos!

4th of July

2010-07-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

I was sad to not be home in NM for the 4th. Its one of my favorite hollidays and I love spending it with family. But I did have a good 4th. I got lots done in the yard and saw some fireworks, and ate a tasty hamburger from the gril with all the fixin's. Whats more to ask?

there were some other good things too. Because I was in Utah I got to see Malinda and her baby Peter. So Cute!

Because I was in Utah I also got to have lunch with Mandy, Fay, and Kimball. It was way fun. I only got this picture and it didn't turn out well because Kimball kept falling over. Mandy went out to get Kimball changed and when walking him back couldn't figure out why he kept falling over. She looked down, and it was because she had put both of his legs into one side of his shorts. Hard to walk like that! He looked like he had on a really tight skirt!

Here is Kate and I at the parade. Its a long parade. It might not be so long if it was a little closer together, but I guess things get spread out along a long parade route. It was a little dissapointing that only one of the high schools here has a decent sized marching band. LAHS was a lot smaller then these schools, but our marching band was decent sized. Anyways I got fried and so was tired out for getting lots of yard work done, but still managed to get a decent amount.

whats a parade without lamas?

The Orem institute had an interesting float. Joseph Smith was singing, and looked like the other prophets were waiting their turn. Moses looked like he hung out in the 60's a bit long though....

flowers equal love, too

2010-07-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my flower picturess. Some are a bit older, like the pots, and have continued to fill out. I need to get a picture of the tree garden and window gardnes. The corner and herb gardens look the same as always, so might not picture them. One thing that makes me happy is how the gardens change as perenials take turns blooming, annuals and volunters join in and spread out. Its so cool!

The pink pot and square pot are some of favorite pots this year.

This one needed a few more flowers, and its put more out, but the folliage is still a bit strong.

Just like the pots, the flower gardens are just a bunch of different flowers, not a lot of rhyme or reason.

stump garden

Love my daisys this year. SO pretty! I need to get more this year for next.

front tree ring.

I had some left over pot stuffers and some smaller pots left so I just stuck some things in them. The first two are fine, but the last one is my "ugly pot" and it sits over on the other side of the house....

Not a great picture but here are the hanging pots in the back.

Here is the delphinium again. Its in the window garden which this year is planted mostly blue on the edges with some pink in the middle. Unfortnately the delphs are almost done.... oh well the cosmos and hollyhocks are starting to take their turn.

garden and food equals love

2010-07-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

i love my garden. It gives me food and as we all know food equals love. So here is an update of poor quality pictures.

Beets. Who knew that I would like beets. I guess before I've only had pickled beets and they aren't that great, so I figured all beats are icky. Turns out I like fresh garden beets so I'm glad i grew some this year. They taste a bit like dirt, but I love jicama and it tastes like dirt so I guess its not to suprising... Anyways I decided to grow more beets since they did fairly well and you can use the whole plant. This picture also has the one turnip I've grown. Fresh turnips aren't so good. But once they are cooked they aren't so bad.

Here they are all washed up and ready to cook. I cooked them up for dinner last Sunday, along with mango chicken and jalapeno sausage dogs (left over from family reunion), and our first calabacitas of the year, along with strawberries from the garden.

Happy produce from the garden!

Yesterday (Sunday) for dinner we had calabacitas, chicken tikamasala (with spinach from the garden), and drop biscuits with the currant jam I just made a couple of days ago.

just the 2nd year and the little bushes were loaded!

NOt sure if they were totally ripe as they are so tart, but I didn't want to wait so that the birds could get them or they fall off (that happened to the saskatoon berries this year, only one bush produced a small handful and then the birds got them and I only got two =(

I got a little over two cups worth. I cooked them down and strained them and made a beautiful red still tangy jam.

The jar was prettier before we ate it.

I've started to get small handful of raspberries everyday. Usually I just pop them in my mouth when I go out in the mornings, but I decided to share these. They are starting to pick up a bit more which is good as the strawberries are slowing down a bit.

While I was looking something up on the web, I stumbled across something about eating mushrooms from your backyard. So I did it.

No worries, its just a puffball which is the easiest to identify. It can only be confused with an "earthball" which would've just made me sick and not killed me. But I didn't confuse it, I fried it up in butter and ate one piece. Then since that didn't kill me I ate the rest the next day. Tasted like butter.

Think this one is edible but since I can't identify it for sure, I'll have to let it go. Didn't get a picture of another one I tried to figure out yesterday...

So on the way home from the reunion I was feeling bad about being the only one to not get to hang out with some family so I stopped by a garden center on my way home and picked up another Himrod grape to replace the dead one out front. I talked to the grape the rest of the way back about how its in a great spot and I'll trim it way down in the fall so it doesn't dry out like the last one did ( I think it grew so big that its roots couldn't replace the winter moisture lost). Then when I got home, I noticed a tiny sprout at the base of the dead one. Sure enough in a couple of days it had put out 3 leaves and grown at least an inch a day. It was alive! YAY! I couldn't just get rid of the new grape, we had bonded! So now I have two out front. The old one is now bigger then the new one. I can't believe how fast its growing! (in this picture you can see an edge of evening primrose that is just gorgeous this year)

Here are garden pics. Yes my garden is messy. Oh well. I'm over it.

Potatoes

Carrots (brocoli to the back left)

peas and lettuce just about all done. (rhubarb back left)

Cucumbers just about ready to start

Cucumbers and melons to left side, tomatoes in the greenhouses (only one of them is almost to the top

Beans. Couple have blossoms on them today.

Peppers to the left, Onions in front, and zuchinni behind.

Picture of banana bread since this is a post on food, and I didn't take a picture of the rhubarb cake. It was tasty!

Family Reunion Day 3

2010-07-11T19:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, didn't get pictures of this day. So I'll refer you to the other blogs, and maybe steal some. Try Melanie's, Mom's and Amy's as they are the ones that have posted about the family reunion so far.

Bethanie and Aaron provided a scrumpteous breakfast of hootenany pancakes and sausages. YUM. BTW forgot to mention Day's 2 tasty dinner of enchaladas by the parkinsons. thems are some good eatin!

Some went to hike angel's landing. Others stayed at the houses to enjoy the pool and take it easy. Some went back to Zion's to do easy stuff. I went with the latter group. We did the weeping rock and saw the little museum.

It was fun to eat our lunch in the coolness of the weeping rock. I think my parents should put in a similar setup on the west side of the home!

Then we went back so I could work on dinner. I turned on the gas grill to let it heat up. The greese underneath caught on fire and I almost burned down the house. Not sure if that grill works very well anymore.... brought way too much foood, but everyone seemed happy. I think the biggest hit was the chocolate milk =)

We did more olympic events. Amy has put pictures of those up so just check out her post: Then Amy made this tasty apple desert thingamajig. And there was bedtime, singing, and general hanging out until the day ended.

more garden updates from earlier in the season

2010-07-08T21:36:00.000-07:00

Here are a bunch of pictures that I took earlier in the year.

First two show the star of bethlehem flower that comes up every year and look so pretty.

This picture doesn't look so good, but this was pretty pink phlox and the star of bethlehem

Couple of tulip pictures:

More forget me not's but I need to get rid of them because I hate dealing with the seeds.

With the spring flowers we got a little crazy with the bundt cakes. As you may know those have holes in them and so Mama fixed them.

Ones of these was in honor of Aaron's bday. Sent a picture to Aaron and then ate it all up!

Once the star of bethlem flowers dye, I clean out the bed so its ready for planting. Here are som before and after pictures.

Couple more pretty flower pictures, although the color of the roses washed out.

Especially love the delphinium this year!

So the dandylions did well too this year. Mama has taken on the lawns more this year and the number has gone down.

The peas are just about done as the weather got hot all of a sudden. But they were enjoyed while here (most mornings I had peas and letuce from the garden as I grazed).

The great thing is the strawberries are on. They make the greatest breakfast (this picture doesn't look like that many, but it actually was quite a bit.

I also needed to thin some beets so I cooked them up and mama and I ate them. They were actually pretty tasty.

In the spring I used quite a bit of rhubarb. I accidently left a couple out and they got wimpy so I put them in some water and the ends exploded.

Family Reunion Day 2

2010-07-07T16:38:00.001-07:00

Melanie finally did a synopsis so you can check out hers for a better outline of the reunion. None the less, here is day two: After a scrumpteous breakfast by Jared and Amy we headed to Zions. First we had to pack our lunches and it was fast and everyone was happy with the variety available. All the kids seemed to like to pack their lunches and water bottles into their own stuff sacks. Jared demonstrated how to appropriately yell in a tunnel which I then used for the rest of the to and from Zion adventures.

Both Gaige and Hannah told me that they had never been on a bus before and were very excited about this. We just about filled an entire bus!

We did the easy Emerald Pools Hike. Since we weren't going to go very far, I left my big water bottle in the car. Regretted that later since it ended up being way hot!

This is my favorite part, the water dripping! It was much cooler there. Malina saw me getting my hat wet and thought that was a great idea. I liked being able to be different hiking buddies with my nephews and neices.

The first two pools weren't too bad. They weren't that big or green, but the little tadpoles were fun to catch for the kids who were so inclined.

Then we went to the upper pool and it wasn't that bad, but it was hot, no shade, and we didn't have enough water. Just about killed off mom and dad.

I'm suprised more of the kids didn't play in the water with me and Gaige. But I guess they were tired out too.

We made a pretty impressive group!

(This picture is of Mom and Alec who found a seperate seat)

I drank so much water when we got back down. Fortunately going down seemed to be easier then going up! It was funny to watch a couple of the little girls (I think it was Hannah and Malina) try to chug their water like I did!

I think people were still pretty tired out so we sat inside the lodge were it was cool and once we were cooled down everyone opened their pack to finish their lunches. Again it was so fun to look around and see all these people that I love so much!

So we got back on the buses and finished the scenic tour. The more intreped people got out to do the weeping rock hike. Melanie, Aaron, and I decided to check out the river hike (which is what we would've done if Angela had been able to come). Its only a mile but half way there we sat down in some shade and then decided we really didn't need to go further. I think the effects of the heat and dehydration tired us out!

This huge moth was in the path so Aaron picked it up to get it out of the way. I think it was dying as it wasn't doing much. I put it on a tree and it was there on the way back.

While resting in the shade we met a squirrell who was sure we were going to feed it. It wouldn't take no for an answer. I think Aaron may have gotten a picture. He threw little pieces of stick at it and it just sat there and closed its eyes. It would back off for a bit when we threw some dirt but not really. Squirting some water seemed to have an effect. He went and rolled in the dust and then came back. When some other hikers stopped to rest the squirell went to check them out and they shewed away the now "mangy looking squirrell." When it came up to me I poked it with a stick and it just sat there and that freaked me out. I've never seen a wild creature just take that!

So after our squirrell adventures we headed back and ran into the weeping rock group so we all went back together.

That night we started some olympic events, including the discuss, the 100 meter dash, and the biatholon. All so fun and everyone got into it.

Dinner was great and Neita had made cake for Jared's birthday. Happy Bday Jared! Sorry I ddin't get you anything!

I didn't make it to the swimming pool but the reports from the guys who went was that it was pretty nice. Aaron and Bethanie had to do some kid rescuing when they went the next day. THe following night I did get in the hot tub which felt nice! Its amazing how much it cooled off at night. Anyways Day 2 was a success.