Home again home again

So I'm back. Not super excited about it. Good news is most of the garden survived, although the "lawn" is pretty crispy (its mostly weeds anyways but if i keep it mowed it looks ok), and I need to replant some flowers, and the seedlings didn't make it. I already replanted the speghetti squash that died, but can't seem to find a sweet dumpling to replace the one that died. Most of the pots are doing ok.

Other then the crispy weeds in the lawn the rest of the weeds have done really well! I have been pulling weeds and deadheading and now need to spray the evil bind weed (mostly in the new front bed) to get it under control.

I also found these two HUGE mushroom thingys growing in the grass. My camera phone doesn't give you a real good idea of how big they are, but they are each bigger then my hand, and I have big hands.






The squash grew like crazy while I was gone. I have 3-4 little cantalopes on the vines, ate a handfull of currants, picked 5 little zuchinni, a carrot, bowl full of peas, 3 handfulls of beans, 2 sweet peppers, ate some brocoli, and the first tomato which I ate.









Its a brandywine and was especially good. Sure hope I can get more of those. I made a turkey bacon, tomato, bagel sandwhich for lunch and breakfast yesterday.

The tomatoes are bigger, but still fighting diseases. I fertalized everything yesterday so I hope that helps. The plants aren't putting on a lot, that could be due to being a little dry while I was gone. Hope they pick it up soon. I can already tell I'll get a lot of zuchinni this year, so I'm making zuchinni pizza for dinner tonight along with some melon and carmalized bananna icecream that i got off a blog chelsea is linked to. I'll let you know if its any good. Of course I've already changed the recipe because thats what i do!

REUNION SUMMARY:
Various family members have written and put pictures of the family reunion up so I don't think I need to go into much detail. Here are the ones from Melanie in case you haven't seen it, plus some of my comments and/or pictures. Most pictures are from Melanie and Mom's cameras since I downloaded them onto my computer. My phone wasn't working too well as it was dead most of the time so thats why i had to steal their photos.

http://msmarthelm.blogspot.com/2009/07/family-reunion-preperations.html commentary in addition to Melanie's blog: I'm not organized. I try very hard but it still doesn't work well. Hence the two trips to costco plus the regular grocery store, plus trying to do my primary lesson, plus making us leave an hour after we were readybecause the watering schedule ended before I would get back, etc etc etc.


I did have fun hanging out with Melanie even if I was tired and onry Friday because stuff at work took too long and so I wasn't able to finish the garden prep before leaving. But we went to Yamoto's for a late dinner and that made things better.






I really enjoyed the temple openhouse, so it was totally worth it.


It was fun to see Malinda even for just a short time. It still seems wrong that she isn't here.

So when we finally left, we took the scenic route and it was great to see the lakes full. I truely am a desert girl and lakes and rivers and streams are wonders to behold.

I was scared of those prarie dogs. Their high pitched yelling thingy was freaky, and then two of them started to fight and ran into me. ICK!




Riding in the car with Melanie and Spree was fun too. I thought the drive was interesting and the conversation was great. Also Melanie reminded me how important snacks are to a roadtrip.

I feel realy bad that I didn't realize Devils gate and martin's cove were on our route, otherwise we would've planned to spend a little time there. Melanie hasn't been there since she was 8. However, the mosquitos were horrible and as we drove away from this grave marker they rose up behind the car to come get us. Literally. I got like 4 bites in the 30 seconds we were there. Melanie not so much.





http://msmarthelm.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-family-family-reunion-part-2.html: The next day continued on and the drive still wasn't too bad. The black hills were very pretty to drive through and the weather was nice. Melanie and I got to the cabins to check things out and it was beautiful and peaceful so we just sat on the porch knowing that it wouldn't be like this again for the remainder of the stay. After everyone left on the last day we got to do it again which made nice bookends for the reunion. It was so fun to have everyone together!





http://msmarthelm.blogspot.com/2009/07/big-heads-family-reunion-part-3.html







Melanie, Aaron, Angela, and I wrode with the parents to the various sites. I had my "maggy" so we knew where we were, but then she broke :( Melanie was reading aloud a book we picked up called "Guernsy's Litterary and Potato Peel Society." Very cute book and since its written in letters easy to start and stop. Only problem is I have no idea where that book is now.






I can't believe how many people were at Mt. Rushmore. Its not that exciting. I mean its cool to see but thats about all there is.







I think the shirts turned out ok, but I'm a little disapointed we didn't get one of the whole family in front of the big heads. The crazy horse monument was interesting too, but everyone was tired by that time. We made icecream that night which has inspired me to make more icecream this summer!






http://msmarthelm.blogspot.com/2009/07/evening-singing-family-reunion-part-4.html
This was some of my favorite memories of the reunion. I just love being together and singing and being silly.








http://msmarthelm.blogspot.com/2009/07/next-day-family-reunion-part-5.html
I went with the fishing group that morning, and then the afternoon did prep for dinner and went to the big cut. My phone finally had some juice so I was able to take pictures. Didn't get one with Bethanie, Jim, or Natalie though :(





















I also really enjoyed stopping and playing in the water by the road. Didn't find any gold but did find some cool rocks. I got really wet by the little waterfall because those things are splashy! Sarah joined me in the water and neither of us are worse for where so hopefully the water wasn't too contaminated!

http://msmarthelm.blogspot.com/2009/07/last-day-family-reunion-part-6.html
It was sad when the reunion was over. But I did get to look forward to the 4th in NM. The drive there wasn't too bad because Melanie and I took turns reading a book. We made it through in pretty good time and I was reminded of all the pretty parts of South Colorado and Northern New Mexico. Everything was really green as its been raining there for the first time in 20 years.

CUTE MELANIE

I liked pretending to drill the rock (I took a close up of it the day before cause its a cool rock and its the ore that they took all the gold out of.

Being in NM for the 4th is always something I look forward to. Its got the same really important elements every year: primary parade, family, fireworks, and homemade icecream.

.

I love doing face painting (or hand painting for the little ones). This year the weirdest request was a monster with sharp fangs and blood dripping down. At least I made it a patriotic monster!

Overall it was a way fun vacation until Monday which then caused me stress and to not enjoy my last two days at home, but that story is for another time. I'd rather end on a happy note:

just cause its sold in a health food store...

Lesson learned: Just cause its sold in a health food store doesn't mean its healthy.

So I've been jonesing after the brazilian lemonade that I had last Saturday and finally stopped to buy more limes to do so tonight. It was perfect because it was hot and I was thirsty and not very hungry. It was sooo tasty that I made two batches and drank it all (about 6 cups worth).

To make it more healthy I decided to use this sugar substitute I picked up from Good Earth in the bulk food section. Its called xylitol. The little label didn't say much about it, and I did look it up (google) and saw that its not healthy for dogs but nothing else. (its used in sugar free gum)

I probably used 3/4 cups of xylitol. The recipe called for 1/3 cup of sugar, but for the first batch I thought that xylitol wasn't as sweet so used 1/2 c. That was too sweet so I only used 1/4 c in the second batch. After drinking all that i didn't feel super well.....

I decided that maybe my body doesn't do well with xylitol. I looked up side effects and found this: "it’s dietary uses cause a slight diarrhea as a result of slow absorption from the intestine, a temporary condition but discomforting."

then this: "However, it is known that exceeding the 6 to 8 grams of recommended Xylitol for oral care can cause stomach discomfort and above 40 grams a day as sweetener, it might cause diarrhea."

Without giving TMI there is no MIGHT for me. I think I ate 168 grams so you can image the results. They were swift and mighty! And intestinal absorption was probably zero. So if any of you need a rapid "cleanse," don't pay for those expensive dietary "detoxifiers," just try my brazilian lemonaid and 30 minutes later you'll see immediate results!

Due to this culinary experiment I don't know that I'll be wanting this tasty lemonade for awhile. Also I haven't been able to dig in my garden tonight which is dissapointing.

reunion preview

.... So I wanted to try out what Melanie and I thinking of cooking for our night of the reunion. Sweet Pork Salad, cafe rio style. It turned out great (other then I have enough left over pork to last for two weeks)! But then I remembered that not everyone likes cilantro. TOO BAD FOR THEM (just kidding mom). Anyways I don't think there will be a problem. I'll just bring some ranch dressing and regular salsa for the less culinary refined....






Start with some warm tortillas with a little cheese on the bottom. These are uncooked tortillas that you cook yourself and they tast sooo much better then the already cooked kind.






add some black beans (I think these were tastier then cafe rio, probably cause I cooked 'em a long time)












sweet pork















The rice was the best! Cilantro lime, Yum!



top with lettuce

add Pico- this reminds me of chelsea because she told me about a dream she had once in which she had a baby and she named it pico, and when someone asked her where she got that name she replied, "you know pico, short for pico-de-gallo." I'm not humerous, even in my dreams.

finish off with some crunchy tortilla strips, and some parmesean cheese, and pour on the creamy tomatillo dressing. Eat. The End. Nope go back for more.






I next want to figure out how they made that brazillian lemonaid at Tucanos.



In other news I downloaded the trial version of Sibelius. It was frustrating but fun. The problem is I completed a whole piece (4 pages) and now it won't print right and because its the trial version I can't save. I think Aaron found a way around that, but this is a newer version so maybe not. Well, next time I'll be a lot faster so not a huge worry. I can't figure out how to get rid of the extra measures and stanzas....




There were not very many people at church today. Guess they all took their dads fishing or something. I had the whole bench to myself. I usually sit by myself, so I should probably sit on one of the side pews so I don't take up so much room. but I like to sit in the middle rows about 4-5 back on the right side. I guess I will just continue to sit where I want to even if it means i take up a whole center pew....




With just half our kids in primary it was a bit more reverant. The one boy in my class today is usually really good and only acts out when the other two boys are there, however his mom now leads the music and he has started to get a little more "rambunctious." The good news is he isn't well practiced yet at misbehavior. He was singing the songs really loudly, I guess to be annoying but he knew the words and was singing on tune so it really wasn't annoying and actually made the other kids sing louder. So although there was less then half of our normal jr. primary they were really singing louder then normal.



Dad sent me this picture, proof that I was cute once apon a time :) (notice the 70's orange carpet? Its ok because it WAS the 70's)


I was a good kid in primary (mom says so). As a teacher I try to give a lot of attention to the kids being good because I remember thinking it wasn't fair that the naughty ones got chosen more often. Anyways I'm enjoying primary and the kids are doing pretty good. One of our kids who really struggles (he has got some sensory issues) last time loudly told me when he was being good and reverent. I praised him and mostly just try to make him (and all the other kids) know that I like having them there. Its funny how I like it that my kids wave to me when they see me in church and tell their parents/siblings that I'm their teacher. Makes me feel included in the ward I guess.

My coral bells are just so pretty in the shade garden this year!

my letuce is starting to bolt. Its been cold a rainy, I have no idea why it would do this to me. I'm taking it personally. But its been very good and sweet up to now. Maybe its cause I stopped picking it as often? The cold rainy weather has been great for the peas which are huge and starting to really produce stuff. Its not been good for the tomatoes. They got that disease that I had to deal with two years ago and I might loose one. I rotated my plants and so I don't understand whats going on. its very disapointing, but I remain optomistic. I am carefully trimming the sick leaves off, taking care not to touch other tomatoes, and spraying with a fungacide. I haven't been able to identify the exact disease since none of the discriptions or pictures exactly discribe it. i'm afraid I might have two diseases on them. I'm hoping it is one thats treatable and not a virus, and that once it warms up and isn't so wet on the leaves the tomatoes will do a better job of fighting it off)

I'm tired. Thursday I drove down to Fillmore, then Santaquin, then Provo for visits and was wiped out. Yesterday I put in a full day at work traveling to Hooper Utah, and then Ogden and then stopping in W. Valley for visits, then finally heading home. It was a long day because technically I don't work on Fridays. But as you know we have the family reunion coming up and I need to get all my visits done before leaving town. Anyways the wierd thing is I was getting dizzy at odd times which isn't really good when driving and stuck in traffic for EVER (like an extra 45 minutes to get from W. Valley back to AF). This meant when I did get home I couldn't really work in the garden since I'd get dizzy when I sat down, bent over, etc. There is a lot of that in gardening.... I did transplant a few things though.

Today I still felt a little funny but was able to get done lots. I transplanted red things (amaranth) and cosmos (which for some reason the biggest batch all came up in the gravel drive way. Huh?)all along the back wall, and behind the fire pit. Which I finished cleaning up and getting the tree trimmings all neatly stacked and mulched behind it, etc. (I'll take a picture tomorrow when its light and put it here so you can see)

Kate mowed the front lawn for me and then started helping me chop up some of the twigs from the fire pit (I had gotten two many twings so I had to burn them to make room (darn I hate burning things :) Then it started to rain hard so I came in and took a shower and then we went to Tocanos. OH MY. I've never been there before but I definately think I will have to take whoever comes to visit me there so I can go again. Its a brazilian bbq. All you can eat. There is a good salad bar and some warm sides too, and then these handsome guys come around with skewers of different amazing meats or vegetables, or grilled pineapple and they will cut you off whatever you want. WOW. We went right before lunch was over so we actually got some of the pricier dinner stuff for the lunch price. WHOOOHOOO

It was raining when we got home so I rested some (food coma) and watched part of a movie then cleaned the bathroom. Then it had stopped raining so I transplanted, mulched, and then mowed the back lawn. That tires me out and I probably should shower again. Oh well.

This week I finally finished turning over the dirt around the fire pit. Now just need to do it along the side fence, and then enlarging the window gardens someday.

Last week I decided I had room to put some squash plants in my front side yard where I have a grape and some dew berries and tough perenials planted. I had decided on banana squash and spaghetti squash. The nurshrey didn't hae speghetti squash so I baught others (Mama mia, sweat dumpling, acorn and bananna). Then I stopped at walmart for more dirt and mulch and they had a speghetti squash so I ended up with 5. Thats close to 2 right? Anyways there was plenty of room for them and I'll see what I get this year. (its dark now but I'll take some pictures and post them on here tomorrow)

Last sunday I used my last jar of canned tomatoes and made a really good pasta sauce. We also had a wonderful, tasty, delicious crenshaw melon from the local fruit stand I don't know why I didn't get one yesterday... oh yah its cause I was dizzy. Also cooked some good fresh sweet corn, and some corn bread and of course the never ending fresh garden salad (various greens, edible flowers, herbs, etc).

I then decided to use some of my rhubarb. I cut up some apples that I needed to use up, 3 cups of rhubarb , and some left over strawberries (some from the garden, some from the fridge) and made a sort of crisp. It was really yummmmy

But I cooked it late and so I was the only one awake to eat it hot and fresh. MORE FOR ME HA HA HA HA

Last Saturday I also did some shopping for my primary lesson class. There was the brightest fullest hugest rainbow I ever did see. My camera phone doesn't pick up colors real great so you can imagine how amazing the rainbow was. I thought it was funny that since I was at the Distribution center, thats where it looks like the rainbow ends... sort of.

last minute concert fun, and some grrrrrs

So, Cathy called me around 5:30 asking if I wanted to go to a Kelly Cl*rkston concert tonight. I said sure. It was pretty fun. It was pretty cold, and it even rained on us a bit, but there was an awesome rainbow, one of the brightest, fullest ones I've ever seen!(my silly camera can't pick it up very well) It was a fun evening, and I took the space blanket from my emergency car kit which kept me dryer and warmer then I would've been.

It has been rainy and cool for most of the week. Its made watering very easy! My letuce is loving it and so are the peas. They have reached the top of the 4' chicken wire and are starting to really produce. I get a handfull of strawberries most mornings. BUT something keeps using that patch as a path and squishing strawberries. I put some wire edging around it and tucked the netting around pretty good, and it looks like the strawberry plants that got squished are perking back up.- while I was putting this up a robin flew down and got stuck. Much squaking insured but before I could get over there Nanguo appeared and I yelled at her. She usually won't get near me but ran and grabbed the bird anyways, but then got caught in the net and freaked out because I guess she thought I had grabbed her so she took off. The bird had squaked loudly so I thought it was dead, but then it flapped around and got free and flew off. Wow a wild america moment in my backyard, only with a cat and a robin rather then a mountain lion and eagle or something similarly wild.

Yesterday I went out and something messed up the mulch around the eggplants and broke off and squished a lot of onions. OH I AM SO MAD! I found some pieces of wiring that make me now think that maybe someone was doing something with the power/phone/or cable lines and put a latter right there. I noticed other marks in the pole bean bed near there, with only a couple of dill plants slightly squashed. I know I lost at least this onion, and I'll see how many others recover. GRRRR. (the pictures don't really show it, but believe me they are broken and squashed)

A couple of days ago I came home from work and there were huge paw prints all over the carrot bed. Its one thing to walk on there mister stray dog, its another to dance all over it! At least two of my bigger ones were broken clean off, and I don't know if the seeds will come up now. Double GRRRRRR

One of the brocoli plants has been pushed over, but seems to still be alive...

I've finished mulching most of the vegetable garden but still have soooo much work to do! Finish transplanting red things and cosmos is the next chore, and finishing putting in the plants mom gave me after that. Then its working on turning over the dirt around the bushes and berries I planted around the fire pit and along the right side fence. after that work on cleaning up the fire pit area, and then if there is any time left its enlarging the window gardens. I think I started too many new projects this year!

Late Spring Harvests

I did just post last night, but I wanted to share some exciting news today! I ate my first sugar snap pea! oh boy was it tasty. Every morning when I go out to check things I graze a little. Some lettuce, a few brocoli heads, maybe some fennel and I check the strawberries. I've gotten one or two strawberries, but I forgot to look the last couple of days so today I got: (this is from my little old patch, the new bed is still just growing roots (thats what I tell myself, but there are a few little strawberries on)

THEY ARE SOOOO GOOOD! some aren't as sweet as others but the flavor in even a tiny berry is just amazing!

Here are the peas (its overcast today but my phone doesn't do well on bright days either). I had already eaten the pea so I don't have a picture of it. I should have two more ready to pick in a day or two:

The lettuce has gone crazy. I need to pick more and give it away, any takers around here, just let me know....

Heres a couple of pictures of the tree garden all planted. I still have to decide how many of the sunflowers I left to pull up since i don't really want them to shade the other things. I also put in a close up of the painted lady daisies. They are a great pretty perenial (the flowers start out the dark pink and fade as they age to the light pink) and pretty easy.

This is the other side of the shade garden that I didn't put in the last post:

Here is the stump garden currently. I haven't filled it in with annuals yet, thats on today's list after the front sun garden is filled in. I also included a picture from this spring after I had cleaned it off for a compare and contrast photo.

Lastly, here are some pictures of my soon to be very bountiful produce: tomato (pink brandywine), baby zuchinii, and a sweet pepper (this one had two labels, manchurian red and ivory bell, the color leans to the ivory but the shape is more like the manchurian).

I just got a fuzzy grass head and tried to help polinate a few more tomatoes and tomatillos, speaking of tomatillos, apparently they reseed themselves pretty well if you leave some unpicked ones on the vine after frost, or throw overripe ones on the ground....

look how big everything is getting!

My potatoes, onions, eggplant are all growing fast.

Pole beans are now up. I transplanted many of them where two came up to the spots where none. I had to use slug bait as a night time stake out pointed out who was eating my beans (and parsley and marigolds- not eating cilantro)