Valentine's Day 2010

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. A day of Love and Romance. Since there is no one special in my life. My sister and I decided to do something for my parents.

1. Make a Romantic dinner for two
2. and Leave the House!!!

Mom and Sister #3 went out shopping, just for some fun, so Sister #3 picked up a great olive baguette along with some really tasty olive spread. I forgot the name of the spread. For supper, it was just something really simple. Well it didn't turn out simple. Normally I would consider myself a good cook. Not as good as my mom, but better than most. Who would have guessed that this meal would have presented so many roadblocks. The menu was this...
Spaghetti Squash, with mushroom marinara, chocolate vanilla pudding with heart shaped raspberries, micro green salad, and the yummy baguette.

Normally I cook spaghetti squash in the oven, but Mom said that you could cook it in the pressure cooker. Let's just say that we served them spinach linguine instead. =) That was only the first problem. We wouldn't let them see anything, so they were downstairs watching a movie. I am sure they must have thought that I was destroying the kitchen. I kept dropping everything, I mean everything! The last problem that had to be overcome with cunning and sly personality, which was almost not enough, was the pudding.... *Doom and Gloom music plays in the Background* We thought it would be really fun to make the two different flavors in a swirling type look. You know, Alternating between vanilla and chocolate. The first bowl was a flop. The 2nd ... I got the brilliant idea that the puddings should be in icing bags. I would turn the bowl while sister#3 would squeeze the bags. It didn't work. Puddings was shot everywhere except the bowl. But, it was fun to lick off our fingers! We left shortly after plating.

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On cold days like these, when the snow is falling all around you, its nice to cuddle up in a chair with a book and a nice hot cup of tea! This past summer I had the wonderful opportunity to make my own tea blend. All the ingredients in this blend were grown by me. At the farm, we grew Chamomile, Calendula, Feverfew, Peppermint, and Clover. But we never used any of these blooms for anything. They were only used for looking at. Why, I have no idea! I decided, to make my own brew, and Mmmm Doggy, it's good. These are the pics of this wonderful tea, it is so good that I decided to plant most of these flowering herbs in my garden this year. You will see in my previous post, that they are indeed in the plans. If you so desire, you can do the same. All of these herbs are beautiful in your flowerbeds and landscape; but if you spray your flowerbeds, plant it with the veggies instead. I mean really, does anyone want all those chemicals in their tea, I don't think so. Then when your plants bloom just snip off the flowers. This is good for your plants and premoted them to produce more buds!

Here are the ingredients:

• 3 parts Calendula Blossoms
  
• 3 parts Red Clover Blossoms
• 2 parts Peppermint leaves
• 1 part Chamomile Blossoms
  
• 1 part Feverfew Blossoms

Hope you get the chance to try this. It's really tasty!

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Garden plan 2010

I don't know about you, but I am extremely excited about this new year of veggies and flowers. After my recent internship on the 150 acre organic farm, I have looked into being more adventurous and trying some not-so-common home veggies. Everyone grows and harvests the traditional mix of vegetables and herbs; such as tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, zucchini, basil and the like. I on the other hand want to reach out into the plethora of vegetables and herbs that most home gardeners never get the chance to do.

Here is a list of what I will be growing in 2010;
Basil, Beets, Carrots, Turnips, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Acorn and Butternut Squash, Tomatoes, Peppers, Oca (not to be confused with Okra), Lettuce, Radishes, Turnips, Garlic, Celeriac, Leeks, Calendula, Chamomile, Fennel, Cucumbers, Nasturtium, Cauliflower, Cilantro, Parsley, Swiss Chard, Kale, and Sun Flowers.

I quickly made a outline of what the garden will look like and we will hope that I got it right. I will go out later and make sure that I have all the measurement correct.

Next post on: Oca (New Zealand Yam)

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Well my midterms are over!!! This is not a completely true statement, I actually have 5 midterms, 3 finals, an essay, and many, many, more quizzes. But on the bright side, my first 2 midterms are done and over with, so I can take a few seconds to breath and release the stress of school by looking into my garden of 2010!

I have been constanly thinking about my new garden for 2010. i am so excited, as I am sure you are. More excited about it. currently, than my new chickens. No I don't have the chickens yet but I know they are still mine!

I don't have the chickens yet, but I do have my memories of all the goodies that I grew last Spring, and boy are they tantalizing! Most of them I will be growing this year, some I won't. Not because I don't like them, but simply because I don't have any room! I expanded the garden more this year (I will post about that in the near future). It added a substantial amount of space, but definitely not enough! With gardening, enough just isn't enough! One of the veggies that will not be making an appearance this year, is Kohlrabi. While I really enjoy this vegetable, I know I will be able to always buy it at the Farmers' Markets. I sure, however, that next year it will be walking down the red carpet!

Last year, the Radishes that were grown at the house, did not turn out due to the ants eating them... I have no idea why our ants like them so, but if you have any suggestions, by all means post them below~ Though the ones at the farm, were beautiful, those radishes are the ones in the picture!

And will you look at the lettuce that we grew at the farm.... WOW, eye popping wow. Its was so green, tender, and crisp! mmmmmm

The Broccoli was really nice, and hardly any worms in it. I think it was because we got it planted so early, that the butterflies weren't out that soon.

I don't know about you, but here soon I will be starting my seeds... I am very excited about this. Last year, I started them in my room, but this year I will be starting them in the green house at the farm! They should turn out very nice, due to all the sunlight!

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Moday Book Review

I know this has nothing to do with gardening....whatsoever, but there really is not too much to talk about in my yard, besides snow. School started back up and I have even more classes that I am taking. As you can imagine, I really revel in the time when I am not reading a scholastic book and am able to enjoy reading something that doesn't necessarily make me starter! We just got a new bookstore near my house, called, City Books. They are locally owned, and all the books are 20% off! I had never been in there so, I thought I would check it out. I didn't have any particular book in mind and just wanted to check out the place and take a break from studying. The book that I ran into is called Dewey, By Vicki Myron.
Dewey is in essence an autobiography of Vicki's life and the life of the whole community in Spencer Iowa, and how a small library cat (Dewey Readmore Books) changed their lives. Rated by the New York times as their #1 best seller, it is for sure a must read. Spencer is a small town in 1988. The book starts off with the sad plight of a cat(Dewey) who was shoved down the library after-hours-drop-box on a -5 degree night. Frostbitten, skinny and dirty he was found by Vicki (the library manager) and the rest of the staff. This adventure shows how one cat can bring together the community, the state, a nation, and eventually the world. Through the loving touch of a cat named Dewey. I would tell you more, but that would just be unfair to you. So, if you ever get the chance to read this book, you absolutley must. Be prepared to have a box of tissues near by though.

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Welcome to the New Year

Now that we can put one year behind us, I think it important to be ever so grateful for what we have had, even though times are tougher. I don't know why I have been recently been thinking about this, but for some reason outside of Thanks Giving, I have been thinking about all that I have. I am sure there are many, if not most of you, who realize this on a daily basis. But as for me, it has now recently sunk in.

This Christmas, I can honestly say that I never went hungry...at all. There was so much yummy food the table was overflowing. Even though there is less money, there is more family. Even though we can't have everything we want, we have everything we need. Even though its cold outside, its warm in our hearts. When winter comes, Spring is around the corner. When it seems the worst, people bring out the best. Though it seems lonely sometimes, there are always those to surround us. Ans when the year is at its worst, we can look forward to a fresh tomorrow.

I don't know where that all came from, but its just something that has been on my heart as I reflect on this past year. So as you go through the last few days of the year and into the next, I hope that you will constantly reflect on what you have and the ones you love.

Happy New Years!

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Christmas 09

Another Christmas has come and gone, and like all, it was a good one. I completely forgot to take a picture of the food, so you will have just imagine. We had Brussels sprouts with chestnuts and pearl onions, dressing, mash potatoes, gravy, green been casserole, turkey, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie.

It was definitely a feast. I was so full, that I didn't have any of the pecan pie the day after Christmas day! The first thing that we did Christmas morning was to take family pictures. I know most NORMAL families open presents upon awaking, well not us. First thing was eating our tradition Christmas breakfast of bread pudding and fruit salad; along with getting dressed for our family picture. The pictures really turned out nice. I am only posting a select few, as that if I were to post them all, there would be no room to tell you about them. If I might say, the family looked really nice. The theme for these pics was black, white, and gray with a vest. Not all of us are wearing vests, but for those who go the memo, did. We have pics of the entire family, along with those of just the boys, the girls, all the couples, and so on. It was a lot of fun, hurrying through the pictures so that we could open presents. No I have not grown up completely. I do like the whole present aspect of this season. This year, we did a Secret Santa, it was really quite fun. I had one my brothers.

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