I Love Spring!

Here's why I love spring...

In the spring plain ole tuna salad becomes a feast for the eyes!  Fresh fresh fresh!  Ok... I didn't catch the tuna myself but I did grow the spinach, collect the eggs, make the yogurt that adds the creaminess, snip the chives with their blossoms... you get the idea.  A simple tuna salad goes from blah to tada!

Spring is the season when the color green becomes amazing in it's infinite shades and hues!   Speaking of green... who remembers these long green Tupperware containers?

:)  I have two.  They are a little beat up  but they keep my spinach and lettuce better than anything else.  And they remind me of Dave's sweet little mama.  We inherited these when she "moved to heaven".  They are one of my most treasured possessions because of the memory factor.  These and the earthenware baking dish that I use to burn the Thanksgiving sweet potatoes each year... but that's a whole different season.  I don't want to think about fall!

Early in the morning I'm flying to southern California to see my daughter Katie and her gorgeous babies.  Yay!!!  So... I've been working hard to get ready to leave.  I thought I'd make sure some of the produce in the fridge got used up so I threw this berry tasty salad together.

It's a bed of fresh tender spinach with carrots, bell peppers, cukes, strawberries, pumpkin seeds and mozzarella cheese then topped with freshly made croutons from left over bread purchased at the Chewelah farmers market yesterday.  Love!

 Garden season is just getting going and I've been babysitting little plants in the greenhouse as well as moving a few outside into the garden.  Of course the spinach is up and ready to nibble on.  The sweet peas are beginning to grab hold of the fence and climb.  Perhaps when I come home they will be blooming!  Green beans have sprouted and the long row of sunflowers that smile at me in the summer are reaching toward the sky.  They have a ways to go though.  right now they aren't much taller than the carrots :)

 

These are just a few volunteer sunflowers that I didn't have the heart to pull up.  Behind them you can see the nice straight rows where Dave has just planted his corn.  We definitely have different gardening styles!  His rows are very orderly and march along like little soldiers.  Mine sort of meander along like a little day dreaming flower child.  And come to think of it that same behavior plays out in so many other areas of our lives too :)  Ha!  If you've read my blog you can easily imagine what my garden looks like... no plan at all!

Let's see... what else... oh... pumpkins of course.  I have 9 pumpkin plants I transplanted a few days ago.

I know this is the tiniest pumpkin plant ever but just wait and see.  I predict the best crop of giant pumpkins yet!  I also optimistically transplanted 5 watermelon plants into the garden.  There are about 10 more still in the greenhouse... just in case.  Anyway... these are highly experimental.  Last year we sliced open the sweetest little watermelon!  It was just the perfect size to eat in one sitting.  I wondered if we had a long enough growing season for growing a small little melon so I decided to save the seeds and find out.  So we'll see what happens.

My greenhouse now has to do double duty.  My plants have to share space with my fiber drying rack which currently is loaded up with alpaca fiber.  This is the first batch of alpaca that I've washed.  It's taking much longer to dry than wool.  I'm sure Dave won't mind turning it over a couple of times for me while I'm gone.  When I come back from California it will be ready for me to play with.  And my new little lambs will be old enough to come live at my house!

Fortunately for me, since I have no experience with sheep yet a neighbor hosted a sheep field day at his farm, Shepherd's Bounty.  Dave, Michele and I spent the morning there learning about sheep fencing,

sorting and grading fleeces and spent time listening to a very kind veterinarian who discussed general sheep health and nutrition.  They also served up some tasty lamb burgers.  :)  That will not be the fate of my little sheepys though!  There were other speakers and demonstrations on things like sheep herding.  I didn't attend that class though.  We will not be adding a sheep dog... and I'm pretty sure Tank is completely un-trainable so... :)

Mostly I enjoyed seeing the little lambs play in the fields

and meeting other crazy sheep people.  There is certainly a lot to learn!  On the way home Dave asked me, "Are you sure you want sheep???"  Yes.  They are so cute and fuzzy!  And if I get into a jam I know I can always call on my awesome neighbors (Hi Jean!!!) who know all about sheep!  :)

Also related to sheep... or spinning their fleeces... I brought home some stones and sea shells from my trip to Hawaii in March and I kept thinking I might like to make some spindle tops out of them somehow.  Yesterday I started playing around with them and came up with these...

Two are decorated with stones that came from our friend Dave Sasaki's collection that

he so generously shared with me.  Thanks Dave!  I'm on m own for the next batch of stones.  He also sent us home with his rock tumbler so I better get cracking on that!  One is just some simple beads and the other is topped with shells and sea glass that I found on the beach one day.  I'll never forget that beach!  It's the one where I was so rudely tumbled and abused in the surf.  First time I've ever laughed hysterically as I stumbled and crawled to safety while groping about trying to extract my swimsuit from my butt as sand and salt water streamed from my nose.  Good times!  Like me this spindle is just a bit unbalanced but it's not too bad and it makes me smile!

Speaking of lovely Hawaii like weather... we had some amazing spring weather over the last couple of weeks.  It was 85 with brilliant blue skies.  I got used to wearing shorts and I drug the screens out of the barn and installed them in the windows.  It's what convinced me that it was ok to go ahead and transplant watermelons.  But of course it was just faking me out!  Today was 50 and the sky looked like this...

still... I love spring... especially since I'm going to California in the morning!!!

So... ciao y'all!  

Love In A Jar

I absolutely LOVE this time of year!  This morning I woke up, peeked out the window and saw that is was just beginning to get light outside.  I looked at the clock and it was 4:50 am.  Yes!!!  The days are finally getting long!  I guess most people would go back to bed but not me!  I crept out to the living room and opened all the curtains to watch the morning unfold.  I barely got settled in before the idea for this post popped into my head, which reminded me that I should make a batch of crepes.  I got up to get those going so the batter could rest in the fridge until Dave got around to waking up and of course it was hours and hours before I got back around to my blog post.  And that's been the story of my life for months on end!  I've been meaning to write but each day is full of really important stuff!

So... Dave loves crepes.  I hate to make them!  Actually I don't mind making them all the way up to the second where they need to be flipped then poof!  Just like magic... instant disaster and rage!    This sad scene has replayed in my kitchen so many times that finally Dave and I made a deal.  I create the batter and he cooks the crepes.  Usually.  Earlier this week Dave had been craving crepes and so I decided to make a batch since he was going to be leaving to spend a few days over at the lake property in Ione clearing and burning.  Sort of as an I love you... see you in a few days present.  Sometimes I go along too but decided this trip to stay home.  He works really hard over there so I like to send along some tasty food so he doesn't end up eating things like top ramen with tuna fish.  Ughhhh!  Shudder shudder!  I'm not even kidding... I wish he never told me about that.  Some things are just to horrible to think about!   Anyway... I decided the morning he left to make a large batch of crepe batter and send along part of it with him in a big mason jar.  That would be something he could quickly cook up and would be non disgusting :)  he came home telling me all the creations he came up with using the crepe batter such as peanut butter and banana crepes.  I was impressed!  I told him it sounded like he didn't even miss me at all, to which he replied... "I didn't need to miss you cause I had your love in a jar!"  That was so sweet it motivated me to risk ruining my morning with flipping, flopping and cussing.   

Here are a couple of pics from the last time I tagged along...

burning slash piles

                                                            Tank and Dave resting a while

In all the years I've been making pancakes and crepes I've never bothered to remember the recipe, simple though it is.  I always get out my old go to cookbook.  The Joy of Cooking.  It was what we did before Google and You Tube.  From trussing turkeys to prime rib to lemon lime ice box pie... this was where to look! 

Some of the pages are all splattered with hand written notes.  Like my crepe recipe.  It is quadrupled :)

I mean... when you have six kids one recipe is just not going to do it!

Here's what love in a jar actually looks like :)  

 

Well let's see... other news from the farm...

Baby Daisy is growing like a weed...

Spinning wheels and yarn are taking over my livingroom...

This must mean I need sheep to keep them supplied with fiber.  So... here are two of the new babies coming to live at my house...

They won't arrive until the first part of June as they are only three weeks old now.  But I am so excited I can hardly stand myself!  If anyone had told me 10 years ago that I would have spinning wheels and sheep I would have rolled on the floor laughing!  As a matter of fact, I just booked my plane ticket to California to visit my grand babies (YAY!!!) and it was seriously hard to do as I had to plan around "Field Day", an all day seminar about sheep and the upcoming Farm Chicks.  I don't even recognize myself!  

Well anyway, related to fiber... Michele decided she needed to learn to knit so she did.  She is teaching me as she learns.  She has such a natural ability to pick things up.  And apparently she didn't get that from me cause here is my first knitting project.

Bahahahahahahah.....

Yeah... I guess I had Frodo in mind when I made these.  They look like they were made for hobbit feet!  And... you should see the formation of the heels... they look like thumbs.  As a matter of fact... I'm pretty sure I can now make a set of hot pads with thumbs :)  These are so ugly that I love them because every time I look at them I laugh until I snort and cry.

But back to Michele's work.  She decided to make a crocheted "market bag" and it turned out so pretty!

Here she is modeling the bag.  The really cool thing is that she spun, and dyed the yarn herself.  The really uncool thing about this bag is that it is not going to be my mother's day present :(

Well... guess I better get up and get busy!  We are going to Ione today and taking the kayaks for a paddle around the lake.  I gotta try out the new little dock Dave built :)

So... ciao y'all!