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.
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
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!
You are incredible!!!!!!!!!!!!
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