A "Summery" of the Garden

Here are some updated pictures of the garden!

The beans in the new bed in front of the house (I'm not sure what possessed me to want to plant more beans!!)

The potatoes (they're really small, I know. The soil has some deficiencies, but we'll work on building it up)

Romaine lettuce, yellow zucchini, volunteer zucchini and pole beans

Swiss chard! I planted a variety called "bright lights" and it's very pretty, with yellow, red, pink, purple and green stems/veins on the various plants.

 Onions, marigolds and beets

Basil and onions

Carrots and tomatoes!

Peppers and cukes (LOTS of cukes!)

 The new bed in back (we put a row cover on it for a little while) with kale and lettuce

 I tried sun-drying some kale to make kale chips. It worked pretty well until it started getting windy and blowing the dried kale away! I had to finish them in the dehydrator.

 It's an apple. It's an alien. It's kohlrabi!

The lettuce out back

This tomato looks like three growing together!

 Spinach (I'm surprised that this spinach actually grew over the summer! I guess it was cool enough for it up here)

I'm currently harvesting cucumbers every day, and yellow zucchini every other day or so. The beans are slowing down a bit, thankfully (since we have PLENTY of them already!). We have enough lettuce for us to eat about 10 salads per day...  most of the broccoli is in and processed, along with the cauliflower... what else. Oh yeah! We made our first batch of basil pesto! It is SOOO delicious. I should pick more of that soon. Anyways... let's just say I'm almost a vegetarian these days. :-) I even brought in a head of cabbage yesterday. That is significant because I thought that the cabbages were goners due to the out-of-control cabbage worms.

I'm happy that our garden this year has been very rewarding. We are greatly blessed with lots of produce!!

Just a Peek!

It's hard to capture the summertime in photos (especially at my house! ;-). Here's an attempt at it, in any case. Enjoy the pictures!

I went for a walk one of the two dirt roads that connects my house's road to the main route. It's actually rather scenic all year round, but the summer greenery and wildflowers add a lot to it.

On the way...

One of the splendid views along the way.

The road home.

A fine specimen of a butterfly

Queen Anne's lace

The little pond by the road.

In another post I will have photos of my "exploding" garden!  Let's just say we've put away enough beans (pole beans and bush beans) for... well, maybe two or three winters? :-) And with over 40 kale plants, which are all ready to be harvested, kale chips are definitely on the menu!

My Week in a Few Words - 8/4/11

Traveling. Hotel. Bible. Tired. Buckit week. Prayer. Fellowship. People. Games. Evangelism. Parables. Learning. Notes. Cults. Church.  Plans. Sitting. Sessions. Food. Tea. E-Sword. Sunshine. Fun. Ideas. Ish.

AEDs, ankles and irony

I'll be honest. Until Saturday, I didn't even know what an AED was. Now I have an adult AED certification. Scary, huh? :-)

In case you are wondering, AED stands for automated external defibrillator (say that three times fast!). It's basically an electronic device meant for shocking an abnormal heartbeat to get it back in a normal rhythm. My Mom and I took a first aid/CPR/AED course Saturday. Ever since I was younger, one of my favorite books to read was the American Red Cross first aid book that my Dad brought home from his work one day. I now have the updated version!

The hardest part of the course was putting the mannequins together. I think a good part of the beginning of the class should have covered that necessary detail. :-) I put the plastic bag "lung" inside my adult mnqn and the poor guy STILL didn't breath, no matter how much CPR I did on him. I think he had a hole in his lung. :-(

Anyways, it was a good class, and the Red Cross first aid book that the teacher gave us has a lot of good information in it.

Now here's the irony. Shortly after I got home, I was going outside to water the newly-planted snap bush beans, and as I stepped off of the landscape tie onto the driveway my right ankle decided to turn. My first thought was: ouch. My second thought was: This is ironic! I get home from a first-aid class and the first thing I do is sprain my ankle. Great! :-)

Garden greens

Nothing like a fresh-picked mesclun salad...

...with garlic scapes and homemade lettuce/scape pesto!

Kitten antics video

When Eppie and Ollie were small, we got them a "kitten condo": cat house, play toy, perch and scratching post all in one. We would have rather had them climb on that than on our furniture, that's for sure! I got this video of them playing on it. Watch for when they start playing with each others' tails; it's near the end (no pun intended!) of the video. :-)

 

My week in a few Words

When I don't have much time to write a full-blown post but I still want to update the blog, I may occasionally write a post that just summarizes what I've been up to lately. Stay tuned for posts expounding on the details!

Summer. Biking. Gardening. Friends. Church. Bible studies. Studying. Prayer. Birthdays. Volleyball. CYIA. CEF. Camp. Packing. Last minute. Clothes. Bonfire. Goji berries. Cocoa nibs. Sunshine. Enjoyment. Scripture.

How would you describe your week in a few words?

"No Healthy Diet" website plug

Recently I wrote a post for a blog that a friend of mine started. The blog focuses on maintaining a gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free healthy diet. You can find recommendations, recipes and products, along with some tips for avoiding foods containing allergens. I hope you check it out! The blog gets updated several times a week. It's an excellent resource to be aware of, whether you can use the information yourself, or know someone who has an allergy to dairy, gluten and/or soy.

Can you spot the common allergens in this photo? :-)

 http://nohealthydiet.com/
And here's the link to the post that I wrote:
http://nohealthydiet.com/healthy-diet-plan/essentials-for-a-healthy-diet/

P.S. I am going to post photos of our family's garden as soon as I get our camera back! :-)

Waiting... but not for long!

Today was just too beautiful for words, so here are some photos!

(pardon the black spot in the upper right-hand corner of these photos... our poor little camera has suffered a lot of abuse! I suppose you could consider it a watermark... :-)

Here's the garden, waiting to be tilled and planted planted. Kale, Swiss chard, broccoli, bell peppers, onions, green beans, snap peas, carrots, potatoes, cabbage, zucchini and squash are some of the things we want to plant, in addition to the garlic, which took up residence last October. We already have peppers, onions and tomatoes started in little pots.

Here's the bonfire, waiting to be lit! Most of this brush came from the woods where Dad wants to put in another garden plot. The spot we have our current garden gets a bit wet, since it's in a lower elevation. We'll still use it this year, but we're hoping to have the other garden up and running next year.

Speaking of which, here is the site of garden 2.0.12! It doesn't look like much yet, but with a little (lot) of work, hopefully it will work out well for another garden spot.

Here's part of our lawn, waiting to be mowed! It's so refreshing looking out of the window and seeing GREEN instead of WHITE on the ground. Though I'm sure when summer comes I'll wish we had a little of that white stuff. :-)

Here's the recently-pruned lilac bush, waiting for flowers!

Here's the trusty weather station that never needs to wait for weather!

You can actually view the data from it here!

Here's one of the first few flowers in our flowerbeds, waiting for company.

They do say that two is company...

Speaking of which, Tucker kept me company on my photo expedition around the yard.

But he really doesn't like the sound the camera makes when you click the "shudder" button! :-)

So, there you have it! Spring at Green Gambrels.

100th day of the year!

Yesterday, April 10th, was the 100th day of 2011. Do you know what today is? (I'll give you a hint: You can find it in Psalm 118).

Running, Walking and In Between

After waking up, breakfast, quiet time and general puttering around in the kitchen, I was finally ready to go for a run. I had gotten some brand new running shoes the day before, and I was dying to try them out. My old sneakers were retired from running, as they had seen better days.

Now, I'm not a 'runner' if you think of a runner as someone who does marathons as a hobby, but if you think of a runner as a person who attempts to move both feet in a forward motion while clomping them up and down, then I'm a runner through and through. I'm persuaded that to runners, I looked funny, to non-runners I looked funny and to those in-betweeners at my level I certainly didn't look inspirational. In fact, I felt rather like a shire horse trying to do dressage. :-) Thankfully I had no observers save the few drivers that drove by me on my otherwise private route.

The sun was warm, the breeze was welcome and the surface of the road was just the right texture; firm enough to not be muddy, and soft enough for a bit of cushioning. A rapidly disappearing layer of snow still lay under the trees on either side of the road. I felt like my feet were pounding, thumping and thudding the ground; all of the things that they shouldn't have been doing! Oh well. I was enjoying the fact that I was able to be where I was with the strength and health that God gave me, along with all the added blessings of a sunny, warm day and a safe road to run on.

I had brought my mp3 player with me with a playlist of inspirational instrumental/vocal songs to keep me going. I decided that on the way down I would not use it, but that I would rather enjoy nature.
On the way back, however, I turned it on and began my run back. I decided that some of the most inspirational music to run to is the soundtrack from 'The Man from Snowy River'. I'm not a fan of the movie, but the soundtracks are great. Andrew Peterson's 'Pillar of Fire' is one that it's hard not to run to! Especially since I was "homeward bound". I began walking once I had reached my goal of running over 3 miles. Andrew Peterson's "Just as I Am" began playing as I neared the entrance of my road. I'm so glad that "He loves me, He does." Just as I got back to our house, "Rocky Top" started to play. I had to smile. There "ain't no smoggy smoke" near my house, and it just may always be "home sweet home to me".

---

I feel so privileged and blessed! Just last night I was reading Ephesians 5:1-21. I've been learning lately just how important it is to heed the exhortation given in verses 15 and 16:

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

In Ephesians chapter 5 we have three different verses that talk about walking.

• Verse 2 says to "walk in love".
• Verse 8 says to "walk as children of light".
• Verse 15 says "be careful how you walk".

Then  in Hebrews 12:1-2 the author compares living out the new life Christ gives (2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 6:4) to running a race.

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

Here it says "let us run with endurance the race that is set before us". The race that it talks about in that verse is our lives. At the finish line is a reward in heaven from God (2 Timothy 4:7-8). Are you 'entered' into the race? Jesus said "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved...". John 10:9. The only way to be right with God is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior from your sins: That we stood guilty before God, that Jesus died to take the punishment we deserved for our sins, and that He lives again.

I know I don't fully comprehend or follow the commands of all of these verses. It is my prayer that I will learn to walk more and more the way God wants me to every day. But I do know this: Whether I'm walking or running, I have a reminder from the Bible to

• Walk in love
• Walk as a child of light
• Be careful how I walk
• Run with endurance

I'm thankful to the Lord who gives me the ability to enjoy His creation by walking and running in it, but I'm even more grateful for the fact that I'm His child. It is my strong desire that I would

...Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Colossians 1:10

(photo credits: Microsoft images)

What's Cookin'?

A few weeks ago we got a big box of utility apples from the orchard in town. I decided I was going to make a few things with them. Here are a couple photos from the The Big Baking Day. :-)

Pie #1: 

Pre- top crust

(enlarged to show texture)

Ingredients: A boatload of apples, some honey, a dash of cloves, a pinch of allspice, a sprinkle of nutmeg, a little bit of stevia (and two whole wheat/butter crusts). Recipe? What recipe?! :-)

 An apple peeler/corer/slicer is an amazing gadget. :-)

The apples bowl. Phew, that was a lot of apples!

The crust is on and about to be baked! Unfortunately I have no other photos of this particular pie... I put it out for dessert on Sunday and it completely disappeared. :-) I'm glad my first pie was edible! 

Pie #2:

The final product

Pie #3:

I made this cake gluten free. I tried using quinoa and coconut oil for the crust.

I'll need to do a bit more experimentation in the future... it is (or was) still really good, though, as evidenced by this photo.

It went very well with homemade yogurt. :-)

A couple more experimental apple creations:

And that's how I spent my Saturday. :-) I used up the entire box of apples. Phew!