Garden Tour

Here's another video (second one today!) of my garden; this video is more comprehensive than the last, but still only a few minutes long.

July Garden

I have finally figured out how to upload a video - much harder than it should be!!

Here's my garden.

First Garden Harvest

Michelle and I went to the community garden this morning to harvest a couple of rows of garlic with the garden director; he demonstrated how to get the plants out of the ground and worked along with us.

Rows are about 25-30 feet long, so we gathered quite a few plants! It rained very hard last night for about 10 minutes, so the ground was pretty wet this morning. Because there was so much mud on the garlic, we put the plants into low-sided crates (about 2' x 3') with lattice bottoms and rinsed them well, then put them out in the shade to dry.

These rows are in the Common Grounds part of the community garden, so they will go to the local food banks.

After that wonderful harvest, I weeded my row of white onions in the Common Grounds, which I had forgotten about. There were quite a lot of weeds to pull! I also care for a row of Chinese Cabbage, but about half of it has already been harvested, and there were no weeds (thankfully!)

Then it was time to check out my little plot (8' x 16'). I am a novice, so I planted waaaay too many plants, waaaaay too close together. But at least I'll have bountiful harvests throughout the summer! And plenty to share with my neighbors!

I did eat one medium-size string bean (the biggest one I saw) while I was harvesting other plants, and it was DELISH!!

Look what came out of my garden today! I was able to share some of this with Darlene, my kind next door neighbor, and with Michelle, who does so much for me.



sunflowers


beets and baby carrots
(Denny and I sampled a couple of carrots as soon as I got home! YUM!)


yellow squash (5!)

oak leaf lettuce - so tender and sweet!

Women's Voices Quilt - Blocks 5 and 7

Today I'm sharing blocks 5 and 7 from my Women's Voices Quilt. Block 6 is in progress. Above each block is the description from the package - interesting history behind the names and origins of these blocks!



Block 5 - Crowned Cross

Quilts frequently echoed the religions of the Civil War era. The Crowned Cross was a popular block often used by church groups in quilts sent to the battlefield. Over 250,000 were stitched for the soldiers. They covered the wounded in army hospitals. If a soldier died, he was buried in his quilt.









Block #7 - Sherman's March / Lincoln's Platform / Monkey Wrench

This block was labeled "Lincoln's Platform" during his presidential campaign. It was also named after Sherman's March through the South during the Civil War. One could conclude it was a "union" block. This block was also known as "Monkey Wrench." It is interesting that one rarely comes across a reference to Sherman's March or Lincoln's Platform. Lavender or purple was first introduced in 1850 and became popular in Civil War quilts. It usually faded to shades of pink or brown. In 1825 manganese bronze was first used as a chemical dye. From this dye, khaki was introduced and became well used. The arrival of magenta was seen during this same era.

Wedding Gift

I'm pretty sure I never posted this, so...

Here's what I made for my nephew and new neice for their wedding last year: a set of towels, etc. for their kitchen.


white scrubby pad, red-white dish cloth, 2 pot holders (my original tea pot design), and 2 linen towels


the 2 towels with red fabric accent

I love linen! It's so wonderful to handle and so absorbant!

10 things

Ten things I'm grateful for...

1) my patient husband, who's put up with boxes in the living room for 2 weeks now while I re-arrange my studio to be a work room for school

2) being accepted into a distance-learning program at the University of Northern Colorado to get a degree in Educational Interpreting

3) dear friends who live across the street and call me just to chat

4) summer thunder storms

5) freshly mowed grass

6) pomegranite-blueberry iced tea

7) yoga-pilates workout

8) my bike!

9) the community garden where I have 2 plots

10) my mom, who has always been my biggest cheerleader!

Monday Tea Party with Mia

Today Mia came for a tea party. We ate lots of sweet goodies with our tea (Russian Caravan, 2 sugar cubes for the chick-a-dee), and then we played some games. She brought her Bible Bingo game (I was concentrating so hard I forgot to take picutures; she won). Then we played checkers (she won again); and lastly, we played Dominoes till they were gone (are ever there winners in Dominoes? Guess I don't really know how to play this game correctly but at least I didn't lose.)

Waiting for Mia to arrive at 2:00

Michelle and Tabby walked Mia over from their home across the street, so I asked Michelle to take a picture of us before we began our repast.

Mia winning at checkers.


"WHY can't I slurp my tea with the spoon? That's the way I always do it. And besides, I remembered to put my napkin on my lap."

Candid shot encompassing the whole tea experience. :)

Aren't children fun??? We truly had a WONDERFUL few hours together!!

Here's the recipe I used for delicious scones (no eggs).

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Welsh Scones

(makes 12 small triangles)

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Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

6 Tbsp softened shortening (I used butter)

5 Tbsp granulated sugar (recipe calls for 3 Tbsp, but, oops, I added it to the flour, so had to add more to the butter!)

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Cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl. (The recipe was not organized like I have it here; that's why I added the sugar to the dry ingredients. Hope my list here helps you!)

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Gradually beat in:

1/3 cup milk

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1-1/2 cups flour (I used whole wheat)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 tsp salt

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Mix these ingredients in a medium bowl, then gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix together.

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Divide dough in half and place on floured surface. Gently pat into 2 circles, about 3/4-inch high, shaping outside of circle with hands. Using a chef's knife, cut each circle into 6 triangles, sprinkle tops of circles with a little more sugar, and transfer to a lightly greased baking sheet, placing each piece 1 inch apart. (I use a large spatula under 3 triangles at a time.)

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Bake on middle rack for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

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(I baked mine together in a circle - touching - so the insides were not quite done; I left them on the cookie sheet to finish cooking after 15 minutes, and they were PERFECTLY DELISH!)

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Here's the web site where I found the recipe. (My modifications are in parentheses above.)

www.grandpappy.info/rcookies.htm

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