Garlic, Strawberries and Fish (not together!)

We have been busy this month, doing things that need doing and doing a few things that we just want to do.  The garden has been front and center - this years rains and the wet winter left me with a bumper crop of persistent weeds!  I am trying not to complain, there are folks not too far away that do not have gardens this years because of the flooding that is still going on.  I am grateful for the weeds...sort of...I'm working on it!

 Finally got my beans planted, so I have two kinds of cucumbers, two kinds of squash (trying an acorn squash this year) multi-color bell peppers, corn, onions, tomatoes and garlic.  The whole garden is weeded for now, but it is raining tonight again, and then the sun will shine.....sigh!
It is good exercise!

 The herb garden is going great, the mint, lemon balm, oregano, sage, chives,  feverfew, and edible lavender are already having to be harvested.  The strawberries (in the front and right of the photo) are ripening at a very satisfying rate!

I managed to be in California for the strawberry season and now they are ripening here.  I love strawberries!  I eat a few and then freeze a few.  There is an angel food cake on my counter that is waiting to be a bed for strawberries tomorrow.  Yum!

My great garlic experiment continues.  I have harvested the 'scapes'.  These are the center stalks of 'hardneck' garlic that would become a bloom and seeds if left on the plant. The theory is that the plant will put all of its energy into the bulb (a good thing) if there is no bloom to steal the nutrients.  They are interesting looking and I cut them all off this week.

Here is my bag of scapes.  I had been reading about this and all of the web pages talked about eating them.  Apparently they can be used either like garlic or like a green onion, one page even roasted them like a green bean.  I have now tried them in an omelet and they were very good. A milder taste than the cloves. I am going to save some to use fresh, freeze some and use some to infuse olive oil.  This is almost as exciting as having the garlic ripen!  Isn't it fun to try something new?!

Our beautiful, gnarled, corkscrew willow is developing cracks.  We have an arborist coming out to cut on him and see if he can be saved.  I hope so as it is a lovely tree.  It is, however, too close to the house to just let it be.

 

The rains have made for a lush yard this year as well.  This particular day it was overcast and the whole place looked green and beautiful.

I'm not complaining - it hasn't gotten hot yet!

Hubby and friend went fishing this week and caught these lovelies!  I put the full size fork there to give a sense of the size.  One of our goals this summer is to do a lot more fishing than we have in recent years.  Hopefully putting a few more packages of this sort in the freezer as well!




Hubby is busy with his rapidly growing tomato crop and we are planning two new raised beds this summer that we hope to have done for fall planting.  One in the front yard for bulbs and perennial flowers and the other on the far eastern side of the garden to have perhaps asparagus and a few pollinator friendly flowers.  We may even have enough time to get the house painted this year - it really needs it.  It is the busy season and after the long winter even I was ready for it.  I should be complaining about the heat though in a month or so! 

Almost Spring! - I can't Move!!

I have been neglectful of the space here.  My time has been getting away from me and moving even faster than usual!  

We are in that time of year when you dress in layers  :)  if you want to go out you have to take a coat if it is warm and make sure you can remove a layer soon if it is currently cold!  Sunday we ate out on our friend's patio and Monday we had a fire in the wood stove it was so cold!  Thursday is the first day of spring and it looks to be pleasant.  I have been reliably informed by old-timers that I should have my peas planted by St. Patrick's day and I did - which is how I ended up being unable to move without great physical discomfort!  This is a yearly event for me, you would think I would learn but I don't.  Each year the first really lovely day that doesn't require even a jacket I go outside and work in the yard.  I always plan to stop before too long, I never plan to keep working past the point when common sense says "stop".  I even warn Hubby of the pitfalls of doing too much on the first day.  Then like a woman without a brain I soak up the sun and forget all my good intentions, smell the fresh air, listen to the birds and spend hours pulling weeds!  I currently make the most horrible groaning noises whenever I stand up, sit down or try to move one of my thighs!  The backs of my thighs are letting me know that I am no longer 20 (I knew that!), should have exercised more during the winter, (I knew that too!) and should probably set a timer or something for the first few days! (sigh)  The good news is that since I can barely move I can catch up on what has been going on around here in the last 2 weeks. (I swear I thought it was only one)

Our quilting group has been working madly on the quilt that is being raffled for the school fundraiser, every Thursday afternoon is workday and some Saturdays.  This is so much fun and I think I finally got the hang of the multi-stitch 'rocking' technique!  Much quicker!  It is going to be really pretty I think!  We are selling tickets for $1 per and hoping to sell 1000 tickets - We can do this!  :)

I got sidetracked in my genealogy work and went down the proverbial rabbit hole, lots of fun to do but just eats up the time.  I ended up with a genealogy website for the static information and a new genealogy blog.  I think I need more projects.  Not!!!!

Signs of spring are here, leaves and some of the herbs coming back, the leaves are the corkscrew willow tree.  I am so hoping we don't see blossoms on the fruit trees for a little more, last year we had early flowers, late frost and no fruit - I would sure like to have some cherries and apples this year!

The chives think it's spring!

And here is the progress on the addition of 300 sq ft of garden space, hubby has been digging out the grass and making real progress, he makes funny noises these days too!  :)







Hubby and a friend went fishing today and he has just come home with fresh fish, however I must clean them.  He can clean them but does not think they need to be as clean as I do - so I do it and it just saves time and arguments!  Fresh fish for supper, hooray!