one thing i love about summer...

everyday gift: vine ripened tomatoes

presto! pesto!

my basil really took off this summer. i love the spicy smell as i pick large bouquets from my herb garden to make pesto sauce. i have purple basil growing as well... i wonder what it be like to make purple pesto?! maybe i'll try that someday.

i have been re-establishing my herb garden at our new house. chives, thyme, and feverfew made the move from the old house. in this picture i have rosemary, sage, apple scented geranium, purple basil, and sweet basil

mollie katzen has written some of my favorite cookbooks. it is her recipe from The New Moosewood Cookbook that i use to make my pesto. fresh basil, pine nuts, lots of garlic and parmesan cheese make this recipe so flavorful!

i put some in jars to use right away. pouring a little olive oil over the top for storage will keep the green pesto from turning brown. i also made a few batches to freeze for later.

everyday gift: fresh basil pesto

zucchini blossoms

please excuse my absence. i've been lingering in the garden...

everyday gift: the summer sun nourishing my garden

radishes!

B with some of the radishes she grew this spring!

a spring salad
spinach, leaf lettuce and sliced radishes from the garden
red onion, grated carrot, and feta cheese
tossed with italian dressing
a winning combination!

everyday gift: a garden fresh salad

the gourd project continues

when it all began, i had no idea where it would lead. B and i reading a story about slaves seeking freedom by following the stars north: the big dipper or the drinking gourd. a friend had some old gourds she had dried for bird houses and she graciously shared one with us so we could cut it open and see how a water dipper might be made. B planted the seeds in dixie cups and watered them faithfully. she planted the sprouts in the ground and they have rewarded her in a big way! she now has visions of selling gourds at the farmer's market, making bird houses, and wonders if you can roast and eat the seeds like pumpkin seeds...the learning goes on, from history to botany to economics to bird house construction to cooking!

if anyone ever wonders, THIS is why i love homeschooling: the curiosity and wonder that lead to learning. we have gazed at the stars and imagined what it might have been like to travel at night using the stars as a map, hiding in fear of being returned to slavery. we have tasted a drink of cool water from a gourd that we hollowed ourselves. we have watched the miracle of sprouting seeds that turn into a gigantic vine laden with dozens of baby gourds. and we ponder the possibilities of the future.

flowering vine with baby gourd

tendrils reaching and climbing

vines on the wren house

B with her baby

everyday gift: growing and learning

my little herb garden

with all the busyness that goes along with moving, my herb garden was very neglected. it is looking terribly overgrown and abandoned. i do hope the new owners will be able to see the potential. i did give it one good weeding earlier in the spring and planted a tomato plant, several green pepper plants, and some onions. i knew when i planted them that i may not reap the harvest, in fact, i hoped i would not, because that would mean we had sold our house and would be busy building the new. but i couldn't bear to leave without taking a few starts. i potted them so i would be able to take them with me to our temporary home and then to the new house.

they really appear quite happy in their traveling home!

in my herb pot: chives, chamomile, lavender, thyme, oregano, bronze fennel, parsley

and dill volunteers popped up as well!

my pot of shady plants divided from my garden.

butter and eggs (top), mini hosta (right), variegated red fern (left),

and shooting star (back, not really visible),

also in the pot, hens and chicks

everyday gift: fresh garden herbs

wordless wednesday

everyday gift: june flowers

shooting stars

aren't these sweet little wild flowers? they are called shooting star or dodecatheon meadia. at the time of the settlers they were much more abundant. they called the flower "prairie pointers".

today, it is often cultivated for the garden...like here.

everyday gift: bringing wildflowers into the garden

rainbow colors of spring

red

the trillium with its brownish red bloom

the rain cleared out after a down pour in the early hours of the morning. as the sun came out through the clouds, i couldn't resist taking a little garden walk. the silvery drops on the bleeding heart were beautiful. unfortunately, my picture does not do it justice.

red rhubarb. look at how interesting the leaf is as it pushes up through the middle, before unfolding!

orange

the orange of the lichen stands out against the contrasting green.

yellow
i love how delicate these little yellow violets are. so sweet!

we have got a fine crop of dandelions this year! ;o)

green
this pretty fern-like foliage belongs to dutchman's breeches.

bloodroot...this was blooming with a pretty little white tulip-shaped flower the week before, but i did not have my camera on that hike. i like the interesting shape of the leaf.

blue
virginia bluebells

violet

batik dwarf iris

blue violets...i know they are called blue, but to me, they are purple!

everyday gift: the colors of the rainbow in the garden

B's green thumb

do you remember this? we hollowed out a dried gourd to make a drinking gourd and decided to plant the seeds. we knew that they were a little bit old and might not sprout, but decided to give it a try anyway. well several weeks passed and all we got were a few grass sprouts. B had such a good attitude and was just pleased that something green had come from her efforts. so she continued to care for and water her baby grass. and it is a good thing she did. had we given up on those cups of dirt we would have missed out on this:

the gourd seeds finally sprouted! i guess seeds are like people...they are just a little slower when they get older. :o)

we have a total of 3 sprouts so far. and i have a feeling that we will have a large gourd harvest this year. we might have to go into the gourd bird house business! one thing leads to another...

everyday gift: new sprouts

hydrangeas

everyday gift: large bunches of rosy hydrangeas

putting up the harvest

i usually grab a quick a bite of lunch as i make up a plate for B. that way i can sit at the lunch table with her and read another chapter in our book. right now we are reading Thimble Summer by elizabeth enright. she has such an enjoyable style of writing that makes you close your eyes and imagine that you are there. the timing of a chapter we read last week could not have been more perfect. the description of a country kitchen at canning time made me smile, as i was cutting corn off cobs and cutting beans for freezing, thanks to chris and her green thumb!

here is an excerpt from our reading:

The warm air rang with the sound of saw and hammer. While the men worked on the barn Garnet and her mother had their hands full with the house and garden; for now the garden was yielding in all its abundance. It was hard to keep up with it. When you had finished picking all the beans it was time to pick the yellow squashes, shaped like hunting horns. And when you got through with the squash it was time forthe beans again. And then you had to hurry, hurry and gather the bursting ripe tomatoes from the heavy vines, for canning. Then there were beets andcarrots to be attended to; and after that it was time for the beans again.

"Beans never know when to stop!" said Garnet's mother in annoyance.

Corn was picked everyday; and that was pleasant walking in the rustling good-smelling aisles between the stalks. And the watermelons! Big solid green ones that Garnet thumped with a finger to see if they sounded ripe. And every now and then she dropped one on purpose and it would burst open, cold as a glacier and rosy red. Then she would walk homeward dripping and drooling, spitting out black seeds and feeling fine.

And canning! Oh those weeks of harvesting and peeling and preparing apples, peaches, tomatoes, cucumbers, plums and beans. All day the kitchen smelled like heaven and was filled with steam. The stove was covered with kettles and vats, and upside down on the windowsill stood processions of mason jars full of bright color and hot to the touch.

beautiful beans from chris

i ended up freezing 6 quarts of beans. won't these taste good in the winter when the garden is covered in a blanket of snow?

a meager harvest of roma tomatoes this year, early blight did my tomatoes in. no sauce to can this year, but at least we got a few to enjoy.

everyday gift: the garden's bounty

homegrown salsa

i have another recipe to share this week, this is for a fresh salsa full of homegrown or farmer's market veggies. we love this so much that i double this recipe when i make it.

homegrown salsa

6 roma tomatoes, diced small

1 bell pepper (green, red, orange, yellow or a combination will look beautiful in this salsa), diced small

1 medium onion, diced small

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, minced

1 tablespoon fresh oregano, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

splash of red wine vinegar

splash of fresh lime or lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

chop tomatoes and drain liquid. chop onion and peppers and combine with the tomatoes. add minced herbs, garlic and remaining ingredients. mix well and chill.

other optional ingredients include chopped olives, black beans, or corn.

yield: 4 cups

everyday gift: the taste of summer tomatoes

another garden friend

preying mantis love to hang out in my lavender plants. in the green foliage they are perfectly camouflaged. or maybe they just love the heavenly scent of lavender, like me.

S poses with our garden friend

do you think she is looking at me thinking that humans are the most unusual of all of God's creations?

some interesting things happening in the garden...

my hydranga is blooming big this year! this plant was given to me a few years ago when i turned....umm, when i turned a year older. ;o)

thanks, peggy and michael!

self-seeded sweet alyssum

cleome, persistant. it grows so tall and reseeds so profusely that i have been trying for years to weed it out of my front flower bed . but then it begins to bloom and i think, 'how pretty!' and it wins its place in the garden for another year.

american cranberry. hoping it brings cedar waxwings to our yard this winter.

a sweet feathery leaf with flowers in oranges and yellows. too bad i threw away the seed packet without making a note of what i had planted!

.