Fun and Flora

Oy Latkes!

2012-01-26T14:29:00.001-05:00

It was a bit busy during the holiday season, but some how it isn't quite Hanukkah without a steam plate of potato latkes to share with family. I had the opportunity to make latkes on 2 evenings this year. I've been making them for about 10 years now, and I think the time and practice has helped with the ease in preparation and better results and taste. This year my husband had assured with his latke consumption that I had reached my goal.

The first time I made latkes I had hand grated the potatoes and diced the onions with my chef's knife. Since I make so many of them at one time, using the "old school" methods could take me all day. I now use my mini food processor for my onions and grate the potatoes using a Cuisinart. A 2 burner griddle pan helps speed the process even more when I can cook about 12 latkes at a time.

I use the Featherlight Potato Latkes recipe from my "Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook."

Makes 15 latkes 2 1/2 inches in diameter, serves 4 (for family gatherings I usually triple the recipe, but use 4 eggs, and a very large onion)

Ingredients

6 medium potatoes
1 small onion
2 large eggs
1/4 cup unbleached white flour (or matzoh meal)
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of baking powder
freshly ground pepper to taste
vegetable oil for frying (I use canola)

sour cream or applesauce to top off your latkes

Grate the potatoes in a food processor or on the largest grating side of a hand grater. Drain the grated potatoes in a colander, pressing out the liquid.

Finely chop the onion using the steel blade of a food processor or a knife, you can also use the smallest grating side of a hand grater.

If using a food processor return the potatoes to the processor bowl ( I only return half the grated potatoes, because I like to put the other half in the mixture after it has all been mixed so that my latkes have a grated potato texture) add the onion, eggs, flour, salt, baking powder, and pepper. Whirl on high speed until the mixture is well blended.

If you don't have a food processor, combine the grated potatoes and onions with the other ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a large skillet, I use my cast iron (2 burner griddle) Drop a large spoonful of batter into the skillet and flatten with a spoon to make your latke as thin as your want (an ice cream scooper works great for this). Fry the latkes on both sides until brown and crisp, adding more oil as necessary. Drain the latkes on paper towels and keep them warm.

Latkes are fine to reheat on a cookie sheet, and they are great frozen in freezer bags as well. (Double or triple the recipe, and you can freeze the extra!)

Serve warm latkes immediately topped with sour cream or a side of applesauce.

Sundays at the Moosewood Restaurant, The Moosewood Collective, New York, 1990, pp. 422-423.

Balancing Act

2012-01-03T21:41:00.000-05:00

The last 4 months of 2011 became a "balancing act" as I started a new part-time job. Along with learning about a new business and adjusting to less time at home, I was also operating Chelle Designs, LLC, keeping up with family responsibilities, managing the house, and funding efforts for our local library. Phew!! It was nice to finally be able to take a breath during the holiday vacation. Thanks to my amazing husband for allowing to refuel over the past week.

I also want to apologize to readers of "Fun and Flora" for the absence of posts over the past few months. Over the past few weeks I have gone through old posts and have taken stock with what is going on with my life as well. My blog will still be a place you can visit to learn about gardening, cooking, and crafts, but it will also be exploring some of my new every day challenges as a Mom, and various creative outlets that I realistically have time for.

In the the New Year of 2012 I am not going to weigh myself down with unrealistic expectations for myself or my family. I recently read a book called "You Will Dream New Dreams," that really narrowed things down for me:

1.) Determine my priorities
2.) Don't sweat the small stuff
3.) KISS: Keep it simple sweetheart

I would like to wish a happy and healthy New Year to everyone!

Mom's Pots

2011-08-18T07:04:00.001-04:00

Today I am wishing a very special lady, my dear Mom a "Very Happy Birthday." She is the one who inspired my love to garden, to create, to love life and family!! I was quite impressed with her creativity with her pots around her deck this year, and I am very happy that I captured these photos before the heat waves hit Connecticut and our flora this summer.

Mom created unique pots/planters by using a perennial in each pot with annuals surrounding her display. Each one a different a color, and a different set of textures. From her terracotta pots, to her saddle boxes on her deck railings, each one offered a different palette and a different vibe.

That is the beauty of gardening in pots, you can move your garden from sun to shade depending on its desired location during that particular season. Different planters can be made for each season, each time one fades out for the season, you can compost your faded annuals, and replant your perennials for a new season.

I have found the following books to be wonderful guides for planting in pots throughout the seasons:

Containers - Practical Recipes for Creative Containers by Stephanie Donaldson

Container Gardening Through the Year by Malcom Hillier

Container Gardening- Inspirational ideas and projects for creating glorious pots, baskets and boxes by Stephanie Donaldson

Grow Great Grub - Organic Food from Small Spaces by Gayla Trail

Wishing you a wonderful day Mom, and a big thank you and love for all that you are and all that you do!

Sunflowers and Wishes

2011-07-28T14:56:00.002-04:00

On Tuesday my girlfriend, and I and our girls took a road trip to Buttonwood Farm in Griswold, Connecticut. It was a little overcast when we started our journey down 395, but as we got on to Route 138 the sun sparkled through the clouds. It felt like we were in a completely different state as we drove through farmland in Connecticut’s northeast corner. When we turned on to Route 165 the glorious sunflowers greeted us with their golden faces.

Since 2004 Buttonwood Farm has had their annual sunflower fundraiser to raise money for the “Make a Wish” foundation so that Connecticut children with life-threatening medical conditions can have their wishes come true. Money from generous donations, sunflower bouquets, and wagon rides throughout the farm help aid this great cause.

We took a quick stroll through the edge of the sunflower field to take a few photos next to the giant sunny blooms. Our stomachs got the best of us, and we took a lunch break under a shady tree for some lunch. When our bellies were full, a farm wagon rolled next to us, and we bought our tickets for our wagon adventure. The trek started with a shady ride through the farm pastures until we met up with some very friendly and hungry cows. The girls were able to feed the cows with fresh green hay from the bottom of the wagon and fed their furry friends for about fifteen minutes. We snapped some cute shots of the hay exchange and made our way to the field of sunflowers.

The wagon stopped within the acres of sunflowers and cameras clicked away to capture the yellow landscape. It was magical being present in this ocean of sunflowers knowing that this farm makes wishes comes true.

We ended our visit with a serving of farm fresh homemade ice cream. I had to try the seasonal sunflower flavor which was spectacular. Light creamy caramel ice cream, with honey, almond and sunflower seed clusters. It had to be the best ice cream I had ever tasted.

If you miss the week of sunflowers, Buttonwood Farm is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday September through October to celebrate Fall in Connecticut. Family and friends can enjoy the cow train, duck races, the corn and straw bale mazes. To learn more about the farm please visit their web site at: buttonwoodfarmicecream.com

Rosemary Harris

2011-06-20T23:11:00.000-04:00

The Henry Carter Hull Library has a number of adult programs throughout the year, many of these events include visits and discussions by various authors. On Tuesday, June 14, 2011, I had the opportunity to be a part of an intimate discussion with mystery writer, Rosemary Harris.

I normally do not read mystery novels, but about a year ago I saw "Pushing Up Daisies" on the library's NPR shelf. What intrigued me about the book flap and the author was that it was a mystery series involving a gardener, and a mystery sleuth. The author was also from Connecticut, and she was a master gardener. That sold me right then and there. I knew I had to read this debut mystery novel. You can read more about the book review in a 2010 Fun and Flora blog post.

Each of her books within her dirty mystery series offers a little gardening with a twist of "cozy mystery." From garden restoration and unearthing mummified remains to a corpse flower and murder, and the deadheading of flowers, that bring new life to plants as well as a mystery woman living among her friends and family.

There was about ten library patrons in attendance during the author's discussion. What we found was that Rosemary Harris is extremely articulate, incredibly knowledgeable about the mystery genre, and very funny. Her husband Bruce was also in attendance to provide us some interesting tid-bits about Rosemary's life as an author and a resident of Stamford, Connecticut.

One of the locations that appears as a setting in her books is called the Paradise Diner. We all had wondered if this diner really existed and we discovered that a diner like it actually does in Stamford, Connecticut called the Lakeside Diner. It is an eclectic breakfast/brunch establishment with interesting customers, and killer donuts.

Rosemary Harris does an amazing job of developing her eccentric characters. One of her fans' favorite characters is "Babe" the owner of the Paradise Diner. We learned that she developed this character through an interaction with an interesting someone during a Habitat for Humanity build. In the end, Harris had done her job when women readers want to be her and men readers want to date her character.

Her latest Dirty Mystery novel is called "Slugfest" and sleuth Paula Holliday is a part of a garden show at the Javits Center in New York City. She agrees to help an artist friend with his exhibits at the show, and then becomes entrenched in a murder case where she holds the clue to the murder. I look forward to reading about her secondary characters from New York City.

Along with Harris' commitment to mystery writing, she is also a supporter of Habitat for Humanity throughout the world. Rosemary and her husband Bruce have completed Habitat builds in China, Tanzania, El Salvador, Mexico, and post-Katrina New Orleans. Their love of Habitat for Humanity inspired them to build a library in central Tanzania. To learn more about the library please visit the Chalula Library Page on her website.

Something Old, Something New

2011-05-28T08:42:00.002-04:00

The girls and Jon and I took a walk down at the Westbrook Town Beach last night and witnessed a Spring Ritual. The little one and I collected some beautiful shells in the sand and Jon and our oldest daughter decided to check out the the fishermen on the jetty.

Once we grew tired of our seashell search we decided to take on walk on the jetty as well. As we started our journey we saw a number of horseshoe crabs gathering along the shore there must have been 20 in all. It was their mating season, and the females began to lay their eggs with the males in tow. It was truly amazing to watch this whole process.

Normally you might see one or two horseshoe crabs on a sand flat during low tide, but never this many at one time. The girls were thrilled to see this display of nature. Each time the tide rolled in a different couple came in with it, and the dance began.

Horseshoe crabs are an endangered species, so they are protected and beach goers are encouraged to leave them alone when they see them at the beach. We learned some interesting facts about the horseshoe crab when we did some research on the laptop at home.

Horseshoe Crab Facts:

Horseshoe crabs are 300 million years old, they were able to survive an extinction period that wiped out nearly 95% of all marine species.
They look a lot like crabs, but they are actually arthropods and resemble spiders and scorpions.
Their hard shell protects their entire body, they have several pairs of eyes, two large ones can be seen on the top of their shell.
When horseshoe crabs were caught in the past their shells were ground and used for fertilizer.
The female horseshoe crab is larger than the male and can lay about 90,000 eggs at a time, but only about 10 of the new offspring actually survive. After the female lays her eggs the male fertilizes them.
Their eggs provide food for millions of migratory shorebirds, the eggs take 2 weeks to hatch.

Ivoryton Playhouse's 100th Anniversary

2011-05-23T20:59:00.001-04:00

The rain held off a bit on Sunday afternoon as we enjoyed "Family Day" in Ivoryton to celebrate the Ivoryton Playhouse's 100th Anniversary. We enjoyed an afternoon of entertainment, art, crafts and fun.

Just after Noon we entered the Playhouse to watch the fun antics of "Tabasco and Lucinda" during their hilarious juggling, magic, and unicycle routine. It was so fun to see the girls' faces light up and the giggles emerge after each silly sketch.

The next performance was staged in a tent nearby and children and families enjoyed Zach Ivins' Magic. There was a lot of audience participation which the kids adored. This made each trick funnier and more entertaining as the magic show progressed.

Later, my husband and I relished frosting red velvet cupcakes in the sunshine, eating every last morsel. The girls had the opportunity to make theatrical masks at the Six Summit Gallery, while Jon and I ogled over the beautiful art work. Our afternoon in Ivoryton closed with a horse-drawn carriage ride courtesy of horses, "Nickel" and "Dime" who provided us a journey in time along the quaint Main Street of Ivoryton.

Repurpose an Old Toy

2011-05-18T21:58:00.001-04:00

It has been a rainy week here in Clinton, Connecticut. My little one and I decided that our project for today would be to repurpose one of our old toys. When we visited the Children's Museum of Southern Connecticut a few weeks ago we adored their new renovations, specifically the "indoor day at the beach". The ice cream cart was high on the list of "cool" things.

Our mission . . . change our Fisher Price shopping carriage into an ice cream cart. We used foam core board for the sides and top, but card board shipping boxes or gift boxes would do the trick. White duct tape was using to secure the sides to the existing carriage and the new sides of the cart. We used ribbon that I had picked up from a tag sale as the handles for the cooler door compartments.

My daughters decorated the sides of the cart with their drawings and stickers as their menu items. I used a poster marker to write "ice-cream" on the front and back. Voila our new ice cream cart. They have been using their Melissa and Doug ice cream set, and toy cookies and cupcakes to sell from their cart. It should keep them busy during the next few rainy days.

Why buy another toy when you can have fun, be creative, recycle and make a new one at home??

Hummingbirds: Birds with an Attitude

2011-05-05T10:23:00.003-04:00

Our first Hummingbird arrived in our yard last Thursday. It perched itself on top of the Shepard's hook in front of my kitchen window. On Friday I placed our hummingbird feeder out with our homemade nectar, and it has been busy ever since.

In Connecticut there are two kinds of hummingbirds that will frequent your feeders, they are the Ruby-Throated hummingbird, and the Rufous Hummingbird. We have had both types visit our feeder, and they are especially active from 6:00 - 8:00 PM.

I tried to shoot a good photo from the kitchen window, but was having a difficult time with the camera focusing on the screen.

I decided to go outside on the front porch and get a few shots without obstructions. I managed to get a few with its wings in flight, but once it discovered I was outside near its food supply the show began.

The hummingbird proceeded to fly back and forth in a 3 yard span informing me to get out of his territory. It was if he said, "I know you're there lady and I'm going to throw this tantrum and fly fest until you get back in the house."

A number of area garden centers sell nectar food for hummingbirds, but many of the food mixes have a lot of unnecessary dyes and ingredients. I make a solution of 1 part sugar and 4 parts water. Most feeders do not have a large capacity, so I boil 1 cup of water, and once it is done I stir in a 1/4 cup of sugar. I let it cool, and then put it out in our feeder. We purchased our feeder at the Audubon Shop in Madison. There are many other local department and discount stores that stock the feeders as well.

It has been quite entertaining to watch them feed throughout the day, and perch on the various elements in the garden. When it gets a little warmer I will provide them a hanging basket of nasturtiums for more nourishment.

Spring "Green" Gardening Project

2011-05-02T13:46:00.001-04:00

I love to incorporate recycling principles and "Green" practices for gardening at home. I try to make my children understand the importance of using something again, and to respect the world we live in. I found this idea in one of my gardening books called "Grow Great Grub" by Gayla Trail.

The author uses recycled toilet paper rolls as seed starters for plants. My youngest daughter and I decided to use our "Evening Sun" Sunflower seeds for this project. We didn't have enough empty toilet paper rolls, but we did use two empty paper towel rolls and cut them in four pieces.

1.) Stand up a select number of cardboard rolls on a plate or tray and arrange them into a circular grouping. (We used 8 rolls based on the 2 large rolls we cut)

2.) Gently pack each tube with seed pre-moistened seed starter mix, tapping lightly till it gets near the top.

3.) Plant a single seed in each tube at the right depth for that particular seed and water lightly.

4.) Tie a piece of recycled ribbon, twine or yarn around the group of tubes to hold them in place.

5.) Once your seedling is ready to plant outside you can gently pull off the outer layer of the cardboard tube. Leave a thin layer for planting each tube in its own hole in your garden.

This gardening idea appeared in Gayla Trail's, "Grow Great Grub," Clarkson/Potter Publishers,
New York, p.27.

Sugar Magnolia

2011-04-25T21:54:00.003-04:00

Sugar magnolia, ringing that bluebell, caught up in sunlight, come on out singing - I'll walk you in the sunshine, come on honey, come along with me.

Shes got everything delightful, she's got everything I need, - A breeze in the pines and the sun and bright moonlight, lazing in the sunshine, - yes, - Indeed.

The songwriter, Robert Hunter, wrote this song in 1970 in London, it debuted August 18, 1970 at Fillmore West in San Francisco.

"Sugar Magnolia" appeared on the Grateful Dead's album American Beauty. The album was innovative at the time for its fusion of bluegrass, rock and roll, folk music, and especially country.

"Sunshine, daydream, walking in the tall trees, going where the wind goes" . . . Thank you my sweet Magnolia tree. When I'm having a bad day, I'll remember to look outside my window and heed the words of your song.

Oh Daffodils!!

2011-04-23T22:44:00.000-04:00

In between all the April showers the girls and I, including our dear black Lab Sapphire spent a wonderful day at Harkness Memorial Park in Waterford, Connecticut. The daffodils were in bloom and we enjoyed a wonderful trek through the mansion gardens. Much to our surprise and many giggles later, Sapphire enjoyed a quick swim in the koi pond.

There were a number of different daffodil blooms that had opened throughout the grounds, but another week should lend itself to a spectacular display of color. We enjoyed our magical Spring day just the same.

Improvise More Often

2011-04-21T20:51:00.000-04:00

Sometimes when you are in a rock and a hard place you need to "improvise." For me, this past Sunday it meant diving into the kid's craft closet to see how I could wrap a "Baby Shower" present. Normally we have plenty of gift bags that we recycle when Birthdays and holidays roll around, but the bin in the downstairs storage closet was pretty scarce.

If there were no gift bags, it pretty much meant that there wasn't going to be any wrapping paper or boxes either. At last I found a shoe box in the girl's closet and off to the "Melissa and Doug" art easel I went. There was plenty of white art paper from the roll, now all I had to do was decorate the paper.

The girls have a good size box of rubber stamps but I wanted to find something that would be appropriate for a boy baby's gift. There were turtles, trucks, ducks, and princesses, and underneath them all was a little footprint. I scored once again when I found the light blue ink pad. Below is the end result, not too shabby, it makes me think to improvise a little more often, sometimes a little time and creativity is worth it.

2011 Edible Books

2011-04-15T10:53:00.000-04:00

This year's "Edible Books" at the Henry Carter Hull Library was a huge success! A number of families and patrons of our local library supported the event. There were creative and delicious book entries that were fun to admire, and fun to eat.

The girls and I made "Pinkalicous/Goldilicious" cupcakes, as well as "Pirate" cupcakes. We loved the "Peter Rabbit" entry as well as our family friend's "I Spy" and "Elmo" book entry. A special thanks to Carol Walter and for all the staff at the library for an amazing afternoon.

New Web Site

2011-04-07T13:33:00.001-04:00

I have finally completed the redesign of the Chelle Designs, LLC web site. It was so nice to have complete creative control over the site. All of the flower photos that appear on the web site I had taken throughout the year from my garden.

http://chelledesigns.com/

My Mom and I played around with a color scheme that created a warm but professional feel to it. You'll notice the "vintage" like quality of the design. What can I say I like the "heirloom" vibe of the site.

The state of technology has changed quite a bit these days with the social media revolution, but I still wanted a web site and internet presence that reflects who I am.

I like to think of a web site as a "work in progress." It will fun to make changes and revisions that will provide an essential resource for potential clients.

Little Signs

2011-04-07T13:15:00.000-04:00

It seems as though Mother Nature has been fooling us here in New England. About a month or so ago in March we had a week of beautiful Spring-like weather and the past few weeks have been quite cool and rainy.

My garden has been giving signs that Spring is on its way. The daffodils have began to bud, and the peonies have been crowning with their burgundy heads breaking through the soil. The day lilies have been inching up as well.

It is now the second week in April and I have to start thinking about planting our lettuce and cilantro in our container garden.

Mariposas

2011-03-06T20:25:00.015-05:00

Last week I did my yearly duty of pruning the butterfly bushes at the end of February. As I was trimming the branches I thought about a warm day last September when they were dancing around the flowers. It was a beautiful day, and I was able to capture about 4 different kinds of butterflies with the digital camera.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Great Spangled Fritillary

Red Admiral

Monarch

The Forgotten Garden

2011-02-09T12:51:00.002-05:00

During the Winter months I love to pour over the garden catalogs and read books about gardens or gardening. Last week I finished reading the "The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton. This novel wove stories of past and present with dynamic characters. The Cliff Cottage and its garden in Cornwall, England uncover the secrets of a young woman's past.

With the thriftiness of its main character Nell, and her granddaughter Cassandra's urgency to unlock the keys to her grandmother's mysteries, the author takes us on journey spanning 3 generations of strong women. The hardcover edition that I read from the library was about 540 pages. It is a lengthy book for a Book Club selection, but I think the discussion from this read would be well worth it.

The settings for the novel in England and Austraila were full of rich descriptions in which you could picture yourself at that moment in time. I loved the details of the hidden garden with its fruit trees and beautiful flowers and vegetation. Some how during this snowy season, it was nice to picture myself under the apple tree, drawing or reading a book, with the warmth of the Cornish coast and ocean breeze on my face.

Indoor Fairy Garden

2011-01-25T14:23:00.000-05:00

Today's snowy morning brought a 2 hour delay for the bus-stop. It is nice to know that some where nearby I could go and experience a little sunshine with the fairies.

My daughters and I decorated their rooms with wallies (adhesive safe stickers for painted walls). My oldest daughter, loves her Fairy Garden over her bed, and Mommy relishes it on days like these.

Blooming Colors in the Mail

2011-01-24T09:06:00.000-05:00

During the dark cold Winter months what a treat it is to find my colorful seed catalogs in the mailbox. Some how it gives you a little hope that Spring is around the corner. During this down time, it's nice to be able to think and plan about my perennial flower and herb garden, as well as our vegetable container garden for 2011.

I loved the glorious purple colors on the 2011 Seed Savers Exchange Catalog.

The contents inside were even better from "Rosso Sicilian" tomatoes to "Stone Mountain" Watermelons, the images of fresh grown produce were making my mouth water.

I have received a number of other catalogs as well the 2011 Cooks Garden Catalog, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, and the Comstock Seeds Catalog.

I am really looking forward to visiting the Comstock, Ferre & Co LLC this year. Jere and Emilee Gettle of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds bought the oldest seed company in New England.

They are planning to restore the company to its original state, including seeds that were offered in the very early days of its business. They will also be using the old still-working farm equipment, and wearing periodic clothing. It should be a great family field trip once Spring arrives.

Happy New Year!!

2011-01-23T11:55:00.002-05:00

Apologies to all for the delay in a new post. December and January were complete whirlwinds for me with Hanukkah, Christmas and pneumonia that sweeped through our house.

Yes, after knitting 8 scarves, 1 60 inch wrap, 4 hats, baking dozens of cookies, teaching 2 children's classes about Hanukkah, hosting and helping with various holiday get-togethers, and having 2 little ones with pneumonia, yes, I am still standing, a little tired but standing.

I have decided on a thumbs down for any New Year's resolutions, eat better, lose weight, be a better person, blah, blah, blah!!

My new motto goal is to embrace me and my life, embrace who I am inside and out, what I am doing with family and friends, what I do professionally, and to ENJOY life!!

My first step toward this has been complete, I had about 8-10 inches of my hair cut. I was bit horrified when this first happened, it took a few weeks to get used to. Now, I am loving it, specifically because I am no longer straightening it, my curly crazy Italian locks can be seen in all their glory.

Next step, redesigning my company web site, with my business objectives, and love for my community in mind. This is in its development stage, I will provide updates of this progress.

Although there were moments of stir-craziness with the kids being sick for a month, it also made for some great quality time with them, slumber parties, hide-n-seek, puzzles, puzzles, and more puzzles, and playing every board game imaginable including a number of "old school" games that were mine from my Mom and Dad's attic. My husband has also enjoyed to kick my butt in both Battleship and Hangman.

Over this past month in Connecticut we have acquired a whopping 2 feet or more of snow. Another storm is on its way this week.

Wishing everyone cozy thoughts and days for you and your families.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks

2010-11-10T12:45:00.001-05:00

My friends had mentioned to me about the "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" cookbook, so I was delighted to see it in the new books section of our library. What a cool cookbook in every way, from Ree Drummonds photography, her recipes, the design of the cookbook, as well as her personal stories of her family and living as "an accidental country girl."

My family loved all of the photos of the horses, the kids, and their dog Charlie. Jon and I love the scrumptious home style country recipes. Quick no-fuss ingredients, as well as great photos and directions for each recipe, that's my kind of cookbook.

When it was snowing the other morning I decided to try the French Breakfast Puffs recipe on pages 66-67, of her cookbook. It was the perfect morning snack on a cold and blustery morning. My husband and I have been reheating them in the microwave and adding a little extra butter. This will definitely be a cookbook that I will need to purchase in the future. I usually photocopy a few of the recipes I like from cookbooks in the library, but I think I would end up photocopying the whole book.

I can see why her Marlboro man and family of cowboys and girls are so happy with all of that great home cooking. Her blog is the inspiration for the cookbook, and it has been a fun place to visit and read about her witty stories of being a ranch wife.

First Snow

2010-11-08T12:00:00.001-05:00

I woke up early this morning to the sound of ice pelting the windows, rolled over and snoozed for a few hours more. Sure enough at 6:00 AM we received a phone call from the school that there was a 2 hour delay. The girls were in their glory to see snow so early in the season. Who would have thought that there would be snow in Connecticut on November 8th?

This was definitely a sign that I need to dig up the gladiola corms in the garden. Our outdoor snow wear and equipment has been taken out of storage and we are now ready for the cold weather.

I had to chuckle to myself, because my Dad was saying he heard from someone in the media that the Farmer's Almanac had predicted a warm wet winter. Maybe our Fall will have more snow than our winter?

The girls had a blast building mini snow people and throwing snowballs. Mom enjoyed having extra PJ time with my girls.

Scarecrows at the Museum

2010-11-02T11:07:00.003-04:00

The Florence Griswold Museum has done it again this Fall by creating an amazing Scarecrow exhibit that delighted its visitors, young and old. A couple of weeks ago on a beautiful and breezy Friday morning my friends and I and our children ventured to the museum to check out the scarecrows.

The kids had such a fun time checking out all of the cool stuff on each scarecrow. The scarecrow guide also provided a description of each artsy scarecrow along with a riddle for each numbered scarecrow. The children search for all different kinds of things, e.g. a bull, crow feather or ladybug on each of the exhibits.

My friends and I loved it, because we were able to test our art history knowledge by trying to identify the name of each scarecrow by investigating the style and artistic components of each scarecrow.(See Vincent van Crow, photo above.)

It was a beautiful Fall day in New England, and the Scarecrows were so worth the visit. My family and I look forward to the "The Magic of Christmas" which will be on display at the museum from November 20 through January 9, 2011.

Georgia CrO'Keefe

Strawsby Matisse

Goodbye Friend

2010-10-28T06:41:00.000-04:00

For anyone that has lost a pet, it is a sad and heart wrenching experience. My dear friend Gatu' passed away two weeks ago after being very sick with bladder cancer. He was a buddy that showed me unconditional love for 16 years. He offered me comfort through rough times and saw me through joyous times as well.

My heart still has a hole for my friend who isn't purring and cuddling on my lap and chatting to me in his very loud meow voice during meal times. My husband and I have been missing our little boy, and the girls have been adjusting to the loss of their kitty. We have all learned a lesson about passing and what and where heaven is.

The one thing that we are all thinking about is that he is where the rainbows are and playing with his friends. A friend had sent me this card when I had lost another kitty, and it helped me visualize this happy peaceful place. It also helped me to explain to the girls where their Gatu' is.

There is a bridge connecting Heaven and Earth. It is called the Rainbow Bridge because of its many colors. Just this side of the Rainbow Bridge there is a land of meadows, hills and valleys with lush green grass.

When a beloved pet dies, the pet goes to this place. There is always food, water, and warm spring weather. Old and frail animals are young again. Those who have been hurt, have been made whole again. They play all day together.

Goodbye friend, thank you for your love and furry cuddles, you are surely missed.

My New Hobby: Knitting

2010-10-27T06:49:00.000-04:00

Due to the garden fading, and the renovations taking place on our home, it's been difficult to capture any photos of the garden, or write about any new additions to our perennial or container gardens. The end of the season came a little early, I didn't want to add any new pots or plants that may get damaged through the sanding, scraping, and hammering.

I needed something to keep me busy in between the girls, work for Chelle Designs, LLC, and cooking and baking for my clan. I had asked my Mom at the end of the summer to teach me how to knit and after many renditions of scarves, and dropped stitches, I have become a "Knitter." Similar to gardening, I find it to be so relaxing, a great way to relieve stress, and another way to supply homemade gifts to family and friends.

Like anything it will take time to learn new stitches and patterns, but it has been such a joy to share this new hobby with my Mom, and meet some really neat ladies who also knit. I look forward to attending a knitting group that gathers at our library on Tuesday evenings. Since Summer I have been reading up on knitting by borrowing a number of knitting books and magazines at the library. Two local businesses that have been a joy to visit have been Madison Wool and Saybrook Yarn.

Over time I will post the various projects I complete to the Fun and Flora blog, as well as any interesting knitting literature or local events and craft fairs. Although the colors have faded in the garden, they have been flourishing inside my home on various knitting needles.

2010 Apple Pie Contest

2010-10-26T13:44:00.001-04:00

On October 2, 2010, Families Helping Families hosted their Annual Apple Pie contest in Clinton in the Green Room of the Town Hall. My family and I arrived early to catch a glimpse at the judging and to have our pick of the tasty pies that were available for snacking.

I thought it would be fun to enter the contest so I dropped off my entry earlier in the afternoon.

Although my pie didn't place, it was so much fun to have picked the apples with Jon and the girls and assemble the pie for this town benefit.

Attendees of the Apple Pie Contest were encouraged to bring food to help families in need in Clinton as well as to contribute to Families Helping Families for fuel assistance, etc. This amazing organization does not have a web site, but you can find out more information regarding Clinton's Families Helping Families by calling 860-669-5592.

Below are a few more photos of the event including entries to the pie contest, the green room as well as the beautiful apple candles that were on the tables.

I have to say that my family and I felt very lucky to be a part of such a tight-knit community. It was so nice to see so many families and Clinton townspeople take part in such a great cause, and have such an enjoyable evening.

Apple Picking

2010-09-11T09:41:00.000-04:00

This is my favorite time of year between the cooler temperatures, mosaic of color from the trees, and all of the fun Fall family traditions. One of these fun activities that I have cherished since childhood is apple picking. Each year my parents would take my brother and sister and I to Bishop's Orchards where we would take a ride in the wagon out to the Apple Orchards. It has been such a treat to share this tradition with my girls.

My husband and I relish the beauty of the orchards, and the girls can't wait to chomp into the first apple they have picked. Labor Day weekend was gorgeous weather wise and we were able to pick a few bags of McIntosh and Gala apples.

We have been enjoying sliced apples on a daily basis, and I made a homemade apple pie for dinner last night. Nothing beats the taste and juiciness of a local apple, and when you can make baked treats out of what you picked, it's even better.

Back to School

2010-09-10T06:38:00.000-04:00

School started last week for my girls, and with that came the initiation of packing good lunches each day. I wanted to explore ways that I could use less plastic, and offer sustainable healthy solutions for the lunch making process. Over the Summer I researched different types of "Bento" lunch boxes, safe plastics, etc., but found Easy Lunch Boxes having the best solution, based on storage options in the closet, ease of use for kids, and well affordability. We opted for 2 sets of the containers, and 2 cooler bags.

The girls were getting very excited at the end of summer to check out their new lunch bags and boxes, and we took the next step to personalize our cooler bags. We went to Jo-Ann Fabrics & Crafts and picked out some cute iron-on patches to decorate the bags. I used a bath towel inside the cooler bag to iron on the patches so that the bag would not melt or stick together.

With a little time and creativity each of the little ones has their own special lunch bag, and are doing their best to preserve our environment in the process. Even Mom and Dad can use the containers to pack a lunch or snack on the go.

Sunflowers

2010-09-09T10:05:00.000-04:00

The Garden is dwindling at the moment, but the beautiful sunflowers are shining brightly between the other flora that is fading. There is something about the sunflower that just makes me smile when I see them. I bought seeds this year from the Cooks Garden seed catalog and was not disappointed with their vibrancy. Colors of light lemon, bright gold, and golden brown wave their mighty faces in the garden.

Homemade Gifts

2010-08-26T13:39:00.000-04:00

It was my Mom's Birthday last week, and I decided to make her some heartfelt gifts from home. This celebration has started a new endeavor for myself and that is to make many of the holiday and birthday gifts for the future.

I picked some pretty hydrangeas from our garden and had them dry in my Blue Teapot. A batch of "Snickerdoodle" cookies was made . . . My husband and I ate a few of those before they arrived at my Mom's. With the help of my little ones, we made a Berry Blitz double crust fruit pie with the strawberries, blueberries and raspberries that we had picked this season. It felt so good to make a gift and give something from the heart.

Along with creating something special for a family member or friend, I'm also making every effort to stick to a family budget. I found this poem, and I thought it reminded me so much of my Mom and what she taught me about staying strong, being true to yourself, and giving with your heart and your creativity.

There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.
-Washington Irving

Blanching Peaches and Freezing Flour

2010-08-25T20:53:00.001-04:00

Monday proved to be a busy day at home after the girls and I visited Lyman Orchards. I couldn't pass up the sale on peaches, (8 quarts 13 lbs) for $6.99. Needless to say I spent a couple of hours blanching peaches so that I could freeze them for baking and for my Fall and Winter breakfast oatmeal.

Blanching them and cutting an "X" in the bottom proved to make the skins come off so easily. I ended up having about 8-10 freezer bags when I was done.

While we were at the Apple Barrel at Lyman's eating lunch, my girlfriend called to let me know that she had found a good deal on King Arthur flour at Cosco's, did I want a 25 lb bag? Why yes!! The deal you get when buying King Arthur flour in bulk is amazing.

After I put the kids to bed I rolled up my sleeves, pulled out a stool, and scooped cup after cup of beautiful King Arthur flour into freezer bags. I have been firing up our bread machine a few times a week, but I think this latest purchase should hold us over for a couple of months.

Spring and Summer Garden Inventory

2010-08-22T14:55:00.001-04:00

It was an adventure establishing a balcony vegetable garden this year. As a gardener you need to understand that some of your efforts are not always successful. There was a lot of learning that took place this growing season.

I purchased a number of seeds this year, and only a few seedlings from the local garden center.

Seedlings purchased and planted
-Heirloom Red Brandywine Tomatoes
-Heirloom Yellow Brandywine Tomatoes
-Orange hybrid Grape Tomatoes
-Green Italian Peppers
-Arugula
-Artichoke

Plant Trades from Friends that were planted
-Strawberries
-Lavender

Seeds that were planted
-Carrot Little Fingers
-Cucumber Spacemaster Bush
-Lettuce Oakleaf
-Onion Evergreen Bunching
-Pumpkin Baby Bear
-Cilantro
-Basil Basilico Greco
-Calendula Ball's Improved Orange
-Sunflower Music Box Mix
-Zinnia Cook's Cutting Blend
-Nasturtium Cook's Custom Mix
-Squash Zucchini Italian Ribbed
-Beets

Lesson Learned
1.) Just because you have the space and certain vegetable seeds can grow in pots, the real estate available may not be the best for that type of vegetable, e.g. zucchini, pumpkins, beets, and carrots. These veggies really need a large garden to proliferate.
2.) Companion planting was helpful in terms of saving space by growing 2 plants in one container, and it also proved to cut down on pests, specifically the tomato horn worm, and provide a living mulch. I companion planted my basil and tomato plants and will do this again next year.
3.) Interspacing herb pots with vegetable pots did deter some pests
4.) Planting flowers with the vegetables helped to attract pollinators as well as good pests that eat other ones
5.) Your potting mix can make all the difference with your plant's performance
6.) Using organic compost Chickity Doo Doo really helped my young seedlings grow
7.) Using pots at different levels and hanging baskets allowed for a greater number of veggies to be planted
8.) Have a basic understanding of how long it takes for plants to bolt, etc. Having a Spring/Warm Weather Guide or journal to help with this.

Long Range Plans for Spring 2011 Crops
-More Herbs Cilantro, Dill, Parsley, Chives
-Lettuce Mixes, Arugula
-Strawberries (2 containers)

Long Range Plans for Summer 2011 Crops
-Tomatoes, 2 more pots, more red, more grape tomatoes
-Cucumber Spacemaster Bush (2 containers)
-Blueberries
-Basil
-Cutting Flower Mixes

Pushing Up Daisies

2010-08-17T08:42:00.002-04:00

I just finished reading "Pushing Up Daisies" by Rosemary Harris this weekend. It was a mystery which I usually don't care for but it appeared on the NPR shelf at our library, and once I read the flap I couldn't resist.

The story is set in the town of Springfield, Connecticut which made it even more interesting to have the local story connection. The main character, Paula Holliday starts a new career as a professional gardener. She undertakes the job to restore a historical garden in town. In the process of rejuvenating the garden she unearths a secret and mystery that changes the lives of many within the town of Springfield.

Harris does a wonderful job of developed her eccentric characters, and leaves you guessing throughout the story. The author is a Connecticut Master Gardener and doesn't skimp with the details regarding the garden restoration work or the details about herbs in the story.

Basil Pesto

2010-08-16T12:34:00.001-04:00

I had planted my basil this year from seed. It had grown beautifully in a container by itself, as well as companion planted with my heirloom tomatoes. It started to flower, it was time . . . to make the pesto. I have done this a number of times before, and unlike some recipes, it is fairly forgiving in terms of how much of the ingredients you add.

The main components of the recipe are basil, olive oil. Parmesan cheese, garlic, and pine nuts. I have used the recipe from the "Simply in Season Cookbook" as a guide. Normally I freeze my pesto in small plastic containers, but this time I used the cookbook's idea of freezing it in ice cube trays and it worked beautifully.

Basil Pesto

1 cup / 250 ml fresh basil leaves and tender stems (may use part fresh spinach)
1-3 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup pine nuts, walnuts, or hazelnuts toasted (I opted for walnuts, with pine nuts being so expensive these days)
3-6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese (grated)
1/2 tsp salt to taste

Finely chop together in food processor

1/3 - 1/2 cup / 75-125 ml olive oil
Add gradually while food processor runs to make a thick paste. Serve at room temperature with any kind of hot pasta. The flavor is strong, a little goes a long way.

To freeze: Freeze in ice cube trays. When frozen, remove cubes and place in a resealable plastic bag, removing from the freezer as needed.

Simply in Season, Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert, Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, Waterloo, Ontario, 2009, p. 167
Page Contributors: Barbara Ressler, Apple Creek, Ohio
Anita Derstine, Portland, Oregon
Lois Baerg, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Peach Picking

2010-08-15T21:29:00.001-04:00

I headed to pick peaches at Bishop's Orchards about a week ago, it was a pretty morning. The heat and humidity had seemed to cool down a bit which made the thought of picking my own fruit a little more bearable. I didn't have the little ones with me this time, so it took no time at all to fill my large bag with some beautiful fresh peaches. I captured a few photos of the sweet peaches.

I kept the peach recipes from years past, and my husband loves this one.

Peach Oatmeal Crisp

3 lbs. peach slices, thawed if frozen
2 tbs. lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup old fashioned oatmeal
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut in small pieces
4 cups (vanilla frozen yogurt, ice cream, or whipped cream, topping of your choice)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine peaches, lemon juice, sugar, nutmeg, and half the cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly. Transfer to a 9 x13 baking dish, (I use a 9x9 baking pan) so the crisp is thicker, coat the dish with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside. Combine oats, remaining cinnamon, flour, and brown sugar in another bowl. Mix thoroughly in a bowl or food processor. Add butter and cut in until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle over peach mixture. Bake 40 minutes until top is lightly browned. Server with your favorite topping.

Views from the Veggie Garden

2010-08-05T07:29:00.001-04:00

I thought I would share some views from the vegetable garden on the balcony. We have had so much fun as a family to witness the changes that have occurred over the past few months. The only vegetables that were bought as seedlings were the tomatoes, and the pepper plants. The remaining veggies were all grown from seed. Here is the result of our efforts.

Peter Pumpkin Eater

2010-08-04T07:18:00.000-04:00

Our pumpkins have exploded within the past month, and we couldn't help but notice how they had taken over the perennial flower garden. The "Baby Bear" heirloom seeds grew leaps and bounds while we were away in Maine. In a few weeks Mr. Scarecrow will have pumpkin vines up to his neck.

At the moment we have 3 small green pumpkins, and the bees have been going crazy fertilizing all of the blossoms. The girls even put some of their rubber snakes in the patches to deter any rabbits from entering.

I think that with the speed of everything else this season we could have some orange pumpkins by mid-September. It will certainly be a fun way to decorate our front porch.

Regal Gladiolas

2010-08-03T06:52:00.000-04:00

When my family returned from our Maine vacation in July it was truly fun to see all of the amazing growth from our perennial flower garden as well as our vegetable garden. One of the flowers that stood so proud and regal in our garden were the brightly colored gladiolas.

It's funny when I mention our gladiolas to acquaintances they always seem to remind me that these flowers are used for funerals. Some how I never give that a thought, when I see them they remind me of Summer and my Grandma Sam. She always had beautiful gladiolas in her garden, and I always remember how she used to dry the season's corms in pots on her veranda.

My youngest daughter and I purchased 2 different collections of the flowers and have been so happy with our decision. Once again our garden tells a story about our love of gardening and love of family. Sending you hugs and kisses Grandma, thanks for the wonderful sunshine on our majestic gladiolas.

Technology Issues

2010-08-02T21:50:00.004-04:00

I want to apologize to everyone for the delay with this last post. We have been experiencing technology issues at home related to our Internet access. After much troubleshooting and gaining access to the Internet infrequently through the use of nearby networks we discerned that our ten year old cable modem had called it quits.

While all of this was going on the balcony vegetable garden was doing beautifully and had produced some veggies for us to enjoy.

The girls and I also headed to Newport, Rhode Island for about 4 days to enjoy some beautiful beach weather and fun memories with my sister. Before we headed out on our beach adventure I stopped at our library and borrowed the book Plenty by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon.

It was a fun read about eating locally for a year within a hundred mile radius of the authors' home in Vancouver, Canada. There was a lot of comical stories and interesting information about that area of North America.

The web site also has a tool that people can use to place your own 100 mile radius if you made the choice to embark on this journey. There are informative links and resources on the web site to acquire helpful hints on how you can eat locally.

I was happy when I browsed through this list to see that my family had already taken many of these steps. It is hard to embark on this challenge with little ones and when you are on a budget. We are doing our best by having our own vegetable garden, supporting the local farmers markets, and buying a variety of produce, eggs, and meat from local farms. Making a commitment to my family's health by buying organic items when it is feasible and affordable. All of these things do take time, but it's all worth it, when it reflects on my family's attitude about the food we've grown, and the fun experiences we have had together when purchasing local food.

Gray, Maine, Wildlife Park

2010-07-18T16:05:00.000-04:00

Along with our hike on Mackworth Island our family also ventured to the Maine Wildlife Park. Another steamy day in Maine found us seeking the shady spots along the perimeter of the Wildlife Park to view the local animals that have been rescued by the park staff. Many of the animals that live at the park were injured or orphaned, or they were human dependent - raised, sometimes illegally, in captivity. The Park serves as a permanent home for wildlife that cannot survive in the Wild.

I have visited Maine and New Hampshire a number of times but have never seen a "live" moose. This excursion afforded me the opportunity of seeing a male adult moose who was lounging in the cool mud, and another young female moose grazing in a shady area of the park.

One couldn't help to notice the beautiful gardens surrounding the park. Maine is a few weeks behind Connecticut in terms of flower blooming time. Everything seemed so much greener and brighter in the various gardens.

Mackworth Island - Maine Vacation

2010-07-18T15:28:00.003-04:00

My family had a wonderful vacation in Maine, one of our day trips included a hike on Mackworth Island. The little ones, my husband and I hiked the trail around the perimeter of the island to view the fairy houses that have been made by visitors of the island.

It was a hot week even for Maine but the trail was beautiful along the water with beautiful scenery and wildflowers growing along its paths.

The fairy house builders used all natural materials that they have found in the woods, on the island shore, or the various paths along the trail.

Some of the houses were very simple in design, while others were more intricate. Either way the kids were excited when we finally reached the fairy destination. They were even more proud of themselves that they had hiked the 1.25 mile trail in the 90 degree weather.

Mackworth Island has seen a lot of history and a lot of tragedy. Hopefully the good spirits of these fairies will bring peace and hope to the current landscape of this island.

The Blueberries are Buckled

2010-07-12T22:08:00.000-04:00

My family and I have returned from our week's vacation in Maine. I do apologize for the lack of blog entries over the past few days. I thought that a post about Blueberries would be fitting after our our Down East vacation.

Before we left on our trip the girls, and I were able to pick a few of the blueberries on our potted bush in the balcony garden. Since we have returned from Maine the little ones have witnessed even more blue gems under the netting.

Either this week or next week we should be able to visit Bishop's Orchard to (pick our own) Blueberries. It has been extremely warm in Connecticut the past couple of weeks, so the heat may dictate what time we start picking in the morning.

The girls thoroughly enjoy Blueberry picking, though there aren't many dinks in the bucket, it's a little like "Blueberries for Sal" by Robert McCloskey.

One of my most favorite recipes to use fresh blueberries is "Blueberry Buckle." My Grandma and Grandpa Sam had quite a few blueberry bushes in their backyard. A summer wouldn't go by without my Grandma making her amazing "Blueberry Buckle." When I flipped through her recipe journal, I found a page on Blueberry Buckle but with no recipe, she must have memorized this one by heart.

Bishops provides recipes for their (pick your own) customers, and I have found their Blueberry Buckle recipe to match the taste of my Grandma's. I do add about 1/2 cup more blueberries, so it is super moist and fruity. My husband and girls love this summer treat. I love the smell of it baking in my oven, it brings back of flood of memories of my Grandma baking when I was a little girl

Bishop's Famous Blueberry Buckle

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup soft shortening
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups blueberries (I add an extra 1/2 cup)

Mix sugar, shortening and egg thoroughly. Stir in milk. Sift dry ingredients and stir in - blend in berries. Spread in greased and floured 9 inch square pan. Sprinkle with crumb topping

Topping: 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 cup soft butter/margarine. Cut these together into medium fine crumbs. Bake 375 degrees F for 40-45 minutes.

My Favorite Veggie Container Guide

2010-07-06T14:29:00.001-04:00

During the Winter time I thoroughly enjoy reading my garden books and catalogs to plan for the new Spring season's flowers and vegetables to be planted. This year a family member had given me a gift certificate at our local bookstore RJ Julia's. I purchased an organic food for small spaces called "Grow Great Grub" by Gayla Trail.

It has become my bible for veggie container gardening. Gayla Trail has produced an amazing resource for conscious gardeners to establish magnificent food gardens for the smallest areas. This led me to create our balcony vegetable garden.

I learned so much from this book specifically how to maintain an organic container vegetable garden with great ease.

-I companion planted my tomato plants with basil to avoid tomato pests and provide plant mulch for the tomatoes
-Flowers like zinnias and sunflowers were planted to attract good pests, like bees and wasps into the garden in order to pollinate the blossoms and deter other detrimental insects from eating our plants
-Growth charts and vegetable sections were chock full of details about every kind of vegetable, herb, and other odds and ends to gardening
-There was also a great section that I will be using for our fall harvest on how to preserve and store all of the food we have grown.

After reading "Grow Great Grub" from front to back a few times, I had to purchase Gayla Trail's first book, "You Grow Girl," to supplement my other garden books. She has the coolest ideas to organize and display your garden. There are wonderful tidbits for crafts and handmade gifts from your garden. If you are a first time gardener, or are looking for alternative and organic methods for gardening these are great resources for you.

Three Weeks Early

2010-07-05T14:06:00.000-04:00

Our lovely daylilies have arrived in our family's garden three weeks early. Along with the early strawberry and blueberry crops, many of our flowering perennials have been prematurely adding color to the garden.

Thankfully the dreaded lily leaf bug did not harm my daylily plants. Though the gorgeous weather we have been having in Connecticut the past few weeks has made our flowers very thirsty. We have had to water the veggie and perennial garden each morning, sometimes twice a day.

It has been fun to see each new color of the daylillies popping up in different spots in the garden. From the red and orange, pink, gold and magenta varieties. Our next bountiful display will be our rainbow of tomatoes bursting through the vines the next few weeks.

The Year of the Hydrangea

2010-06-29T15:28:00.001-04:00

Every year there is one flower or vegetable that shines brightly in the garden. Whether it has been the result of frequent rain or warm temperatures. The current environment has provided the perfect mix for that star in the garden. This year my star in the garden is the "Hydrangea". I have a blue hydrangea and a purple one which basically means it could be the same plant and all, but the differences in the aluminum in the soil that's making one hydrangea a different color than the other.

I was down at the shore in Old Saybrook, CT this weekend and it seemed that every one's garden had the same shining star! The salt air and the summer mix seem to do wonders for this beautiful flowering bush. The hydrangeas also flourish in Block Island Rhode Island. While riding your bicycle along the island you can't help to notice the beautiful ocean views and the magnificent hydrangeas that reside there.

The lacecap hydrangeas are the most beautiful species of the flower. I took the picture of my blue Mophead hydrangea about a week ago, and today they look even bluer than they did last week. Every few weeks there is a different shade that graces the petals of these flowers.

After seeing the beautiful display of the lacecap variety, it may need to be on my "Fall Purchase" list for next year's garden.

Settled in the Wild

2010-06-28T22:21:00.001-04:00

I was leafing through a recent edition of "Yankee Magazine," reviewing their current book list. One of the books that was listed was called "Settled in the Wild" by Susan Shetterly. The magazine provided an interesting write-up, and this memoir of a woman from Maine and her relationship with nature sparked my curiosity. My husband grew up in Maine and we still have family there so it is a special place for our family to visit. We were going to be traveling to Maine in the coming months and I thought it would be a fun way to prepare for our journey.

"Settled in the Wild" was a quick read but very enjoyable, it read a lot like poetry. Susan Shetterly has created a memoir that captures her love of nature and her love of home and family. Her experience as a naturalist connected with me in the ways that I teach my own children about nature and respect for their surroundings. From her chapter on planting nasturtiums for the hummingbirds to her description of the characters in her small town at the General Store, it was a warm and quaint read.

One of my favorite paragraphs is in her epilogue when she talks about her first experience with rescuing a robin, and then how later her family and this robin nurse three new orphaned robins.

To grow up they needed something from us. To raise them well, we needed something from them. Whatever word we choose to name this communion between species - whatever sounds we make to say it - it is both fearless and gentle and it not only enriches lives, it saves them.

Shetterly, Susan, "Settled in the Wild, Notes from the Edge of Town," Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 2010, p.240.

Homemade Gnocchi

2010-06-26T11:22:00.001-04:00

Thursday evening was my first experience with making homemade pasta and it was wonderful. I started my pasta making with a recipe for gnocchi. My family and I have been making every effort to eat locally and what is in season so I consulted my "Simply Organic" cookbook which is a savvy cookbook divided into seasons.

I began making the Ricotta-Green Onion Gnocchi and found the whole process to be relatively easy. It was so much fun mixing the dough with my hands. Gnocchi is usually made with potatoes, but the main components of this recipe are ricotta cheese, flour, and eggs.

Unlike most homemade pasta gnocchi doesn't need to be feed through a pasta machine. You roll the dough into a long cord and then cut it into 1 inch strips with a knife or bench scraper. I made the gnocchi design by pressing a floured fork against the small piece of pasta.

The recipe is as follows:

Ricotta-Green Onion Gnocchi

15 ounces ricotta cheese
1 large egg beaten
1/2 tsp of salt (I used Kosher Salt)
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
6 green onions, (minced, you can put through small food processor for best results)
1/2 cup grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces)
1 1/2 to 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 cups marinara sauce

Put the ricotta in a sieve and place over a bowl for 15 to 30 minutes. Discard the liquid.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

In a medium bowl, combined the drained ricotta, egg, salt, pepper, green onions and cheese. Gradually add the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, using your hands and blending just until the dough holds together. Remove 1 teaspoon of the dough and roll into a ball on a floured surface. Drop the dough ball into the boiling water. If the piece falls apart, add more flour to the dough, 2 tablespoons at a time, until it will form a ball. Repeat the cooking test until the dough holds together and floats to the surface.

Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. On a generously floured board or surface, using your hands, roll each section into a rope about 1 inch in diameter. Cut the ropes into 1 inch long pieces and slightly indent with a fork. If you're not using the gnocchi right away, cover them thoroughly with flour and store them in the refrigerator or freezer.

Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water. Stir gently to prevent sticking, When the gnocchi float to the top, they are cooked. Remove with a slotted spoon to a serving bowl.

Meanwhile, heat the sauce in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Top the gnocchi with the sauce.

Tip
Gnocchi will keep in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days and for months in the freezer in an airtight container.

Chelle's Note: You can omit the green onion from this gnocchi recipe. My little ones love pasta and I will be making this again without the green onion, it is sure to please my carb craving clan.

Ziff Cool, Jesse, Simply Organic, First Chronicle Books, LLC, San Francisco, California, 2008, p. 58.

Dreaming of Fresh Tomatoes and Pesto

2010-06-25T14:25:00.002-04:00

The veggie container garden is in full swing and the tomatoes and basil are looking quite beautiful. I am hoping since I planted my basil from seed and bought the tomatoes from our local garden center (Shoreline Gardens) which grows their own plants, we will be able to avoid blight that is affecting tomatoes as well as basil on the east coast.

NPR had a story yesterday about the basil blight. As of now the blight has been found in New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Florida, I am hoping it doesn't make its way to Connecticut. I have made every effort to have a organic container garden, and when I have had to deal with pests I have manually removed them or sprayed them with water. My You Grow Girl gardening book also provided a lot of helpful hints with dealing with insect pests and other natural challenges my garden may face this season.

I actually companion planted my basil and large heirloom tomato plants together, in the hopes of deterring the Tomato Hornworm, and to provide shade for the basil, and natural mulch for the tomato plants.

I am hoping with a lot of love, TLC and kindness from Mother Nature we will reap the rewards from these tasty plants this season.

I can't wait to taste the fresh pesto with some homemade pasta, and the warmth of a fresh tomato in my mouth after I have plucked it straight from a sun drenched vine.

Clinton Farmers' Market Opens

2010-06-22T15:32:00.001-04:00

The Clinton Farmers' Market opened on Friday, June 18th at the Clinton Town Landing. It was a beautiful afternoon. The girls absolutely raved about the cherries and raspberries that were available from Woodland Farm, LLC in South Glastonbury, Connecticut. Both girls were covered in raspberry and cherry juice from head to toe.

The Clinton Landing also allowed for a kayaking demo by the local Indian River Marina. Kayaks were on hand to test in the waters by the landing as well as instructors to answer questions and assist you with your kayaking adventures.

The Clinton Farmers' Market will operate at the Clinton Town Landing on Fridays from 3PM - 6PM in the afternoon. The market will be open rain or shine minus the weekend of the Bluefish Festival on July 23rd, and run through the 2010 Labor Day Weekend.

Love and Patience

2010-06-19T07:06:00.000-04:00

It's funny how sometimes nature allows us to stop and take a moment to think about life, and the beauty of it. Two little woodpecker friends of mine have allowed me to do that this week.

Our family feeds the birds throughout the year, and lately we have been feeding our local birds with a suet/grain/fruit mixture that comes in packs at our local hardware store. At first, in early Spring there wasn't much action at the feeder, but now it is a favorite neighborhood buffet for our local feathered friends.

The Downy Woodpeckers have been visiting it numerous times throughout the day. We keep our trusty Audubon Bird Guide by our bird viewing window so the girls can match the bird from the feeder to the pictures in the book. This has also helped Mom identify some interesting birds. I wanted to look up the info on the Downy because I never knew that a Woodpecker could sing or tweet so sweetly. They have been singing their sweet songs all week, and I have been enjoying every minute of it.

The one thing that I loved watching is how the male and female Downy's feed. The male has been feeding regularly with another female at the suet feeder, and has been feeding his mate or young female while they are at the feeder. It really has made me think about the patience and love creatures have for one another, and how I need to take the time and do the same with my life partner and best friend. Thank you Mother Nature for allowing me to appreciate the world around me this week.

Butterfly Fever Part 2

2010-06-17T06:57:00.000-04:00

We took care of our Painted Lady Butterflies for a few days due to the inclement rainy weather we had after they emerged from their chrysalises. On a Friday morning we ventured outside in our pajamas to set our sweet butterflies free, here are the photos from this fun experience.

Butterfly Fever

2010-06-16T09:41:00.015-04:00

My husband took the girls and I to see the Butterfly Pavilion at Chelsea Gardens in Norwich, CT on Mother's Day and since then we have had Butterfly Fever. Jon answered our plea by purchasing some Painted Lady caterpillars from Insect Lore. The girls had seen the advertisement on TV and when their special package arrived in the mail they were ecstatic!

What they learned from this whole experience was extraordinary. To witness the growth of their caterpillars, see them form chrysalises and then hatch into butterflies was magical. I managed to capture some video of one of the butterflies hatching. It was fascinating to watch them, but I love listening to the reactions of the girls.

Chester Sunday Market Opens

2010-06-14T06:50:00.000-04:00

The rain held off in the morning for my family to enjoy a stroll through the Chester Sunday Market yesterday. It was so nice to see the local town and businesses embrace this local food market. It really is a quaint little town nestled in the heart of Middlesex County. If you have the opportunity on a Sunday morning, it is worth the stroll. It is held on Sundays from 10 am to 1 pm in the downtown area in Chester Center.

There are a variety of vendors including a dog treat vendor for your four-legged furry friends that may accompany you to the market. Plenty of fresh local food, music, and local craftspeople displaying their wares. Many of the businesses are also open during this time, whether you want to grab a bite to eat or peruse some of the gift and antique shops nearby. This week's theme was all about the berries, strawberries that is, and if you happen to like local rhubarb to accompany your Connecticut strawberries you were in luck yesterday. I look forward to future visits and promise to grab some closeup photos of some of the various vendor displays.

"Pick Your Own" Season Begins

2010-06-13T14:36:00.001-04:00

Well our first chance to pick local fruit arrived this Friday. The girls and I along with one of our dear friends went Strawberry picking at Bishop's Orchards fields in Guilford, CT. The weather was perfect Friday morning, it wasn't too hot and there was a nice breeze before the storms came in later in the day. The little ones had a grand time picking all the berries that they could hold in their little hands.

My youngest one of course put all that she picked in her mouth rather than in the strawberry box. We had some fabulous strawberry shortcakes on our return from the morning's adventures. No strawberry shortcake would be complete without loads and loads of whipped cream on top.

We managed to pick about 7 pounds of strawberries in a very short period of time. We have been enjoying them all weekend long, and managed to freeze a large quantity of them for future baking and for Mommy's oatmeal. Looking forward to the blueberries, peaches, and raspberries!!!

Raindrops

2010-06-09T22:28:00.000-04:00

I used to have a little music box that my Grandma Sam gave me when I was little girl. It was a bank with a little boy and girl sitting under an umbrella and when you put in a coin it would play "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head." Oh! how I loved my little Hummels Bank/Music Box. Any loose change that was in my vicinity would later be in my bank. I honestly think I wore out the music box part of it. I was a child of the 1970's and BJ Thomas had a hit with that melody. To this day, I love hearing that song.

Raindrops keep falling on my head
but that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red.
Crying's not for me, cause
I'm never gonna stop the rain by complaining
because I'm free
nothing's worrying me

I think as gardeners we worry constantly about the weather. Will there be a cold snap? Is the soil too dry? Has the excess moisture produced mold or fungus on my plants? Is it raining again?

Sometimes we just need to heed the words of the song, no matter how we worry and complain, the rain is still going to come. What we need to envision is when it rains and ends in sunshine, those water drops bedazzle our flowers and plants making jewels of our gardens.

Maine Lupine and "Miss Rumphius"

2010-06-07T15:42:00.004-04:00

My family and I just got back from a wonderful weekend visiting family in Portland, Maine. It was wonderful to see so many flowers in bloom, and to see a large number of family vegetable gardens. The one bloom that lingers in my mind during our weekend adventure is the "Lupine". In June it flourishes in home gardens, but it also can be seen on the side of the road, and on the highway growing wild. Deep pinks, blues and purples sparkled in tall grasses along country roads and rose majestically in gardens along our rides in Falmouth, Portland and Cape Elizabeth this weekend.

Book Illustrations by Barbara Cooney
Cooney, Barbara, "Miss Rumphius," Puffin Books, New York, New York, 1982.

During our stay a dear family member introduced me to a wonderful children's book called "Miss Rumphius" after our conversation about the Maine Lupine. I normally take all the photos that appear in the Fun and Flora Blog, but it seems so appropriate to honor Barbara Cooney, the author and illustrator of "Miss Rumphius".

This is a wonderful book about love, family, and respect for nature and what is beautiful in this world. I think if you were to provide a book for your children to teach them about "sustainability" today this would be a great choice for your reading list. Past generations saw sustainability as love and respect for community and the environment we live in.

Barbara Cooney's illustrations of the seashore community in Maine and lupine are so beautiful throughout the book. Her message about doing something to make the world more beautiful is a theme that transcends time, and her character Miss Rumphius is role model for adults and children alike.

Book Illustrations by Barbara Cooney
Cooney, Barbara, "Miss Rumphius," Puffin Books, New York, New York, 1982.

It's Strawberry Time!

2010-06-03T22:26:00.002-04:00

Some how as a little girl I always knew Summer was around the corner in Connecticut when the strawberries were ready to pick. I would always look forward to our Church's Strawberry Festival held in June. Hours were spent jumping in the Moonwalk, and there was delicious homemade strawberry shortcake made from the lady congregants of our church. The strawberries were freshly picked and the biscuits were homemade, not the Twinkie shells you see in the supermarket today. I can even remember our church youth group going to the fields to pick strawberries for the festival one year.

My girls have been enjoying the strawberries growing on our balcony. Every morning they have been checking to see how red the berries are getting. The other night we had the pleasure of tasting our first berries, and they were de-light-ful! It was so fun to taste something that we had grown.

I received an email from Bishop's Orchards announcing that their PYO (pick your own) strawberry season had begun. We were excited by this news and have plans to get picking for strawberry pies and strawberry freezer jam. I came across a recipe for Strawberry Bread in "My Simply in Season" cookbook. I was delighted with this recipe because the bread transports well when traveling in the summertime, and it can go in the freezer to enjoy the taste of strawberries for months to come.

Strawberry Bread

1 cup / 250 ml flour
1/2 cup / 125 ml whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Combine in a medium bowl. Set aside.

1 1/4 cups / 300 ml strawberries (mashed)
3/4 cup / 175 ml sugar
2/3 cup / 150 ml oil
2 eggs
Mix together in a large bowl. Stir in dry ingredients until just combined. Pour into greased 8-inch / 1.5-L loaf pan and bake in preheated oven at 350F / 180C until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour.

Summer variation: Replace strawberries with peeled, finely chopped peaches, blueberries, or a combination.

Simply in Season, Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert, Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, Waterloo, Ontario, 2009, p. 34
Page Contributors: Mary Ann Webber, Goshen, Indiana
Sarah Myers, Mount Joy, Pennsylvania
Mary Keith, Seffner, Florida

Lily Leaf Beetle

2010-06-01T19:25:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago I had published a post regarding visits from Peter Rabbit. I had written that he was eating the Asian Lilies from the ground up, but not destroying my day lilies. I have since discovered that Peter Rabbit was a good boy and that the wretched Lily Leaf Beetle has been decimating my red Asian Lilies. I am very sad about the destruction of this plant because my husband and I had planted these lilies in our garden just before we were married. We loved to see their beautiful red blossoms at the end of Spring, welcoming our Summer on the Connecticut Shoreline.

I went out to the garden yesterday and what I thought were baby slugs doing the damage were actually the larva of the Lily Leaf Beetle. Much to my dismay there is not much that can be done to combat these pests organically, and I refuse to spray with pesticides because the ones that do work, destroy the bee populations as well as the hummingbirds, kind of defeats the whole purpose of having an organic garden. I must have picked off about 50 larva and squished with all my might probably 10 of the adult beetles. In the end, I had to remove 3 or 4 sets of plants because they were so unhealthy. I didn't want the darn things to move to other plants in the garden, like my hosta or anything else that looked appetizing.

The bright-red lily leaf beetle, Lilioceris lilii, is European native that turned up in eastern Mass. in 1992–probably in a shipment of lily bulbs. These pests only eat true lilies, those of the Lilium genus, including Asiatic, Easter, & Oriental lilies. No need to worry about daylilies–they are from the genus Hemerocallis and which are not true lilies.

Lily leaf beetles lay reddish-orange eggs on the underside of lily and fritillaria leaves, and it’s the just hatched larva that cause the most devastation, here’s a photo from the Earth Friendly Gardening Blog. This larva is what I had mistaken for baby slugs. These creatures carrying their frass or what we know as poop on its back, they developed this habit to protect itself from predators.
Because it’s from Europe, there are no native predators here. University of Rhode Island researchers have traveled to Europe, picked up some larva or parasitic wasps that prey on lily leaf beetles, and are currently introducing the wasp to the region. When this introduction takes hold (and it seems to be successful so far), then hopefully gardeners will be able to breathe a little easier.

In your garden at home you can pick the adults, eggs, and larva off your lilies, making sure you destroy them–try dropping them in a can of vegetable oil or soapy water with a lid. The adults can be found quite easily because of their bright red color, and as I mentioned early you have to squish them and snap them very hard to destroy them. I went to my local gardening center, Shoreline Gardens, and spoke with the owner who told me to call the local extension service, I left messages with the folks at the UCONN Cooperative Extension System.

Here are some good links below which helped me identify the pest as well as educate me about the life span of these damaging critters:

Earth Friendly Gardening Blog: New England Pests, The Lily Leaf Beetle (much of the this Fun and Flora blog post on Lily Leaf Beetles comes directly from this wonderful post written by Caroline Brown)

Cornell University Cooperative Extension

University of Rhode Island Greenshare Factsheets

UMASS Extension

University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension System

Photo credits:
Larva with frass/poop photo by UMASS
Adult Lily Leaf Beetle photo by State of Maine Department of Agriculture
Red Asian Lily photo by Michelle Adinolfo-Fishman

Honoring Memorial Day

2010-05-30T19:41:00.002-04:00

I do not have American Flags in my garden, but the flora in the garden is doing an incredible job of showing its Memorial Day display. Many red, white, and blue flowers are shining brightly this weekend. Enjoy the holiday weekend with your friends and family and please keep the soldiers and veterans in your hearts and minds for their selfless duty in protecting our freedom and liberties.

Eggs, Marvelous Eggs!

2010-05-28T13:06:00.000-04:00

I think that in our fast paced society with a thousand things going on at once, we can sometimes take the food that's in our pantries and our fridges for granted. With two young children at home I totally get this, between the limited amount of time you have in the day, and your family's budget it can sometimes be difficult to purchase food from farmers' markets or local farms.

Over the past few months I have really tried to make a concerted effort to do so, by purchasing food that is in season, having our own garden, and acquiring the food my young family would eat at the local farms and farmers' markets. One of the things my family loves is eggs. We must go through 2 dozen eggs in the course of a week or a week and half. The girls really enjoy fresh eggs and/or homemade pancakes for breakfast. Between breakfasts, baking, and making veggie quiches or strata from our eggs, our supply depletes quite rapidly.

Our first experience with fresh eggs was at the White Gate Farm in East Lyme, Connecticut. We couldn't get over how beautiful the shells looked, and how orange and golden the yolks were. You know it's a fresh egg when it doesn't spread out so quickly in the pan, and well frankly, the yolks are like golden velvet, the fresh flavor is unmistakable.

We all know that supermarkets are convenient places to buy our food, and when I couldn't get eggs in East Lyme I would buy the Farmer's Cow Eggs at the local Stop and Shop. My youngest daughter and I have since discovered a wonderful family farm called the "Mothership Farm" in Durham, Connecticut.

Each week we pass through the quaint Main Street of Durham, Connecticut, and here is where Mothership Farm is located. It is a small family farm run by Marilyn and Paul, and they make this local farm purchase a pleasure. When buying food from local producers you establish relationships with people that produce your food. My youngest daughter understands this concept very well. She looks forward to visiting the farm, seeing the chickens, and other animals, and the visit is even more special when Paul and Marilyn's granddaughter is present. As a Mom that warms my heart knowing that my kids understand the importance of healthy food, and appreciate the local people and faces behind it.

Peonies

2010-05-27T14:06:00.003-04:00

While I was on Facebook the other day a friend had posted a picture of a peony that had come from her great grandmother's garden. How wonderful that a flower can tell a story in your garden. Whether it is a special rose bush, or heirloom tomato seeds that have traveled the high seas from Europe, our gardens are tapestries that tell stories of past generations and generations to come.

I have fond memories of my grandmother's garden, the images that stay in my head were her clusters of daffodils in the Spring, her climbing rose bushes in the Summer, and her beautiful array of gladiolas. Another garden I remember as a little girl was a childhood friend's peony garden. Her Mom had beautiful peonies of white, light pink and magenta that bordered her family home and slate walkway. In the late Springtime when you would saunter up their walkway to the steps of their home, you couldn't help but eye the huge blossoms and smell their sweet fragrance.

An heirloom vegetable, fruit or flower is scientifically defined as a open-pollinated variety that exhibits a distinctive characteristic such as superior flavor or unusual coloration. I prefer the later definition "A valued possession passed down in a family through succeeding generations."

Here is a glimpse of some of the beautiful peonies from our family's garden.

Fresh Herbs

2010-05-25T15:38:00.003-04:00

For anyone who is just starting to garden, growing herbs can be a realistic and manageable start. I think each and everyone of us who loves to garden can sometimes over do it, by purchasing too many seeds, too many annuals or perennials that we can't find the time to plant or maintain.

Chives
But growing a few herbs in small containers on your window sill or in a window box can be very rewarding. Once you begin to use your homegrown herbs when cooking, you'll never go back to supermarket dried herbs again.

My herb pots have been doing very well this year with the wet Spring and warmer temperatures. I can't wait till the end of the summer when I can make some basil pesto.

Parsley

Sage

Empty Nest

2010-05-25T15:08:00.002-04:00

Well it was definitely less than 2 weeks, our little doves that hatched a few weeks ago have left their nest.

We could not get over how quickly they grew over a 10 day period. Before we knew it they were doing test flights on our back deck, and within days their nest was empty.

Thank you dear doves for squatting under our balcony. We enjoyed every minute of your brief visit with us.

CitySeed Farmers' Market - Wooster Square

2010-05-23T21:52:00.001-04:00

My family and I headed to the CitySeed Farmers' Market on Saturday and we had such a great morning. The CitySeed staff have established a Farmers' Market with such a fun feel and a great assortment of vendors with absolutely delicious food.

The goal of CitySeed in the New Haven Community is to engage the community in understanding the importance of good local food and nutrition. This in turn supports economic development within the area, it educates and strengthens the community, and sustains the local agriculture.

They offer a number of programs to the New Haven Community. This organization also provides food security for thousands of New Haven residents by accepting Food Stamps at all of their markets, every City Farmers' Market is also WIC certified by the CT Department of Agriculture, allowing CitySeed to accept WIC and Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) coupons.

CitySeed is currently selling their cookbook "New Haven Cooks". It is an amazing cookbook that is worth the purchase not only for the recipes, but the local food reference material, the faces of the New Haven community, as well as supporting such a great cause and organization. Click here for information about CitySeed and their fabulous cookbook.

All in all it was a fun morning in New Haven. The girls enjoyed the pretzels and pastries, and had fun picking out the salad mix with all of the edible flowers. Parking wasn't an issue and there was a great playground a few blocks away on Wooster Street. We were also able to partake in some infamous Pepe's pizza without the line!!

Veggies and Fruit are Shaping Up!

2010-05-23T21:04:00.001-04:00

Well it has been over a month and the seeds and small seedlings I have planted in our containers have started to resemble young fruit and vegetables. The kids and I have been having so much fun peeking out into the balcony to see what new things are coming up.

The real excitement has been watching the strawberries blossom and now we actually have a few green strawberries on our plants.

The carrot and beet seeds are starting to take shape and the tops are beginning to look beautiful.

Carrots

Beets

Artichokes

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

2010-05-21T16:07:00.007-04:00

Many of the "Green" principles that people apply to protecting and preserving our earth, can be applied to gardening. This would make sense as many of us don't have greenhouses, we garden in the earth of our backyards, community gardens, or in containers where it is feasible. I have made a list of 10 ways a gardener can Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Many of these principles help to save our environment and our pocketbook.

1.) Compost, Compost, Compost - If you are able to have a compost pile in your backyard, it is the best way in which you can provide nutrients to your garden. Leaves, grass clippings, newspaper, and vegetable clippings, etc. can be recycled by making compost as each of these components break down. The whole process of creating compost and then reusing it to fertilize your garden epitomizes the whole idea of recycling.

2.) Reuse empty plastic yogurt and snack containers to grow seedlings - Why spend the money on seedling trays when you can use something that may be in your recycling bin. Be sure to poke holes at the bottom for proper drainage. Here is a great link about seed starting from a great web site, You Grow Girl.

3.) Trade your plant cuttings or extra perennials with friends and family - That is the beautiful thing about gardening, when your Hostas start to get too big for an area of your garden, and you need some strawberries for a new strawberry pot. Why not trade your extra hostas with a friend who has some extra strawberries in her strawberry patch?

4.) Reuse items in your attic, garage or storage - It is amazing what you can find for your garden when you shop in your own house. Old china plates can be used for saucers under pots, baskets can be use with some moss for an herb garden. Heck I've even seen someone make an amazing planter out of an old pair of rubber boots. I found an old wine rack in my basement and used it for my balcony vegetable garden.

5.) Reduce your usage of water - Some gardeners who practice "Green" principles have installed rain barrels. Another way is by using soaker hoses in your garden. This can also save your plants from mold and mildew. I even leave my watering cans out when I know it is going to rain.

6.) Trade your seed catalogs among friends and family - Why should postage or another seed catalog be wasted when you can borrow the catalog from a friend to place your order?

7.) Need more info about gardening and want to cook seasonal recipes, visit your local library - Look up the vast assortment of reference materials from gardening books, cookbooks, and gardening and food periodicals.

8.) Save your seeds for next year's crop - Heirloom varieties of vegetable seeds can be dried and saved for the following year's crops. There are a number of heirloom varieties available through seed catalogs and garden centers. Once you do a little research you'll be amazed at all the different types of carrots, beans, and tomatoes that exist in this world. To learn more about saving your seeds go to Seed Saver's Exchange.

9.) Support local agriculture - Local foods may cost a little more at your initial purchase, but you are getting produce and homemade food that hasn't traveled thousands of miles to get to your local supermarket. By supporting local producers, you are supporting your local economy, you are acquiring food that is tasty and fresh, and you are reducing the carbon footprint on our environment.

10.) Give extra produce and flowers to friends, family and those in need - There are many new organizations that have been established to use the extra food from farmers' markets and community gardens to give to Soup Kitchens and Food Pantries across the nation. To learn about Connecticut Food Bank's Program Plant a Row for the Hungry click here.

Fashion Design

2010-05-20T16:15:00.000-04:00

There are many different trades relating to design, if you have visited this blog before you may have seen some of my examples of the graphic design work that I have produced. Fashion Design is definitely an art form, and a trade in design that takes a heck of a lot of training and a lot of talent. Recently there has been more interest in the trade with reality shows like "Project Runway" and "The Fashion Show".

When I go to pick out the clothes in my closet I do admit that I take the whole fashion design thing for granted. Lets be honest with the little ones, my main concerns are that I match, I look presentable, and at least have a little bit of a hip edge . . . I may be a stay-at-home Mom, but I make every effort to look presentable so I feel good when I start the day.

So I took the home-economics classes in school, and I attempted to make a dress in 8th grade, it was NOT pretty. I do salute the fashion designers and stylists. Thank you for your art and your fashion savviness, and for making us ladies look nice.

I'll leave this post with a photo of my Aunt Bev's Fashion Design works of art. She designs in miniature form for Barbie dolls. When I was a little girl she used to make clothes for my Barbies. Now my girls have the opportunity of being recipients of these amazing miniature fashion designs. I always say to her, oh how I wish you could design for big people, because the clothes are so gorgeous. Hats off and hugs to you Aunt Bev for your mark on the fashion world!!

Local Plant Sales

2010-05-18T11:21:00.003-04:00

Now that we have entered Late Spring, the local papers have had notices for Plant Sales and Garden Tours. On Saturday I was able to attend a local plant sale in my hometown of Killingworth, Connecticut. Judy, the homeowner and gardener had carved out an oasis in her yard, each garden was so beautiful! The pictures that I had taken do not do the gardens justice but I did take a few closeups of her irises and lilacs from some of her gardens.

It was a lot of fun catching up with the Killingworth folk and talking garden lingo. My oldest daughter had a blast inspecting all the different gardens and picking her "wish list" of perennials to put in our garden. By the end of our visit my Mom, my daughter and I had a rather large pile of our purchases.

Many local garden and plant sales are intended to raise money in the support of garden clubs and agriculture initiatives. It is definitely worth a visit if you have the opportunity to attend one. The plants that are sold are usually local to your area, they are affordable, and you get the chance to support an organization or cause that sustains the gardens and flora in your area.

Madison Farmer's Market

2010-05-18T08:34:00.001-04:00

This past Friday I met my friend and her family with my kids at the Farmers' Market in Madison, Connecticut. I was quite impressed with the variety of vendors that were available and all of their wonderful local produce and wares this early in the season. There was a little of something for everyone, and the kids really enjoyed the musicians that were playing that afternoon. If you are local to the Connecticut Shoreline, the Madison Farmer's Market is open from 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM on Friday afternoons at the Town Green.

Fresh Asparagus

2010-05-16T21:27:00.002-04:00

A week ago my youngest daughter and I had the pleasure of visiting Cole's Farm in Madison, Connecticut to purchase some local asparagus. Cole's Farm has been around for a number of years. I remember going to the farm stand as a little girl to purchase fresh corn with my Mom and Dad. My family now has the opportunity to share the same family traditions when purchasing local food.

The taste of fresh asparagus is astounding, and it looks so much healthier when it hasn't traveled the thousands of miles to get to your local market. I recently read Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle", and she dedicated a whole chapter to asparagus, it was really fascinating. I had no idea that it took three years before the first harvest, and that it was such a challenging vegetable to grow.

My mother's parents, Grandma and Grandpa Sam had a huge vegetable garden in their backyard. One of the many things they grew was asparagus. My Mom remembers fondly how my grandmother used to simmer the asparagus on the stove, and then serve it over buttered toast. The "Simply in Season" cookbook has a recipe that is similar to that of my grandmother, though it can be made with either asparagus or spinach.

Creamed Asparagus of Spinach

1 pound / 500 g asparagus (cut in 3/4-inch / 2 cm pieces)
or 3 cups / 750 ml fresh spinach (loosely packed)
Cook asparagus in small amount of water until just tender,
10-12 minutes. Drain and set aside. Steam spinach and set aside.

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
2 cups / 500 ml milk
Melt butter in frypan over medium heat. Stir in flour until smooth.

Gradually add milk, stirring constantly until smooth. Cook over
medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens. Stir in
asparagus or spinach; season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve
over buttered toast or in omelets or popovers.

Simply in Season, Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert, Herald Press,
Scottdale, Pennsylvania, Waterloo, Ontario, 2009, p. 59.

Page Contributors: Mildren Metzler Steinter, Goshen, Indiana
Cheryl Hochstetler Shirk, Hyattsville, Maryland
Pearl Hoover, Fairfax, Virginia

The Spin on Salad

2010-05-14T16:12:00.007-04:00

It has been exciting to see all of the different kinds of lettuce and greens that have been flourishing in our container vegetable garden. From Arugula, to heirloom Green Oakleaf lettuce, a hybrid Oakleaf lettuce that my neighbor gave me, and another heirloom variety called Wheeler's Tom Thumb Lettuce. With all of these Spring greens I needed to purchase a salad spinner. In the past I had used the paper bag shake method to dry the lettuce or wash the lettuce in a colander, and then blot with paper towels. Now that I have the salad spinner it is so much easier, and the girls love to give the spinner a whirl and see the dry lettuce in side. Below are some photos of the new greens from the garden.

I had told a close friend of mine about my need for a salad spinner, and she with her economic thriftiness mentioned that I could find a quality one at Home Goods for a good bargain. My youngest daughter and I went to run some errands the other day, and . . . Eureka! We found our salad spinner.

I made a delicious Spring salad with greens that I harvested from the vegetable garden, and chives from the herb garden. The strawberries and walnuts were not local yet in Connecticut, but their organic addition made the salad taste amazing.

Monarchs Everywhere

2010-05-13T21:08:00.004-04:00

I enjoyed a wonderful Mother's Day with my family this past Sunday. My husband surprised the girls and I by taking us to the Butterfly Pavilion at Chelsea Gardens in Norwich, CT.

It's always a treat to see butterflies in my garden drinking the nectar from our butterfly bushes, but to see hundreds of them in one small area was truly amazing.

Chelsea Garden volunteers went around with sponges soaked in a sweet liquid that is very similar to nectar, and the butterflies would land on your hand to drink the liquid. You could also put your hand under their nose and they would creep right on to your hand. The girls were in awe of this, specifically my oldest daughter.

Unfortunately many experts are reporting that this year may be one of the worst years for the monarch butterfly. Severe hailstorms in Mexico (one of the monarch's winter homes) followed by fifteen inches of rain has left the population decimated by up to 50 percent this year.

The monarch butterflies and painted lady butterflies from this event were from a Butterfly Farm in Florida. The butterflies are shipped as adults and packaged in special fold-out cardboard container. The company shipped the butterflies by an overnight courier that was timed to arrive the day before the event.

The butterflies in Chelsea Gardens were housed in a special netting area that was enclosed inside their very warm temperate greenhouse. Due to the cold temperatures we experienced in the beginning of the week, representatives from Chelsea Gardens said they wouldn't be releasing them in their natural habitat until it became a little bit warmer in Connecticut. They seemed very happy and content with all of the beautiful flowers in the greenhouses.

The Woes of Mr. McGregor

2010-05-12T08:02:00.004-04:00

I remember going to the library as a little girl and curling up in the corner to get a peek at all of the Beatrix Potter Books. I loved that they were so small and could easily fit in your hand. That meant I could check out a whole pile of them.

The one story that always stayed with me was "The Tale of Peter Rabbit". I don't know if it was my sympathy for him with his misfortunes due to his curiosity and disobedience, or his Mom nursing him at the end with the spot of chamomile tea.

Either way, Peter does reek havoc in Mr. McGregor's garden from the lettuces, french beans, and radishes, to the parsley that would ease his tummy ache. As a kid you see Mr. McGregor as the bad guy, but as a gardener I empathize with the poor guy.

Our container vegetable garden with its new sprouts of lettuce, beets, and carrots is safe from our furry friends up on our balcony, but my young Asian lilies have experienced some rabbit grazing from the bottom up. Last year my young Day lily plants were ravaged by them, but this year, the produce of choice seems to be the Asian lilies.

Earlier in the season I had used some of the Shake Away Critter repellent, which is essentially granulated fox urine. It seemed to have helped with saving my Day lilies, but unfortunately I used the last of it, and then our crazy Spring rains came. The Asian lilies seem to be holding on which is good. I make every effort to keep things organic in both the perennial flower garden and vegetable garden. My next step will be my Mom's recipe for stinky egg spray or I'll try an organic pepper spray.

Oh, I feel your pain Mr. McGregor.

The cover art of the Peter Rabbit Book was obtained from the Project Guttenberg Ebook of the Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter, Produced by Ronald Holder, the Online Distributed Proofreading Team and the Internet Archive, University of Florida, PM Children's Library.

Take Cover

2010-05-11T21:30:00.005-04:00

The weather has been really beautiful in Connecticut the past few weeks. On Sunday evening that all changed with "frost warnings" for the state. After all the work that I had done with the early crops of our container vegetable and fruit garden, I wasn't going to take any chances.

The vegetable pots came into the sun porch and the potted blueberry bushes were covered in flannel sheets, as well as my herb pots on the back deck.

It was fun to see our garden all laid out in on the floor of the sun porch. It made us realize how big are garden is, and will be when we put in the warmer climate vegetables, herbs and flowers.

Chilly temperatures expect to stay around for the next couple of days. I am hoping my TLC helped them get through this cold snap.

Mother's Day

2010-05-09T16:00:00.004-04:00

Mother's Day is the honored day to celebrate mothers for all that they do. I know that sometimes many of us take our Moms for granted, but once you become a Mom, do you ever appreciate your Mom all the more. For me, my Mom is my friend, my sounding board, my life coach, that amazing Grandma, Mom and woman all rolled into one. The Mom who nursed me with cases of poison ivy and bad allergies, the Mom who made special cookies and treats as needed. When my local Girl Scouts troop needed a leader my Mom held the post. When my friends and I wanted to establish a church youth group, she was there with my Dad to offer the support and guidance we needed. She has certainly been my mentor on the Mom front, and it has been the most heartwarming treasure to have her be a part of my daughters' upbringing and life experiences.

So we all know that Moms sacrifice a lot when they raise their kids, it takes a good deal of patience, compassion and care to raise children. A garden visitor and squatter has become the symbol of a Mom's dedication. A "Mourning Dove" built a nest under our balcony garden a few weeks ago, and since then has been incubating her eggs continuously with the help of her mate who takes a shift at watching the eggs while she goes out to feed. Through rain, and strong winds she has been sitting at her nest keeping her baby eggs warm. The girls and I have been eyeing the nest each morning to check for new arrivals.

On Friday we noticed the first baby dove had hatched from her egg, and the latest baby appeared to arrive either late yesterday or early this morning. We will have the opportunity to see the growth of these new baby birds over the next couple of weeks until they leave their nest. Mommy Mourning Doves will sometimes reuse the same nest for five sets of eggs in one single season. In the meantime it has been a great pleasure to watch this mother's dedication right outside our window.

Visions of Spring

2010-05-06T13:02:00.000-04:00

After what seemed a very long Winter it was so nice to see small glimmers of Spring this year. I can't remember the last Spring in Connecticut that we have been able to enjoy the beautiful weather, and work out in our gardens so early in the season. I remember as a little girl checking our garden at the end of Winter for our Spring crocuses. My girls do the same by spotting the first robin, and looking for the tops of the daffodils peeking out of the ground. My Mom always used to be so happy when Spring had finally arrived I always remember her happy chant, "Kids Spring has Sprung!"

It certainly isn't a coincidence that many important religious holidays take place during Spring such as Easter and Passover, and that "Earth Day" is also celebrated. For many people this time of year helps to restore their spirituality as our earth goes through a period of "rebirth" with its changing season.

This week the girls went to their music class at the library and it took place outside in the warm sunshine under a beautiful tree in the garden. We danced around a Maypole as villagers did hundreds of years ago. This custom originated with the celebration of the Roman goddess Flora celebrating human fertility and the renewal of nature.

I'll leave this post with some Spring garden photos of my garden and my mother's garden.

Local Farm, Local Flavor

2010-05-05T21:24:00.000-04:00

There are some settings that words and pictures don't often do justice. This past weekend my husband, the girls, and I visited White Gate Farm in East Lyme, Connecticut. It is such a beautiful place that you want to grab your blanket and a picnic basket and spend the day. The girls and I have visited the Farm Stand on a few occasions, but this was my husband's first opportunity to visit the farm, and he couldn't believe his eyes.

Pauline Lord operates the farm business, and does an incredible job of making a personal and warm connection to her customers. Each and every time we have visited the farm store she has been there to greet us, and provide the girls with samples and fun tidbits about the farm. I look forward to her email each week providing me details about new chicks or lambs arriving at the farm along with the latest produce and organic products available at the farm stand.

This past week I purchased some beautiful easter egg radishes that were fabulous on a variety of Spring Salads that I have been making, and some local roasted coffee from Ashlawn Farm in Old Lyme, Connecticut. I look forward to future visits to this enchanting place and all of the good food that will develop from our farm purchases.

May Day

2010-05-02T23:33:00.000-04:00

My family and I enjoyed a beautiful morning at the 2010 May Day Celebration at the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, Connecticut. Florence Griswold opened her home to artists searching for a quiet country retreat where they could find sources of inspiration. The group was known as the Lyme Art Colony and Miss Florence's boardinghouse became the center of Impressionism in America. The museum was established in her honor and has many fun and exciting programs for adults and children, click here to see more upcoming events.

There are beautiful gardens surrounding the Museum and Florence Griswold's family home. This weekend I learned that these gardens are a part of Connecticut's Historical Gardens. These 14 distinctive gardens have their own unique charm and design. I look forward to visiting some of the other gardens this summer.

It was so nice to be outside enjoying the first beautiful day of May, and the girls had a great time creating artistic masterpieces with their very own paint palettes and canvases.

Tag Sale Finds Are My Garden's Treasures

2010-04-30T15:56:00.000-04:00

It is amazing what you can find at a Tag Sale. We all know the old saying "someone's junk is someone else's treasure." I am a firm believer in recycling stuff around the house, it is amazing what one can find when you shop in your storage areas, attics, etc. I will be keeping my vegetable garden and flower garden in mind when I browse tag sales this year.

I found this cute teapot and salad plates at the Killingworth Historical Society Tag Sale. The strawberry teapot makes a great vase for my garden's flowers. How cute this will be with more of my annual cut flowers and wildflowers that the girls pick for me throughout the Summer.

The china salad plates will look great as saucers for my terracotta ceramic pots. Petunias or potted herbs will compliment the colors in the pot and the china. My garden scored today!!

Farm City

2010-04-30T00:38:00.000-04:00

Well it all started with trying to beat a case of the Winter blahs. In February I decided to take a trip to our local library and grab a good book that would take my mind to a different place. I headed upstairs where there is a selection of books that have been mentioned on NPR. There I found a wonderful book called "Farm City" by Novella Carpenter.

The memoir explores Novella's experience with starting a micro-farm on squatted land in the city of Oakland, California. She provides vivid and humorous details involving beekeeping, raising turkeys and pigs in her apartment building's backyard.

The book was an enjoyable read and I learned a lot about heirloom seeds, beekeeping, and some interesting technical know-how stuff related to small-scale farming. "Farm City" entertained me with her antics of feeding her farm animals by dump diving through up-scale restaurant trash and her vibrant city turkeys.

Her passion for her farm and her community gardening is quite contagious. I had a new mission after reading Novella's book, and that was to create my own vegetable garden, and learn about the local farms where I live. This read provided a stepping stone for "Fun and Flora." To learn more about Novella Carpenter and "Ghost Town Farm" in Oakland, please read her blog.

Fun and Flora

2010-04-29T00:12:00.000-04:00

Over the past few years I have developed a passion for gardening and have been building a perennial garden around our home. This year I have taken it to the next level by establishing a container vegetable garden. This new project has allowed me to do a lot of research about growing food, organic farming/gardening, as well as exploring local agriculture.

Through my family's gardening adventures and exploration of local food I hope to provide you with a fun and rich blog experience. In the future, look for photos of our garden, journeys to the local farm markets, recipes, local agriculture/gardening initiatives, and various odds and ends along the way.

How Does My Garden Grow?

2010-04-26T22:48:00.000-04:00

I can't remember a Spring like this in a very long time. It has been an absolute joy to be able to work in the garden and see the rewards of my labors over the past few years.

Spring started out a bit rough with Mother Nature washing away the vegetable seeds in my balcony garden. Over the past month I have been more patient with each new vegetable seed and plant and my new vegetable pot garden has begun to sprout. The perrenial flower gardens have been doing fabulous as well, without too many visits from Peter Rabbit.

Tom Thumb Lettuce Seedlings Popping Up

My strawberries are a wonderful garden trade from a neighbor and friend . . . hostas for strawberries, can't wait till June.

Art of Baking

2010-03-28T21:46:00.000-04:00

Who would think when you bake that a bread or a cookie could take some many different forms. In celebration of many of the Jewish holidays there is special foods. One in particular is Challah bread which I try to bake each week in celebration of Shabbat.

I finally mastered this bread by taking a wonderful recipe from Marcy Goldman's cookbook, "A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking." It is a Challah dough recipe that I mix in my breadmaker and when it has finished its last rise cycle I take the dough out and braid it to form our Shabbat bread.

This makes absolutely fabulous french toast if you have leftovers the next day. During the High Holidays our Challah bread is formed in the shape of a round spiral circle loaf signifying the cycle of our New Year.

Another delicious and fun baked good is for the Jewish Holiday Purim. Hamantaschen are beautifully shaped triangle cookies that are are traditionally filled with fruit, date or poppy seed filling. For the ease of baking with the little ones I fill the cookies with a rasberry or strawberry jam. They are baked/designed in their own special way. The legend of the Hamantaschen cookie is that they get their shape from Haman, the evil villain of the Purim story, who is said to have worn a triangle shaped hat.

The Oscars Tonight

2010-03-07T20:52:00.000-05:00

Tonight are the Oscars, and I wish I had the chance to see more of the films that were nominated for best picture. It certainly is an interesting year with so many pictures having the opportunity to be nominated. A lot of the mainstream films receive a lot of publicity and press, but I think other films like documentaries sometimes get overlooked.

This weekend I happened to see the documentary Food Inc., which was really interesting. It certainly made me think an awful lot about the animal by-products of the food myself and my family consumes. I had seen the author of the book on Oprah, but seeing the film in its entirety has changed the way I look at food at the grocery store. If you have the stomach, and the curiosity it is worth seeing.

Another documentary film that I had wanted to see was "The Garden". The movie documents the struggles of a community that is trying to save their 14 acre farm in the center of South Central Los Angeles. The farm provided food, and nutrition for families and created a community. The plight of the farmers is documented through their will to speak out, organize and fight back. I have visited the local Blockbuster with no success in finding the film, my next hope is to find the DVD through an interlibrary loan.

Best of luck and success to these documentary filmmakers with their messages and missions they translate through these films.

Do You Believe in Fairies?

2010-03-03T21:37:00.000-05:00

Design comes in all mediums and all shapes and sizes. What my daughters and I encountered this Fall in Old Lyme at the Wee Faerie Village in Old Lyme was absolutely amazing. The attention to detail, and the use of all natural materials was really unbelievable, these were little works of art that you needed to see with your own eyes.

It provided us with a goal, and that was to create our own Fairy House at home. Using Mother Nature's resources we created our dwelling for Fairies to live in our yard. It turned out to be a fun creative way to spend our afternoon.

Our goal for this Spring and Summer is to create more Fairy Houses for our Garden. A wonderful book to help with this process is "Fairy Houses and Beyond" by Barry & Tracy Kane.

To Hibernate or Motivate . . .

2010-01-26T15:41:00.000-05:00

It is late January and yes, the winter doldrums have set in. My goal is to beat the doldrums and to do my best to not succumb to the desire to stay indoors and do the "Bear" thing. It has been a hard month with the girls being sick, but everyday I have been trying to work on a new project, whether work related, reading a book, or accomplishing an improvement in the house.

There are days when you just want to stay curled up in the house, but I keep saying must "motivate activity, energy, and outlook!!!"

The sunny days have been great and help to get me pscyhed for Springtime and looking for signs of Spring in the garden. I keep saying only a couple of months left, and the girls and I are dreaming of days on the beach again.

Let's hope Mr. Groundhog comes through next week.

Fairy Tale Wishes Do Come True . . .

2009-08-12T21:24:00.000-04:00

Over the past few months I have had the amazing opportunity to work with the staff of the Henry Carter Hull Library in Clinton, Connecticut to produce a mural for their Children's Room. Lynn Hidek, Barb Loescher, and I brainstormed about ideas to generate a Fairy Tale illustration.

I don't know how many Fairy Tale books I checked out over this period of time, but looking at the work of very talented children's book illustrators helped get the creative juices flowing. My daughters also had the opportunity to have special time with Mommy and read many of these great tales.

The mural needed to be bright and cheery, to capture your attention, and I wanted it to coordinate with the future color scheme of the children's room. The end result can be seen in this blog and on the wall of our library.

I want to thank Lynn and Barb for their patience and for letting me be a part of something so special.

Ahhh . . . Summer At Last!

2009-07-05T22:28:00.000-04:00

Well it was a long wet spring and I am so happy that Summer is finally here in Connecticut. I was beginning to think that we had switched coasts and we were living in Seattle, Washington.

Things are brighter and days are just more laid back and fun. There is just a feel and a mindset when you are living in the Summer months. As a kid you were psyched when school got out and the days were filled with hours of playing outside with your friends. I remember my Mom flashing our outside light when it was time for us to come in. Hours of kickball, wiffle ball, and riding our bikes around the neighborhood.

As an adult you cherish those sweet days of sunshine and relaxation, there's nothing better. Here's to building a ton of sand castles with my kids this summer, and enjoying each and every day!!

River Deep, Mountain High

2009-06-17T21:52:00.000-04:00

Over the past few years I have been a busy Mom raising my two little girls with my husband. Other parents can understand about the love, the time and the energy all of this takes. Along with being a designer, I am also a stay-at-home Mom which makes for a busy schedule and busy day. Needless to say some of those fun leisure activities I used to do before my kids were born were neglected.

This month it was so sweet to be back in my kayak again. I forgot how much I loved kayaking. It is so peaceful being out on the water, just hearing the sound of my oar cutting the water, and every thought and worry just melts away. I thank my dear sister for this, and look forward to some more kayak adventures with her this summer.

So along with kayaking I used to do some serious mountain biking with friends at Pfizer. I do admit that I have not hit the mountain biking trails again, but the family mini-van did climb a mountain this past week. Now that the kids are bigger, they are coming on the adventures with my husband and I. We braved the auto road excursion to the Summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire. This is definitely a white-knuckle drive. I am usually pretty brave with the height thing, speed and all of that, but I wasn't even driving and my hands were sweating. Well, it was worth the ride, 100 mile visibilty and it was a beautiful day.

Ooohhh I love you sister my Oh my, yeah River Deep Mountain High!!! . . . you know it girl, of course it had to be a Tina Turner song!!!

New Mediums for Design

2009-05-16T23:21:00.000-04:00

As a graphic designer, designs that I produce take on a variety of communication mediums, print, electronic formats through the internet, and now with new multimedia applications, I have been producing DVD's.

Well as a Mom I have also had to provide creative talents to my children's projects that have come in the form of CAKE. Yes, the past few weeks I replaced my Wacom Graphic Design Tablet for a Wilton Cake Decorating Tool.

In April the girls submitted entries in the 2009 Edible Books Event at our beloved Henry Carter Hull Library.

The beginning of May soon arrived along with two birthday celebrations. Daddy's special birthday surprise was chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, and my oldest daughter had an "Ariel Mermaid Cake" for her birthday celebration.

I certainly appreciate those gifted bakers and food stylists after a month of cake decorating. It was definitely fun, and what I produced for my clients was met with many mmmmhhh's and frosting faces, but I don't think "Ace of Cakes" is in my future.

Gifts of Motherhood

2009-04-13T15:06:00.000-04:00

I have had a few jobs in my life, but being a parent has been the most challenging as well as the most rewarding. There are some days that I try and get through each moment, which can sometimes be a struggle. But there are also those wonderful days when I know I am so blessed for what I have and for having the opportunity to be at home with my girls.

Friday was one of those days. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the girls and our friends took a field trip to the Ray of Light Farm in East Haddam, CT. What a great day to be outside. Watching my children marvel at the animals was pure joy. Now that they are getting bigger it is no nice to see them bond with one another and enjoy each other's company. The photograph and that Friday were indeed one of those special gifts of motherhood.

A Hint of Spring

2009-03-31T21:07:00.000-04:00

I don't know what it is about Spring that some how life and everything just feels a whole lot better. Maybe its the hope of the new season bringing warmth and spots of color to our bland surroundings. The opportunity to be outside and take in the fresh air.

The winter seemed so very long this year with its cold temperatures and frequent snow storms. Today was one of those fabulous days to be outside and take in everything Spring had to offer.

Can't think of a better way I'd rather spend my afternoon than hanging out with my 3 year old, and playing hopscotch outside and capturing some visions of Spring with the digital cameras. My daughter took the daffodil shot above. (Not too shabby) I think our dog quite enjoyed popping all of the bubbles that were made this afternoon too!

I am looking forward to warmer temperatures and more frequent days just like these. Over the next few months I plan to take some more photos of the garden, and some "Field Trip Destinations". For now, I am going to enjoy every minute of these days as they come.

Road Trip

2009-02-24T21:31:00.000-05:00

What is it about the idea of a Road Trip that seems so much fun. ROAD TRIP!!!!!! As a student in college it was always fun to get off campus and be on a journey that wasn't related to classes, etc. it was just about being with friends and having an adventure. As I grew older these journeys became longer with the assistance of air travel, but I tell you once I got to my destination and got into my automobile . . . good times.

Now it has been great to share a good road trip with my partner, aka husband, and we have introduced our girls to the Road Trip. Thanks to new automobile technology it makes long road trips a little more easier and pleasant when traveling with little ones.

Here are some of my fond memories that have made the top 5.

5.) Spring Break with my girlfriends from Ithaca College Ithaca, NY to Myrtle Beach, SC. Bon voyage Happy Holiday Motel. Junior Year, 1991.

4.) Recent family road trip to Maine with the girlies. Sweet as pie both ways. February, 2009.

3.) Road trip to Bethel, Maine with my hubby, good times even when it was 105 degrees in Maine. The kayaking adventure on the Androscoggin River was the highlight of the journey. Summer, 2002.

2.) Driving through the Nevada and Arizona desert with my gal Susan in a convertible. Vegas, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Valley of Fire, and the one lone restaurant that we stopped for lunch. Heck it was like being Thelma & Louise, and whatever radio station we listened to had the best tunes, Winter, 2003.

1.) Week in San Francisco and Sausalito, May, 2001. Once I landed at the airport I immediately picked up my mustang convertible and off I went. I pretty much adventured on my own though my friend put me up on his boat for the week in Sausalito. The May weather was perfect and because of that, having the convertible was absolutely amazing, the sites and the smells of spring. Driving through wine country, driving up Mount Tamalpais, hiking through Meir Woods, and just driving over the Golden Gate each day was just incredible!!!

The Power of Music

2008-11-16T10:45:00.000-05:00

It is interesting how a song can trigger a memory or a mood. Maybe it was your first love, your first concert, a lifetime achievement. Whatever it is, that melody, those lyrics and that song have unbelievable powers.

Last evening I attended my first Elton John concert with my sister, and it was incredible!! I've been to a number of concerts, but this definitely made the Top 3.

It was so much fun hearing those classic songs and being in the presence of an amazing musician. My sister and I thought of the days gone by listening to our Elton John's Greatest Hits album dancing and grooving with our brother in our family's garage.

As children our family didn't have a lot of money growing up, but we always had music. Our garage became the neighborhood hang-out to listen to new music and practice the newest dance moves.

So what made my sister and I cry during the performance of "Rocket Man" last night? Was it the bittersweet memories of our youth? Or was it being in the presence of a "Music Legend"?

And i think it's gonna be a long long time

Till touch down brings me round again to find

I'm not the man they think i am at home

Oh no no no i'm a rocket man

What it tells me,

is to keep dreaming,

keep loving,

keep giving,

and keep experiencing all that life provides you.

And what better way to do that through the love of music!!!

Nature's Design

2008-10-12T15:19:00.000-04:00

As a designer, you always want your finished product to be perfect, to wow your client and yourself. But some how mother nature just does it magically. No rubberstamping in Photoshop, no super illustrations in Illustrator, just absolute beautiful scenery.

I captured these photos this morning at Chatfield Hollow State Park in Killingworth, Connecticut where I grew up.

This is my favorite time of the year, the weather is just perfect. You can still wear shorts during the day, but nights are cooler and perfect for good sleeping. Everything even smells better outside. It's funny how you are able to smell the seasons in New England.

I enjoy all the activities centered around Fall, the apple picking, football games, searching for the perfect pumpkin, and hiking. A couple of days ago the girls and I and our friends braved the corn maze at Lyman Orchards, it was a lot of fun.

From the Fall Harvest Festivals to all of the local fairs you can't beat the fun activities centered around autumn.

I guess if I'm hitting a road block with a design project, or a web site, I just need to take a walk outside and check out nature's portfolio.

A Butterfly View

2008-08-12T22:29:00.000-04:00

I have not done a blog in quite some time. I guess I have been enjoying the summer heading to the beach and enjoying the weather and activities outside. Well I have some nice shots of the garden and a winged visitor from today.

Glad to see that others have been enjoying the garden as well as myself and family.

I tried to get a nice shot of the hummingbird, but he seems to get a little intimidated when I get too close and buzzes away.

It has been such a joy to work in the garden this year, nice to see new things come up each week. We're waiting on our sunflowers and a pumpkin. We have pumpkin blossoms but no fruit yet.

. . . stay tuned.

Organization

2008-06-24T10:03:00.000-04:00

As a designer I try to keep all of my artwork and files organized, for the purposes of client review and revisions, as well as for my own design inventory. Making changes or revisions are that much easier when I have my layers named appropriately in Photoshop or Illustrator. Web sites are also easier to manage when files are named appropriately and the assets/images are organized in appropriate folders.

As a Mom, I can function no other way than by being organized from the beginning to the end of the day. Some how the clutter and the schedule is something I can control to make my daily life a little more manageable.

What I do question is the 3 year old mentality and their idea of organization? The photo you see is the organization that was created in a mere 15 minutes. I am sure other Moms and Dads can relate to this everyday occurrence.

Summer Reading

2008-06-20T21:43:00.000-04:00

Well Summer is here tomorrow.

One part of Summer that I do enjoy is reading in the evening or reading when I am at the beach. I don't know what it is about Summer reads that make them so enjoyable?

Is it because I savor the time reading my book with my toes in the water or in the sand at the beach. Or is it the reward at the end of the day when all I can hear is the Summer breeze outside and the peepers chirping through the window screens?

Either way it's fun to spend that down time during the summer and to take yourself somewhere else. And well this summer for a lot of folks that may just do the trick. With gas prices, food prices, and everything else skyrocketing, an inexpensive pleasure will be a Summer read from your local library, and a jaunt to your local beach or park.

Garden Design

2008-06-19T14:53:00.000-04:00

Well it was a beautiful morning and I thought I would go out and take a couple of photos of the garden. I got a beautiful photo of the red lillies which were very happy about the rain last evening.

I thought it was sort or interesting that a number of graphic designers that I know enjoy gardening. They find a passion in seeing what comes up after the weeding, the digging, the rearranging, the planting, and watering.

There are certainly a number of similarities with garden design as well as graphic design. Working with color, balance, texture, and pattern. Some how to make a 3D display of your artwork is really extraordinary and to be able to see that change everyday is just really amazing.

I never thought that digging in the dirt would offer me so much pleasure, but I do indeed love it.

Here is a glimpse of some pumpkin seeds peeking up this morning. Who knows, will we have jack o'lanterns this Fall??

Look for more garden shots in the coming months. I'd like to take some photos of some other designers gardeners as well.