Poppy Shells & Flowers

Found these dainty shells today while doing a little weeding. Any bit of wind sent them flying off the fence where I was trying to take the photo.


I didn't realize the Oriental Poppies (Papaver orientale 'Karine') would bloom frequently over the summer. Here is one of the flowers in September 2006 with a little rain damage:

And this was at the Summer's End party when everyone let their hair loose and even danced with the spiders:

Planting Garlic

Finally, the garlic is in the ground. I admit that I bought the starts (bulbs) in late October. Oh, but it has been so wet/cold since then! Surely, I was smart to wait (right?). Today the soil was very nice for digging.

In case you are wondering, the burlap green coffee bags you can see on the left side of the picture have been working hard all winter to smother/shade out the grass. This is where two new beds will go this spring. Here is the post about the new beds last year.

I also have to admit that I don't know exactly what variety of small garlic I planted. It's just called California Garlic. I know I should have researched, but it was one of those moments of weakness when I didn't want to spend more time hunting. Not that I would have known what to choose if I did have more choices. It was elephant garlic I knew I wanted and the local store did have it, so I got them both. How long until I can have roasted elephant garlic on the menu?

Please let me know your garlic tips and your favorite varieties so I can plan better next time.

Treat Box

Here's a nice little paper container you can make. It started with a piece of 12 inch x 12 inch card stock scrapbooking paper, but I didn't think about photos until I had already cut the curved ends. Follow the pictures going from left to right to see how it progresses.

Above left-approx. 12 inches wide by 9.5 inches from curved side to other curved side. Above, right-Scoring the curved fold that will form the ends of the container is the trickiest part. You see the white template I'm using. It is the same one that I used to cut the curves.
Above left- Now can you see the curved scoring? Above right-just before putting double sided tape (or glue) along the skinny flap on the right side.

Above - see how the curved flaps fold to close the ends? You can carefully crease the folds a little more to make them sharp. The ends are not taped. They stay closed on their own. When the flaps are not folded, the containers are nice and flat until needed again.
Above-Wrap the gift in some tissue or paper to keep it from moving around too much and drop in the container. Packets of seeds would fit just right, or in this case note cards.

A little ribbon or bow finishes it up. Of course it has to go inside a box if being mailed, like this one was.

It can be used again too.

DH & I have a little collection of nice containers and boxes we use for surprises and no further wrapping needed. The template for this one came from one we used for a while. It was showing some wear and I wanted to learn to make another like it.

I hope the post layout comes through to your computer ok - these side by side pictures seem to shift around some. And now I see the photos have gone wavy! Reposted so many times to get them in the right spot, I think I wore out the bytes. If you need clarification on any of them, letme know. Back to 'Allo 'Allo! now before the whole post goes wavey!

Baker's Friends & Family

Every baking experience needs a special potholder, well, one for each hand. After taking the last of the pumpkin out of the oven last night using the darker blue potholder above, I decided to share it tonight. This collection has been given to us over the years by my sister-in-law. Yes, this is DH's sister who made the angel and the moose.

The top right one is a pieced Christmas work that provides year-round calm in the kitchen. I love the fabrics she uses. The green one is a wonderful garden of its own and should have its own picture so you can see all of it. The purple one is another year-round Christmas favorite.

Can you tell what the two round ones are from? Blue jeans! You can see where a pocket had been on the light blue one. I think these round ones were made for a fundraiser by a community group she's in. I must say every time I use them, I remark how wonderful they are. Just the right size for my hand and no corners to end up stuck in the food. The old denim has such a nice feel and they wash up very nicely. How lucky we are to have such creative and generous family!

Gardening in Small Spaces

The lichen garden in October. I think it has pyxie cups and maybe cracked shield lichens in it. The garden is on a fence post along the path to the hillside retreat.

So much for catching up with everyone tonight. I'll try again tomorrow. I'm very tired and we have a DVD with 6 episodes of 'Allo 'Allo! to watch. I'll probably fall asleep on the sofa, but that's ok. I'll watch what I miss later.

Pumpkin Butter

Pumpkin bread for breakfast, plain bread & pumpkin butter for after work snack. Not too bad! No chance it will go uneaten. And fortunately DH won't even try anything with pumpkin in it. More breakfasts for me then.

So here's the recipe for those who want to give it a try. I'll be interested to know what you think and how you adapt it. Recipe comes with a quarter pumpkin for someone nearby!

Honey-Pumpkin Butter (like apple butter - not buttery)

2 cups pureed, cooked pumpkin

1/2 cup honey

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (yellow part only)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients in saucepan. Simmer uncovered over low heat, stirring frequently, 35-40 minutes. Mixture should get quite thick - the same consistency as stiff apple butter when a spoonful is dropped on a chilled saucer. Ladle into jelly jars and refrigerate. Makes 1.25 to 1.5 cups. From Asparagus to Zucchini, a Guide to Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce.

Or my version:

Roughly measure everything, trying to remember which spices were just added so as to not add again, but do add a little more pumpkin 'cause we have lots to use. Squeeze fresh lemon from AZ lemons, but have no luck grating the slightly drying peel so decide fresh lemon juice is enough.(Taste the lemon juice from the bottle in the fridge for comparison. Now lemoned out, go with the fresh.) In between checking on the bread and cleaning up the bread mixing mess, try to remember to stir. Realize it is not on low and turn it down. Wonder if honey burns easily. Do saucer test successfully, but then get distracted, stir some more and declare it done. Cool slightly before scooping into handy Tupperware. Eat the saucer test sample.

Maybe tomorrow we'll move on to a new subject.

Pumpkin Kitchen

So I started my search for the recipe when I got home later than I expected. Any recipe must use at least 1 cup of pumpkin (and then it still gets an extra spoonful). Bread used 1 cup, butter used 2 cups and I still have 1.5 -2 cups left from the first pumpkin half.

This is pumpkin bread with spices & raisins. Tomorrow's breakfast.

The honey-pumpkin butter is done when it has the consistency of stiff apple butter when dropped on a chilled plate. Mine wasn't chilled, but I decided it was done. It will be good on plain bread. The cloves are a bit strong, but maybe they'll blend in after setting.

Here's a very determined Maria helping me inspect for the bread batter I splattered everywhere. Next time wear cute flowery thrifted apron, not robe & pjs! And use the deeper bowl. Looking forward to Wednesday when I can catch up with everyone's blogs.

Lurking Pumpkins?

This Wyatt's Wonder pumpkin has been lurking in our garage. Now he is in the oven! A little vitamin A and iron should be just the boost needed for the ongoing winter predicted by the groundhog. See pumpkins growing, and harvest day Oct 14.
The other Wyatt's became Halloween decorations, so this is the first one I've cut. Seems to be a lot of pumpkin meat in there.
I have been cooking the smaller Snackjack pumpkins conveniently cut in half with shell side up. Since this larger one is more cut up, I added coverings just after I took the photo. This is just half of the pumpkin. I'll bake the rest tomorrow.

I'll mash up the cooked pumpkin tonight and make a pie or something tomorrow. Just saw a recipe for honey-pumpkin butter (like apple butter) I'd like to try also (From Asparagus to Zucchini-a Guide to Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce, from a community supported agriculture organization). There are still few other little pumpkins in the garage, but no more Wyatt's Wonder.

Stay tuned....

Robin Spa

Yes, the NW groundhog saw his shadow yesterday. And just to ensure we got the message, the beautiful clear skies we've had for a week are gone and it's sprinkling. So much for a little digging today.

On the other hand, the robins have been everywhere today. I was happy to see these two make use of the little garden pond off our patio and dining room. It isn't especially bird friendly, but the robins used the water plant stalks in their winter state to let them do a little bathing. I stuck the two tree branches in during the snowy weather since the pond did not freeze near the little bubbler, but the bird baths did.

The pond was in place when we moved here. It was very grown over and we've only tried to keep it a little more maintained.

I'd like to change out the invasive ground cover around most of it and come up with a wildlife & gardener pleasing plan this year. This is where the frog and dragon flies lived last summer so it must have some qualities they liked.

Sow, Welcome February

So, February. Let's get out the book to see what I could have been doing already. This is the Maritime Northwest Garden Guide-Planning Calendar for Year-Round Organic Gardening, produced by the local organization Seattle Tilth. I found it sometime last summer so haven't been through the whole year with it yet. Probably everything I need to know, but of course I cannot resist hunting through the library for every other promising resource too.

"January provides the perfect conditions for imagining and planning a garden." Boy, they got that right. It goes on to share all sorts of wonderful information, seed sources and the seeds you might sow indoors to transplant later. So, February. Our choices expand. In LATE February, there are suggestions for sowing OUTDOORS, in a cloche, and indoors for transplanting later. It also says February in the Maritime Northwest brings rain, rain and more rain!

Here are some of the activities I hope to remember this month. What about you?

1. Peas - Sow by Presidents' Day (Feb. 19th) per tradition in these parts
2. Greens - Sow early spring greens in late February (which greens?)
3. Radishes - DH will eat them, and I recall they were quite fun.
4. Garlic - I have intended to plant in Nov. but maybe this weekend.
5. Book says these hardy annual flowers can be started outside in late February: alyssum, bachelor's buttons, sweet peas... and sweet peas are on my 2007 must grow list.
6. In a cloche (but may wait till Mar): beets, lettuce , spinach
7. Start indoors (but may wait): broccoli, tomatoes

Guess I should go back to the January planning I skipped and figure out who gets to live in which garden bed this year.