This April brings Easter sales the first week of the month. Eggs and ham will be on sale this week, as well as Easter candy, potatoes, strawberries, and butter. This year for Easter I am planning to make chocolate rabbits again. I am continuing to work on filling in the holes in my storage. I…
I picked snow peas from the garden. I cut parsley, green onions, lettuce, and Swiss chard from the garden. A local reader offered me some hand-me-downs for my children. Winter now has 2 new pairs of jeans and a blouse, and Cyrus has a new pair of jeans as well. I bought several pairs…
These simple rabbits are quick and easy to make. I use chocolate wafers, which don’t need to be tempered. Supplies: Rabbit molds. This mold is my favorite, but I also like this one for a large rabbit, this this floppy-eared large rabbit, and this one for small bunnies Melting chocolate wafers. I like these white…
I cut daffodils from the garden to enjoy inside. I cut flowering kale, broccoli flowers, and sage flowers to make an arrangement. I made homemade insecticidal soap and sprayed it on the aphids and thrips on my rose buds. I made a triple batch of laundry soap. I zested the oranges that we ate and…
The white garden is very green right now. In a few days it will be full of flowers; even as I write this, several tulips have opened, and there are roses that will open within the week. Here are some scenes from the garden from a couple of days ago: The Katy apricot tree…
Gardening: 1. Dig out apple tree. This is proving difficult as the roots are large, but I will get it out. 2. Finish pruning espaliered apples 3. Plant apricot in place of apple 4. Plant warm season vegetables. It is going to be 87º F today (my fig tree has leafed out and has fruit…
I cut beet greens, Swiss chard, green onions, parsley, asparagus, dill and thyme from the garden. I tip layered some blackberry vines. This is super simple–it just involves burying part of the vine to allow it to root in another spot. After it roots, I will cut it from the original vine, and I’ll have…
I have had a lot of readers commenting and emailing lately about unemployment and other financial difficulties. I know many of you are struggling to make ends meet. Everyday money challenges are difficult enough, but then a child has a birthday, and you’re left wondering what you can do to make their day special, when…
I picked lettuce, a few snow peas, radishes, green onions, chives, spinach, and beet greens from the garden. I made balasmic vinaigrette and a simle mustard vinaigrette (I added red wine vinegar to the last remaining bits of spicy mustard in the container and shook it for a simple dressing) for our salads. I found…
We had rain on Sunday night and Monday morning. Monday is my assigned day to water, so I am grateful that it keeps raining on Monday! It is actually raining again this morning as I write. The last time I have seen this much rain in spring was ten years ago. I remember it…
The garden at sunrise Saturday morning I have another child’s birthday coming up shortly, so I have some sewing to do! She asked me for a blouse and some pajamas, so I need to make those this week, and possibly another gift or two. She also asked for a puzzle, so I’ll make a…
As we start the month, the garden is yielding lettuce, Swiss chard, green onions, dill, cilantro, parsley, oregano, tarragon, lavender, nasturiums, thyme, celery (mainly leaves; these are from commercial celery where I planted the bottom in the ground), radishes, broccoli, sage, beet greens and beets. Some of my fall-planted snow peas are just starting to…