FROST!

Last night it got down to -5... When I woke up this morning at 9am, the cars in the driveway still had frost on their windshields, and the grass in the shade was still frosty! Other than the frost, it was still a beautiful day out with not a cloud in the sky! Although the high was only 9 - boo, fall is officially here! This isn't the first time we've had frost so far this year - we've actually had frost in some form at least once every month this year. The night before Canada Day, there was frost in some low laying parts.

Because of the frost, and because it was actually nice out today and not raining, Mikey and I decided to pull some veggies from the garden! We found some rather large rutabagas, some great looking carrots, a few beets, some horseradish, and a few potatoes for the week. I honestly couldn't believe a lot of this was growing because the garden was so overtaken by weeds, vines, and whatever else could grab a hold of an empty spot! Here are some photos:

Giant rutabagas!

Carrots!

Aaaaannd a few potatoes!

I've been featured!

There is this amazing blog that I catch up with as much as possible called "Dig This Chick", read below:

"My name is Nici Holt Cline. I am a fourth generation Montanan raising a fifth in Missoula with my husband (Andy, childhood crush). We have two daughters (Ruby and Margot), one dog (Alice), two cats (Sam and Olive) and five chickens (Ida, Clementine, Bossy P, Lindsay and Paige).

I had a gardening and graphic design business called dig this chick several years ago. I put it on hold to pursue my career at my local art museum and started this blog to scratch my dig-this-chick itch."

Well, Nici has this great feature on her blog called the "Virgin Harvest" where she lists fellow blogger (and non-bloggers) that are growing something new, or even growing for the first time (like myself!). I sent Nici an email, and asked to be added to her list of Virgin Harvesters - Now, I'm on the list! #81!!!!

Please share the love, and give her site a visit. She is truly inspiring and writes a really fun to read blog!

SEPTEMBER!

Goodbye August! Welcome September... So I think I'm going to make a beginning of the month update from now on! This way I can review my resolutions, and write out my goals for the next month as well. I think this will be really helpful to myself to track my goals and see what I have accomplished, how my weight loss is progressing, etc, etc. I'm pretty excited to have these these written out finally. So - I'm sorry in advance about the constant updates about these items, but now I promise to do it only once a month!

So where to start.... Weigh in time?!? This morning when I weighed myself, I'm still sitting at 205lbs. My goal for this month is to loose another 5 lbs. I'm still going to walk to and from work, and I will be using the elliptical for 15-20 minutes every second night. I would like to incorporate another activity as well, something suited for a northern fall... like swimming at the leisure center or something... But I guess that would require me to wear a bathing suit - which I don't exactly have... I'll figure out something. Anyway, hopefully by my next monthly update, I weigh 200lbs!!

My other goal - Licence! I'm hoping to get a ride down to the registries office tomorrow after work to take my written test to get my Learners! This is so exciting! I've been studying but... I think I've got it down... lol. It's kinda sad when I think about it... I could have gotten my learners when I was 14! I'm turning 26 at the end of the year! Either way - it's happening now!

It's been super cold out, and has been raining the last few days so I haven't had a good chance to get out into the garden and check the veggies. Not this weekend but next, I'll be in Kelowna, so I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and will post an update about that trip! I think that's all for now.. Till next time!

I can't believe it's almost August!

This last month has gone by so incredibly fast! It seems that almost everyday I can go out into the garden and find something new that has bloomed, even my house plants are doing their growth spurt right now! Its such an amazing feeling to see the life around me grow and change, even the kitten I got is getting huge! ... I guess I forgot to tell you, I've been so caught up in the garden!

Mikey and I got a kitten from a friend. We named her Frankie! She's only 2-3 months old! We think she is a Himalayan or Rag doll. Shes very active, and likes to hang out with the dog. In the mornings she likes to cuddle up around your neck. Then when my other cat is around, she wants to play, but my cat isn't very appreciative of the new kitten, so she normally hides or goes outside.

There have been a lot of amazing things blooming in the garden this month, here is a taste:

These are just a few, there are a lot more on the Rustic Gardens Facebook Page!

I also picked a few veggies to see how far along they had come... so far I have baby carrots, baby beets, medium rutabagas, and large radishes! Sounds like a yummy salad to me! OH and Raspberries!

AND.... I have a little tomato that is finally starting to grow! Its a "Lemon Boy". It will be a yellow slicing tomato!

This weekend we have a wedding to go to, and we have family to visit. Then, July will be gone forever, until next year!

What's for dinner?

Yesterday I made a quiche! I've only ever made small ones - tart sized. This time, I made my very first family sized quiche - 2 of them actually! I got the inspiration from one of my favorite food websites HERE. I think that everyone should know about this site. It's awesome, and always inspires me to try something new!!

I've never made pie crust from scratch before, and to be honest- I was nervous... So I bought a brick of pastry lard (that sounds gross... shortening in other words) and just followed the recipe on the back. It was actually really easy - even Mikey helped me! I made my crust the night before so that I could refrigerated it over night, and roll it the next day before dinner. The pastry recipe made enough for two quiches, and I added local bacon, mushrooms, cheese, and humongous green onions from the garden!

I'm so impressed with myself, because not only did I make a quiche (two) but it tasted SO GOOD!!! One is already gone! I had a little bit of dough left over from cutting the crust, so I rolled it out and cut it into 4 equal pieces. I put them into these little mini dishes I have, and lightly filled them with some raspberries I picked from the garden earlier in the day, some frozen blueberries, a drizzle of real maple syrup, a teaspoon of local honey, and a pinch of light brown sugar! Mmmm, they were REALLY good! I didnt know if i was going to get a picture, cause I just wanted to gobble it down!

Welcome July!

July is finally here, and we had FROST the morning of Canada Day! My beans and corn got a little whithered, but all in all they seem to be OK. During the days, it gets hot and sunny, then come evening, the dark clouds roll in from the west, and we get some thunder and lightening, strong winds, and normally quite a bit of rain. I don't mind really, because it's watering the garden, and any flowers that get blow over, I cut and bring in the house. Currently, it seems the garden is blooming like crazy, and I have tons of photos of everything -but I'll just share the exciting ones! Earlier in the spring, I planted 5 bleeding heart roots, and 4 of them actually grew! This one is already putting out little blooms:

There are tons of peonies in the garden, and they are all different colours and sizes! Some are small and deep pink, or huge and light pink, and white! They are right next to the raspberry bushes and there isn't a whole lot of room to walk around them... so I would prefer to move them, if I can. I also have a friend that actually wants to take some for her garden, so I'll have to look up how to divide peonies. If its anything like rhubarb, I'm set!

My friend Kerri gave Mikey and I some cute house warming gifts last month, and these planters were some of them! They are so funny and adorable! I was trying to think of something I could plant in them that could double as a hair style! A week or so ago I found a zip-lock back downstairs that had some leftover cat grass in it from the winter, how perfect I thought! When the grass first started growing, it looked like they had buzz cuts, now they have nice flowing mops!

The Tiger Lilies have started to bloom too! They are a beautiful deep dark orange!! So vibrant, and beautiful, I love them! There are some more Lily plants around the yard that are also getting ready to bloom!

In the Greenhouse, the Tomatoes are starting to bloom as well, but some of the leaves are also starting to whither! One day when I was at work last week, it got quite hot out, and I wasn't here to open the door for some air ventilation! usually on a sunny day, temperature get to 40-50+ degrees Celsius! I do constantly have the fans going in there, but I guess it wasn't enough that day. Either way, they are still growing like crazy, and look like they are doing fantastic!

Well, that's all the really exciting stuff for me, I do have lots of more photos online... If these links don't work, please leave me a comment, and I'll see if I can make them work for you!

Garden Photos Part 1

Garden Photos Part 2

Greenhouse Photos

Vegetable Garden Photos

House Plant Photos

Garden Update!

This morning I woke up and noticed that there were some new blooms in the garden! So I slipped on my shoes and grabbed the camera to go out and snap some pics of the pretty flowers. Along the way, I found some mushroom clusters growing along the fairy rings!! Not just a few, but a whole bunch actually!

After I cried over the mushrooms, I noticed that some of my lilies in the very front garden have started to bud! I cant wait to see what colour they are!

There are some beautiful iris's throughout the yard as well, a whole bunch of pretty vibrant purple ones along the front of the house, and some amazing yellow and purple ones hiding along a pathway!

After trekking around, I decided to pop into the veggie garden and take a look around. Lately I haven't been spending much time around that area because I feel so overwhelmed by all the weeds that have taken over, and I don't really know what to do about it! I guess I figure I'll just let it go this year, and then next year I'll start anew.

While I was looking around, I noticed that there was actually a row of veggies growing - a few rows - no, not just a few, quite a bit actually! It was just hard to distinguish them in amongst the weeds! Some of the radishes were actually ready to be pulled! So I started grabbing a few here and there, some are still going to need another week or so, but some were HUGE! All in all I was able to pick about 2-3 dozen radishes! Check it out:

Get some Green while keeping it Clean!

We all want to save a buck here and there, while doing our best to save the planet! Well, I've decided to make up a list of Ten things Mikey and I have done around our home to make it more Eco-friendly, and lessen the impact we make on our planet - as well as save us some money! Later on, I'm also going to make a list of things I still want to accomplish! Maybe you have done some of these in and around your home as well! If not, maybe make a wish list for yourself of things you could do in your home to lessen your own impact, and save a few dollars!

1. Programmable Thermostat

A typical household can save about $100-$200 a year in heating costs with a programmable thermostat, so how could you afford not to invest in one!! Our programmable thermostat allows us to have the heat automatically turn down or off when we are not home or sleeping, then automatically allow the house to warm up for when we wake up or come home from work. We have noticed a difference right away after installing ours. Our house came with the old mercury type which didn't seem very accurate to me - the furnace would constantly turn on and off, usually 3 times in a row until it took a rest before the house needed heating again. Now the furnace comes on once, and doesn't come back on until needed. Our heating bill from the winter was very comparable to the cost of heating our single wide mobile home that we previously lived in.

2&3. Water Heater Jacket & Pipe Insulation

Second to the furnace, your hot water tank is another big heating cost. If you have a typical water storage heater like us, you will most likely benefit by using a water heater jacket or blanket. Usually made out of insulated foil, they can be purchased in a kit or you can buy the foil itself and cut it to fit and attach with tape. Don't know if you need one? Touch the side of your hot water tank. Is it warm? If yes, you should invest in a water heater jacket.

The pipe insulation was extremely cheap, and easy to install. Most of our pipework in the basement is exposed, and therefore could probably use some help to keep the heat going to the tap. Since installing both of these insulating items, I have noticed that the hot water heater doesn't kick in as often as before, the hot water comes out of the taps faster, and I was even able to turn the master temperature on the water tank down to factory setting - the water is still boiling hot! (I might just turn it down some more!)

4. Dual Flush Toilet

We bought a conversion kit which allows you to turn any toilet into a dual flushing toilet, meaning you can have a half flush for smaller needs, or a full flush for larger ones. This way you don't need to waste a whole tank of water for something that really doesn't need it, which also means you'll be saving water and money in the long run. Remember, you still have to pay for the electricity to pump your water into your house if you're on a well system.

5&6. HE Laundry Machines & Clothes Line/Stand

WOW, the new H.E. washer and dryer that we purchased have changed my opinion on doing the laundry! I can't say enough great stuff about the combo that we purchased, I have really fallen in love! The washer is super quiet, fast, and uses very little detergent and water. I actually use natural laundry detergent and vinegar (softener) in it, and it works awesome! During the days that I do have to use my dryer, the clothes are usually dry in about the same time washing a load of laundry, thanks the the amazing spin cycle of the frond load washer. Still, every time you let mother nature dry your clothes, you will also be helping save her. A clothes line or stand is a great investment considering it will pay for itself in a month or less - if you do laundry as often as I do - yet I still have to pop some items back into the dryer for an air fluff (no heat) to remove pet hair.

7. Rain Barrels

Click the link above to bring you to the blog I wrote up about rain barrels not too long ago. These were a great investment! One of the barrels waters one side of the garden and greenhouse, while the other waters the other side of the garden and veggies!

8. NO air conditioning!

I will admit that ceiling fans are ugly as sin, but we did keep one in our kitchen to help bring up cool air from the basement when the house is hot from the sun. Using an Energy Star rated ceiling fan to redirect air in your home actually works great - if you use them right! When it's hot outside, we keep the fan on low to draw air up from the cool basement. We don't have an air conditioner, because so far we've found that this practice actually works quite well. With the correct insulation, keeping all the curtains closed to the sun during the day, and opening the North side and basement windows at night, we should have no trouble keeping our home cool when it gets hot outside buy just moving the air around properly. This summer will be the true test, and so far its been quite mild. But, on the few hot days we've had, I have successfully been able to keep the house cooler than outside by using my ceiling fan/window method.

Also, If you have high ceilings in your home, and find it hard to keep heating costs low in the winter, you can use ceiling fans to redirect the warm rising air back down into your living space.

9. Compost

I've never composted before in my life, and then I realized that all the food I was throwing away could have been turned into compost - and when you have a garden or even house plants, free compost is a money saver! Instead of throwing away my veggie and fruit cuttings into the garbage, I keep an old pot near the kitchen where I can easily toss the food until its brought outside and added to the compost bin. Now instead of filing up my garbage, I use less garbage bags, which equals less trips to the dump, which equals less time my vehicle is on the road. I watched a few videos to learn more about the how, what and why of composting. It's actually quite simple, and its hard to believe that I never did this before! I suggest that everyone start a compost pile, and watch these videos for great tips and tricks!

10. CFL's & LED's

After we moved in, we changed out every single possible light bulb with a CFL or halogen bulb, and invested in LED Christmas lights and Solar LED outdoor lighting. At first I was skeptical about buying LED Christmas lights because of the initial cost. But after buying cheap Christmas lights from Wal-Mart and having 10% of them burn out in the same year... the math only made sense. Same with the investment in the CFL's - not to mention the money and energy saved running them. I found some nice bright 23W soft light CFL's (equal to 60W incandescent bulb) that don't have a "wait" or "warm up time" when you switch them on, they work great! Our electrical bill is no more than a 2 bedroom apartment I used to live in, which has got to say something about the energy we are saving! Check out this little clip about CFL's vs. incandescent lighting.

Also, who doesn't want to light their patio or porch for practically nothing by using solar powered lights! Check out the solar lights we used on our front deck here!

Garden Photos

I meant to post a link to my facebook album with all of the garden photos in it... so HERE IT IS! Sorry for the delay! If you can't view it, please leave me a comment.

Less than a week!

In less than a week, my guests from BC will be at my house, and in a week and 1 more day, we will be having our house warming! I'm so excited, and cant wait to see everyone! I still have a lot of stuff to do in the house, but most of the garden is taken care of. It has been raining, and cold out, and I have been working more hours now that I'm making the transition to full time, so I haven't had a lot to write about lately. But I promise, once the weather is nice again, I will have a lot more to talk about - garden wise!

Getting dirt between the toes

Between my allergies, my new job, getting the house prepared, and my recent cold, I have surprisingly found some time to plant some stuff in the garden - but I'm no where near done. So far, I have planted some bleeding heart roots that I bought at Wal-mart. They were affordable, and I have always loved bleeding hearts. They were in both Mikey's and my yard while we were growing up. I also planted some wild Horseradish roots that Mikey dug up from a ditch near the farm. I've planted those in an isolated spot, that will be easy to till in the fall so that it doesn't take over our garden.

Mikey and I are still getting the corn plot ready by tilling in lots of peat and organic matter, because it is freshly turned. It is finally raked into a wide hill, and I am hoping to get the corn in either tomorrow, or Sunday. The secret to planting it this early in our climate, is actually a trick that my co-workers gave me. They cover the plot in black plastic for about 10 days while the seed germinates. This keeps the soil warm, and protects the seedlings from any frost while they emerge. I'm stealing this idea so that my corn can also have an early start.

Today I planted all of my carrot seeds, and then covered the rows with wet burlap. This helps protect the slow emerging seedling, and also contributes to minimizing moisture loss. I also planted a few miniature corn seeds in a row further away from my main corn plot. I'll cover these with black plastic tomorrow as well. I planted my green beans, pickling onions, green onions, beets, radishes, rutabagas, and... thats it!

Tomorrow I need to plant my potatoes, and my storage onions along with the corn... I was also thinking it wouldn't hurt to try and grow some new tomatoes and peppers in the greenhouse - because most of the transplants have wilted... I also have to start hardening off my other seedlings that I still have in the house, because they will all be planted outside at the end of the month (hopefully). I need my counter space back!! OH, and I have "ornamental" corn that I want to grow as fall decoration... the only problem is that they have to be grown at least 100 feet away from your eating corn. I'll have to find/make a suitable place for them.

I was thinking of getting some solar lights to hang up in the trees above where the hammock is going to hang. I think it will be romantic, and dreamy. *sigh* Tomorrow morning, Mikey and I are going to check out the Seba Beach Farmers Market. Ive never been! I figure it will give me a chance to see what people have to offer, that way if my greenhouse and gardening catch on, I can see what my competition is, and find out what no one else is offering! There is also a plant exchange here in Tomahawk at the end of the month. I've never been to one of those either, so hopefully I don't work, I'd like to check it out! Now it's time to take my allergy meds, and get to bed, I've got a busy day tomorrow!

What kind of Tulip is THIS?!?!

There are a few spots in my garden that have some great full growth of what looks like will be tulips and day lilies. Well, yesterday I noticed that one finally opened!! but it doesn't look like any kind of tulip I've ever seen! Take a look (click for full view):

Its a beautiful flower with bright solid orange petals, and a yellow center! Its so pretty, but I don't think it's a tulip! Its about a foot and a half tall, and has a blue-y green foliage like the rest of what I think are tulips, compared to the bright green foliage that you see in behind it in the photo - which I think will be day lilies. So, if anyone knows what they are, let me know!! There are some other things that have made their debut recently as well, here are a few:

OoOoOOooo, pretty blossoms on a tree outside of our kitchen window! This has been Bee central for the past week or so. Its kind of scary to walk past, all you hear is an orchestra of Bzzzzzz. Its super fragrant, and smells delicious. I don't know what kind of tree it is, but here is a picture of the entire thing:

I found this little guy on the North side of our house, a cute little fern of some type! I cant wait to see what he looks like when he is all unraveled! There are also a bunch of smaller ferns on the west side of our yard, in the rock garden, but he is the tallest so far. I should name him...

... how about ElFernZo?!?!

*EDIT*

Apparently I've been concentrating on looking down too much, and didn't even notice the beautiful pink bush in my front yard! *GASP!* How could I have missed this?!?! Not sure what kind of bush it is, but it's so amazing. The light pink flowers and deep pink buds are such a great contrast to all the green around it!

While I was in the yard just now, I also decided to check on a group of what I thought would be tulips, because they all had huge flower buds ready to bloom - and after the first one blooming and not being what I expected, I thought I would check.... Well, looks like they are "true" but small tulips! Bright orange like the other one, but with the black inside! they are very tiny, and super cute!!!

*SIGH* so pretty, I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings me!

Insane in the Membrane

Someone once said: "Insanity is repeating the same action over and over expecting different results." ... ... That sounds a lot like gardening! Ha ha, I don't take this saying with any seriousness, but if it were true, I'd be a loon in no time! (Or maybe I already am..) Today I did a lot of work in the garden, and I know for a fact that next year I will be doing the exact same thing, with different results I'm sure.

Yesterday I wrote out a huge to do list for the house and garden before our housewarming at the beginning of June! When I woke up this morning, I finished replacing the doorknobs that I started yesterday, then for the next few hours I worked outside. I started by removing anything that was dead in the garden. I removed debris like pine cones, broken branches, leaves, I cut out dead flowers, plants, tree limbs, and I also pulled some weeds.

I filled my wheelbarrow about 5 times with cuttings, and I'm sure there is more that I missed or just couldn't get to. It feels like there is still so much to do! (I'v only knocked about 2.5 things off of the list) I've noticed some newer stuff emerging in the garden, and some of the smaller trees are starting to bloom! The leaves on the larger trees in the yard are starting to unfold too. Oh, and my Rhubarb is growing like crazy! I even found a second Rhubarb plant in amongst some bushes. I picked out the perfect spot for our hammock, its not in the sun, and it is secluded from our neighbor, but also has a view to the open field behind us. This means on a hot and sunny day, I can lay there in the cool shade and relax/nap after a hard days work in the garden.

You know, it's crazy what a difference something simple like raking your lawn can do for your yards appearance! I was in behind the house where I am hoping to put our fire pit, and the entire area is lined by pine trees. But you see, a handful of pine trees = millions of pine cones! This specific piece of yard doesn't have a lot of grass (another reason why I picked it for the fire pit) but it just looked so forgotten and messy. The solution? I raked up all the pine cones and broken branches, and whatever else was hiding down there. It looks a million times better!

I also had to look up the fire and burning bylaws for our area, which advised me that the fire pit needs to be 3m away from anything combustible (house, trees, etc), needs to be made out of a thick metal, and needs to have a grate. That is perfect, because I made a fire pit at the farm while we were living there out of an old barrel that was already cut in half, and we found a metal grate to place on top! We'll just grab it from the farm and Viola! Perfect sized, law abiding fire pit!

Now it's almost dinner time, and I am starving! Maybe I'll pull something out for the BBQ! ... Wait a minute... doesn't everyone try to make dinner every night, and hope for different results? I know I sure do. Maybe we're all Insane!

Allergies and Business Cards!

Each day that goes by, my allergies seem to be getting worse, stronger, and taking over more of my face! I never had seasonal allergies before last year, and when I got them for the first time, I thought I was just sick - I may as well be! My eyes were swollen, red, watering, and extremely itchy and irritated. My nose ran constantly, and all I wanted to do was sleep. I never once thought it was allergies until someone suggested it to me, and I tried some antihistamines. Viola! I was feeling much better, and everything cleared up for a few hours!

It didn't seem to last for more than a month last year, but since May has rolled around, it's definite that my spring time allergies are back! Bring on the Tissue!! As much as I don't like to rely on medication to make me feel better, I feel that I can't go 5 seconds without blowing my nose or scratching my eyeballs out unless I've taken an allergy pill. But maybe about a month or 2 ago, I read somewhere that you can take a tablespoon of local honey every morning to subdue your spring time allergy symptoms - naturally. I don't know if this is true, but it only makes sense in my mind. I'm still on the hunt for some local honey, and may not know if it really works until next year.

Yesterday was a nice day for me, although it was cloudy, cold and windy. I still went outside, touque and all, and raked the garden into rows. It was actually nice, because I could work up a sweat, then stand there in the cold breeze until I cooled down again. LOL! Only in Canada will you ever see someone gardening in a touque. Great things came in the mail yesterday too! I finally received my 50 free Moo business cards! Etsy and Moo teamed up with a limited time offer of free business cards - you only had to pay the shipping ($6) - as long as they could put their info on the front of the card! Here is what they look like (I blacked out the codes and some info):

The great thing about these cards is that you can have them completely customized with your artwork, logo, motto or quotes, and every card can be entirely different! How awesome is that!! You can also choose from other artists designs if you don't have any yourself. I personally didn't know what to use for my design, so I used Moo's text generator, and wrote out some words that I think of when I'm gardening (Love, Live, Give, Grow, Sow) and made each card a different colour! You even get to choose the type of paper you want - naturally I opted out for the "green" card which is 100% recycled and recyclable, has a natural feel and still looks fantastic!

All of my business info is on the back, and the print quality is amazing - especially for recycled paper! Because my cards were free, there is a small band along the bottom on the front that shows the Etsy and Moo logo, but also offers the business card recipient a coupon code to save 10% off of their first order of custom business cards (they print more than just business cards, btw). So if you are in the market for some new, unique and high quality business cards, let me know and I'll give you my card so you can save! I highly recommend their product - not to mention, shipping was crazy fast (I ordered the last week of April)!

Brrrrr!!

I went to bed last night to the trickle of rain outside, and woke up this morning to crazy wind and blowing snow! Currently the weather is about 0 degrees. By the end of the week, it is supposed to be sunny and warm, and this brief snow storm will only make everyone more appreciative of the lovely greenery that will pop out after it melts!

Mikey took some pictures this morning at 6am when the snow was still falling heavily (click on photo for full view):

This is what it looked like after I walked the dog this morning:

It's really not that bad, but I think I should cut my bloomed Daffodils and put them in a vase inside before they whither and die. So much for working in the garden today, with the wind chill, it feels like -10! At least now I can concentrate on getting the house cleaned and tidied in preparation for the house warming!