The August Garden

sunflower blooms

the whole garden

tomatoes

jack be nimble pumpkins

buster

more tomatoes

hops glorious hops

amazing hops

more hops

sunflower

ellie in the garden

The August garden is finally providing. We have tomatoes galore! (Ellie ate about 12 that she had picked herself today). The kale just keeps growing and growing. It seems we’ve finished our corn. Now I’m looking into what to do with those dried husks. We have a little bit of swiss chard for those morning omelets and lots of herbs still growing strong and keeping the honey bees happy. The Jack-be-little pumpkins are almost ready to be picked and the hops! Those glorious hops! I caught a glimpse of them in the afternoon sun the other day and had to run out and photograph them. Lush and green (even in this brownish land of California) and reaching all the way up to the top floor windows of the house. It’s a fun, full of life month in the garden. And as you can see, Ellie’s library sunflower finally bloomed. She’s one happy gardener.

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Late June Garden and other bits

june garden

The garden is flourishing. All of a sudden, things just seem to be taking off. We have corn (that we are attempting to pollinate by hand), lots of kale (once again), tomatoes that are finally showing some buds, a few carrots and some broccoli and pumpkins galore! Plus, Jeff’s hop vine is growing pretty steadily too.
broccoli

corn

tomatoes

pumpkins

garden late june

As you can see, I pulled out all that kale in the first garden box. It now has a new home with a man who traded us for the flower box. It’s so much fun eating from the garden. Tonight we had home-grown swiss chard, kale and spinach tossed into a pasta dish. The best!
miss rumphius

I just finished making another story telling set for my etsy shop. It’s one of my favorite all time children’s books, Miss Rumphius. It was so much fun making this little set. I almost want to keep it for myself.
miss rumphius too

pocket

She even has a pocket on the opposite side to peek out of (or to keep your lupine seeds).

belugaI’m lucky to belong to a few wonderful online communities of incredible artisans of children’s toys and lucky enough to sometimes get toys for trade. Ellie received a beautiful wooden Beluga whale in the mail this week. I’m as smitten with the whale as she is. It’s a beautifully handcrafted toy and Ellie has been thrilled that her fish and mermaid have a new friend. You can check out Allison’s shop here. There are so many fantastic artisans out there. I’m hoping one day to be able to make these little wooden creatures too. They are just so magical.
fishy friends

play

baby beluga

She also made the connection that her beluga whale was in a book too. We’ve been singing lots of Baby Beluga around these parts.

So that’s what’s happening in these late days of June…. Tomorrow is my birthday and then next week I go in for some oral surgery to hopefully fix some tooth aches as well as a lot of sinus trouble I’ve been having. Wish me luck. I may not be in this space very much next week but I’ll try to at least make it for next week’s portrait project.

The Garden in Early June

the june garden

Things are really starting to grow now in the garden. We have an overabundance of Kale as you can see and not only have we been using it up in almost every meal we make, we have so much of it, we’ve been giving it away for free!!
overabundance

free kale

fairy homes

There was a large peach tree in this space when we moved into the house. We were all really excited about the prospect of fresh peaches, but sadly during a storm a while back, the tree (which turned out to be very sick), completely fell over in the night. We had to have the rest of it chopped down. So, now it’s stumps are being used as a play space and for building fairy homes. Ellie and I painted some gourds from Halloween and will be working on creating a little fairy villa for our magical garden guests. (If anyone knows the best way to cut into a dried gourd, I’d love some tips- We want to make openings for our fairies).

raised beds

We had to buy tomato seedlings at the farmers market when all of our tomato seeds failed to thrive. So we’ve planted those in the back, then we have broccoli and yes, I made the mistake of planting MORE kale. And it’s already growing like crazy.

hops

The hops (after being dug up twice by our dogs, thus the pen around it), are now growing at a steady speed. Looking forward to seeing those lovely vines trickle up the line.

library sunflower

We planted Ellie’s sunflower from a library craft morning in one of the beds, to give it a little more space to grow.

ca poppies

And Ellie and I sprinkled handfuls of California poppy seeds all over the garden and in empty containers throughout the yard. They are just now popping up! It’s been delightful to see those bright orange bursts of color out there. It’s been hard keeping Ellie from picking them.

So that’s my garden update for Early June. Looking forward to seeing how everything grows throughout the summer.

 

 

Weekending!

A busy weekend
Sleepless nights (I blame the full moon and new teeth)
A stumble upon the St. Patrick’s Day Parade downtown while headed to the farmers market.
Dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.
Dinner with Nana and Papa.
Walks in the wagon and longer days.
Flowers galore!
New handmade dish drying mat (finally got to it)!
(Hot!) Spring Gardening days.
Homemade strawberry muffins
A beautiful sunday boiled corn-beef and cabbage dinner, Thank you to Nana and Papa!!! (Sadly, no photos. I was too busy trying to get a wildly excited toddler to eat her food and not throw her food, I’m telling you- full moon! ).
I head to bed tired but happy and hoping that tonight we get some rest.

How was your weekend?

gramma happies

parade 1

 

wow!

the tractors

dada and boo

 

red red engine

 

piiig

 

wagon ride

 

this cute kid

 

runnuculus

 

purple hues

 

purty

 

new dish drying mat

 

DSC_0336coffee and wine

 

wet clothes

 

seeds a plantin

 

mama and ellie plant

 

planting

 

seeds

 

emotions

 

strawberry muffins

 

char wants some

– Joining Amanda over at The Habit!