Recession Gardening in pictures

We're not calling this a Victory Garden, but instead a Recession Garden. This is our way of fighting the cost of foods in the grocery stores, and making sure we're eating local and organic. As you can see we're giving up lawn to add more gardening space. We have other beds on the sides of the house, too, but it's time to get serious about our endeavors.

Here are the square foot garden boxes my clever husband built two weeks ago. Hopefully you can see the boxes in the background are lined with several layers of newspaper, and then shredded leaves. Thankfully the night he added these layers we got eight inches of snow to wet them nicely.

Shadow is the "super" for any work we do in the backyard. Here she is trying out one of the boxes. She made sure she sat in each box while keeping an eye on the master.

This photo shows me raking more leaves. My husband mows over the leaves, bags them and dumps them into the compost bin, and a couple of holding bins we have just for leaves. Our compost bin is in the background. We sometime see deer helping themselves to goodies at the top of the bin.
Composting our leaves and our kitchen scraps is an added benefit to our garden, and it's very easy to do. It's our version of "Black Gold."

Here is my husband dumping a wheelbarrow of our compost onto a tarp. The bags you see are vermiculite and peat moss which he'll dump out also onto the tarp. We've been reading Square Foot Gardening and Lasagne Gardening and have learned a way to mix these three things all together.

We had to really put some muscle into dragging this mixture in the tarp to combine it, but it only took fifteen minutes of back and forth mixing.

We mixed the components by walking and dragging the tarp to combine everything together. We were surprised at how well this worked without any raking.Here we are dragging it back down the hill to mix again.

One more time up the hill.

See that nice rich soil. My husband added fifteen shovels full to the wheelbarrow and then it took two loads to fill the four by four foot boxes, and doubled that amount for the large boxes.
Here a pic of our cute photographer taking a break from laundry and homework to see what mom and dad are up to. Of course some lovin' time with Maggie, our thirteen year old lab is always in order.

Here's one of the boxes filled and waiting to by planted. We sprinkled them all down with the hose and then it began to rain. We're supposed to have a drizzly rain for the next two or three days so a weather-imposed break from the garden will give us time to get our seeds organized and ready for their new homes. MMMmmmmm...... I can just taste those home-grown tomatoes now.

Five years ago this Brandywine tomato from our garden won a blue ribbon at our county fair, and we'll be growing them again this year.

It weighed 2 lbs. 6 ounces!
Working in the garden on these cold March weekends will have it's rewards! Tell me about your Recession Garden plans and what you'll be growing.

Here's to vine ripe tomatoes and the Lord's favor upon our gardens~

Dana

St. Patrick's Day

In our home St. Patrick's Day is a fun day to celebrate with family, food, and traditions. Even if you didn't celebrate yesterday, make this bread! It's basically a large buttermilk biscuit studded with raisins. Slather it with good organic salted butter if you want to go to Shamrock heaven. LOL!

You don't have to be Catholic or even Irish to celebrate this saint. He was a follower of Jesus Christ and sacrificed his life to spread the gospel in Ireland. Go to the library and find a book about this saint before you don your green, or even think about putting green food coloring in everything you eat March 17th.


Although not the traditional way to celebrate St. Patrick's day in Ireland, we enjoy corned beef and cabbage along with Irish Soda Bread each year. Below is a recipe shared by my husband's boss's wife. This man was from Ireland and came to America with the name of one man to contact for a job. He was given the job, and then later when he became President of that same company, he gave my husband a job in the same circumstances. My husband became Vice President of that company and then later went on to start his own business.
Try this bread recipe, it's more like a large biscuit with a nice crust and yummy raisins.

Mary Ward's Irish Soda Bread
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 9 inch round pie plate or cast iron skillet.
4 cups flour3 Tbsp. sugar1 Tbsp. baking powder1 tsp. baking soda1 tsp. salt6 Tbsp. butter, cold and cut into pats1 1/2 cup raisins1 1/2 cups buttermilk2 eggs, beaten. Reserve 2 Tbsp. for brushing on the top.Extra flour for kneading.
Mix the first 5 ingredients together. Cut in butter with two knives or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in raisins until they are well coated with flour and separated.Mix buttermilk in with remaining beaten eggs. DON'T forget to reserve two Tablespoons. Stir into flour mixture until flour is moistened. Don't over mix. Dough will be sticky.
Turn dough onto well-floured surface. With floured hands knead into a ball for about 10 strokes to mix thoroughly. Shape dough into a neat ball, place in plate or skillet. ( I prefer the skillet)In center of bread with a sharp knife cut a 4 inch cross about 1/4 inch deep. Brush with reserved beaten egg.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes.
This is best eaten hot out of the oven and slathered with butter. My family fights over the big, chunky, crusty parts.It's also good toasted the next day. Enjoy.

Our St. Patrick's Day menu:

Roasted Salmon with Pesto
Corned Beef
Colcannon, a mixture of cabbage and mashed potatoes, and onions
Regular Mashed Potatoes
Sauteed Cabbage
Irish Soda Bread
Guiness
Yingling (for the beer wimps, uh, that would be me!)
Key Lime Pie

No, Key Lime Pie is NOT Irish, it's just this Irish family's favorite so my daugther makes and we eats it, with lots of whipped cream. Yum!

Surprise Giveaway

I love surprises AND giveaways, and I also love this new blog I found while browsing today, The Farm Chicks. They've recently published a new cookbook, so my bet is the cookbook just might be their (shhhh.....surprise) giveaway. Who knows, but I'm willing to take a chance and encourage YOU to go check it out.

Searching for Wintering Owls

My husband and I enjoy many things together and one hobby we've developed over the past few years is birding. Our local bird club announced an Owl hike in a stand of pine trees on the western side of our county and we immediately put it on the calendar. Saturday was the day, and I was closely watching the weather. I don't do high winds, or precipitation, whereas that would not stop the hubs.

It was a beautiful day with temps pushing the high forties and the sun was shining. The morning was filled with busy activity packing the birding backpack with the following: Binoculars with straps for hands-free hiking, Field Guide for confirming identification, Camera to record sightings, fiber bars for gurgling tummies, and extra hats and gloves.

The club asked a local expert on owls to speak to us before the hike. Here he is explaining about why owls regurgitate every evening the undigested bones, feathers, fur etc. from the white-footed mice, meadow voles, and song birds they ate the night before.He's getting out his pocket knife to dissect one of the pellets.

The long-eared owl pellet contained a cardinal beak, identified by it's orange tint.

The above photo is the pellets Jay found on his early expedition. The pellet closest to you is that of the Saw-whet owl, which is a small owl which lives in the woodlands and their daytime roosts are designed to avoid larger owls. The larger pellets are those of the long-eared, and the skull on the right is that of a Meadow Vole.

Not too deep into the forest we found the Saw-whet trying to nap after a long night of feeding. It was precious as it peered down at our cameras, scopes, and awe-filled faces. It's very tame and was not spooked at all by our activity.

After two hours of tromping in the forest, satisfied at the addition of this sweet bird to our year's list. On the way home we drove by a favorite farm and I spotted a Kestral, another to add to the year's list.

What a fun way to spend the afternoon exercising our minds and bodies together.

And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens." So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:20-21

A PRE-Valentine's Date Night

My parents gave us tickets to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which turned into the beginnings of a wonderful date night. The evening began with dinner in Little Italy at our favorite restaurant, "Chips" or Chipiarelli's. They serve whole wheat pasta now, so the seafood pasta dishes with fresh tomato sauces were much healthier choices. Their salad is rather tasty at Chips, full of garlicky dressing, and lots of parmesan cheese. It's just made with iceberg lettuce, but a classic nonetheless. Below is the sign painted on the side of a building as you enter Little Italy, which is a wonderful old Baltimore neighborhood tucked between the Inner Harbor and Fells Point.

Our sons have worked for several years during the winter months for a valet parking service in Little Italy, Blake, our 22 yo is working this winter, but unfortunately he was not scheduled to work this night. Too bad, since I'd have rather tipped him a kiss plus a few dollars than the other guy who parked our car. I didn't kiss the other guy!

The next stop was Baltimore Symphony Orchestra home at the Joseph Myerhoff Symphony Hall to see Cirque de la Symphonie, which was a wonderful show blending beautiful aerial and stage circus acts with classical music. Some of the feats were amazing and "ooooh" and "awww" inspiring. Thanks for the tickets Mom!

We have a friend who plays the voilin in the BSO, and it was fun picking her out on stage. "Hi WonJu!" we whispered.

After finding the car, we wound back to Little Italy to a favorite spot, Vaccaro's Italian Pastry Shop. This place only serves drinks and desserts, but has an exhaustive menu and is famous for it's humongous desserts. You should see the Napoleons, and the Bacci balls! They serve 2-4 people at least.

One time we took some friends there for dessert and the table next to us provided pure comedy relief. The lady in the party was quite petite, and the gentleman was rather large, and it was obvious they were tourists. Their orders arrived and it was a Kodak moment. Set before the little lady was a Napoleon which literally extends off the sides of the plate, oozing with filling, and covered in chocolate icing. Before the gentleman was a smallish piece of cake. When we saw they realized the irony of the moment and had the attention of several surrounding tables, we all enjoyed a good laugh.

Oh, are you still waiting to hear what we ordered? First let me tell you my summertime favorites. A single (humongous!) scoop of Hazelnut Gelatto, creamy, nutty, and cool. Or an Italian Iced Tea which is a scoop of lemon Italian ice floating in a tall iced tea. It's chilly and lucious, and the perfect ending to a hot summer night! We've driven down just for dessert many times for a special treat.

But this is February folks so after a classic dinner, and wonderful music, it had to be a classic Italian dessert with something warm to drink. A cannoli and a cappuccino. mmmm..... Why I thought we should order two cannoli, I'll never know, be we did and it was heavenly, even though a bit too much.

What a lovely evening, and it was so nice we didn't have to fight the "gotta go out because it's V-tine's Day" crowd. Yes, there was traffic, but we were in the city. With reservations and lots of margin in our time schedule it was the perfect evening.

I felt a little like Cher in Moonstruck when she went the opera with Nicolas Cage. Except this was no movie folks and the man I was with is much cuter than Nicolas, and he's been commited to our marriage for 28 years. No, this was a date night with the love of my life. Thanks, babe!

Word-filled Wednesday

This is a view of some trees in my backyard recently when we had a fast-moving ice storm. I love the way the branches and needles become encased in ice. It's my winter wonderland right in the backyard. This verse, "You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter. Psalm 74:17 gives hope here in February that the creator of the earth is faithful in having "fixed all the boundaries of the earth." Thank you Lord.

 Go visitthe160 acrewoods for more Word-Filled photos and scripture.  

Eat the View

"Eat the View!" is a campaign to urge the Obamas to replant a large organic Victory Garden on the First Lawn with the produce going to the White House kitchen and to local food pantries."Eat the View" is coordinated by Kitchen Gardeners International, a Maine-based 501c3 nonprofit network of 10,000 gardeners from 100 countries who are inspiring and teaching more people to grow some of their own food.

I can get excited about this campaign. What a wonderful example our president and first lady could set for our nation in a time when we need to get back to basics if we're not already there. Wow, how I'd love to see compost bins, chicken tractors, and vegetable and flower gardens on the White House lawn. Can't you just picture it, now?