Tag: spring (Page 8 of 13)

On This February Day…

February 23, 2012 / Lindsey / 1 Comment

This (snowy) morning...

It was a true February day today — gray and humid and chilly and snowy. But it was a spring snow — drippy and slushy! Over the weekend it just began feeling more like spring here. The quality and angle of the sunlight, the buds on the trees, the tulips pushing through the ground, and definitely the particular birdsongs that we’re hearing outside our window of late.

I was up and at the kitchen table by the window fairly early this morning with a steaming mug of tea, watching the snowflakes falling gently. I’ve rediscovered a CD I have called The Tranquil Harp by Paul Baker. It was perfect for this peaceful, snowy morning.

The streets were still warm from yesterday’s balmy temperatures, and so this afternoon most of the snow was gone from them, making my quick trip to the health food store a much easier proposition. Much as I love the snow, clear streets really are very nice.

Okay, so remember how yesterday I told you all about my great restraint in not buying more varieties of tomato seed? Well to demonstrate that iron will, I suppose I should show you what I bought today:

🙂

So anyway, I thought I’d also show you a great seed catalog I picked up yesterday for Southern Exposure. I’ve never ordered from them but I like their philosophy: “Our mission is to ensure that people retain control of their food supply, that genetic resources are conserved and that gardeners have the option of saving their own seed.”

Looks like they sell almost all heirloom or open-pollinated stuff (I really like that), and have some pretty interesting offerings. Their catalog also gives detailed growing info for each type of vegetable. It looks like a company worth ordering from.

Well it’s dusk now, and time for some tea I think.

It’s been a good day. Hope it was for you, too…

*****

In Garden Mode!

February 22, 2012 / Lindsey / 7 Comments

Man, these past few days have flown! I’ve been in almost an altered state, with a one-track mind focused solely on this year’s vegetable garden. There are big bags of dirt in our kitchen, and open seed catalogs have littered the living room floor like banana peels waiting to snag unsuspecting passerby (sorry honey!).

There’s been much reading, researching, figuring, dreaming, decision making, studying of past garden notes, and starting of seeds. The energy, enthusiasm, and time that seemed absent last year are all right here in front of me to be feasted upon — and I am feasting.

Yesterday I bought seeds for a couple fun last-minute additions to the garden plan — leeks and romanesco cauliflower — and today my mom & I got seeds for a few more things that’ll be new to the garden this year too — tarragon, bok choy, and onion seed (I’ve always grown my storage onions from sets in the past).

I also counted up that I have 37 different varieties of tomato seed. Lest you think that’s excessive, let me tell you that it takes great and continuous restraint to not buy more! But it’s already hard enough choosing only 16 varieties for the garden…

Yesterday I started all my wall-o-water tomatoes as well as my cabbage, romanesco cauliflower, regular cauliflower, yellow bell peppers, and leeks in their seed tray over a heat mat. That was a good accomplishment.

And today, even though my main spring planting time is still a few weeks away, I planted some radishes in the wall-o-water I had set up a couple weeks ago, along with some arugula in the open space next to that. I’ve found that walls-o-water are a great way to sneak in an early crop of radishes, which are in and out before it’s time to put the tomatoes in.

It felt great to get my hands into that cold, fragrant Earth.

They’re calling for snow tomorrow, and I think it’ll be a good day to get the broad beans started, and then come back down to earth a bit by going over my moneymaking work and preparing for a Friday meeting.

I hope you’re all having a nice week. And tell me — what’s currently going on in your own garden??

*****

Make Your Own “Green Smoothie Frozen Concentrate”

July 5, 2011 / Lindsey / 1 Comment

Green smoothie frozen concentrate, (c) The Herbangardener

Green smoothie frozen concentrate made with lettuce, spinach, and lambsquarters.

So I peeked into my remaining three bags of lettuce from the garden this year, and discovered that they were starting to go south and needed to be used right away. I separated out the slimy leaves, washed the rest, and had an idea! I’ll make green smoothie frozen concentrate cubes!

To make the concentrate:

1. Pour some kefir, water, juice, or watered-down yogurt into a blender. You won’t need too much — just enough to get everything to blend together smoothly.

2. Add lots of greens. Ideas are: lettuce, spinach, beet greens, chard, lambsquarters, purslane, mint, parsley, cilantro, edible flowers, etc. (Kale is the only one I don’t like in a shake, but if you do, go for it!)

3. Start the blender and let it run until you have a uniform slurry.

4. Pour into ice cube trays and freeze.

To use:

When you’re ready to make a green smoothie, thaw out some cubes; I usually use 2 cubes when I make a shake for myself. Add the green liquid to your blender containing the rest of your smoothie ingredients — I like to use fruit and kefir with some ground flax seed and vanilla extract. Blend & enjoy. Yum!!

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If you’re curious about green smoothies, you might check out the book Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko, or the related website. My friend Sasha recommended this book to me, and I loved it! While I don’t agree with absolutely everything in the book, I’m glad I read it.

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Easy Greek Spanakopita

June 18, 2011 / Lindsey / 4 Comments

Spanakopita is one of my favorite things to eat. It’s a very easy dish to put together, and everyone loves it!

Spanakopita

1 pound (or more!) fresh spinach (feel free to substitute some of the spinach with chard, kale, turnip greens, or arugula) OR, frozen spinach — maybe a 10 oz. package? Maybe more? It doesn’t have to be exact.

5 oz feta cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup fresh dill (chopped and then measured)

3 green onions, chopped

2 eggs

salt/pepper to taste

1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil

phyllo dough (thawed overnight in the fridge)

1. Steam spinach till it wilts. Run under cold water to stop cooking process. Squeeze spinach and drain. Chop the cooked spinach into small pieces.

2. Mix spinach, feta, dill, green onions, eggs, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.

3. Brush the bottom of an 8×8 pan with olive oil (9×13 also works). Brush the top of a sheet of phyllo with oil and place in pan. Fold phyllo over to fit in pan. Repeat until you have 6-8 layers of phyllo (more or less, depending on how thick you want the crust).

4. Spread the spinach mixture on top of the phyllo crust.

5. Brush the top of a sheet of phyllo with oil and place on top of spinach. Repeat till you have 6-8 layers, or however many layers you’d like. Finish by brushing the top layer of phyllo with oil.

6. Cut your unbaked spanakopita into squares or triangles with a sharp knife.

7. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until golden brown on top, about 30-50 minutes.

*****

Gratitude Sunday * June 12, 2011

June 12, 2011 / Lindsey / 3 Comments

Sunday’s a good day to remember what we’ve been grateful for over the past week, don’t you think? I’m joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition, and here’s my list:

– Sticking my head out the window just in time to see a big shooting star fly across the night sky.

– Not having to get up and go to work on a weekday!!!!

– Baking cookies in my solar oven. I love how I can now have baked cookies in the summertime without heating up the house with our regular oven!

– Loads of fresh oregano on my Greek salad. How could I go back to dried now that I’ve used fresh!?

– Getting a lot of backed-up garden work done this week/weekend. Feeling like I’ve got a much better handle on the garden.

– Deciding to bow out of a weekend trip to a family reunion that I didn’t really want to go to, and knew I wasn’t up for anyway. Listening to my body; respecting its limits right now and not ignoring them.

– House sitting for my parents (they were at the reunion) this weekend and being able to do more garden work, hang out with my cat, and quietly relax outside in the oasis-like backyard.

– Playing lots of piano at mom & dad’s house, with no one listening to hear my mistakes! It’s my grandma’s baby grand piano…so special…shipped out to Colorado for me when I was a year old by my granddad. I think he even helped pay for piano lessons, too. I hated those dang lessons, but am so thankful I was forced into them, because I love being able to play the piano — I’m so thankful for that! It’s a real stress release, and very centering and satisfying. It just felt so good to play this weekend… especially good… and I could have just kept going and going.

– Getting some new clothes at the thrift store. Clothes shopping is not a favorite activity, but I need some new items, and the thrift store is always my first (and usually only!) stop. And I love how I can go about my shopping and not get asked ten times, “Are you finding everything OK miss?”

Got a laugh out of this sign at the thrift store!

– Being outdoors on a cool, fresh morning.

– So much beautiful garden lettuce that we’re eating salad after salad, straight from the garden and into our stomachs. I don’t know what I get more of — nutrition, or JOY!

– Adding heaps of fresh herbs to my salads — parsley, oregano, dill, and cilantro. Herbs are so potent and healing and full of vitamins and minerals and I feel so good putting them straight from the plant into my body. They are medicine!

– Drinking steaming tea, outside, in the cool air, at twilight.

– Inhaling the sweet, blossom-filled June air as I ride my bike through it.

– Getting stuck at the neighborhood garden center during a thunderstorm!

Biking with tomatoes, (c) The Herbangardener

Rode home from the garden center with a couple nice big heirloom tomato plants.

– Feet up & a big glass of fresh mint iced tea after wearing myself out in the garden.

– Watching my cat sleeping soundly this morning after a rough night chasing moths.

– Coming home to my Hubby after the weekend away house sitting. It was SO, so good to see him!!! It’s so nice just laughing and being together. I’m the luckiest girl ever…