Free Natural Room Freshener

Some rosemary sprigs from the yard and lemon rinds left over from the kitchen make the house smell fresh and crisp when set to simmering on the stove.

The Chard that wouldn't die...

Swiss Chard, that is. If we ever experience another Great Depression, my family won't have to worry about having greens on the table. My one plant has been going strong for right at a year now and shows no signs of slowing down. If you have any interesting chard recipes, please let me know. My latest find is this 'greens soup' which is actually quite tasty:

• large bunch of mustard, kale, chard or spinach; chopped


• bunch of cilantro, arugula or parsley; chopped


• 4 leeks, sliced and rinsed


• juice of 1 lemon


• chicken stock


• 2 cloves garlic, minced


• 1 tsp brown sugar


• 1 tsp salt

1. Sautee leeks in olive oil with a few bay leaves and minced garlic


2. Add brown sugar and salt. Cook for a few more minutes.


3. Throw in greens. Cover with stock.


4. Simmer 30 minutes.


5. Stir in herbs and lemon juice.

Rites of Passage

Today was B's first time to help mow the lawn. And at his suggestion.

Strawberries take a little patience.

I planted strawberry plants last fall. And being the total gardening noob that I am, I thought that the few strawberries I 'harvested' (did I actually 'harvest'? and can you call a handful a 'crop'?) was it for those plants. Not so. I guess they take the winter to get established because now I have big healthy plants, quite a few flowers and the beginnings of a REAL crop. The Kid even got a little into it and sampled the first one. Getting him involved is the most important harvest of all.

The Kindness of Neighbors

That's a busted skylight if you can't quite tell what my photo is. We had quite a hailstorm a few days ago. Here's a pic of some of the pea, nickel and quarter size hail we got.

But this post is really about a very nice neighbor down the street. M is out of town on business so it was just The Kid and me. After staring at the broken skylight for most of the next day, it occurred to me that I probably ought to tape some plastic over it, especially since more rain was forcast. So I headed down the street to borrow an expanding ladder from a neighbor I thought might have one. He ended up doing all the work of getting up on the roof and taping down plastic. And then the next day he came over and swept all the leaves and broken tree limbs off the roof (and there was a LOT of green up there.) I'm so thankful for his kindness, which reminded me that no one can go it alone - we all need help once in awhile.

Don't plant a Southern Magnolia

This is why.

I started picking up these seed pods this morning. The count is up to about 150 with no end in sight. And these things are about the size of a hand grenade. So you can't just mow over them. You have to pick. Them. Up. Not to mention the leaves, which are bigger and also (according to my husband) cannot be mowed over.

So. Think twice before you plant one of these things. But if you still want one, here's a very important tip: never trim up the branches. Leave the lower branches low (as in close to the ground.) That way this mess stays hidden.

Make a Bean TeePee

You know how people say that as a woman gets older, she gets more like her mother? Could be. I find myself more and more interested in things appropriate to a farmer or even a pioneer. And guess what my mom's nickname is? Pioneer Mom. As in the old pioneer days when you did everything yourself. I actually have a long way to go before meeting her high standard of self-sufficiency, but I'm working on it. I checked out The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City (Process Self-reliance Series)
from the local library. I highly recommend it for those who really don't have a clue as to where to get started (and that would be me.) It's full of easy and inexpensive ways to dig in. Hence, my new pole bean teepee. I scrounged some bamboo poles from the garage and a large tree branch I had been meaning to throw away, lashed them togther with some of the t-shirt yarn mentioned in a previous post (didn't see that application coming) and instant teepee! Once I clear the grass and make a trip to the local nursery for beans I'm set.

Artisan Bread For Dummies

I got this great bread book for Chrismas - thanks, Leigh! The book is Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
and I figure I am the perfect test case since I have never attempted to bake my own bread. (Bread machines don't count.) Here's what you do: Mix up a big batch of dough that will keep in your frig for 2 weeks. (And I do mean mix - no kneading required.) When you are ready to bake a loaf just pull off a hunk. The '5 minutes' is how much time you actually handle the dough - there is some added wait and bake time, but who cares about that? I am happy to let the dough rest for 40 minutes while I do something else and then bake for another 30 minutes while I still do something else. And no kneading. Ever. Big plus. The photo above is the basic loaf, but the book contains lots and lots of different recipes. I made the sweet rolls the other night - very tasty but a little too much work for lazy me. I'm going to stick to the easy ones like this...

Make mine a Garden Hopper

Most Christmases I open at least one gift that I'm not quite sure how to react to. And naturally I have to open it in front of M's entire family. They have this little tradition where only one person at a time opens their gifts so that everyone else can 'ooh' and 'aah' and closely watch your face for reactions. Well, the 2008 Grand Prize Winner is my Garden Hopper. At first glance, this contraption looks like something my son used to ride on in his toddler years, minus the handle to pull it. (In fairness, it does have a hook where you can attach one.) It's even made by Step 2. Don't those people make toddler riding toys? But on closer inspection, I think this gift may turn out to be a big winner. It has a little seat for working in the garden - no small thing when you're middle-aged and have more and more trouble just bending over, much less squatting. And notice the cup holder on one end. I can have my beverage of choice within arm's reach. Plus there's a storage area under the seat for tools, although I plan to use it to hold snacks to go with my beverage. I still need to check the weight limit. That's the true test.

What was your 'most interesting' gift this Christmas?

Winter garden update...

My little garden is still going strong. The lettuces are still alive and providing greens for salads and the cauliflower plant actually has a small head. The basil is long gone but the dill is still alive. The collard and mustard green plants are fine as well. I guess that is the silver lining to a warm Christmas. The newest addition are radishes, whose deep pink is somehow very satisfying.

Tomato Cobbler ... really!

I was searching the web for the pickled onion rings recipe from the Cock of the Walk in Jackson, Mississippi, (and believe me, they are worth searching for) when I came across this recipe for Tomato Cobbler. Not two words I would normally put together, but it rang a bell. My father-in-law, who hails from the Magnolia State, once reminisced about having eaten tomato cobbler. I'm not sure any of us actually believed him at the time, but having found evidence of its existence I had to try it out. So here it is in all its glory. If you can get past my poor photography and even poorer presentation (no, I don't have a nicer casserole dish, and no, I do not have the patience to weave a lattice top out of pastry dough), it is actually quite good. I had DH sample it before telling him what it was and he gave it a thumbs up. The recipe is shown below in case you also feel the need to prove it for yourself. Of course, to be fair, anything with that much sugar and butter has got to good.

Deep Dish Tomato Cobbler

• 2 1/2 lb ripe tomatoes
• 3/4 C sugar
• 3/4 C brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 T vanilla
• 1/2 C butter
• 3/4 C water
• pastry dough for an 8" pie

1. Preheat oven to 450 F.
2. Simmer all ingredients (except the dough) for 20 minutes.
3. Roll the dough thin, then cut in half. Cut one half into small squares about 1/2" wide.
4. Drop the small squares into the pan and simmer 5 more minutes.
5. Pour into baking dish.
6. Cover with the rest of the dough cut into strips.
7. Sprinkle with sugar.
8. Bake at 450 F for 15 minutes or until browned.

How does your garden grow?

I am exceedingly proud of myself. I finally put together a Square Foot Garden. And I did it all myself since DH is not exactly the outdoor type. When asked to help, his comment was, "but I'm a city boy..." Actually, neither of us is very good at growing things, which is pretty obvious if you look closely at the grass in the photo. I've had the Square Foot Gardening books for years (decades?) and I pull it out and look it over every few years. This time I took it to heart and even tracked down coarse vermiculite, which according to the NEW Square Foot Gardening book is absolutely de rigueur. I had to drive waaaay down to south Austin (I'm a northie) to a place called Brite Ideas, which I'm thinking might have hippie roots. ( I'll try out their hydroponics supplies one of these days.) I've got several kinds of lettuce, spinach, mustard and collard greens (I lived in Mississippi for 3 years where I developed a taste for leafy green things cooked in bacon fat and doused in vinegar), a few herbs and three strawberry plants. The strawberry plants are a sneaky attempt to involve The Kid, who's generally not interested in putting something in his mouth unless it comes out of a Chef-Boy-R-Dee can. If any gardening pros out have any advice, I'm all ears...