Knitting Sandwich

the monday report

happy monday to you all!  i've just been crocheting away on lily's skirt since last we talked.

have i mentioned how much i love how fast crochet is?  because i love how fast crochet is.  odds are good i'll finish this little number up tonight!

in other flowerly news... my first iris of the season has bloomed:

these iris came with the house and i've always thought they were ugly.  i just want them to be purple.  but still, it's always exciting when they begin to bloom.

and in other random starwars-nerdiness-news i got a new awesome key chain from the copper fox on etsy to go with my old school princess leia key chain.

all-in-all a pretty good start to the week!

-melissa

squirrel corn harvest

as you may or may not recall, the squirrels in my front yard have been quite the productive gardeners this year.  last week i decided it was time to harvest their corn.

there were at least a half dozen tiny ears.  i put them all in my squirrel feeder so they could enjoy harvesting the fruits of their labors.

they immediately began squirreling it away for the coming winter.

-melissa

catching up

i've had a low online profile as of late, so i thought i'd catch you up as to my goings on (or lack there of, as it were).

after a good month of ignoring my garden i finally started weeding it last night, be forewarned though that i still have a fair way to go.

you'll notice the big pile of dead zucchini there in the front... can't tell you what happened to it because i was ignoring it.  oops.

even the squirrels have been better gardeners than me this year - they've been taking the corn i leave out for them and burying it all over my front yard.  

things have slowed down on the knitting front as well.  i did manage to make a baby bonnet for some friends who just had their first baby.

it's the modern baby bonnet (rav link) by hadley fierlinger, modeled here by my adorable nephew henry.

but other than that i've just been putzing along on lily's jumper (pattern: the teacup pinafore by carol feller - rav link).

i'm getting closer, but still the end seems oh so very far away... of course i'd actually have to spend time knitting on it to reach that end goal.

we had a try-on session today, which did serve to inspire me.  she sure looks cute, doesn't she?  of course it would be even cuter if i could finish it up...

so i'm ignoring my knitting, ignoring my garden, you may wonder what exactly i've been up to with all my spare time.

blame george rr martin.  i am well over 2,000 pages into the song of ice and fire series and am so obsessed i can barley function.  be thankful i've been able to get through this post without blithering on and on about the plot...

so now tell me what you've all been up to this summer!  gardening?  knitting?  reading?  fill me in!

-melissa

Creative gardening or bad composting - you decide

After I put compost on the fruit trees all sorts of interesting things started growing.

Like a zucchini in the kumquat pot

And a tomato by the lemon tree

I guess the compost needed to cook a little longer?  Maybe I didn't turn it often enough?  At least everything is thriving.

Speaking of thriving...

Sabrina is doing great too - even without help from compost.

-Lindsey

backyard goings on

it's time for a backyard update!  we've been busy little springtime yard fairies making all sorts of changes and improvements.

first, brian built us this new raised garden bed with some recycled lumber we were gifted from friends who were doing some yard projects of their own.  that weekend my apple tree was all pink with buds.

the next weekend i went up to the cities to pick up our two new rain barrels that we got through a program run by recycle minnesota.  i can not even begin to tell you how excited i am to now have two rain barrels!!

then the following week brian and some friends filled up our new bed with dirt we were gifted by a neighbor of our friends (hooray for all these donated materials!!  when all was said and done, all we had to purchase for this project was the extra large nails to build the bed and a couple 6-packs of beer we gave out as thank yous!)  i am so so excited to get some veggies growing in my new garden bed!!  

in the week and a half it took for us to complete this project my apple tree bloomed!

we've got a few more yard projects up our sleeves so stay tuned!!

-melissa

hey look!! it's my dirt!

look what i found in my backyard - my garden!!  we've had enough snowthaw to bring the garden beds back into view which, in turn, has brought gardening back to the forefront of my thoughts.

although we're still over two months away from planting time i'm started to get all kinds of excited about planning the garden.  there's going to be a big expansion this year - i'm building another raised bed on the west side of the garage (more on that later, i'm sure).  

i'm also psyching myself up to try starting some plants from seed again - i've had disastrous results in the past but feel like this year will be my year!!

what about y'all?  have you started dreaming up this year's gardens?

lindsey (and anyone else living in the south) is it soon time for you to actually start planting?

hooray for dreams of growing greens!!

-melissa

Garden Update

The citrus trees have survived the Houston heatwave surprisingly well. 

The satsumas are getting big

Lemons are looking luscious

I'm thrilled with how big the grapefruits are since this is the tree's first fruit bearing season.

Then there is the poor kumquat...

The poor thing lost nearly all its leaves.  But the fruit is oddly still hanging on; it even started to flower again.  Has anyone heard of such a thing?  I'm giving it more water, and when the compost is ready it will get a health dose.  Any suggestions on what else to do?

In other news, cicadas are leaving their skeletons all over the side of the house.  They look so cool and prehistoric. 

-lks

another of the myriad of reasons why i love my garden...

because this afternoon, while i was standing at the fence chatting with the neighbors, lily was busy harvesting things from the garden.  she had collected this bounty of vegetables when she was done.

tonight for dinner we're having make your own veggie pizzas with homemade sauce!  

hooray for gardens!

-melissa

one of the myriad of reasons why i love my garden

after returning from our tennessee trip last evening i had no energy or desire to run out and go grocery shopping today.  yet i still needed to provide my family with dinner.

enter this story's hero: the backyard garden.

i took my backyard bounty and combined it with a recipe from one of my staple cookbooks, simply in season, to make a tomato zucchini quiche.

crustless zucchini tomato quiche

(this isn't the recipe exactly as it's written, but exactly how i made it today.)

2c tomato (chopped)

1c zucchini (chopped)

1/2c onion (chopped)

1/3c shredded parmesean

place in greased 10" pie pan

1 1/2c milk

3/4c flour

3 eggs

salt and pepper to taste.

whisk together until combined.  pour over vegetables.

bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.

i love this recipe.  it never disappoints and tonight was no exception!

and i feel it should win extra style points for being able to be prepared without the dreaded trip to the grocery.

-melissa

rainy day garden

today is a lovely grey and rainy day in minnesota.  this morning i found myself out in the garden enjoying all its drippy beauty.

-melissa