Strawberry Days!

We finally get to eat some of our strawberries this year!! Thanks to Jim's genius critter proof cage over them :-)

Happy Summer!

Happy Summer Everyone! Hope it's treating you well! I have a ton of pictures to show you-

since I haven't updated in a while...

I'll start from the begining of our garden this year in June.

Above were our apple blossoms- they were so bright and beautiful!
I think this is the first year we've been around to see them!

Our Allium

The herb garden before we planted beets etc.

We have a ton of garlic coming up this year, at least twice as many as last year.

One of Jim's projects this summer! He is leveling off the top left part of our back yard-

normally it's just a steep hill that is unused- this way we can hang out back there, once it's finished and layed with grass :-)

I'm not sure if i've ever put up a photo of the raspberry bars- but I though I might just in case-

the recipe is along the side of the blog.

These bars are delicious, and SO easy to make- I definetly recomend them!

Tor got his yearly paint job! I made him brighter this year :-)

(hope he likes it :-)

Our first lupine came out in mid June. The light white and purple ones smelled fantastic!

We had some different color ones this year. I especially like this pale pink one :-)

Bleeding Heart

 

Bright pink Lupine

Iris

 

Columbine

Our first annual basket :-)

This was the most amazing smelling Lupine!

I didn't even know Lupine could smell!

Jim's next project.

He built this retaining wall to help contain all the dirt from the upper area (where he's making it flat)

He'll eventually close it in, and line the top with glass- to create a greenhouse off of the shed.

Genius.

another angle of the wall.

One view of our garden.

Before the peonies bloomed

You can just start to make out the sprouts from the lettuce, swiss chard, arugula, beets, radishes and beans. (maybe..)

Recipe time!

These muffins were delicious! The ones in the picture were the second batch I made, and a few of the ingredients changed slightly- due to the fact I ran out of what I had used earlier :-)
Necessity is the mother of invention... and according to Jim this second batch was better.

I'll give you both recipes, (the second is in parenthesis) and you can decide for yourself.

Apple Cranberry Oatmeal Muffins

 

2 tsp ground flax seed

1 Tbs warm water

3/4 cup almond milk

1 medium apple peeled and diced

3/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup chopped almonds

1/4 cup apple sauce (or 1 medium banana mashed)

1/4 cup oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup GF flour

1 tsp xanthum gum

1 cup oats (or 1/4 cup oats & 3/4 cup granola)

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground Ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

-Preheat oven to 400.

-In medium bowl mix flax seed and water. Add next 8 ingredients (all the liquids plus sugar)

-In a separate bowl mix all dry ingredients

-Mix wet and dry together and fill muffin cups 3/4 full

-Bake for 15-20 minutes.
-Makes 12 muffins

 

You know it's summer when the Peonies bloom.....

 

Yay Peonies! this was the first one.

but shortly, more followed!

Jim surprised me with this beautiful arrangement in our bathroom :-)

 

This is the first year these little Peonies have bloomed!

The pinks ones just exploded-

Jim has to keep adjusting the string and stakes to hold them up!

The veggie garden is starting to come along now.

We had to put a cage over the strawberries-

since some critter ate our first ripe ones!

Ugh, Every year that critter beats us!

The white Peonies :-) which smell divine.

Taken today,

our Gypsy Dianthus is starting to bloom and our Snow in Summer is flourishing (or taking over...)

 

Well that's the garden update for now- Hope your enjoying yours as much as we are!

please send me pictures!

I'll post some more recipes soon- I attempted to make a berry cobbler last night- but I think I need to add more berries next time, because they thickened way too much and became jammy!

Oh well- that still didn't stop them from being devoured- I even had some for breakfast this morning :-)

once I get the recipe down i'll post it :-)

I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

Laugh, Love and Take time to Smell the Peonies!