Where did Summer Go?

Adam laughing from being tickled on the grass in our back yard. Despite the gray skies and lower temperatures we got outside to play!

In the last week our weather has not been very "summer-like." We have had a lot of rain and colder temperatures. This past Sunday it was barely 60 degrees and I had to wear a sweater and a rain jacket! I refused to put my boots on and decided to still wear my flip flops though! I want to at least acknowledge that it is supposed to be summer. It was nice to finally have more time to get outside today since it didn't rain and the weather was at least dry. It has been awfully dreary but we have hope that someday soon there will be enough sun for our tomatoes to grow!!

Some daylilies that are blooming in our back yard. I love their vibrant color!

Suburban Garden Report:

My plants in the garden have been growing very well. However, I know that they need more sun to really accelerate their growth. I think this is especially true for tomatoes and peppers as well as herbs such as basil. You can see in the pictures below that all of the plants are very lush and green but I would like some tomatoes to start forming!

Finally my gigantic tomato plants are starting to flower!



My one bell pepper plant is slowly getting bigger. It really needs more sun!

An apple on our dwarf apple tree. These apples are looking great and growing fast!


My lavender plant has put out several flowers and is looking pretty.

Well, at least the lettuce is thriving in the cooler weather! We've been enjoying lots of salads!

It was fun to teach Adam how to pick lettuce. Now every time we go out into the garden he picks a piece or two and eats it! It is a very healthy "salad to go!"

Adam eating some lettuce. He really enjoyed learning how to pick it!

At least the rain has been very kind to my growing side yard and the flowering plants are really growing and thriving there. Very soon the Black Eyed Susan daisies will be coming out! I can't wait! Here are some pictures of some of the lovely flowers in that area:

I really love the sunset color on this begonia in the side yard!

A bloom on a hardy fuchsia plant in my side yard that came back by surprise! It is so pretty!

Adam spotted a few ripe blueberries today which he promptly ate. I hope with a bit more sun there will be quite a few for him to nibble on. The bushes are looking very healthy and full of blueberries for their small size.

A blueberry that Adam found- there are a few that are ripe enough to eat now.

A sweet little surprise flower- this is a plant that is now starting to thrive from 2-3 years ago.

A while ago I read an article on container gardening. It suggested to group your pots in groups of 3-5 pots or more on your deck or patio area. Before I had my pots scattered too much and the flowers looked too sparse. The technique of grouping them really makes the flowers stand out and it gives a much "lush" effect. I am really liking the look now! I think it is great to read and learn new things every day!

A grouping of flower pots on our deck.

Finally, as Adam and I were wandering into the corner of our back yard I spotted these lovely foxglove plants! I just love the colors and they are so pretty! What a nice surprise!

A volunteer foxglove plant in our back corner.

Country Garden Report:

This week's country garden report is going to be a short one. Last week I was busy getting ready for a baby shower we threw on Saturday so I didn't have a chance to go to the country garden and visit. Also, we had been sick the past week when we visited the garden and so then my parents, brother and sister in law also got sick from the virus that we had! I do know that before she got sick my mom worked on picking and freezing as many wild cherries that she could off of a very large tree that my dad cut down. It was so full of such lovely, red cherries! They will surely be a treat to eat and to use in preserves, etc. Hopefully in a week or two I will have more news from my parent's garden.

Celebrating a Baby to Come:

A tiered tray of lemon cupcakes for the baby shower.

This past Saturday, July 16th we had a couples baby shower for some friends who are adopting a baby very soon. They are such a nice couple and we are so excited for them. I had a lot of fun decorating and coming up with a menu for the shower! It was a brunch theme and it was wonderful! Fun was had by all!

I made some breakfast casserole along with a green salad, tomato salad, fruit salad, scones and lemon cupcakes for dessert.

Following are the recipes for the shortbread cookies and the cream scones. Enjoy!

A platter of homemade cream scones- plain, chocolate chip and cranberry for the shower.

Cream Scones:

This is the scone recipe that we used for our farmer's market bakery booth "Farmer's Tea." They were a big hit at our booth for breakfast. Some of the flavors that we used to make were: hazelnut/chocolate chip, coconut, cranberry orange and blueberry among others.

Yields: 16 small scones

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
11 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons whipping cream

1 cup mix in: dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, etc), chocolate chips, coconut, etc. (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly butter baking sheet or cover with a sheet of parchment paper.

2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder together in a medium size bowl.

3. Cut in small chunks of butter with a fork or with a pastry blender. Blend until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

4. Make a well in the center of the mixture and add the cream. Stir just until moist. Add the "mix-in" ingredient if you are going to use one.

5. Transfer dough to a floured surface and gently knead until smooth, about 8 turns.

6. Divide dough in half. Transfer these to the prepared baking sheet and pat each portion into a 3/4 inch thick round. Cut each round into 8 wedges. Brush tops with remaining cream.

7. Bake scones until light brown 10-15 minutes.

These can be made ahead and freeze very well. Let them thaw on the counter overnight or a few hours before serving. Enjoy!

A teddy bear shortbread cookie that I made as favors for the baby shower.

Shortbread Cut Out Cookies:

This is one of my favorite cookie recipes. I love that the cookies turn out so professional looking and they are so delicious too! When I bake this the whole house smells like vanilla! Yum!


Yields: 17-18 large cookies or 24 small cookies

2 cups unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour with the salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes). Stir in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill dough for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 300 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface roll out dough to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes. Place on the prepared baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked.

Bake for 20 minutes.

You may frost, glaze or dip the cookies in chocolate and/or sprinkles to make them festive!

Enjoy this week!

Hope Springs Eternal

This pastoral setting is right next to the country garden.

Last Friday my Mom and I had a wonderfully sunny and productive day in the country garden. It brought us hope for this year's gardening season and hope for the future in general. Here's the latest from both gardens:

Country Garden:

Last Friday since it was a nice, sunny day (it was in the mid-seventies by late afternoon) we did a lot of weeding, hoeing and planting of our cooler weather crops. We started out weeding and preparing the soil in the corner where there are 4-5 rhubarb plants that are really thriving this year! It'll be nice to make our first pie from our own rhubarb soon!

A lovely, healthy patch of rhubarb in the country garden.

There, we decided to create wide rows of cabbage and broccoli. Next to the fence we planted some more peas. Later on we planted some onions in this area as well. The varieties we planted include: Mammoth Red Rock Cabbage, Danish Ballhead Cabbage, Yellow of Parma Onions and Thompson Broccoli.

A view of the wonderfully prepared country garden this spring.

As my Mom planted seeds I worked on weeding and hoeing other areas including areas around the boysenberries. Sometimes I would give large clods of dirt to the chickens because they contained worms that they were more than happy to eat!

Adam in the garden near his tractor- wrapped up in towels.

While we were busy working in the garden Adam busied himself with a solar radio! He had the best time and sat in the sun very contented! Later in the afternoon he had fun wrapping himself in beach towels and then checking out the tiller, etc.

One of the very healthy raspberry plants.

Also, we checked out the progress on the raspberries, boysenberries and blueberries and it looks like they are going to have lots of berries this year!

A view of one of the blueberry bushes.

Delicious! I'm sure Adam will enjoy eating them straight off of the vines and bushes!

The boysenberries.

Later on in the weekend here's the report my Mom gave of their progress in the garden and yard:

"I put some kale and chard over by the peas and garden fence, where you did that weeding on Friday.

I did go ahead and plant carrots, parsnips, and radishes in the space between the boysenberries and the raspberries. That was the best place it seemed, as the soil is loose with no clumps at all. The parsnips in particular need that.

I made some short rows where Adam was sitting and playing with the radio on Friday. I planted a wide row of beets there, and then as I had some seeds of Brussels sprouts and cauliflower left from last year, I put those in a row alongside the beets. I also added some rows of turnips, rutabagas, and lettuce there.

I also chopped weeds among the raspberries and gooseberries, and got the blackberries out of the fence area on both sides of the fence on the end where the gooseberries are. There is still more to be done on weeding next to the fence, but the thistles and blackberries are at least chopped out of that area.

Dad worked down in the gully just north of the orchard. He burned a pile of branches, and also burned Scotch Broom and blackberries that he removed. He is continuing some of that today.

While I have been walking around between the garden and the gully, I noticed some wildflowers - bunch berry - that I have not seen here for years. They aren't in bloom and are rather sparse, but they are there. I am going to put little sticks by them to help Dad and Stuart see where to avoid mowing. I think they got overwhelmed with all of the blackberries, so maybe now some of the native plants can come back. It is my cherished hope. "

As you can see by my Mom's progress a lot has been done! It is a constant battle between the blackberries and the wildflowers and native plants- but by mowing and keeping after the blackberries many lovely native plants are coming back! It is wonderful! My Mom let me know that she has finished planting all of the cool weather crops so we will be ready in 3 weeks or so to plant the warmer weather crops such as tomatoes, basil, peppers and corn.

Suburban Garden:

My husband Paul and I did some yard work on Saturday before it started raining again. It seems like in the spring there is never more than one sunny day in a row, so if it isn't raining, it's time to hurry up and do yard work!

So, Paul trimmed back the rhododendrens close to the house, put more paving stones around the edge of the lawn, and hauled a lot of mulch to the back yard to put into the flower beds. He also mowed the front lawn. It looks really nice out front now! I also was able to edge and mulch the rhododendren/hydrangea bed in the front yard late last week.

Another view of the side yard garden with a few more flowers.

Also, on Saturday I planted a few more flowers in the side yard because it looked a bit sparse. I planted some more begonias and a few dwarf dahlias as well. I love the way it looks- so bright and cheery! I still hope someday soon the neighbors will chop up the wood next to the side yard and put it away- it would really make the yard look much nicer.

I bought 2 new herb plants at the Beaverton Farmer's Market to put in my garden. I bought a "perpetual basil" and a sage plant. They go nicely in the garden and will add to my kitchen garden. I also got my Walla Walla onions and lettuce seeds planted in my raised bed garden.

A view of our raised bed garden and back yard. We've made a lot of progress mulching the flower beds and edging the lawn with the paving stones.

Today I continued to spread mulch on the flower beds in the back yard. I had to run inside because it started to rain. However, there is only a small pile left and I am nearly finished with that job! Hooray!

In closing I'd like to leave you with a quote I thought was very important that I read in a speech by Pat Mooney- the co-founder of ETC Group in Ottowa Canada that he made to a group of Seed Savers Exchange members:

"Who's going to help us survive climate change? It's going to be the peasants, the heirloom breeders, the ones like you, who are taking care of the plant. The companies can't do it, they can't even imagine doing it, and they don't know how to do it.......So who is going to save us? Who is going to feed us? It's the peasant system. The people who love gardens, who love their land, who love their neighbors. "- Pat Mooney

I love this quote because it is so full of hope. When all is changing around us- we can do something positive by planting a garden, a flower bed, a pot on a balcony. I think that all of the people put together who work to preserve heirloom varieties and work to save plants that are important to them and that they love to grow, eat and share will help us in the coming years. I know that I love the land, my garden and my family, friends and neighbors. I want to do my part by having my suburban garden and also helping out in the country garden to make this land healthy and a better place for all.

Chicken- Two Ways Plus More!

Last week we had a very busy week working on replacing our roof. My husband Paul and my Dad Dale worked on the roofing project all week while my Mom and I helped clean up the old roofing debris, ran errands, took care of my son Adam and cooked meals.

One of the meals we cooked was beer can chicken along with a salad of lettuce and potatoes- both from our garden! Since this year has not been the best for our garden it was nice to harvest a bit and enjoy it last week!



Above are the potatoes that we harvested, boiled and served with a bit of butter, salt and pepper.

I have made beer can chicken before on the barbecue and it was good, but this one turned out particularly tasty! And, as a bonus we made a lovely chicken salad out of the leftover chicken for lunch the next day. It was great to have plenty of hearty and healthy food for a hungry roofing crew!

The recipes for the Beer Can Chicken and Condiment Chicken Salad that we made follow along with my notes. Tonight I am making a chicken soup out of the chicken stock I made from the bones and bits of leftover chicken from these two meals. So, we got 2 meals out of 1 large chicken plus a bit more!! I'll post that recipe later. In the meantime, enjoy these two meals!

Beer Can Chicken:

1 large chicken- 6+ pounds
5-6 tablespoons spice rub ( I used a spice mix I already had and added a bit of brown sugar to it)
1 large & tall can of beer

1. Wash chicken with cold water and blot dry with paper towels.

2. Rub chicken with3-4 tablespoons spice rub outside and inside the cavity. Make sure to take out the giblets or giblet packet.

3. Open the tall beer can and also poke a few holes in the top using a bottle opener. Pour out the first inch or so of beer. Spoon the remaining spice rub into the can of beer. It will foam a bit.

4. Place the chicken onto the can of beer and make sure it can stand upright.

5. Heat your barbecue to high heat at first. Place the chicken on a roasting pan as seen in the picture above. Make sure that you can close the lid of the barbecue over the chicken. Reduce the heat to medium or low. Check your chicken often and lower the temperature if the skin is burning quite a bit.

6. Cook the chicken for an hour + or until the internal temperature reaches around 181F.

Slice, serve and enjoy!


Chicken Salad for Lunch:


The next day we had this lovely chicken salad for lunch! It is a recipe that has been in my family for a long time. We have always served it for summer barbecues or special occasions in the summer months. I love it because it is simple to make yet very special for company. We have reduced the amount of mayonnaise in our version from the original because it seemed to be too heavy. However, you may add more to your taste.

Here is the recipe:

Condiment Chicken Salad:

1/2 cup + of mayonnaise
1 cup raisins
1 cup salted peanuts
1 cup mango chutney (my Mom often uses the kind she makes herself)
1 cup flaked coconut
2 pounds cooked chicken, diced coarsely
1 cups bananas- sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 avocados, sliced
1 banana sliced
6 romaine lettuce leaves
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix together mayonnaise, raisins, peanuts, chutney, coconut, chicken and salt. If making ahead, cover and chill at this point. Just before serving, gently combine with the two cups sliced bananas. Line the salad bowl (or put on a plate) with lettuce leaves and mound salad on top. Garnish with slices of avocado (or you can mix those in as we did above) and banana that have been dipped in lemon juice.


Enjoy these two meals from one chicken!

Early Harvests

In the last couple of weeks we have started to harvest a few things in the garden and around it. Last Monday, August 16th Adam and I came out for the day to pick blackberries at my parent's place. Adam had fun with his own bucket full of berries- mostly supplied by me and Grandma!


We found a large grove of blackberries and my Dad mowed around the area and cut back a lot of them so that they were easy to get at. We managed to get a large bucketful. There will be many more ripe ones in the days to come! Below is a picture of our first berry harvest.


I took home this large bucket of berries and saved some for eating and then froze them on a tray to save for winter. I hope to get out to do more picking later on and freeze some more. We also are thinking about making some blackberry syrup and other things with the berries.

Other Garden Harvests:

My mom has been harvesting a few of the wax beans and freezing them so that later she can make a canned three bean salad with a couple of the other beans we planted. Also, she has been harvesting a few cucumbers and making small batches of pickles out of them.


The lettuces are looking lovely in spite of the heat. We are keeping them well watered and using t hem quickly. They have not started to bolt yet! In order to keep the lettuce very fresh we pull it up roots and all and chill it in the fridge until it is ready to eat. It seems to be fresher that way.The deer tongue lettuce and speckled romaine are very tasty and seem to be especially nice. They are part of a mix that we bought from Seed Savers Exchange. They are two that we'd like to grow again.

We have finished up making applesauce from the remaining Transparent apples. My mom made 22 quarts of applesauce the other day! There are other apples that are ready later on that we'll use for making more cider. She decided to can the applesauce outside using the campstoves just as we had done for the apple cider. It makes less of a mess (no sticky counters or floors!) and tends to be cooler than in the kitchen. She even brought her mixer outside to do the pureeing of the sauce.

We'll be back with more gardening news soon!