WW ~ An Apple Tree's Journey

With only a few leaves to speak of, this grafted apple tree was transplanted from my Mom's into our yard over two years ago on June 1st, 2009.

Each one of its six branches will grow a different variety of apples.

It sat quietly in our backyard through 2010, while continuing to grow.

And in 2011, we began to see some action. We saw little pink buds begin to form on her branches.

Those li'l pink buds bloomed into small white apple blossoms.

 

We have these guys to thank.

Can you see him?

 

What we thought for years were weeds (because they grow like crazy, we never planted them, and no matter how many times we take 'em out, they come back), though we now know the little blue flowers my wee girl loves to make me bouquets from are Forget-Me-Nots, have attracted the local bees.

And those bees went to work!

All their pollinating grew us eight apples this year. An unknown wild critter got one. He must have stood on his hind legs to reach it, but we could book the apple eating thief from the teeth mark evidence he left behind.

And then...

 

...we got to pick our very first apple off our apple tree!

It doesn't get any more organic, farm to table, green, easy, or delish that this!  The kidlets shared this one for breakfast the morning we picked it.

And the other six? Their Dad turned that into a GFCF apple pie! While it turned out mighty delish, we're still fine tuning the recipe for that one. Hopefully, I'll have it to share closer to the holidays.

What's growing in your backyard (or on a balcony or inside your house if you are sans yard)?

Linking up with some rockin' awesome Wordful/ish Wednesday peeps!

Seven Clown Circus, Parenting by Dummies, Project Alicia, Live and Love...Out Loud, Angry Julie Monday

May, you were but a busy blink of an eye!

May. May is a crazy busy month. May tends to hurt my brain and my pockets both. (Anything that hurts our pockets is beyond exasperating!) But, May also brings lots of fun, smiles, and leaves us with oodles of new memories to treasure while we catch our breaths.

May brings us Mother's Day.  These are the roses that my kidlets picked for me from the backyard.  I'm soaking up the sweetness before we eventually hack them out to put in raised veggie beds.

May brought us wacky weather.  Actually, today is June 1st and apparently, wacky weather is still on the menu as it has been raining today....pouring just moments ago and now the sun is peeking in through a sucker hole as my fingers click clack across the board.

But, oh the rainbows!!  I'll take rain any day when there's a promise of a rainbow!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid has been running amuck around here.  I get that it's hilarious to a kidlet, but oh my, can that humor please stay in the books & on the pages?!  Please?!  (Oh yea and please do ignore the weeds.  When it finally stops raining and feeding them, I'll go out & pluck 'em!)

May has seen our graphed apple tree growing apples for the first time this year.  This little one is a Gala and there are five other varieties on the same tree.  Can't wait 'til fall to eat them!

May also brought us two birthdays.  No, not these gals'!  Hubs & wee girl each turned a year older, just a few days apart.  We celebrated Hubs and then had two parties, two weekends in a row with family and friends who are also family, just not blood related.

These two are two of the Four Musketeers and I love that while I wasn't raised with a sister, I've had three for over twenty years!

The Four Musketeers are Aunties to my kidlets and the one on the left above is the gal who got me started scrapbooking.  And since she's a scrapper herself, it rocks that she always takes pics of the silly bits and pieces of events that belong in a scrapbook at my kidlets' birthdays.

And no gathering with this crew is complete without a little Wii time!  Some maniacal Mario Kart driving was in order and after the kidlets went to bed, the 'grown ups' got busy playing Toy Story Mania.  We're wild, I know. {wink}

Tomorrow is the last day of this school year for us and while the weather doesn't seem to be on the same schedule, summer here we come!

What's happening this summer in your neck of the woods?

Got Artichoke?

We do!  Wee girl & I picked up a 2 1/2" artichoke starter plant from a local organic farm (well, the plant was started at a local organic farm, which we bought at Whole Foods) last year and planted it in our veggie garden.  And apparently, that little arti plant really liked its new home!

It started so small and now, it's almost up to the top of the fence with a half dozen artichokes growing on it.  The initial plant was $2.50 and with the price of artichokes today (saw some on sale at Safeway for $3 each the other day), if we even get one good one off of it (though it looks like we'll have many more than that), it will have paid for itself in full.

Pretty cool, huh?!  We think so.  We're also nurturing our boy's strawberry plant, in hopes it produces more yummy fruit for the third year in a row now.  And our graphed apple tree blossomed for the first time this year and already has little mini apples growing on it.  All of this and we haven't even planted any new vegetables yet.  Yup, pretty cool.

What's growing in your garden right now?  Anything new you plan to get into the ground or a pot this month?

SITS Day Three: What's in a name?

What's in a name?  Or in this case, blog post title? 

Suppose I must admit it here, my post titles are not overly witty.  Having thought of them as identification rather than an enticing call has led to that.  Post titles that are identifying for creative challenges are quite helpful (such as KWerner Color Inspiration #55...my first time playing along!), but not witty.

And there are informative & identifying post titles (such as Thank You Temple Grandin & HBO) that work great for search engines.  But, there's no flavor and it certainly does not convey how excited I was by the end of the Emmy's.

In the last few months, I've wanted my post titles to be more interesting (such as A Keen Party).  But, what was keen about what kind of party?  That's not so great for peeps using search engines looking for you or your topic.

And while I'm quite obviously still working on it, there are a few post titles that while not overly witty, do mean the most to me, the ones that make me smile (Acrylic Play, How do you create?, and the post I'm re-sharing with you today, Strawberry Charm).  And that's mostly due to how I felt about the topics I wrote on, which ranged from nervous anticipation to creative playfulness to sweet Mama joy.

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May 12, 2009
Strawberry Charm

Last month, my son and his class went on a fieldtrip to the local Ag Fair. He had SO much fun and is still talking about his experiences today. In addition to that lasting excitement, he has a little something growing rapidly that he brought home from that Ag Fair.

They sent each kidlet home with a little strawberry plant. His Dad helped him plant it in the backyard and other than that, we, hubby & I, have done nothing. We watch our son drag the hose across the yard to go water it pretty regularly.

While I was out back taking pictures with the kids yesterday (they had control of the camera, so most of them are of the cats and a few Really unflattering ones of me!), I was so delighted to see just how big his strawberry plant is getting! I snapped a quick pic and thought I would share it.

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Thanks to SITS for creating the Back 2 Blogging event and sponsors, Standards of Excellence, Westar Kitchen and Bath, and Florida Builder Appliances.

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And in case you are wondering, that sweet strawberry plant grew into a healthy producing plant that over the last almost year and a half, has divided itself four times.  Our sweet boy has picked a handful of strawberries off of it every week this summer.  In fact, he just harvested two more sweet red berries to eat earlier tonight!

Were there any berries growing in your garden this summer?  And of course, what do you think about blog post titles?

'Mater Moment

Our garden is growing with gusto and Hubby & I enjoyed the first tomato of the season, off the organic vine. 

Our sweet boy got so excited when he saw the first tomato turn red, that he promptly picked it....probably a couple of days early.  No worries, it ripened up the rest of the way on the counter.  Hubby sliced it up, passed around the sweetest tasters for all of us to try, and then made us BLTs for lunch with the rest of it.  Would you believe that was my very first BLT?!

Here's another question for you, what kind of tomato is this?!  We have no idea.  Its shaped like a heart, super red, sweet, and this one is almost, but not quite, the size of a tennis ball.  The vine is between four and five feet tall (its hard to tell because after it grew out the top of the tomato cage, it started following along the low 'fence' we have around the garden to keep the cats & critters out of it).  Whatever it is, its delish and producing like crazy.  Now, we're just waiting for more to turn red!

Oh yea....as spoiled as I am to be able to go outside to take pics most of the time, there is one challenging aspect...our kitty cat, Bonnie.  Bonnie, meet Tomato.  I'm sure she was mighty disappointed that what I had brought out was a treat for us and not her!

Does anyone have a tasty tomato recipe they want to share?  Please do!  It looks like we're going to have quite a bit this summer to slice, dice, and taste. :>

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If you were coming here, looking for something creative....say, that composition book that I said I started (in my last post)?!  It will be going up on Tuesday or Wednesday, so please do come back.  I think its coming out pretty cute! :>

{Smile} Worthy Garden Delights, Movie Madness & Friends!

My Grown Up Card is back in my possession again!  It had been a very long time since I have had the opportunity to get away, overnight, without any responsibilities or worry.  It felt like I was taking a deep cleansing breath.  And now, I'm happily home with hugs for my Hubby & kidlets!

Would you like to hear a few highlights from the weekend??

Just before I was ready to leave, Hubby mentioned that there were two huge zucchinis that he was going to harvest & cook with dinner from  himself & the kidlets that night.

Since I wasn't going to be home for dinner, I wanted to take a pic of our first zucchini harvest. I grabbed an 8" pretty yellow plate from Sur La Table that I was sure would be the perfect piece to hold them for the photo.  My mouth dropped open when each kidlet came running up to the backdoor with a huge zucchini....both longer than 8"!  Oh well....the plate was pretty & it definitely demonstrates how big those zucchinis were. 

Hubby cubed them up & cooked them with our favorite gluten/casein/soy/nitrite/nitrate/msg/preservative/antibiotic free Polska Kielbasa and added them both to Tinkyada brown rice pasta spirals for a delish meal that he & both kidlets gobbled up!

Let's zip to off to my playdate, so to speak, shall we?

Jenn & I met up with three other women for dinner (Fuzio...new to me) & drinks (I had the Watermelon Itch).  After lots of chatting and laughter, we walked to the theater to see Eclipse and yes, I enjoyed it.  Though, I don't think it had the same effect on me as it did the group of teenage girls that were gushing, "Oh My God!!  That was the best movie EVER!!!"  {Insert chuckle here.}

After the movie, Jenn & I headed back to her place for what else?!  More chatter, of course! :>  And then, we took the concept of a movie night quite literally.  While talking, I mentioned that I still had not seen Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.  So, guess what Jenn pulls out?!  Yup!  We then proceeded to watch the Alice Blue-Ray on her 52" TV (my tv has TV envy, for sure!)...it was gorgeous....like watching it in the theater, up close & personal.  All those vibrant saturated colors.....SWOON!!!

Speaking of colors, the next morning Jenn made a veggie pasta salad for a BBQ she was going to that evening and I loved the bright vibrant colors so much, I just had to take its picture!!  (I think I still had those great green zucchs on my mind!)  It had tri-color pasta, zucchini, crooked neck squash, mini bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and fresh spinach in it.  Doesn't that look delish?!

Whenever I am out driving, I am always amazed at how quickly I move from small town, to big city, to gorgeous country.  While I was driving out on Saturday, the tractors were out cutting this field of hay and on the way back the hay bales made me smile.

What has made You smile today?

Celebrating {Life} & Independence Day

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Wishing all of my friends in the United States a very

Happy 4th of July!

Guess what greeted Hubby when he was checking on our veggie garden last night?!  This beautiful and scrumptious organic crooked neck squash literally popped off when he moved a large leaf to see what might be growing!  We were already roasting some organic zucchini (purchased, as our zucchini are still growing), so we added this beauty!  You can't get more Garden to Table than that!!

{Life} is my One Little Word for 2010 and this beautiful veggie is a product of part of what and why I chose {Life} as my word this year.  The whole family has been in on this veggie garden, from planting it, to tending & watering it, to now harvesting & eating from it.  We are growing life, living life, and personally, loving the life that this small garden is bringing into our lives as a family.

Hubby will be barbequeing later today and even later, we will pull the telescope out to stargaze and watch some of the high fireworks set off for the show at the high school from our backyard.  What fun have you been having this weekend?  And if this is your holiday too, what does it hold for you?

One Little Word Update

When I chose my One Little Word for 2010, I chose {Life}, and while there were many reasons to choose that word, one particular reason swayed me. Before our daughter arrived a few years ago, we had our veggie garden and loved it! We loved planting it as a family, watering it, checking on it, picking from it, and cooking with what we grew.....all as a family. Once we had our wee girl, we didn't replant. And I have missed it....a lot.

So, to remedy that, my wee girl (who loves her fruits and veggies so much that we often have to bribe her with a veggie to get her to eat the main course on her plate) and I have been bringing home 2 1/2" organic starter plants the last couple weeks.

And now, tomatoes, chives, and parsley are in the ground, in planters on the deck, and in an old antique wash basin. Sharing those homes are a few other herbs & veggies, including:

Sage

Yellow Bell Pepper
(that was a wee bit chewed up by the time it got into the ground
...not sure that it happened before or after it arrived home)

Red Bell Pepper



And our boy's sweet strawberry plant! Can you believe it was only a couple of leaves big when he brought it home in his backpack from a local Ag Fair??!!

And since I took these pics, zucchini, rosemary, Japanese eggplant, peppermint, crooked neck yellow squash, and artichoke organic 2 1/2" starter plants have followed my wee girl and I home and are waiting to stretch their roots out in some deeper soil!

We are all having a lot of fun and enjoying having a veggie garden again.....or in the case of our wee girl, for the first time. It feels good to plant {life}, help it grow, eventually harvest it, and bring it into our kitchen to better our lives!

What's growing in your garden this season?

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Oh yes....one last thing, my wee girl, our Princess, came running up to me the other day with excited words spilling out of her wee mouth, "Look Mom!! I spelled 'Disney'!!!"


When I told her what it really spelled, she was tickled and proceeded to write 'Princess' on every single thing she could get her hands on! That was one great big little thing that made me Smile!!

Stop the presses.......

........I stamped a card! Waaahooooooo! I know its been a bit and I'm so sorry for that. Life has just been a wee bit busy and the first thing a lack of energy seems to zap, is my creativity. Grrr... Now, even though, I still feel as if I am a cat chasing her tail some days, I decided to craft some time for myself to ink up a stamp that I've had sitting out for awhile now. I absolutely love the detailed images of Mostly Animals stamps and this sunflower is from my stash from back in my early stamping days......about fifteen years ago.

Did you know that you can emboss with your Distress Inks?? Remembering hearing (okay, so I didn't hear it...I read it!) on the 2Peas stamping board (a couple of years ago) that you can emboss with Distress Inks, I thought it was about time I finally try it out for myself! Even though they are dye inks, they do stay wet long enough to pour on embossing powder and heat. Sooooooo....add another dozen ink colors for me to emboss with....yay! (There are way more than a dozen colors....but that's about the number that I own.) Does this add to your collection of colors to emboss with? Or are you an uber cool stamping encyclopedia and already have this knowledge incorporated into all those fun files in your brain?

Even though I had much more elaborate plans for this beautiful stamp, once I stamped and embossed her, I found that I liked the detailed line image so much that I chose to leave it as is. Wanting a bit of color on the card, I punched a trio of butterflies to flit up the card from some Stampin' Up! DSP left overs I had on my table, inked the edges with the same Distress Ink, folded them up, glued them on, and added a touch of bling for some sparkle. Actually, while the pic doesn't show it, there already is a bit of sparkle embossed into the image. Do you remember that orange glitter I had covering my old stash of embossing powder, glitter, and flocks? Well, there was a touch of it left on the rubber of my sunflower stamp that I absolutely could not get off.......until I stamped it on my card and then it was embossed in for a permanent home. Now, I'm really glad its there as for some reason, it just works!


Here's one more trip down memory lane..............back in May, I shared with you some wonderful Strawberry Charm of and from my sweet boy. Well, here is strawberry number four....kind of. That plant has flowered and fruited many times now. But, the noisy blue jays that visit us in our backyard every afternoon this year have been eating them all summer long!! My sweet boy got so excited every time he saw a "pretty white flower" because he knew that a strawberry that he planted, watered, and nurtured would follow that he could eat. We kept encouraging him to keep taking care of it and more would come. Well, either the blue jays found something more interesting to eat or the tomato cage with the reflective strips tied on is working or my sweet boy's timing has improved because he has been able to reap the benefits of his care taking as he harvests and eats the last four ripened strawberries from his charming strawberry plant. Now he wants to grow tomatoes, eggplants, lettuce, zucchinis, and a whole host of other fruits and vegetables!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bashful Blue - Stampin' Up!
Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up!
Stamp: Sunflower - Mostly Animals
Ink: Tea Dye - Distress Ink
Punch: Butterflies - Martha Stewart
Other: clear embossing powder - Stash; Hemp Twine - Stampin' Up!; Bling - Me & My Big Ideas

Strawberry Charm

Last month, my son and his class went on a fieldtrip to the local Ag Fair. He had SO much fun and is still talking about his experiences today. In addition to that lasting excitement, he has a little something growing rapidly that he brought home from that Ag Fair. They sent each kidlet home with a little strawberry plant. His Dad helped him plant it in the backyard and other than that, we, hubby & I, have done nothing. We watch our son drag the hose across the yard to go water it pretty regularly. While I was out back taking pictures with the kids yesterday (they had control of the camera, so most of them are of the cats and a few Really unflattering ones of me!), I was so delighted to see just how big his strawberry plant is getting! I snapped a quick pic and thought I would share it.