Gardening

It's been beautiful and sunny here in Southern Oregon. I've been out working on my square foot garden. I'm just getting it started this year so it's taking time and money to get it up and running. Having severe back and knee problems have made it necessary to have my garden in raised beds. I'm now able to stand up and garden without having to bend down or squat. I'll post photos soon!!!!!!!!!!

The sunshine felt so good today. I do have to be careful about being in the sun too much. Some of the medicines I take make me very sensitive to the sun. I burn easy........but having Native American heritage (Cherokee) I turn a dark bronze color.

I need to go shopping this weekend for seeds and plants. Just think in 28 days I'll be eating fresh radishes from my garden. I can't wait. I'm sooooooooo tired of eating what they sell as fresh radishes in the grocery store.

By the way my onions are about 2 inches tall and starting to take off growing. My garlic is huge!!!!!!!! I planted it last October and it's over 2 feet tall right now. It's regular garlic.........not elephant garlic. Some of the stalks are 1 inch across. In planting it I followed my late Grandpa's advice on growing garlic. He said to only plant the outer cloves of the garlic bulb and you would get the best results. Big cloves = big garlic bulbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you, Grandpa! I sure miss seeing you out on your Poppin' Johnny (Vintage John Deere Tractor) plowing and getting ready to garden.


I better get the gardening muck off and get some laundry done. Hey, Michelle!!! I'll be careful while doing the laundry. I agree...................HOUSEWORK CAN KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shirley

"May the spirit of the wolf watch over you and keep you safe."

My Basket of Scrapping Goodies

Scrapbooking Goodie Basket I won from my LSS. I couldn't believe it when Paulette called me and told me I had won the drawing.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

It is a beautiful day here in Southern Oregon. The sun has been shining all day. I was able to work in my raised bed garden today. I've got part of it almost ready for planting. I hope to finish getting it ready by weekend.

I also worked on getting my strawberry bed ready today. Hopefully by this weekend I will be able to plant the strawberry plants. Rich's friend said he was giving us 3 or 4 plants.........more like 12. That's okay! We both love strawberries. Rich especially likes Strawberry Shortcake with plenty of Cool Whip. I also want to try making some Sugar-Free Jam.

Speaking of sugar-free. I had to visit the Doctor's office today to get some of my medicines changed. I lost 3 1/2 pounds since last week. Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!

I've really been trying to prepare not only low-carb but lower fat meals. Being a lacto-ovo-vegetarian I tend to consume more dairy products than I should. Cheddar Cheese is one of my problem areas. I should probably eat the low-fat or fat-free cheese......but the price is unbelievable. I gleaned a recipe from Bobbie for defatting cheese...............maybe I'll try that if I can find the recipe.

Off to find that recipe.

"May the spirit of the wolf watch over you and keep you safe."

I'm Excited!!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited!!!!!!!!! Yesterday I received a call from my local scrapbook store telling me that I had won a Basket Full of Scrapping Goodies!!!!!!!!!!! I had forgotten all about entering the drawing. The drawing was being held in celebration of the store's 6th anniversary.

I'm going to pick it up on Saturday. I live 27 miles from the store and with the price of gas ($2.89 gallon) I try to make all my trips to town count. So on Saturday, Rich and I are going to pick up my basket, visit Dad and Mae for Easter and give them some goodies, and pick up 2 little kittens that we are getting.

I'll post some photos of my basket and the kittens later on down the line.

Shirley

"May the spirit of the wolf watch over you and keep you safe."

It's Spring or Is It?

Here in Southern Oregon, it's Spring!!!!!!!!!!! One minute the sun is shining and the sky is a beautiful blue...........the next minute is is raining and the sky is dark and menacing..........the next minute there's a beautiful rainbow in the sky. I love the spring weather because I know that a beautiful warm summer is just around the corner.

I've been out doing a little tinkering in the flowerbeds and garden. I can't do much because of my knee and back. I'm still off work...........in fact I was terminated because I couldn't go back to work yet and I had used up my 90 days Family Medical Leave. So now I happily unemployed.

Dad and Mae gave me some beautiful hens and chicks yesterday. After Rich and I got home we planted them. I can't believe some of Dad and Mae's hen and chicks are 8 inches across. That's not the entire plant......that's one hen. Then some of the chicks are 4 - 5 inches across. The top photo is some of the hens and chicks at Dad and Mae's.

I love to garden..........but with my knee and back its hard to garden the conventional way. So I'm trying Mel Barthalomew's Square Foot Gardening this year. Instead of having my garden bed down low............Rich built it up so I don't have to bend or squat down to tend to my garden. I'll upload photos once we get it going. Mel has a wonderful website and book about the techniques of square foot gardening.

Take care and talk to all later.

"May the spirit of the wolf watch over you and keep you safe."