Putting My Education to Good Use With Free Milk

Kroger had a great promotion running with General Mills products this week. If you bought two General Mills products, you were able to get up to $4 in free milk - At Kroger's current price that's 2 gallons! I was able to do even better, since I had coupons for the products I purchased, so I got a GREAT deal...

The kicker was, I already had a gallon that had hardly been touched by the family - sometimes we'll suck it all down in one day and other times it will last forever. My freezer was too full as well, so I thought "What should I do with all the milk?"

As it happened my neighbor mentioned wanting to make periogies with fresh farmers cheese while she lamented on how difficult it was to find and complained about the price. Since I had recently taken the cheese-making class however I put my learning to good use and made a basic Queso Balnco cheese.

For added flavor, I added a tiny nit of roasted garlic to the end and had FABULOUS results! I made a great frsh lasagna in addition to the periogies!

Signs of Spring...

For some the best signs of spring are having soil that's dry enough to rototill, others look for blooming flower bulbs and still others look for fuzzy pussy willows and lemon yellow forsythia blooms...

I on the other hand watch for the first asparagus to poke up through the ground - For me that means I can begin reaping the rewards of my labor. And guess what... As I surveyed my garden late this beautiful Easter Day, I noticed the first asparagus reaching towards the fading sunlight greeting me! Yes indeed it's a sure sign spring, and more importantly a sign that the planting season is just around the corner!

Product Review: Topsy Turvy Grower

I really like to try anything that simplifies my life - My husband will accuse me of being a gadget-guru! And even though I love gardening, who can say "no" to a product that says it will simplify your gardening... So a few years ago I bought the Topsy Turvy Tomato grower on eBay.

It promised high yield, disease free tomato crop and alleviated the back-breaking work of getting on your knees to harvest the fruit, plus my best friend Lynn raved about growing tomato's upside down. I thought what the heck...

In my two summers of experience though, I can't say anything I was promised came true. The planters, while in theory, should grow better were difficult to keep moist and I certainly didn't get a LOT of tomatoes growing. That first summer they hung alongside the southern side of the house and every time we had a strong wind blowing, we'd hear "thump, thump, thump" and thought a small plane was crashing into the house. Last year they were along the deck since I THOUGHT I could keep a better eye on them for watering. I even added the moisture crystals to the soil to help with the moisture levels, with no luck!

I did see a new and improved version at the Gardeners Supply Company that fixed the issue of keeping the plants moist - I won't be trying the new and improved product anytime soon, but thought to throw out my ten cents on the Topsy Turvy grower. Who knows maybe the third time's the charm, and possibly I can adapt mine further to keep the planters from drying out.

I did purchased mine VERY inexpensively on ebay, and they were a fun experiment. My rating on a scale of ten though, is a 4 1/2 to maybe 5! If anyone has had better successes with them, please let me know I'd be happy for better advise!

Freeze-Dried Herbs - Oh MY!

Ah, there is nothing like FRESH spring freeze-dried herbs and in this case freeze-dried chives!

I must be crazy to even think that, but after the very wet 2-inch April snowfall we had today I FEEL a little C-R-A-Z-Y!

Something Is or WAS Living In My Firepot

What could it be? I don't know, but not sure I want to find out...

As I was cleaning up in the backyard today I just happened to glance at the backside of my firepot cover - It was ripped to shreds! SOMETHING apparently clawed and chewed it's way through the cover sometime this past winter. A skunk? A squirrel (doubtful)? Or perhaps a groundhog? I was thinking it MIGHT have been a bunny, but that would be a really big, bad bunny with large sharp teeth!

I'll keep my eyes open though...

Spring Is Popping Up All Over!

I'm trying to forget that the weather report I heard today is calling for some sleet and snow the next few days, so instead I ventured out into the yard and began poking around in my gardens.

In my herb garden I noticed the chives have really begun growing, chamomile looks to be awakening, and Lady's Mantle is also slowly rising to the occasion. Also my gooseberry bush is sprouting tiny leaves. In my other beds I have several good looking perennials that are poking through - I even saw the tips of my peonies beginning to grow and the ends of my hydrangea bush starting to leaf out.

I am of the mind that I leave (no pun intended) my garden growth in the fall to clip it back in the spring - It provides a nice natural winter landscape and the birds eat any seeds I haven't harvested. But alas, by walking in the gardens I am also reminded it's time to begin my spring (garden) cleaning.

The first thing I do is to wander my gardens looking for return friends. I look for dead, dry stems that I clip back with a pair of clean, sharp garden scissors! I also gently shape up any shrubbery (except the lilac bushes, don't prune them until AFTER they have bloomed - I learned that the hard way with my first lilac bush. Hmmm where are the blooms???) and I trim up any vines.

For my raised bed veggie gardens I pull stray weeds and grass, and pull the old plants - I also allow the roots of last years plants to rot naturally in the garden then I pull them out in the spring... I personally don't use any of my spring garden clippings in my compost pile since they could be diseased, but some do add their clippings to their compost piles!

The next thing I do is add compost! In our township we can get up to 3 yards of compost per season - For FREE. My hubby is really "thrilled" to be going to get that for me this year. Getting some of this from the township is great especially since my compost pile doesn't come near feeding my entire garden. I simply work in a thin layer of compost around my plants and wa-lah!

And finally I clean up my stone garden edge - Most of my gardens have medium sized river rocks edging the garden. During the winter they sometimes settle into the ground and often have last year's grasses growing between the rocks and creeping into my beds, so I pull up all the rocks and add a little lift under them (as needed) while pulling out any grasses - Which is terribly therapeutic when I'm in a nasty mood! (Darn you stupid weeds/grass, take THAT!)

What can I say, I lead an exciting life!

They Have Names!

... It's official our chicks have names. Drum roll please:

Penny,
Beakie,
Princess,
and Peeps!

Whew, THAT was an exercise in creative thinking on my part and the kids!

I read through the entire subdivision rules and ordinances in the township and it appears that backyard birds are NOT prohibited SOoooo that means we need to get on building a type of chicken coop and run...

I've decided I really like the A-frame style coop, although I also found this Hen House Coop from a Green Chicken Coop in Bay City that I thought was SUPER cute as well. We'll go for the least expensive though, and build one ourselves.

Stay tuned!