It is a sensational day!!  I've been busy picking up all the rose limbs I had clipped yesterday.  I had gotten the majority of them cut and they were lying all over the ground.  I went inside to fix supper and before I got back outside it was raining.  Hubby said to wait and he would help me pick them up today but there's the mowing to do and I wanted to get things cleaned up before he got home from work.  You could tell when he got home that he was glad I'd finished the job.  He gets tired too, ya know?!  If you look to the far right in the picture below you'll notice the very last rose bush having a lot more leaves on it and not looking as clean as the others.  Momma Cardinal has a nest in that rose and I could not in all good conscience tear that nest down.  She's laid eggs already that she's sitting on.  I can always trim it up later.

I also planted the nasturtiums I had soaking in water and pulled a bunch of grass, wild violets and dandelions for the chickens.  The sun is shining steadily today and I can now at least walk in the garden if I'm very careful; so I'm figuring by this afternoon I might be able to plant the rest of the cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli, at least I hope so.

I took the straw mulch off the strawberries, from around the fig tree and from the hibiscus, so dear sun - do your thing!!

All of the herbs I ordered from Richters came today.  I'm giddy with excitement!!  Planting them was so fun!!  While I was out there I trimmed the sage plants back as well.  They took a hard hit this past Winter.  The plants were over 15 years old; but last Fall, because they were becoming so woody and looking kind of bad, I started layering some of the longer stems and this year there were at least 5 stems that had rooted from those 15 year old plants.  Two of the three larger sage plants did indeed die.  By layering I was able to extend the life of some old plants that had become almost like family!!  Sage plants have a habit of becoming woody and they are perfect for layering so take one of your longer branches and bend it down to the ground without breaking the stem; push a portion of it into the ground and cover it with dirt and lay a small rock on top to hold it there and just leave it alone.  The piece in the ground should take root.  Next Spring cut the connection to the mother and you'll have a brand new plant.

Wow!!  Today I've been outside and working non-stop.  Right now, even though I am typing this, I am so tired even my fingers don't want to move.  Geez!!  You name it - I've probably done it! 

The biggest job was trimming back the climbing roses.  My goodness, there were so many dead limbs, it just about made me sick.  I simply had to jump in there and start trimming though.  It had to be done. 

I also did a lot of flower and herb planting in the herb garden today.  I planted assorted wild flowers, Zinnias, Nigella, Safflower, Calendula, Sunflowers and Coxcomb.  If they all come up my garden will be beautiful!

I put some Nasturtiums in water to soak and will plant them tomorrow.  To make nasturtiums sprout faster you scratch a place on them and let them soak in water 24 hours and then they need to be planted right away. 

I had 3 different varieties and as usual am so excited about planting them.  I love to work with nasturtiums.  The bud, leaf, and blossom are all usable as a food and so pretty.  I absolutely love making capers from the buds.  The flowers are so exceptionally bright and beautiful that it's a toss-up, flowers or buds?  I make a cream cheese filling to stuff the blossoms.  It makes it hard deciding which I want worse.  This year I'm hoping I have enough nasturtiums growing I won't have to worry about either or, I can just do it all!

This is a pic of the cabbage and broccoli that I planted Sunday afternoon and then covered with plastic containers my niece had given me. 

We have such a problem with squirrels and rabbits that when I put delicate starts out in the garden they are so enticing they become a delectable dinner for the animals and that leaves me a very, very unhappy camper.  Hopefully, this will give the plants a chance of survival and make my Spring much happier.  Last year Hubby and I ended up buying close to 30 broccoli plants and we only needed 12.  The varmints ate us out of house and home.  It was maddening.

Time to fix supper.  I think I'm going to broil a couple steaks, fix a salad and bake a potato.  Fast and simple cause I'M TIRED!!!

Yesterday evening I put out the cabbage and broccoli I had purchased.  They are larger than the plants I started from seed and I felt I really needed to get them in as soon as I could.  We had been camping so as soon as we got  home, I beat it out to the garden and got them planted.  I had no sooner put them in the ground and it began to rain.  I can't even get into the garden this morning it's so wet!  The radishes are up but the beets have not come through.  The dill and cilantro have not come through either.  It shouldn't be long!

Speaking of camping!!  We had SUCH a good time!!  My niece made fajitas over the campfire and I'm here to tell you - that girl can cook!   Then for breakfast she fried up sausage, potatoes and scrambled eggs.  Baby that's real eatin'!!!

Tonight Herb Club meets and this is the month for our plant exchange.  I just love to see what herbs everybody brings and it's even better when somebody brings in something I haven't got planted.  I lost lemon thyme this year and I really don't think I have a prayer of that being in the mix but I'll be looking!!!  I'm taking some basil and chamomile plants.  We're going to have a great time.  Lots of herbal conversation, good food, plants and smiles will abound.

I went out for a walk today just to look around and see what was or was not coming up and you wouldn't believe it but I found 4 more mushrooms.  I know that's not a lot but it's amazing for me that they would just be sitting there in my garden!  Mother Nature can be excruciatingly surprising!!  I then refilled all the sugar water in my hummer feeders.  Now don't forget - hummingbird water is in a 4 to 1 ratio, 4 water/1 sugar and bring your sugar water to a boil for a minute or two and then refrigerate until ready to use.

While we were out camping the subjects of cooking, along with herbs, weeds, trees and everything else came up; but my niece happened to mention how her sons didn't care for spaghetti but if she put it in a baking dish and added some cheese they would down it in seconds.  Today I was trying to come up with something for supper and I decided to take a page out of her book, sort of.   I made Baked Spaghetti even though I hadn't any leftover spaghetti.  Hubby ate his share and more so I guess I did good!!

Well, I'm off for a shower and then I'm heading to Herb Club.  Have a nice evening.

This morning we're all packed up. We put the twin mattress in the van along with some covers and pillows. We're going camping. As long as we can get some decent sleep tonight we're good.

Hopefully while we're out we can find some mushrooms. Wouldn't that be awesome!!

I made some potato salad, put some hotdogs and summer sausage in the cooler along with a big jug of tea and some water. I made some muffins and packed some coffee. If we need anything else we'll forage. I am taking a cast iron pan, some flour and cornmeal mix and a container of shortening just in case we get brave and decide to fry up mushrooms (if we find them) over the campfire. Wouldn't that be a treat!

I'm excited. Our son is staying at our house, feeding my girls and keeping the homefires burning.  He seems to think fishing is better than camping!!   

As a side note, how are your lilac bushes? Are they blooming yet? Did you know that lilac blooms are eatable? The flavor of lilacs varies from plant to plant. Very fragrant, slightly bitter. They have a distinct lemony taste with floral, pungent overtones. Great in salads and crystallized with egg whites and sugar. How about your tulips? Have you ever tried your tulip petals (ditch the pollen and stigmas) stuffed with chicken salad or egg salad? Talk about a gorgeous platter and a major conversation starter!!!  These are just 2 of the beautiful Spring flowers that are not only beautiful but can be eaten as well.  See!!  It's not just "herb people" that think about food a lot, it's "flower" people too!!  LOL!

I know this is short but I gotta run. Have a nice week-end. Hopefully, I'll have a terrific one as well. See Ya!!

I was out running around in the rain this morning having the best time!!  I don't mind the drizzly rain at all when it's not so terribly cold. 

It was funny this morning.  I went out to feed the chickens and you've not heard such a commotion.  Talk about vocal!!!  Hubby said you could hear them all the way up at the house.  I have been feeding them 1/2 cup of layer feed each and they are growing and eating a little more every day, which of course they would eat more as they grow.  Usually when I go out in the morning there's a little left in their feeder - but not this morning.  I got them a container full of feed, put it in their feeder, they put their heads down and not another sound for at least 5 minutes!!  They MUST have been hungry!  I'll have to start feeding them a little more.  Yesterday when I went out to say goodnight to them I sat down on my stump in the chicken run and 3 chickens jumped up on my leg to say goodnight.  Diana, Ms. Ruby Red and Sarah had to sit on my lap.  So cool!!  I actually think it was all simply jealousy!

I went out to my hotbox and tried thinning out the lettuces today and filled a big bowl full, added some dandelion greens and gave the whole bowl to my chickens.  Boy oh boy, they sure did appreciate those greens.  After that I went out to the herb garden and cut nettles and chives.  We're having our old standby supper tonight - meatloaf, baked potato and green beans.  I thought I'd pump up the baked potatoes a little with sour cream and chives.  I was just talking to a friend the other night and she I were discussing how we have so many herbs, take them for granted and don't take the time to think about using them.  My friends, there's nothing  better than sour cream and chives and it's so simple.  You can make it pretty or not but there's no reason at all for a person to have plain old sour cream or simply butter on your baked potato.  Even if you're just having butter, a sprinkling of fresh chopped chives is delectable.  I use chives anytime and anywhere I can use onion and then some!!  Why I even use chive blossoms to decorate my table.  They make beautiful flower centerpieces.  Throw chives in your green salads, potato salads, egg salads, deviled eggs, pasta salads, spaghetti dishes, scrambled eggs, frittatas, mix them in hamburgers for the grill, with roasted potatoes and my most special one - put them in butters!!  Yes, soften your butter and put chopped chives in along with the chive flowers too, then spread the soft butter out on a piece of wax paper or foil and put in the freezer until hardened, pull out and use tiny cookie-type cutters to cut out shapes - or - put the softened butter in a cake piper and pipe out beautiful butters then freeze.  Sit them in front of your guests with a hot roll and wait for the smiles!!!  You can use all types of herbs for butters.  Use the Italian ones for your Italian meals, etc., etc.

Honestly!!  Why grow them if you're not going to use them?!!

What a day!!  I feel as though I've been going from the moment I rolled out of bed.  I put some leftover beef and gravy with potatoes, carrots and onions in the crockpot on low.  I've got some leftover kidney beans and will make some biscuits for supper so I can forget about supper for now.  By the way check out the picture of these carrots.  These are carrots from my garden last year that have been in the drawer of my frig all Winter.  Just way too cool!!

To begin the day outside, I mowed some of the yard.  Hubby and I are finally finished mowing and weed eating for the week.  We're a little behind but our game plan from Day 1 has been to get the mowing and yard work accomplished during the week, if at all possible, so we could enjoy our week-end.  We always see people working all week and then catching up on the week-end and often said that we were willing to work extra hard during the week so we could actually enjoy the week-end.  We really do just enjoy sitting out on the deck with a cup of tea or coffee and enjoying the breeze, jumping into the lake to cool off or grilling burgers and veggies.  We enjoy the simple things.  I suppose everybody is different and that's okay but we like our game plan.

I also spent about 2 hours tilling up some of my herb garden getting it ready for the basil, comfrey, parsley, chamomile and other starts to go in as soon as nighttime temps are 40 degrees and above.  While I was out there I actually came across some mushrooms!!  Oh, I'd almost forgotten about mushroom season.  Evidently it's here!!!

I got the basil, parsley and comfrey planted and came on in the house to get supper on the table.  I was dragging but it's done!

It's laundry day!!  Not my favorite day of the week.  I tried to change-over to Monday but just couldn't pull it together.  I guess when something works, why mess with it, huh?  It's cooler outside today but bright and sunny! 

Last night I had been working in the herb garden, setting out some of my garden pretties and as I came back up on the deck a male hummingbird came and flew in front of me and just sort of stopped there in mid-air then flew to the feeder.  Hey, I was so tickled to see him.  He's the first of the year.  Between the Purple Martins, Bluebirds and Hummingbirds it's hard to not smile, just a little!!!

Hubby has been telling me for 2 months to pitch the refried beans I had in the freezer.  I made a really awesome recipe awhile back, made more than we could eat but could NOT pitch the leftovers out even though Hubby kept saying, "Just pitch it - we'll never eat it."  Oh how I hate to waste good food so into the freezer it went!!  Yesterday evening I made some cheese, chicken and ground beef Quesadillas.  They were delicious but I made way too much so guess what?  Yep.  I pulled out the refried beans this morning.  I retrieved a 4 soft tortillas from the package, put refried beans on them along with some of the leftover chicken and ground beef filling, folded them up, wrapped 3 in plastic wrap and put them into the freezer for our lunches on the days when Hubby and I are exhausted from working in the garden.  I'm feeling a little cocky and full!!  One of them made a great lunch today!!  TeeHee!!

Went out after supper and walked about a half mile and decided to go up the hill to my herb garden and walk around up there.  I love Spring in the herb garden.  You never know what you're going to find.  There's always something that has spread to a different spot or perhaps a bird has placed a seed in an odd place and it's such fun to see what's coming up.  I was over by my bench and looked down and saw something that looked like nettles.  Now, there are no nettles over there and I wondered what in the world it was so I reached down to feel and take hold of it.  Guess what?  It WAS nettles!!!  I found that out mighty fast.  My hand was stinging something fierce so I decided to use the old "tried and true" method.  I reached down and got some plantain leaves, chewed them up and then pressed them on the stinging area.  Works my friends - it really works!!!

What a gorgeous day!!  I could not contain myself this morning.  I got a pan and started picking dandelion greens and blooms, wild violet greens and blooms and clover for my chickens.  When I threw them in the chicken run they went right to town on all the fresh greens.  So good for them and good for us too!!

I spent most of the morning cleaning up the red raspberries.  Do any of you grow raspberries?  There is absolutely nothing  better fresh than red raspberries.  I've frozen them whole and juiced them but fresh is the way to go!!  There's just nothing like them.  I do believe the best dish I've ever taken to an herb carry-in or church dinner was a dish of fresh red raspberries, fresh blackberries, fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries with chopped lemon balm scattered over the top.  I had more ooohs and aahhs than I would have ever expected and it was simply delectable.  You just can't beat fresh fruit.  By the looks of my raspberries I think we're going to have a pretty good year too!!  Yahoo!!!

Have any of you ever tried red buds in your salad?  Yes the buds are eatable and pretty tasty too!!  I like to throw them on a roast for a little added flair and some tartness.  Think of them as a condiment.  They really aren't too bad.

I had a very busy day today, running here, there and yonder.  I went by our Etienne's Farm Market and picked up some extra cabbage and broccoli plants, just in case mine don't make it; and while I was there picked up some red and Yukon Gold seed potatoes along with some white and yellow onion sets.  Then I hopped on over to one of our farm stores in town and found some Kennebec potatoes and some red onion sets.  I'm ready to plant garden just as soon as we get that final tilling done.

After that I went grocery shopping and got home sometime after lunch absolutely starved!!  There was some leftover baked chicken in the frig and some  sweet potato casserole.  It was just perfect.  Then I went to work on a new soup recipe called Pasta e Fagioli which I picked up from off the internet.  It just sounded excellent.  We're having it for supper tonight.  I'll let you know what I think and get it on my Recipes Page. 

Then I put some fresh water out for the chickens, sat down on the couch and quite accidentally fell asleep sitting up!!  Go figure!!  I must have been tired.  
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Oh goodness, the Pasta e Fagioli was delicious.  It was so full of flavor and just tasted so wonderfully different than all the other soups I'm used to making.  This was a real treat.

Hubby and I worked on the grapes.  They  needed to be cleaned up and clipped back.  It was quite a job but they are looking pretty good.  We also got the garden tilled.  Hubby tilled and I planted.  We have two whole rows of white potatoes, 1/2 row of red, a long row of onions (red, white and yellow) and one row with beets, radishes, cilantro and dill. 

We weren't finished 15 minutes and it started to rain.  I ran down over the hill and picked up all my vegetable plants that were sitting outside hardening off and put them in the basement and then went back to getting everything put up and out of the rain.  Tis the season!!!  I love it!!

Whew!!!  I'm mega pooped!!  I've been working outside all morning trying to get this place cleaned up.  Hubby took today to help me, especially to be around when climbing ladders, etc.  The arch entering my herb garden has climbing roses on it and needed to be trimmed back and that's a big job - but it's been accomplished.  Thank goodness.  We trimmed and trimmed and trimmed.  The cold winter weather left us, and I'm grateful, with most of our plants, but just barely.  So many rose canes to be trimmed off and tossed but I'm certainly glad that they are at least alive!

We're having some friends over tonight for dessert and coffee and wanted to get our yard work done early so I could make dessert, straighten the house and still have energy left to enjoy their company.  The yard work isn't nearly finished but at least we've gotten a good start.  Hubby even got the garden tilled again.  It's still a little too wet but with this tilling it should allow it to dry out and we will be able to plant our early vegetables this week.  Oh I just can't wait!! 

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, a day in celebration of Jesus Christ's resurrection.  I can't help but wonder what it was like all those years ago when they crucified my Lord.  Having just gone through an intense amount of grief in my own life I wonder not only of the pain and grief Jesus felt but of the grief and pain the Father felt as well.  My grief was almost more than I could bear so I just shake my head and hold my tears back envisioning it all in my mind.  Imagine the grief and loneliness that Jesus felt when his Father turned his face from him -- and the grief his Father must have felt in having to give his only begotten in such a horrible way, to restore our fellowship with him due to our own sin.  I am not even going to pretend that I could bear that grief - I couldn't have and wouldn't have.  I have a hard time just remembering that this life is not all there is!!! 

My Faith runs deep and every day it grows stronger, even though my life feels as though it's been dealt fairly heavy blows here lately.  I only have to look to the love of the Father which shames me in my own eyes, but shows me forgiveness and lifts me up - higher than I will EVER deserve.  I can't even imagine that much love!