Our Fun Life!

Fresh Figs

I tasted my first fresh fig two summers ago...oh yummy! I saw some at the store so of course they went into my cart.

Fresh Figs with Brie, Strawberry Jam and Honey

Trim the tops off of the figs and cut an 'X' 3/4 of the way down the length of the figs and gently pull open without splitting the bottom open
Place figs in a baking dish
Top each fig with a piece of brie cheese, walnuts or pecans, and a few sprinkles of blue cheese
Bake at 350* for 10 minutes or until heated through and the cheese is soft
Remove from oven and top with chunky strawberry jam, fresh black pepper, and a drizzle of honey
Serve warm

Fresh Figs with Goat Cheese, Raspberry Jam,  and Caramel

Cut half way down the length of the figs and gently pull open without splitting the bottom open
Place figs in a baking dish
Top each fig with a Tbsp. of raspberry jam and some chunks of goat cheese
Bake at 350* for 10 minutes or until heated through and the cheese is soft
Remove from oven and top with a drizzle of caramel
Serve warm

Which one was my favorite? The top recipe!

Felting Fun Creatures

I remember as a child sitting in front of the Christmas tree and staring at all the cute ornaments. I wanted to get rid of the ugly ones. Now that I am older I have wanted to have a Christmas tree with nothing but cute handmade things on it. Something that would be fun for the little kids in my family and future grandchildren to look at when they visit and to help decorate with their own creations. Making ornaments happens all year long whenever the inspiration strikes. I have quite a few doodles of other creatures to make soon.

Last fall I started to felt a little green bird and got bored with it before I finished it and moved on to an idea I had for a mouse. I gave the mouse who suspends from beaded and twisted wire to my friend Annie during a handmade ornament exchange. I do plan to make another for myself. In the picture it's hanging on the pink tinsel tree I have in my art room that I decided to keep up all year so I can play around with putting things on it here and there~ it isn't too big and sits on my counter.

I looked at some of Jenn D. creations for inspiration and then went back to the bird and added feet, a hat, and felted a nest that it sits in.

The last one I made was a little spunky monkey. He's sitting in my post card rack that I just painted red. Some of the cards on display that you can see have been sent to me over the years by my friends. The top right and bottom left cards are from Tracy, the bottom right from Barbara, and the top left from Konni who passed a couple years ago. I think handmade items are the best! Don't you?

Garden Veggies

Oh boy oh boy oh boy are we enjoying our first garden! All of the hard work has paid off.
It's been an explosion of zucchini and tomatoes! Well over a hundred pounds of zucchini and probably 75 so far for the tomatoes. This garden tastes so GOOD! I have shared w/ neighbors and co-workers too. The big tomatoes are really coming in now. Most of the tomato bushes are almost at my height but many have trailing stems that if extended would be over 7-8 feet long. Next year I will need to get much bigger cages. We used the biggest ones but also had to stake them since they got so large from the 'magic dirt' but now I am thinking that we'll need to make our own cages so they be sturdy and tall.

I've been keeping track of most of the loot with photos. These are a few taken on different days.

You can see my first picking of German queen and Mr. Stripey tomatoes at the top right:

This cabbage is the only one that has not been chewed on by cabbage worms! It's a beauty and is still growing.

 

I think the purple bush beans (that turn green when cooked) aren't all that good. Next year I will put in some other kind of bean. I would like some that I don't have to stake. Suggestions?

The brussel sprouts haven't produced anything yet but are still growing. The beets and carrots are growing really slow (maybe because it is so hot) but they are chugging along. We had baby beets the other night with dinner and Helen couldn't get enough.

I want to try making fried zucchini blossoms. The recipes I have seen looked pretty good.

Well the radishes sure looked pretty but were hot hot hot and we didn't eat them! Oh well.

Building an Organic Garden

Bill and Hunter built a me a garden. They started last fall making two 6x20' raised beds and filling them with super rich compost dirt that was trucked in. This spring they drilled big holes with a rented auger and buried each eight foot post two feet into the ground and added concrete. 

Tilling was fun to watch as the machine dug up all kinds of rocks from the ground. Chicken wire was laid in an 'L' shape under the ground and up the sides of the posts two feet to keep out digging animals like rabbits. Deer netting was put all around the posts. In the fall pickets will be put up to surround the garden.

Eventually after we get more of the magic compost dirt, I plan to have three foot deep beds in front of the fence on both sides of the arbor for herbs and other plants that the deer won't eat.
I would like to have some kind of climbing plant for the arbor after a little gate is built and attached. I still haven't decided if I want the fence to be white or brown. What do you think would be the best color?

Inside the garden will be flowers in the ground and vegetables in the raised beds. A little stone path walkway will be made coming off of the deck and to the garden.

In the raised bed on the right side, I planted all seeds:
zucchini, brussel sprouts, purple bush beans, three kinds of beets

In the raised bed on the left side, I put in all plants and a few seeds:
three kinds of carrots, three kinds of radishes, 10 tomato plants in eight different varieties, fennel, white onions, six kinds of peppers, eggplant, okra, cabbage, 20 herbs (will move these when the front bed is ready)