Smart Blanket

Well, I'm not sure how smart this blanket is, but the textures on it are great for getting those little baby brains working.

 There are 4 fabric pieces on the top: Denim (recycled blue jeans), terry cloth, printed fleece, and slipper foot fabric (you know that nubby stuff they put on the bottom of footie jammies?). It's backed with a solid fleece (this one matches the terry cloth), and edges with coordinating satin blanket binding.

Here's a pic of most of the top altogether. 

I just gave my third one as baby gifts. I hope the babies like them! I also made some with a pink & green color scheme. I think they turned out pretty cute and am making a batch to have on hand for gifts or to sell.

It's been busy around here with back-to-school/work, then Halloween (with costumes I forgot to take pictures of), but I'm hoping to get back with craft-of-the-week, just in time for the holidays.

I hope this Fall is treating you well so far!!
Happy Crafting!!

Try-it Tuesday: Homemade Larabars *updated 8/14*

Yes, I know it isn't Tuesday, but I tried something new yesterday: Homemade Larabars.
I have been wanting to do this ever since I tried a Larabar and my sister sent me a recipe from her Cross-fit group. I found more recipes online and sucked it up and bought the ingredients at Costco.
Here is the link to the awesome homemade larabar recipes that I used.
Flavors chosen based on the ingredients I had: Cherry Pie, Gingerbread, and Dark Chocolate Brownie.

 I forgot to take pictures during the making of, so I apologize that you have to make-do with the after pics.
They turned out so good!! I'm partial to the Cherry Pie ones -which ironically was the recipe with the biggest substitution. I found a smokin' deal on the Craisins flavored with cherry juice and figured I try that rather than spending a small fortune on dried cherries. So good!! Probably adds a little extra sugar though.
I opted to make these more of a snack-size so I formed them using a 2T scoop which comes out to be approx 1/2 a regular bar size.
My picky eldest happened to be in the kitchen when I discovered a Gingerbread one that had missed getting into the bag -she gobbled it down and pleaded for another. Win for me!! Everyone had a Brownie one for dessert and the kids were begging for seconds. More win!
There are two things I LOVE about these: First, they are made with no added sugars, have lots of protein and fiber, and are in general a great snack option that the kids truly enjoy. Second, the great value -I'm a sucker for a bargain.
At my Costco you can get an 18 count box of Larabars for just under $16 which comes out to just under $0.88/bar. Good price, I'm not arguing that. I just get bored with the lack of flavor options. Enter the plethora of recipe options.
Here is what I purchased from my local Costco (unless otherwise noted):
Dates: about $8 **found a pitted variety for $5 in yesterday's trip to Costco, bought them instead*
Almonds: 3lbs for 15.69 (48 1/4C servings)
Pecans: 2lbs for 13.69 (32 1/4C servings)
Cherry flavored Craisins: 10oz bag for .99 (a deal from the back-rack at QFC) (7 1/4C servings)
*I also got a sack of cashews from Trader Joe's, but did not use them in this round of "baking", so did not count them in the calculations.
I used all of the dates (save for 1/4C): approx $8.00
8 servings of almonds: $2.62
4 servings of pecans: $1.71
4 servings Cherry Craisins: $0.57
I got the equivalent of 19.5 bars with those 3 recipes, so the total comes out to approx $0.66/bar. That's a 25% savings. :)
Granted, I did not include the 2T cocoa powder, 3T chocolate chips, 3/4t ginger, 3/4t cinnamon, and 1/4t cloves. These are all in my regular pantry stock, but I can't imagine they would add more than a couple of cents on per bar.

As the Garden Grows

Well, as I've been trying to keep the school garden updated in this blog, I've neglected updating my own home garden, which is doing rather well. Bear with me, this post may get long-ish.

Marionberries: Sadly a week or so ago we said farewell with this final handful of super-ripe goodness:

We harvested well over 20lbs of fruit and my freezer runneth over of their goodness. Now I need to suck it up and start canning and baking. The weather has been unusual in that it has been continuously warm. We usually have some cool days/rain breaks. This summer we've had maybe two.

Strawberries: Still chugging away. They are in an upswing right now. Kiddos are happy. 

Blackberries: They're here -early!! I picked my first sampling last week (we don't usually get to do it until later in the month as we have a later-producing, thornless variety), and they were good. A little on the tart side, but very flavorful. Now it is time to start seriously picking. A lot of them are right in the center of the bush, which because of it's height, means I'll need a step-stool to snag these beauties:

Cucumbers: We put these into what had become a compost bed, then hubby added soil, turned it a bit, and BOOM, you get seriously crazy cucumber growth -not to mention the good-sized tomatillo volunteers in the back (right of the picture).

These plants are so densely packed it's kind of a challenge to find the cucumbers themselved. We're going to find some monsters in there, I know it!!

Tomatillos: These are all volunteers from our experimental (bumper) crop last year. Looks like we'll get enough to make a few batches of Salsa Verde again this year -YUM!! Here is the recipe I used from Ball Canning: Tomatillo Salsa, and I love to use it in this family favorite crock-pot recipe: Chile Verde

Corn: This is probably our 3rd or 4th go at corn. Our first couple tries were unsuccessful, but last year worked out well, hence, an attempted repeat this year. Hubby bought twice as many plant starts this year, and so far it's looking good. I just wish it would ripen already! I want to roast those ears up on the grill and butter 'em up!

Beans: We've got some green pole beans flanking either side of the corn. They got planted at least a month later than they should have been, so are taking their sweet time, but have held up beautifully in the heat, and have got some teeny little beans going. 

Watermelon: This was a random, fill in an empty patch, we have some leftover seeds from last year, planting. Hubby was not really inclined to have them planted as they were a total bust last year, and from all the times we've attempted them, we've gotten maybe 2 or 3 edible small melons. I am very hopeful this year:

Peppers: Aside from the berries, we consider these to be the biggest success this year. Hubby and the Eldest love peppers, and we've grown them for the past few years with varying degrees of success. Nothing like this though. We've got 2 Green Bells, 2 Yellow Bells, and 2 Hungarian Hot Wax. They are all amazing this year!! The size and quantity are at least doubled on our previous "best crop". We've already eaten up a few, and I plan to smoke/roast a bunch of the Hot Wax to use later in the year, and some will, of course, go into the salsa mentioned above.

Tomatoes: Ripen already would ya?? We have what feels like a zillion tomatoes, but nothing has ripened yet. Not even the Green Zebras. 8 plants this year that have gone berserk. Canned tomato sauce will be happening this year.

Cool-weather crops: Not pictured. Last Fall, rather late-Summer, I made another unsuccessful attempt at growing turnips. I love turnips and have had the worst luck growing them as a spring crop (if you have a secret/tip/etc. let me know), so I thought we'd try the Fall/Winter crop route. Planted broccoli, turnips, and I think kale. NOTHING! We got a couple of sprouts, and then NOTHING! Fast forward to end of June: Beds have been turned, left same bed unplanted. I see some "weeds" that don't look like the usual fare. We left them to see what would become of them...Ta-Da! Turnips! There were 4, but not even more have started growing. Go figure! A friend had given me some Pak Choi starts and we planted those nearby the turnips using their leaves for shade. This has worked out really well for the pak choi. Reason there is no picture: When the weather started getting really warm about 4 weeks ago, we draped a sheet around the puppy fencing to keep the plants from getting completely scorched. It has worked beautifully, but doesn't provide the best photo setting. It'll probably come down in a couple weeks, then I'll take a pic for ya.

Herbs: Here are my new herbs that I received from my Hubby and my dear co-worker between Mother's Day & my Birthday. Beautiful!!

From foreground->back: Tri-Color Sage, Purple Sage, Golden Sage, Pineapple Mint, Oregano, & African Blue Basil. Yoga Frog keeps them all peaceful and happy. :)

Last, a sample of yesterday's harvest (what didn't get eaten or passed around):

Oops, honorable mention to our zucchini, yellow squash, and onion plants who are among our early producers, and we're happy they're a part of our garden too!

Have a great day!!

We Be Jammin'...Again

So, local fruit market has some beautiful Eastern Washington apricots for a great deal. Recognizing that I didn't get my 1/2 flats x2 of raspberries this year (gasp!), and that apricot jam is second only to raspberry as my favorite kind of jam, it was a no-brainer.

So lovely, and large too! The ones on the bottom looked a little green, so I figured we could start off by eating our fill of the perfectly ripe one, then start jamming when the others began ripening. Hubby, Middle Monkey, and I ate quite a few this week, and what you see in the box is after I took out a jam-batch worth.
So good! The picture gives them a green hue for some reason, but as I was chopping them up, I was reveling in their beautiful rosiness.

Look at the beauty there! It was a bit foamy, and I didn't put butter in, but knew hubby would be thrilled. The scum is his favorite.

My eldest comes in after I'd gotten them canned up (save for the remnant jar in front). "Oh, did you caramelize that Mom??" "Oh yeah, isn't that great?", is my response while trying not to laugh. The color is gorgeous, however, not the color I aim for while making apricot jam. After I had cleaned up the stovetop area and gotten utensil loaded into the dishwasher, I 'fessed up with this:

Not so lovely scorched spot in the pot. I had forgotten that apricots have a tendency to burn more easily than the normal berries I use (this has happened to me before), but was so very careful not to scrape it while stirring so there wouldn't be any nasty flecks in the jam. End result: Yummy apricot jam with a hint of smoke at the finish. I've been using the Ball brand classic pectin. I get more jam for the money than using the pre-measured pectin, and I get it at my favorite hardware store, where they also have jars, lids, etc. cheaper than anyone else around here. I have to admit though, I cheat a little. According to the recipe, you aren't supposed to do more than 5x the batch listed on the label. I consistently do 6x as the numbers come out a little more even for measuring, and I like that.
And, hubby likes this:

Happy Crafting!

A Very Welcome Wet Wednesday

And, we have rain:

 It has been a long time since we've had "real rain". Very light sprinkles yes, but this was an honest-to-God downpour. The rain woke me up in the middle of the night, I smiled, and promptly fell back into a peaceful sleep. Fast forward a few hours: dragged myself out of comfy bed to go on a morning walk, and enter the thunder. Hmmm...walk on. Enter thunder and friend lightning and mild rain. Walk off. Before I knew it thunder and lightning were overlapping, rain became pour...

 Here is a glimpse of the gushing gutters (there was plenty of overflow off of the roof as well), and standing water in the garden.

Here's a peek at the new garden space...the new plants seemed to be holding up okay. I was a little worried about them in the downpour.
Just ran some buckets out to catch the rain to save on watering when the rain does go away in a day or so. It looks to be in the mid-80's again by Monday.
Welcome to the Pacific Northwest.

Enjoy your welcome wet Wednesday PNWers. Hope it helps the firefighters on the East side of the Mountains.
I'm going to work and craft inside, guilt-free, today.

School Garden Weekly Update

It's still chugging away...

The garden definitely wasn't loving the heat we had the past couple of weeks, but it's still hanging in there, and the weeds haven't come back either.

Tomato and tomatillos had some blossom drop which could be attributed to the heat, or lack of pollination. I haven't seen many bees when we've visited. 

The cukes seem pretty happy, or at least pleasantly green. It's time to watch for their tendrils and get those running up the side so they don't latch onto the tomatillos. 

Onions and nasturtiums are growing well. I am really wanting those nasturtiums to go nuts and call in the bees. :) 

The rest of the seeds are still showing, but not showing a lot of development. We'll see. 

I'm chomping at the bit to get those fall/winter crop seeds in, but need to wait a few more weeks.

Still hoping someone will come in once school starts with a plan for Garden Club or for one of the classrooms. 

Until then, I'm happy to keep it "presentable". 

Have a great afternoon!

School Garden Update

Happy Wednesday!
It's starting to heat up around here -starting Saturday it looks to be in the low-mid 90's around here. Pretty warm for us. About time for us to drag the portable a/c unit in.
Because it's been warm, and about to get warmer -I've been checking in on the school garden a little more frequently. The school sprinkler system comes on about 3 times per week, but I'm concerned about those little transplants and seeds getting enough water.
I've started taking my watering can down a couple times a week to supplement.
They seem pretty happy:

The tomatillos are starting to sport some fruit and get some new growth at the base. Tomato looks happy, but no blossoms yet, same with the cukes.

 Tiny mustard and chard sprouts coming out...hopefully they won't bolt immediately.

A lone nasturtium sprout.
And...

Happy onions! 

It's hard to see, but to the right of the onions, there are a zillion little lettuce sprouts.

So far so good.

I'm hoping with enough moisture and all this warm weather, the sprouts should be all up by next week. My plan is to do a weekly school garden update. So look for more (green!) next week. 

This little bed has definitely inspired us to look at some square foot gardening next year in our own garden beds. Maybe even do one specifically for a fall/winter crop this year -we've got room to add in one more bed. :) 

Have a great day!

School Garden Update

It's been the better part of a week since I did any significant work at the school garden beds, but I'm excited to see how it will come out.

 The top of the bed faces North. Starting from the NW corner, left to right, this is what was planted:
Row 1: Cukes x4, Row 2: tomatillos x4, Row 3: empty, unknown type tomato, tomatillos x2, Row 4: nasturtiums, empty x3, Row 5: empty, lettuce x2, chard, Row 6: nasturtiums, lettuce x2, mustard greens, Row 7: empty, onions x2, empty, Row 8: nasturtiums, carrots x3.
The first three rows utilized extra starts that were thinned from my garden, except the tomato that was a volunteer. I'm very curious to see what variety it is -we had quite a few different ones last year.
The nasturtiums I put in for color and to bring back the bees that the previous resident clover did. Also, they're edible and pretty in a salad. :)

The empty squares, I plan to utilize as fall crops, and plant seeds in about a month. Going to try: beets, turnips, cabbage, and more greens.
These are very late plantings, especially the seeds, even by Puget Sound planting standards. The spring was much drier and warmer than normal, and summer is looking the same. A lot of crops are kicking off earlier this year than they would in a "normal" year. Check my berry  post for more on early crops. I was very glad to see that the sprinkler system is working, and hoping it will carry the transplants through the warmer days.
Overall, I'm really not sure how these plantings are going to work out.
We'll call it a summer science experiment. :)
Hopefully, there will be something for the students to check out once school starts.
I would LOVE it if the fall crops come out well and a class or two could use the beets to pickle or use for dyes: science and art, two of kids' favorite subjects! If there are any NHE teachers reading this, please comment or email me if you have an idea for the fall crops (or any of the summer leftovers!). Pinterest has some good ideas for using fall veggies.
If the kids could use these to make a snack, that would be my dream come true! I think it is so important for kids to learn where food comes from and how to utilize it from a fresh and local source. Unfortunately, there always seems to be a lot of red tape where this is concerned. If you have interest in a garden for a school you work at or that your children attend, check out the Teaching Gardens hosted by the American Heart Association. They've come up with a program to combat childhood obesity by teaching children the steps of gardening: planting, nurturing, and harvesting. While it teaches them the value of being able to produce their own food and good eating habits, it's also giving them hands-on science, math, and heck, you can even work art into it!
Another thing it incorporates, is just good old-fashioned time outside, another thing many children just don't get enough of, and this subject could be another post on it's own. Until it is however, let me just give you the title of the book I'm reading right now on the subject: The Last Child in the Woods.
Before I really get going, and you stop reading, let's go enjoy the beautiful day -rain or shine!
Garden on friends...

It's Berry Good Life

Happy Monday!

This looks to be one of the best berry seasons I have ever experienced in Western Washington, and I am so excited!! Local berry farms have been selling berries 2 weeks ahead of schedule, and don't believe the season will be shortened -WooHoo!!
We've slowly been building up our berry patch over the years; Started with a couple of dwarf blueberries, one of which is still incredibly small and not a great producer, next came the thornless blackberry from my childhood backyard, a few strawberries here & there that got their own patch this year, a marionberry in a gallon pot 2 years ago, and this year a raspberry patch comprised of a few new sticks (uh, canes) we bought at the favorite hardware store and transplants from Mom K's house.
This has all resulted in some good yield so far:
Strawberries -not enough for a decent batch of jam yet, but plenty to pick and eat.
Blueberries -couple of handfuls so far, some of them even came off of the teeny one!
Raspberries -even though these were just planted early to mid spring, we've gotten a couple of handfuls off of them. Success in my book! We will be making a trip south to buy some locals just so I can get my jam on. We like Spooner's.
Marionberries -The current star of the show:

 As they started ripening, we picked and ate a few each day, but I was able to pick enough (5+ cups) to make hubby a welcome home crisp over the weekend. It was gone before I could snap a pic. :)

 This morning I went out and snagged 3+ cups, with probably a second picking later today.

Here are my happy, berry-stained fingers. :)
I'll be washing and freezing the berries this week to jam later on, and probably another crisp or cobbler.
Last but not least:
Blackberries -Already seeing green berries, busy bees all over the multitude of blossoms. It's gonna be another great (and early!) blackberry year.
Honeyberries -Okay, this is a new one. Some friends of ours are moving out of state and gave us their 2 honeyberry bushes. I had never heard of honeyberries. We won't get berries this year, but if you have tips for this plant, I'd love to hear it! They are going to be planted east of the raspberries.

This is a section of our berry patch. Blackberry is blooming in the back. That one bush can get me 3 large batches of jam, a couple of cobblers/crisps/pies, and leftovers for smoothies or just eating. Shrub at the right is our "large" dwarf blueberry. It usually gives a handful+ each year. This year we've already gotten two, with another ready to pick today. Enough for munching, or maybe pancakes. Unfortunately, with it's location (low) I think we lose the fruit to birds and other critters. In the foreground is the marionberry. I am so glad we bought this, it rocks! Raspberries live to the left of the photo, strawberries to the right.
We have a berry good life...

One Down or: Evolution of a Driveway

So, I had a couple of bigger projects planned for the summer. Not of a crafty nature per se, but definitely diy projects. The first, we have talked about since our remodel 5 years ago. We know that sometime in the future, the original front side of our home will get bumped out approx 3ft., which would take out that part of the patio and knowing we want to replace it, that in turn would take out a chunk of the "wild" garden. So, we had planned to expand the garden to cover for that and then some, using up a lot of what used to be our driveway before the remodel, and using the gravel that was already there for a pathway. Last summer, we started inching the rocks forward, tried to get Middle Monkey to do it for pay, but all in all, a half-hearted effort with little result.
This summer, I decided, it was going to get done before I head back to work in the Fall.
My thinking, was to spend the hours I wasn't getting paid to work over the summer doing something that otherwise: a) wouldn't get done or b) we would have to pay someone to finish.
We came into some free dirt (good stuff!) on my birthday, hubby took a mattix to the hardened ground/asphalt leftovers, Middle Monkey and I removed large rocks & raked off a lot of the gravel left behind. Then, I went through and turned it all over again, re-raked, then shoveled over the new dirt, added some half off pony-packs annunal/perennials at my favorite hardware store, and transplanted some of the plants that would eventually be moved (count 6 lavender plants), and a few other herbs from the garden.
I was pretty sore the next day, but so glad to have this done. I cannot wait for the plants to grow and let this new space get a little wild itself. We have a ton of ferns that need to be thinned, so a couple of those will get moved to the new area come fall, along with some lillies that were missed when I moved them earlier this year, and I'm sure I'll find something else to add in.  
Here are some way before pics:
     Just before the driveway was demoed

      Demoing

      What was left, and the space cleared for the new driveway.

Jump ahead 5 years, we lined one side of the driveway w/lavender and I repositioned my lillies from the backyard to between said lavender.
Here is just before the "after" (I'd already cleared it and started spreading dirt):

 Wide-angle view (with new plants still in pots set out for effect)

 Everything planted, and Middle Monkey's innovative placement of a salmon shaped paver -he thought it should look like it was jumping through the stream. Frankly, it made me wish we had a couple more of those guys.

Really glad it turned out so well. Hubby's been gone and I can't wait for him to see what we did while he was away. :)
Not bad for a few hours and $6.54!
Have a great weekend!

Square Foot Gardening Anyone?

So, once upon a time, there was a school garden bed...This bed had generously been built and installed by a local fast food company known for their fresh ingredients. Sadly, after a year of curriculum use, and the loss of it's PTA chairperson, the garden has been in decline for 2+ years.
Enter a go-getting PTA volunteer who felt just as sad as I did seeing it's decline.
She asks for help.
I say yes, because, well, I guess maintaining my own garden just isn't enough. :) Seriously, I want families and staff at the school to see what it can be, and hopefully, inspire someone to do something great with it.

Here's the Monkey in the Middle, who so graciously accepted the extra pair of work gloves I brought when I picked him up after school today, with the "before" shot:

 The garden has dividers in it for square foot gardening. All told, there are 32 square (4x8).
Here are the 9 we got cleared of the well-established clover:

I need to research a little on square foot gardening, but the plan is to put in a plant in every square. I'm thinking this could be a great home for my extra starts. This garden has a twin to the north that another school family has "adopted" for the summer. It will be neat to see how they turn out!
Happy Crafting!

So many strawberries...

The little one and I headed down yonder to Grandma & Grandpa's house yesterday. While we didn't help Grandma out much in her studio (Grandpa had already beat us to it!), we did all go together to the local berry stand to see what was available.
This is what was available:

 Mom/Grandma went for the fresh picked mere hours ago berries, where I opted for the more economical, but required immediate processing berries picked Monday morning. After enjoying lunch and visiting time, we headed home to get this going:

 Washin', squashin', and gettin' jammin'

 Last but not least, a jam spoon to be cleaned!

 Even Happy-Bunny gets in on the strawberry action:

All told, the little monkey and I ate at least 3 pints ourselves, and I've got a batch of  "fancy jam" -Strawberry Lavender cooking on the stove now. This will be the first time I've used fresh herbs from our garden in jam, as well as making jam without pectin. It is a lengthier process than I normally entail.
But, I'm very much enjoying the new canning tools, and amazing canning cookbooks I received as a Christmas gift.  They will be getting a lot of use.
Next up: "Fancy Jam 2" -Strawberries with Thai Herbs. Stay tuned.

Happy crafting!