Beauty is only Forest deep.......

and only a few steps away from the garden... yesterday i spotted a Trillium peeking out from underneath one of the fir trees... 



beside another tree is a busy busy mound of red and black ants.. nature's cleaners.. they aren't nice if you wander too close to their nest, so i stayed away... i've accidently stepped too close before and yikes.. i was a hopping and stripping off clothes , much to the delight of my daughter who got to witness it... they maybe small but quite the biting power...

and i found Trouble..... the entrance to Trouble......

and the exit of Trouble....

bunny trouble!!!



every once in awhile i see that waskly wabbit running around and now i know where Trouble lives... i won't disturb Trouble as it seems the dogs haven't found the burrow and the cat from across the road chased Trouble but got sidetracked and wandered off after easier pickings... but i'm going to have to wrap wire around my fruit trees ... i did have the cherry tree wired, but i can see if Trouble and i are going to co-exist i'll have to protect my trees...

i've been pretty busy lately, i'm working on the original raised bed, not done yet, but getting there... i've planted a second batch of peas, all my walla walla onions and shallots, some beets and all the brassicas... i still have covers over everything, still far to early not too.. this week, i woke up to ice on the car... a reminder that the warmer days are just a tease..... momma nature just dangles a hint of warmth then poof ... frostbite!!

Big Worm Little Snake....

i've been busy busy.... digging, mulching, spreading manure and compost... all actual 'pre-garden' stuff that needs to be done... the price of veggies is out of this world, when one cauliflower costs $2.50 and a cucumber is $1.50 or more one needs to expand the garden space!!!
this year is the 'turn over the raised beds" year... a lot of work but not something i do on a regular basis.. normally i would just top up and or scratch the surface with fresh rotted compost or well aged manure, but this year the 10 huge bags of aged manure from granddaughter's highschool football team, the 2 old compost piles and the bags and bags of 'stewed' greens from my friends house are all being put to good use...  in between rain and cold and icky weather i've managed to turn over most of the raised beds, topped up around the fruit trees and am now working on the original raised bed i had....

it's old and most people would consider not worth having but over the years supplied me with potatoes and squash and different herbs as well as a colourful supply of daylillies..... the bed originated with a load of top soil that i never got finished moving, the season was getting late so i decided i would just put a frame around it and make do... well that lasted a couple of years, then my son in law and daughter decided it was 'ugly' and made me a beautiful big E raised bed, which is most awesome i must say.... see the pile of rocks in the left side of the picture?    i've spotted many a snake or alligator lizard sunning themselves on the warm rocks in spring and summer... i love those slug patrollers!!!

i'm not sure how much i'm going to do with the bed this year, but i'm going to divide it into sections, put in some squashes and a very thick layer of hay around them and pray that the beds don't get too dry over the summer....
i tend to be a bit of a 'buddhist' gardener... i have issues with squashing slugs and insects, stepping on snails or worms so i'm ever vigilant about trying to not shortening the lives of many a critter... here are a couple of the residents i unearthed today.... a sign that i must be doing something right in the garden... balance is wonderful thing......

When April Comes.......

When April Comes!


When April comes with softly shining eyes,
And daffodils bound in her wind-blown hair,
Oh, she will coax all clouds from out the skies,
And every day will bring some sweet suprise,--
The swallows will come swinging through the air
When April comes!

When April comes with tender smile and tear,
Dear dandelions will gild the common ways,
And at the break of morning we will hear,
The piping of the robins crystal clear--
While bobolinks will whistle through the days,
When April comes!

When April comes, the world so wise and old,
Will half forget that it is worn and grey,
Winter will seem but as a tale long told--
its bitter winds with all its frost and cold
Will be the by-done things of yesterday,
When April comes!


Virna Sheard

Help!!!!

please.... i've noticed that on other people's blogs i show up as "home" not as Roast Garlic and Other Yummy Things...... sighhhh i've searched and searched and changed a few things, but still comes up as "home"........ anyone have any ideas what i can do to fix it?   oh another issue that drives me crazy... i put the pictures in then when i publish it the text comes up beside, not below where i put it...

speaking of home... the 'homespread' is coming along ... in between the incessant rain and grey, i've managed to take some beautiful aged cow manure and spread it around my Rhubarb and Strawberries, dig it into some of my raised beds and even deposit into my newly moved composter...my composter was originally over by the comfrey and the hops and was useful until the bear came and lopped off it's top... after that i never really used it so the compost in it sat for several years.... i dug up that black gold, sifted and spread liberally over the manure that i'd put around the Rhubarb... i'm envisioning Rhubarb Pie ... mmmmgood futuristic thought .....

the above picture shows the future Rhubarb Pie and Dora the Digger's latest dig... the brat!!!

things are slow this year, including me... an ever annoying neck and shoulder issue that is only allowing me to dig and do a few things at a time... an hour here and there per day... but i guess it's better than nothing... and since i've not figured out away for Dora the Digger to dig in appropriate spots i'll just continue to putz along....as for my seedlings all the lettuces, arugula, onions have managed to come up abundantly but the rest is a bomb... not one single Milk Thistle has sprouted, only 1 Black Cherry Tomato seed and only a few dill seeds managed to sprout...

first planting of peas are up... YAY!!!!
this morning i planted some Squash seeds... if any manage to sprout i'm just going to call them Succulent Suprise.... originally i had several  different types of seeds that i'd saved from either my own Spagetti squash from the garden or the Delicia  and Carnival i'd bought from the local farmer's market....and a most delicious Butternut that a friend gave me from her garden.. i was dilligent in cleaning and drying, all nicely labelled ready to go... until i took them to my greenhouse..... i was distracted and got to doing something else in there and whoosh my arm hit them and splat on the floor they went..... anyways.... Succulent Suprise was planted this morning... hopefully some will sprout!! 

Be afraid..........

very afraid....... yesterday in ' Take back Urban Home-stead(ing)s 'there was a lengthy discussion on Monsanto and seeds and one of the statements on the Monsanto page was "In the hands of farmers, better seeds are helping the world grow more, while using less. Researchers around the world, in both the public and private sectors, are working to improve seeds through the use of advanced breeding and biotechnology."

the catch word that got to me was BREEDING..... i had no idea that seeds bred... not realizing that Monsanto also was 'playing God' in the animal world too... i must have been sleeping...... missed a few years i guess...

i made comment about the breeding part and nobody replied to it so that got me snooping around on the net and i found a link to a movie which shows what Monsanto is doing and if continues will be doing to everyone on this planet....be afraid.... very afraid....

Wide Eye Cinema presents........   Patent For a Pig: The Big Business of Monsanto

the movie is not current but i think very valid as there are many 'new' and 'current' things that Monsanto has done that should make you go hmmmmmmmm and run to your nearest garden and plant those heritage, unmodified seeds and tend to your unpatented GMO free fed flock of critters......

Houston we have a problem.......

today's post has been eaten...... just a few biscuits, crumbs and the ripped remains of the paper bag remain....

the above 'mutt shot' shows the guilty ones... Dora to the left, Sampson to the right....
innocence exudes from every whisker and those moist brown eyes just beg for forgiveness..... burp, slurp and a drink of water and the evidence was almost consumed...
fortunately i'd already given a few away to Brownie and Chewy, daughter's dogs and to her 3 degu's, 2 rats and 2 ferrets.. all loved them...

my recipe isn't exact because there is no rising, no 'chemistry' beyond holding together enough to be cut out and baked...

Peanut butter, Molasses and Carob Cookies

2 cups Quinoa Flour
1 cup  Kamut Flour
1/4 cup Coconut Flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 1/2 cup Kamut flakes
2/3 cup powdered milk
1 tbsp. flax meal
3 tbsp. brewers yeast or Engevita Yeast (NOT rising yeast for bread)
1/2 cup of carob powder or 1 cup of carob chips
1 cup of peanut butter
1/2 cup of molasses
approx 1 cup of water  (enough to make a semi sticky dough)

mix all together adding enough water to make a semi sticky dough....
take a cookie sheet and line with waxed paper or parchment paper put some of the dough on it and cover with another sheet of waxed paper or parchment paper... roll out approximately 1/2 inch thick (like regular cookies) and cut out with your favourite cookie cutter.. place on another cookie sheet and bake approximately 1 hr at 300 degrees.....

for a variation which i actually prefer...

bake 20 mins at 300 degrees  then remove from cookie sheet and place on dehydrator racks and dry til crispy dry...

one of the reasons i used many different types of flours is because i have them.. some i have had for quite awhile and eventually they will go rancid.. so what a good way to use them up....anyways, i'm not fond of using wheat for dog treats so usually will use other types of flours such as Quinoa, coconut, barley, oat and even different bean flours...
while dehydrating my house was filled with the smell of peanut butter and molasses.. mmmmm

so i guess the proof of deliciousness is in the eating... burppppp

Fungal beauty......

i think the Shiitake Mushroom is a rather beautiful creature... majestic even...

well i'm just impressed because it actually grew, i didn't kill it with kindness by overwatering....

the Oyster Mushroom not so graceful.. a clump of tasty goodness tho....

so all of a sudden i had a massive amount of fungal food and what to do with it... i made a stirfry and still had tons left over....

i love my dehydrater... almost as much as my pressure canner...

it's old and very well loved and has made copious quantities of fruit leathers, dried tomatoes, peppers, plums, raisins, jerky ... whatever was available to be dried.... i even tried potatoes but that wasn't such a great experiment... onions were the worst i must say... had to set up a place on the deck... the onion scented 'eu d cologne' wasn't exactly delightful... long lasting tho ;)    

at the moment my house smells like a simmering pot of mushroom soup.... not so bad huh!!!

i can't wait to toss in bits of dried mushroom in my next pot of soup....