summer is for sunflowers and salads

this is part 3 in my "summer is for salads" series.  if you'd like some other easy recipes for salads check here and here.

I have this bed in the very front of our yard, up near the mailbox.  I like to plant all sorts of wild flowers and low maintenance plants up there.  This summer we have been experiencing a major drought, so I have tried to be responsible in my watering.  Our rain barrel is dry so to the tap I must go.  We are mainly only watering food giving plants.  Sadly, my front bed has not made the cut.  Imagine my surprise when this beautiful sunflower popped up, all on its very own!

Is there a sight happier than a mammoth sunflower?  Every day since it has bloomed, the kids and I like to go visit it.  See how its doing as it reigns over our yard and keeps watch on the road.

If you haven't tired of me blabbering on about salads yet, I'd like to share with you another easy salad recipe that stores great and gets better over time.  This is a pasta salad (served here with spinach, watermelon and cheese toast).

Pasta Salad

1 lb whole wheat penne pasta (or a GF version)
1/2 C olive oil
1/3 C brown rice vinegar
1 tsp honey
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 t brown mustard
2 C halved grape tomatoes
2 C cucumbers (or add 1 C cukes and 1 C squash- whatever summer veg you have on hand)

Mix the dressing with a fork until the oil is mixed in well.  Pour over cooled pasta and veggies.

I plan on having all three of these salads ready to go for all of our family coming in this weekend.
How about you?  Any quick salads you can recommend?

summer is for gardens and salad

this is the second post in the summer is for salads series.  if you'd like another great recipe check out this post.

our pumpkin plant.  so far we have one little lovely coming in!

 Our garden has done really well this year.  Better than years past.  I think the deep mulching really has paid off.

I planted pumpkins earlier this year than I usually do.  Which means I'll have pumpkins way before halloween.  But I'm ok with that, as long as I have pumpkins!  I've never had a successful pumpkin patch because I've tried to time it with halloween (planting seeds on the 4th of July).  This year I planted them in May and we already have one little punkin coming in!  I'm thrilled!

glorious basil!  remember to pick those sweet flowering heads off for better yield.

 And the basil!  The faithful companion to the tomato.  I love, love basil and cannot get enough of it.  Which is a good thing.  Because we have tons of it!  The taste of summer to me is basil and tomatoes.  We have harvested 4 pounds of grape tomatoes alone this year!  That has been such a yummy treat!  And one of my favorite sights this summer has been Buddy running into the house with his shirt pulled up into a pouch, overflowing with tomatoes.  He exclaims "mama, I have a surprise for you!" every single time.  That boy...

baby japanese eggplant

 Wee japanese eggplant.  We have only harvested four eggplants so far.  For some reason my plants can only produce one at a time.

 Onto the salad.  This salad is the taste of summer.  Oh!   I think I'll call it that so it will sound fancy.  Introducing THE TASTE OF SUMMER SALAD!!!

You will need:

3 cucumbers
3 tablespoons of plain yogurt ( I really like Greek yogurt in this)
handful of grape tomatoes
dill
salt
pepper
and some fresh parsley ( if you want it to be pretty )

Mix it all up and call it done!  Best after it is chilled in the refrigerator for an hour or so.  Or even the next day.  Go nuts.

I am really enjoying having salads already made and ready to go in the fridge.  They are so easy pack up for a picnic, or have at home after a long bike ride or time spent in the garden.

summer is for fishing and salad

The kids had so much fun fishing with their granddad and daddy yesterday!  They didn't catch anything, but John said they were really patient and gave it true effort!

And since summer is more about doing fun stuff like fishing, and less about heating up the kitchen, we have been eating lots of salads around here!  Here is my bean salad recipe (as Buddy says "tastes just like Jason's Jelly" that's Jason's Deli for those of you that don't speak Buddy).

3 bean salad (based on a recipe from Mary Jane's Farm magazine)

1 C black beans (or one can, drained and rinsed)
1 C garbanzo beans (or one can, drained and rinsed)
1 C kidney beans (or one can, drained and rinsed)
1 bell pepper diced
1/2 of an onion diced
1/2 C cilantro, chopped (optional)
1/3 C apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp honey
1/4 C olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 t ground cumin

1.  mix beans, peppers, onion, and cilantro in a large bowl
2.  whisk together the ACV, honey, oil, salt, pepper and cumin to make a dressing
3.  spoon dressing over the beans and gently stir
4.  let sit in the refrigerator for several hours before serving.  best served the next day.

This is so good!  I like to serve with some cornbread and watermelon.  Sounds like dinner to me!

quiet morning

It's a quiet morning here on the homestead.  John and Granddad took the kids fishing, leaving me to a silent house, a mountain of laundry and a to do list.  But know what I want to do?  Crawl back in bed.  Read a little.  Sip some tea.  Just enjoy the quiet of it all.

Mornings like this never happen for me.  So maybe I'll take a part of it and just be.

home study: complete!

our living room

It makes me so happy to write those words, "home study: complete"!  We had the best caseworker in the world.  She was thorough, but in a very casual way.  She was encouraging and helpful.  And she was hilarious!  My interview took us 2 1/2 hours to finish because she was cracking me up so much!

Between the requirements of the state and those of our agency, we had a total of six interviews to complete.  We were all interviewed separately and then John and I had two interviews together.  Moonpie is super friendly and comfortable to talk with anyone, but Buddy is much more shy.  He was really apprehensive about his interview time.  Our caseworker, J, set up her Farmville game on her computer.  He loves video games so he went over to check it out.  Through the course of her explaining the game to him, she completed his interview!  He didn't even know what hit him!  I was so thankful for her flexibility.

Yesterday she walked through the house checking for things like smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, clean floors, etc.  Before she left she gave us big hugs and said she'd call us next week to check on us.

Not only did we complete our home study yesterday, but I also received our picture portfolio in the mail!  I'm still waiting on the hard bound one so I can send them into the agency.  The birth moms use the portfolios to help choose the family they think will be a good match.

As far as the requirements go, we are done.  Now the real waiting begins.
Waiting to be chosen.
Like a big, really important game of kick ball.  Hoping the team captain chooses you.  We are so ready to be put in the game!

it's happening

Our home study is tomorrow, and it's happening again- I'm getting nesting urges for this child.  For so long nothing seemed to be going on and the adoption felt unreal.  Like we would wake up one day in our 50's and think "remember that time we tried to adopt? ".  But it's happening.  We are moving towards adoption. We are moving towards the day that we meet our birth mom.  A young woman is about to have her heart ripped out and pass it on to someone else.  A young woman that we will always be connected to...and we don't even know her name yet.  I already ache for this person.  I already cry for her and the pain that she is facing right now and the increasing pain she will face when she places her child into our arms.  I pray that she is not alone in facing this burden.  This grief.  I am thankful for our caseworkers and the tireless work they do in loving on these moms.  But I know it's not enough.  This world of hurt can only be healed by Jesus, and I most of all I pray that for her.  That Jesus will wrap her up in his arms and hold her tight as He whispers promises of hope in her ear, reaching all the way to her very heart.

In the meantime, through the tears, the prayers, the grief...for her...there is joy.  And excitement.  I started pulling out fabric for a baby quilt last night, Moonpie standing by for recommendations and vetoing power, talking about how much she loves this baby already and wants to make her/him a raggy quilt and a baby doll.  I'm dreaming of cloth diapers and sweet little baby hats.  Of late night feedings, and what exactly will that look like this time around?  I'm daydreaming about this child, the timing, the race, the sex- all the unknowns.  Wondering how this is all going to go down.  Wondering why we have been chosen for this painful, beautiful mystery of adoption-

and grateful for it.

this moment {little nibbles}

joining soulemama

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

hunkering down

In an effort to ward off the carnage that ensued the night before, we did a bit of shifting last night.  The bunny came in to sleep in a dog crate and our one last chicken was placed in the bunny hutch.  I was up with the sun this morning letting Goldie out of the hutch.  As we all know, the early bird gets the worm and she was not happy to be held up in that hutch one moment longer!  I will continue doing this arrangement until John is able to rework the chicken coop and we find a live trap to remove the biggest coon ever known.

Speaking of John...

He is my hero.  Even from afar he was busy taking care of this family of his.

I texted him after the run in with the coon at 4am.  By 8am he had a college age boy I have never met at our house, crawling under the beams and retrieving the carcass.  I couldn't bear to look, but he said it was bad.  Really, really bad.  This boy, he was precious!  Can I say that about a 19 year old young man?  Just don't tell him I said that, ok?  He showed up completely prepared to crawl under my house and come face to face with a beast.  And a completely gutted chicken.  As we were chatting, he mentioned that he was leaving for Columbia today to go work in some orphanages.  See?  PRECIOUS!

the kids were a rapt audience for Tyler.  and kept him busy with all sorts of questions about
Star Wars and Pokemon.  Two things they've seen  at the thrift store and are sooooo curious about!

After my new best friend Tyler removed the body, our friend Farmer Jason showed up to help out too.  He is super busy this week but made the time to stop by to check on us and see what he could do.  Here's my new motto:  a mark of a good friend is the willingness to crawl under your house and scoop up a dead chicken.  The end.

goodbye blackberry

it happened in the middle of the night.  or the wee hours of morning.  depending on how you look at it.  i heard a strange noise, like scraping metal.  after wandering the house a bit, peering out windows, checking on kids, i was stumped.

back to bed.  then it hit me.  metal.  the right side of the house.  the chicken coop!  i scrambled for a flashlight.  by the time i made it to the kitchen window to see, sans flashlight, blackberry was clucking something terrible.  and then i saw it.  the largest raccoon i have ever seen.  and he got her.  i checked this morning.  all i see are feathers.

she's gone.

she was my favorite.

adoption update

We have a home study scheduled!!!

I am just a little over the moon excited about this!  (As if the overuse of exclamation points didn't clue you in to that.)

It is going to take place one week from today.  We are working with a woman that our agency contacted on our behalf.  She is already cracking me up just from messages and our one phone conversation.  Thank you Lord for giving us a caseworker with a sense of humor!

In the mean time, I'm working on our photo book and leaving helpful reminders to my husband to write his "about me" section.  You know, while he's on his second mission trip in a row.  Ahem.  Let's be honest.  I've known the man since he was 15 years old.  I'm pretty sure I can write it and even have it sound like him.  And he's confidently hopeful that it's going to play out that way.

As of right now, I'm not anxious or nervous at all.  I've had enough friends go through this process to know that it really isn't a scary occurrence.  I'm just day dreaming about all of the food I'm going to make for her.  Oh, and where to strategically place the fire extinguisher.  I thought it was weird when my mom gave it to me in my stocking, but now I'm completely down with it!

If you've had a home study, please tell us all a little about your experience!

moonpie made breakfast

and it was good!

her secret ingredient?

besides butter on the floor?

basil.

Howdy from Lubbock!

(I'm posting for the first time from the iPad. Please excuse any weirdness.)

We are back in Lubbock this week. We are partnering with Calvary Church offering a morning skate camp and working in their evening VBS. John promises that he will take to me to various VBS around the state to celebrate our anniversary every year. He really knows how to keep the magic alive!

The kids opted not to do skate camp this time around (once they realized that they'd have to share daddy with 27 other kids!). They decided they'd rather have some private sessions when we get home. So while John is doing most of the ministry this week, I'm trying not to overlook the fact that pouring into my little ones and making sure my husband has what he needs are just as important ministry opportunities.

Here's what I'm really enjoying this week:
-access to a pool
-the glorious proportions of a 4 year olds body (and the mane of hair that adds even more diameter to that sweet head)
- the creativity birthed out of living in a hotel room for week
- maid service!
- time to just play, play, play
- the company of sweet, old friends (and their remarkable children)

happy, happy

Ryan Price Photography

Today marks 12 years.

12 years of 

hugging

smiling

hoping

succeeding

crying

Ryan Price photography

making

doing

failing

laughing

kissing

supporting

and loving.

Ryan Price Photography

This life we have built together,

this is my favorite thing.

I am so thankful to have you, my best friend and love, by my side.

Happy anniversary to you.

To us.

All of us.

this moment

{{{as inspired by soulemama- one single, wordless moment that is worth hanging onto}}}

so...i'm making my own shampoo

(technically it's an herbal rinse.  for those who are bit more, you know, technical.)

let's talk about mulch

I know.  What can be more exciting than a post about mulch?  The sad thing is, I get kind of excited about mulch!  I feel like now that I understand the purpose of mulching, that I have arrived at some sort of gardening milestone.  So let's discuss it, shall we?

What is mulching?

When I speak of mulch, I am speaking of it more in the verb sense than in the noun sense.  To mulch is to put some sort of top covering over the soil and around the stems of your plants.

Why mulch?

There are several reasons to mulch.  It's actually a crucial step in gardening.  Mulch is good for insulating roots and soil in the colder months and keeping them cool in hotter months.  Mulch keeps moisture in, keeps weeds out, prevents disease, and enriches the soil.  I read an article recently that cited research by Texas A&M University.  According to their findings, well-mulched gardens can yield up to 50% more veggies than an unmulched garden space.  Fifty percent!?!  That is huge!  I put a lot of work into my soil this year before the seeds and starters went in.  I certainly don't want to waste all of that by skipping this step.

It is already very hot here (it got up to 98 degrees today).  I knew that I couldn't put off mulching for many more days, so Monday I got to work.

The girls in their coop.  See Blackberry back there?
She's broody again and gets all puffed up when we go in to get eggs!

In the early spring, after the last frost, we rake up all of our leaves and spread them in the chicken run.  The chickens love having  some new leaves to scratch around in and I love that they break them all down for us, add some fertilizer, and create free mulch!

The chicken run was a mess, so it was good timing.  I got to clean out the pen while mulching.  A win-win situation!

Look at that shovel back there.  The leaves were thick!  The good stuff was underneath...

 I started out by shoveling all of the leaves onto a big tarp.  Why a tarp?  We don't have a wheel barrow!  Let me stop right here and over emphasize how important it is to have the right tools for a job.  My tarp worked great, but lugging that thing from the back into the front nearly killed me.  I seriously had to take a rest after that!

Mama needs a wheel barrow!

While I was shoveling, I had the sprinkler turned on the beds.  I like to mulch after the soil is wet so the mulch can help keep that moisture in and maintain a cooler soil temperature.  

After I turned off the water I fertilized with some fish emulsion.

At this point in the day, it was HOT!  So we all headed inside.  After dinner Buddy and I went back out to finish the job.

Yes- I do yard work in a skirt.  It's the best way to keep cool!

It is recommended in hot climates to add four inches of mulch to your plants.  In cooler climates you want less mulch to help inhibit mold growth.

When I went out Tuesday morning to check on the plants they looked perky and the soil still felt damp.  That is a major difference!  Usually by morning they are a little droopy and ready to be watered again.

This is my first year to properly mulch the garden.  I can't wait to see if the yields are truly higher this time around.

If you want to read more about mulching (and really, who wouldn't?), Mother Earth News has a great article on it this month.

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All you savvy gardeners out there- have you found higher yields with mulching?
Any none mulchers in the crowd?