My Fridge on an Average Day

Erin from Garden Now-Think Later staaarrrted it (whining like my 8 year old)! She challenged her readers to expose our fridges, and then Granny took her up on that challenge. Sheesh, ladies. You're putting me to shame with your tidiness.

I debated exposing the gully (defenition #3) of my fridge to you, because it is sorta lookin' "rough and rugged, unpolishd and hardcore..." It always does. I wasn't going to do it because it's a little embarrassing, but this morning as I was putting my pre-breakfast harvest away, my low-glucose levels took over, and said, "What the hell. Who cares. This is my fridge, my life. Show 'em whatchoo got, girl!"

Doo-di-doo... Looks like there's more beer than milk in there...

The top shelf... Guess we're having leftovers tonight...

Some of today's harvest and CSA munchies... Waaay back there is a barely-used bottle of fish sauce on it's side...

The fruit bin... That nectarine sure looks wrinkly... Oh, wait. I turned it before I took it's mug shot. HA!

The bottom half...

Now, where is that smell coming from?

Breakfast Guests

This morning as I was putting the breakfast on the table, two unexpected guests arrive. I grabbed my camera and ran outside to get as close as I could--forgetting the grass was still wet with dew, and ending up with soggy socks and pant cuffs, LOL...

Turkey Vultures! They weren't exactly our guests, as they were on our neighbor's chimney, but we certainly did enjoy their presence (I was a lot more excited than the boys, but they were busy eating pancakes).

When I saw the first vulture landing, there was also a crow. I'm guessing the vulture stole the mouse sized creature (seen two pics down) from the crow...

Shortly after the crow gave up his crowing and squawking at the vulture, a second vulture showed up...

After their meal was done, one moved to the roof, and the other began basking in the sun. It sat like this without moving for about 10 minutes, and then it started preening.

They stuck around for about an hour before before taking off. It was amazing seeing these large birds so calm and relaxed. Not skittish or in a hurry like most birds seem to be.

This is one creature I don't mind hanging around! Beautiful to look at, and wonderful critter control.

"Shareaway" Winner

Thanks again for stopping by and reading my blog everyone!

The winner of Sunday's 101st post "shareaway" is... #4, Liisa from Liisa's Garden Journey. CONGRATS!!!

Email me your address, and I'll send the prize your way...


BTW, I used the number generator on random.org to determine the winner of the shareaway.

My 101st Post, and a Thank You!

It's hard to believe I've accomplished 100 (and 1) posts, and on May 11 it will be one year since I started blogging about my adventures and failures in the garden. I had no idea how my posts or my garden would develop when I started, and I have to admit I'm proud of how this blog has challenged (and hopefully improved) both my gardening and my writing skills.

I have been so inspired by many of your blogs and gardens. You have given me so much. A gardening community where I had none, a place to go to blab on about my growing's on without eyes glazing over (too much), knowledge gained from your successes and sometimes failures, and creative ideas for me to implement here. Now I would like to give a little something back.

Last week I received seeds from a friend of a friend's husband who is unable to continue gardening. My friend's husband kept a bunch, and the rest were given to me. I've kept four packets for myself...

And I want one of you to have the rest...

Since these were hand-me-downs, most of them were packed for 2009 (Pumpkin for 2010, Chard for 2008), and it's an odd mix of seeds, I don't want to call it a "giveaway." How about a "shareaway?" If any of you are interested in this set of seeds, please let me know in the comments section, and I'll enter you in a drawing to be held on Friday (5/7).

Thank you everyone for reading my blog, and for the inspiration you have brought me through yours.

Rainy Day Randomness

For some reason I was feeling a little stir crazy yesterday from the rain we'd been having for two days (California must be wearing off on me--two days?), so I did a little bit of fun work inside...

I'd been using empty 12-pack boxes as storage around the house, and I thought I'd spruce them up a little with some mod podge and clearanced paper I bought a while ago. I'd never done this before, but it seemed pretty easy...

...and it was! Slap on some stinky glue-like substance, and thar ya' go!

This box holds my small gardening supplies...

These hold our water bottles and lunch supplies. I only covered one side of these boxes since they're in a cabinet...

And not to leave the LO out of the box fun... A TV box that's been in our garage for more weeks than I want to say was put to good use. I even added a "mailbox" on the side. See the blurry yellow thing? The LO is putting his "mail" in through the slot (which was a handle on the box).

Yay for rainy days! They brighten things up both outside and in.

Harvest Monday

So, did you have a wonderful Easter weekend? Ours was very relaxing, and a lot of fun.We had a break in the rain on Saturday, so I took the boys with me to our farmer's market. There I picked up a bag of mixed organic lettuces, potatoes, and a bunch of asparagus. Later that day, Boy Wonder and I did our traditional day-before-Easter egg dying.

His favorite... Soaked in all the colors, and all scraped up from the egg dipper.

My favorite... "Buncop" started out as a bunny but as I've stated before, I lack artistic ability, so it looks more like a cross between a bunny and cat, so I named him "Buncat," but since my handwriting stinks too, came out more like "Buncop," so I gave him a mask (a cop with a mask? Yes. A bunny-cat cop with a mask LOL).

On Sunday we had a really fun start to our day with the boys hunting for eggs. I couldn't get any pictures of that event... Boy Wonder was too busy running around, the LO was too excited about the jelly beans (he was shaking!), and I was too busy trying to keep him distracted from eating them all by pointing out more eggs. I did get this one of the boys playing well together as proof of a sudden turn in their relationship that's happened a few times this week--thank goodness!

Oh, yes. I guess I should get to the point of the post then, shouldn't I?

My Harvest Monday contribution contains a few garlic and shallot scapes that went into a quiche, and two heads of Sweetie Baby Romaine lettuce from Renee's Garden.

These were mixed into the bag of lettuces I brought home from the farmer's market. This was my first harvest of this lettuce variety, and I'm very happy with it. I look forward to growing more of it again next season.

Each week Daphne hosts Harvest Monday over at Daphne's Dandelions. Check out her page to see what other's have been munchin' and crunchin' on this week.

Happy Arbor Days!

National Arbor Day is coming up at the end of April, so when my second grader came home last week with a redwood sapling and a "Certificate of Adoption," I was a little perplexed. It turns out that about half of the states in the U.S. celebrate their Arbor Day on a day other than our National Arbor Day--California's being March 7th.

A large nursery in the next town over participates in Arbor Day by providing saplings to the second graders in all of our city's schools as well as the two cities next to ours.Wow! That's a lot a' saplings! So today Boy Wonder and I planted his redwood sapling  (aka Sequoia sempervirens) in a container. Sorry the picture's blurry. The pot was heavy so I had to move fast...

Along with the Certificate of Adoption, Boy Wonder received a flyer with instructions on how to plant the sapling in either the ground or a pot. After doing a lot of reading in the past (some may say too much) on growing things in containers, I was pleasantly surprised to see container growing tips like, "Plants dry out more quickly in pots than in the ground so remember to check them at least every other day for watering, daily if it's hot." And, "Your plant will need to be transplanted into a larger pot or into the ground when a) Roots grow out of the drain holes. b) You can't easily press your finger into the soil next to the pot rim." Even better, the flyer lets the new owner know they need to fertilize their tree with an organic fertilizer, and that one should "never feed a thirsty plant. Always water one day and feed the next." Sure, sure... To we container growing people, these seem like common sense (although I have to admit, it's almost too late when you can't stick your finger in the soil lol) but it's good to see it on paper so when a child brings a living plant home to their black-thumbed parents, they'll have an idea of how to care for their newest addition.

I think I'll add keeping the plant alive as one of Boy Wonder's responsibilities. Ya' know, work him up to feeding chickens. ;-)

Happy Arbor Days, dear readers!

Happy Pinch Me Day!

For some reason, I always forget to wear green on St. Patrick's Day, and inevitably, someone pinches me...

A perfect example of forgetting to wear green? My centerpiece:

It may be St. Patty's Day, but I'm ready for Easter! ;-)

A Lovely Week Off

After some lovely time off, it's back to the daily grind. When I posted ten days ago about my birthday, I mentioned my younger sister visiting... Well, she brought a wonderful surprise gift with her--our mom! I almost jumped outa my socks when I saw her standing beside the car!

I'm on the right

To ease back into gardening, blogging, and normalcy, I thought I'd share a few pictures I took of wildflowers along the path to Battery Spencer in San Francisco...

Off Topic: Viral Eye Candy For The Ladies

Just a quick blog side-step and eye candy for the ladies out there...

I'm sure you've seen the new Old Spice video that premiered during the Super Bowl, and shows regularly on TV, right? You know, the one with the hunk of a man, Isaiah Mustafa (enter drooling here)... I love loVE LOVE this commercial! I have deep down belly laughs whenever I see it, no matter how many times I see it. I just crack UP! Thinking about this commercial makes me giggle!

The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

I found this post/article about the commercial today, and just spent 20 minutes watching the video there on how the commercial was made. I don't expect you to watch the long video, but I felt compelled to share it--and I needed to document it for myself LOL.

Now back to gardening.

Do You Know About Your Store-Bought Eggs?

I  came across a series of videos today by Tia Pinney (a Teacher Naturalist and Adult Program Coordinator at Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in Lincoln, Mass.) on eHow.com, and the one below really caught my attention so I'm sharing it with you. I learned something new about the eggs I buy, and maybe you will too...

How to Read Chicken Egg Carton Labels -- powered by eHow.com

These are my eggs from Costco, purchased on 2/8/10. They were packed on 1/28/10, so as long as they were packed the same day they were layed they're pretty fresh...

I went to the USDA site, and after ten minutes of searching, I was unable to find a page on where I can find out where my eggs come from. Fortunately, mine don't travel far since I usually by Cal Eggs located near LA.

Now I need to memorize the number of each day of the year for purchasing the freshest eggs. HA!

Great Online Find!

In my pursuit to find blogs of gardeners in my area, I found a great live video feed of a hummingbird's nest through An Alameda Garden.

You just have to check this out! What a beautiful hummingbird. I just watched the mommy fly in and feed her little chick!

http://cam.dellwo.com/

Enjoy!