Garden Club Friday

Well, I wish I had some exciting news or pictures to show y'all, but even though today is the first day of spring, by the calendar, it is still too cold in Michigan to do anything. I did notice that some of the larger farms in the area have plowed their fields and I saw some farm hands laying down plastic over a field but for my little garden it is just to early. (Remember last year I planted in mid-May and still got caught by a frost.) So I will wait a few more weeks before getting my spot ready for planting. I don't intend to start much by seed so timewise I'll be fine.

Right now I have a plethora of garden reading to "plow" through: The Frugal Gardener by Catronia Tudor Erler (How to have more garden for less money), Vegetables by The American Horticultural Society (Illustarted encyclopedia of gardening), Organic Gardener's Composting by Steve Solomon, The City People's Book of Raising Food by Helga and William Olkowski (I'm currently on the chapter about soil and how to improve it.) and also The complete book of Self-Sufficiency by John Seymour. (It has a large section on food from the garden.) If I can't grow a good garden after reading all that then I guess I'm the farmer's market's best friend.

I'm itching to get started and jealous of those of you who are lucky enough to be able to start already! Kentucky and points south are sounding really good about now.

For more Garden Club Friday go on over to the Peterson Clan.

Homemade Thursday

My current favorite homemade item is made by my mother! (And quite a few others too- but mine are from my mom.) It's the full body bib! Take an inexpensive handtowel, cut a hole in it, add some ribbing and sew on something to make it decorative. I love that Taylor is totally covered when she eats. Full Body Bibs save her clothing from spills and stains. They are easy to wash and inexpensively replaced. There's nothing better for little eaters.

For more Homemade Thursday's head over to Mother Hen's blog! Yes, she came back! Yeah!

My current reading and new stuff

A trip to the library yesterday garnered two books on gardening, one on raising chickens and other livestock and one on making my own baby food. I wear my life on my coffee table. LOL!
It's almost time to start my vege garden, Taylor is already eating rice cereal and ready to move on to more options and I have set my goal to start raising chickens next spring. (I'd do it this year but I think my plate is full.) I'm also reading The City People's Book of Raising Food by Helga & William Olkowski. (I'm on the edge of suburbia- not city but not fully country either.)

I have also joined up with Newbaby.com to start learning to shoot video for my blog and I joined Twitter but I don't know how much I'll tweet. It's hard enough to find time to blog. Thanks to Jendi over at Jendi's Journal for pushing me in that direction.

Meal Plan Monday

Monday: Beans and rice, Cheesy broccoli, Ice cream with chocolate sauce

Tuesday: Italian sausage spaghetti, Italian flat bread, Salad, Minister's delight

Wednesday: Crockpot porkchops, Stir-fry veges, Rice, Ice cream with chocolate sauce

Thursday: Spinach/cheese/sausage calzones, Fresh veges, Cookies

Friday: Pizza, Fresh veges, Cookies

Saturday: Cheese soup in cheese bread bowls, Summer sausage, Corn, Berry crisp with cream

Sunday: Chili, Challah, Salad, Fudge

For more Meal Plan Mondays go The Org. Junkie or here.

We are the people of God!

The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!

We will love the LORD our God with all our hearts and with all our souls and with all our might.

The commands of God shall be on our hearts. We shall teach them diligently to our children and shall talk of them when we sit in our house and when we walk by the way and when we lie down and when we rise up.

We shall learn them so they will continually affect our actions and words- and we shall know them so they will affect our attitudes and decisions.

We will speak of them so often that our home will be known as a place where God's Truth lives!

We are the People of God!

-Reading from Westside Baptist Church of Jenison, MI

Friday's Garden Club

Iced over puddles in our back yard

A dusting of snow on our deck

Hi y'all! True to my word last Friday... my garden did indeed have snow on top of it this week. Not a lot, but some and I still expect at least one more good snowfall of 1 to 2 inches before April is over.

My gardening is being done in my head and through the library right now. I have to research corn, mulch and compost. I'm beginning to scan the seasonal aisles at Costco too. I'm waiting for their wonderfully robust tomato plants to come in. This year I'm leaving them in their pots on my deck so that I don't kill them with frost like last year. I can easily move them indoors if needed.

For more garden club, join us here.

The Best Dessert Ever!

Well, one of the best desserts ever, at least: Vanilla-Coconut Sundaes!

Vanilla ice cream, toasted coconut, homemade chocolate sauce, whipped cream and a topping of fresh strawberries. Yum!

I toss some coconut on a baking sheet and stick it in the oven at 350 degrees. (NOT BROIL!) Watch it carefully and shuffle it about occasionally. It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes.

For the chocolate sauce: Sorry, I don't have a recipe. I just toss half a stick of butter and a few handfuls of chocolate chips into a microwavable bowl and nuke and stir in brief bits of time (30 seconds) until the chips are melted and the mixture is smooth. Add a bit of cream (not whipped) and a few tablespoons of sugar and stir till smooth.

For homemade whipped cream: Pour some cream in a bowl and use an electric mixture to whip it until it is thick and peaks form. Whip in some sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla to taste.

Outback Steakhouse used to have this on its menu but they shaped the ice cream into a perfectly shaped ball and rolled it in coconut. I just scoop out mine and toss coconut on top. Usually my hungry ice cream eaters can't wait for a perfectly shaped ice cream ball.