Hive Magic

Bees visit an estimated 2 million flowers to produce a single pound of honey.

Keeping Snails At Bay

Keeping snails and slugs away from our vegetable plants can become a challenge.

An inexpensiveive way to keep slugs away from your plants, is to place smashed eggshells around them.

Slugs won't crawl over the eggshell bits, because they don't like the feeling of the broken eggshells.

glitter-graphics.com

Just 15 minutes of sunshine a day will give you the recommended daily dose of vitamin D needed, as long as your not wearing sunscreen and your face and arms are exposed to the sun.

Photo by me

Happy Summer Solstice!

Wishing everyone a "Happy Father's Day!!"

We will be enjoying our father's day by having a party at my house.

The weather is beautiful!

Roses from my garden

These are some of the rose bushes I grow in my garden.

I took most of these pics this morning. It was a beautiful morning too!

Collard Greens

Collard greens are loaded with vitamins and minerals. They also contain calcium.

Collard greens taste great in soups and sauteed in oil.

When preparing the greens, cut off and discard the stems, only cook the leaves. 

Leaf Curl

Last week I noiticed some of the leaves on my two peach trees were oddly colored and curling.

I went online, did some research and found out they have " Leaf curl."

Peach trees can get this fungus from too much rain. We had a very rainy spring here and the rain caused a lot of these spores to develop.

The bad news is that it's too late to treat my trees this year. The good news is that this disease will not kill my trees.

I learned that once the leaves fall off of the trees, I need to gather them up and throw them out to avoid spores from over wintering in the ground.

In the autumn, after 90 percent of the leaves fall off the trees, I need to spray them with a copper based solution (hopefully I'll find an organic form.)

Once spring rolls back around, I need to repeat the spraying before the trees bud.

This should prevent and kill the spores that carry the disease onto the trees.

For now all I can do is keep cleaning the dropped leaves up off the ground and fertilize around the base of each tree .

The Strawberry Moon

Enjoy the "Strawberry Moon" tonight!

Being Outdoors

Researchers have discovered that spending more time in nature gives us sharper minds and fewer sick days.

Just a few minutes of outdoor exercise such as gardening, can boost a person's mood and self esteem.
Research also shows that people who live near gardens, or parks are less likely to get sick as often. They're also more satisfied with their home, job and life in general.

Detering deer from the garden

To deter deer from the vegetable garden, or from nibbling on your fruit trees, try hanging Irish spring soup in your garden, or on the trees. They dislike the smell and it's usually effective for keeping them away.

"A gardener's work is never done."

                                             Pics from my garden.

Swiss Chard

Swiss chard is a must to grow in my garden every summer. I usually grow both varieties of swiss chard, the "Bright Lights" and the green swiss chard.

Dispite it's name, this is an Italian green.

It's delicious in minestrone and also tastes great sauted in olive oil and garlic.

Swiss chard is very easy to grow and you do not need a lot of space to grow it.

JANE

Every cat owner knows that no one really owns a cat.

Keeping A Nature Journal

Keeping a nature journal is inspiring, relaxing and it brings us closer to the natural world around us.

If we take a few minutes out of our busy day to sit quietly outside, it's more likely that we'll here the trees gently swaying in the breeze. Perhaps we'll be able to here animals and insects making noise while they go about their daily routines. We'll see  different types of plants and flowers in front of us that we rarely notice any other time. We may sense the wind blowing softly against our face while we sit there, or feel the soothing warmth of the sun's golden rays on our skin.

If not any of the above, you'll surely get a few minutes of total peace, relaxation and calm while your observing nature and blocking out all outside distractions.

Some of the tools you may want to have on hand for your nature journal are stickers, pens and pencils(colored ones for sketching and drawing). You may want to use photos, rubber stampers, or any other material that may best describe your day in nature. You can make your journal as simple, or as creative as you would like it to be.

 

Easy Strawberry Jam

Stawberry picking will be here in a couple of weeks.

I've found a quick recipe for strawberry jam in my "Whole living magazine". I can't wait to try it.

Here it is.

Heat 1 lb hulled strawberries(cut into 1/2 inch pieces) and 1/2 cup sugar in medium sauce pan, over medium heat. Cook, stirring until bubbling and thickened, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a glass jar and let cool completely.

Store in refrigerator for up to a week

Salsa Garden

It's very easy to grow a salsa garden.

You don't even need a lot of space to grow one. As a matter of fact you can grow a salsa garden in containers, if you do not have a yard to dig in.

Here's some of the basic vegetables grown to make fresh and tasty salsa all summer long.

Tomatoes( plum or Roma do best in salsa, but any variety of tomato will work.)

Cilantro

Jalapeno peppers

Assorted hot peppers such as, Chili peppers and Habanero   

Roasted Tomato Sauce

Tonight I'm going to try a new recipe I found in my "Whole Living" magazine.

It sounds delicious. I'm looking forward to making it.

Here's the recipe:

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Arrange 1 pint of cherry tomatoes in a 9x13-inch baking dish. Drizzle with 1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil and season with sea salt and black pepper. Roast until tomatoes start to burst, 20 to 25 minutes.Transfer tomatoes and juices to a bowl. Stir in 1 tsp balsamic vinegar. Serve warm, or at room temperature.

Cherries

Cherries are a good source of anthocyanins, a group of flavoniods thought to protect against cancer and improve heart and brain function. Cherries contain 3 grams of fiber and are only 87 calories a cup.

Always look for plump, bright and shiny cherries, with bright green stems. Store them unwashed and with stems attached. Place them in a bowl and refrigerate for up to a week.