the last straw(berry)

 Spring is popping!

I planted bags of muscari bulbs when we moved here and I love seeing them every spring. 

I gathered up the last of the daffodils for our spring table and mantle...

...and made small-batch lemon crinkle cookies to celebrate the warmer weather.

I love making small-batch desserts, and Easter was a great chance to make a few things that were festive but in limited supply.  I started with candy.  We both love Reese's peanut butter eggs, but they have a lot of nasty ingredients.  It's really easy to make a healthier version at home.  This recipe makes only 5 eggs and uses honey, not sugar.  It's as simple as mixing up a few ingredients, patting the dough into a rough egg shape...

...fridge, then dip in melted chocolate chips.  Sprinkles, of course.

They aren't as sweet as Reese's eggs, but somehow tasted better.  I also made sweet rolls, modified.  I made a quick strawberry freezer jam from this recipe, and used the cinnamon roll recipe here for the quick bread (instead of a yeast-raised dough).  I crushed a few tablespoons of freeze-dried strawberries into the dough, rolled it out, and spread the jam on top.  Another quick roll and slice and they were ready to be baked.  By coincidence, a "C" initial!  Perfect!

Frosted with a lemon cream cheese and more sprinkles, they were perfect for our Easter spread, right next to the carrot pumpkin muffins!

I have to say that everything was tasty, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the strawberry rolls, considering that I'm not a huge fan of strawberry.  But the soft bread with thick ribbons of lightly sweetened jam running through was absolutely my favorite.  I will definitely be making this again!  

As much as we've enjoyed getting outside and finding new growth...

...I've been more focused on inside flowers.  My sweet peas are finally robust enough to move to the porch for a few days before being planted in the garden...

...and I've been eyeballing the many bags of old seeds that I've got laying around.  Some are 5 years old, and the only way to know if they're viable is to plant them.  I decided to do a test planting of three seeds per bag.  I spread soil on a blue tray and planted 15 different seeds.  After just a few days, success!

I've got about 50% germination.  Those bags will be added to my 2023 pile.  I'll give the other seeds another week, and then the bags will get tossed.  A lot to do...I haven't even started on cleaning up the garden beds or laying the paths.  It's been so rainy and intermittently chilly that I haven't wanted to start...but it's time, ready or not.  The kittens are loving the sun and it's time for me to get there, too!

Have a great week!

testing my nettle

A double holiday!  Todd's birthday and Easter, back to back.  I decided to have an "Easter After Dark" egg hunt with glow-in-the-dark eggs.

Inspired by glorious egg hunts of days past...

...I used plastic eggs with tiny glow sticks inside, as well as a folded-up joke.  The prize for finding all eggs?  Easter candy, of course!  I also made a small coconut cake with a lemon curd layer for earlier in the day.  Todd's birthday needed a special cake, too.  I used a photo from an old Star Wars gathering and had an edible icing sheet made.  Just perfect!

It's really brightening up outside.  Redbuds are just getting ready to open up.

Our maple is finally leafing out...

...and the apple tree is showing promise.  Not long now!

Hostas are unfurling...

All bulbs are awakening.  Daffodils have been up for a couple of weeks...

...but now we have hyacinths...

...and one of my favorites, grape muscari.

Everywhere I've ever lived, I've planted these cheerful little bells.

Claudia is loving our cool, sunny afternoons.

She loves to come down to the pond with us when we take a stroll.

Borga, too, is sniffing the wind.  Spring is here!

Finally (almost) free of invasive weeds, the fields are starting to fill up with dead nettle.  It's a beautiful little wildflower whose green leaves slowly darken to purple at its tip.  The flowers are like tiny orchids.

En masse, they are beautiful!

My little winter sow greenhouses are slowly filling with green.

I'm not sure how the garden will be this year, though.  Between my sore elbow and shoulder, and busy prep for a work convention in May, it's just going to be really tough to weed, augment the soil, pot up the seedlings, and then get them planted and nurtured until they take off.  I might let one whole plot go to grass and just focus on a smaller area.  I'll at least have several of my favorites, somewhere.

Have a great week!  

chlorophyll thrill

I realized this week that we've been in our new house for about a year.  Phew!  Our final house and porch renovations are on hold until after the current coronavirus crisis is over, but I'm really pleased with what we've completed so far.  I'm most pleased, I think, with the garden. 

It's no secret that I love flowers.  I dug up nearly the entire back yard of our old place in Indianapolis and filled it with them.  I didn't do too much in South Carolina, though.  The combination of clay/rocky soil, fire ants, and hot, dry climate with lots of shade presented some unique challenges.  It was landscaped beautifully when we bought it - I maintained it, but didn't plant very much there. 

Cue our first year back in Indiana. 

When we moved here a year ago, a wide bed had been dug along the front walkway and porch. There were a few established features (2 juniper bushes, a mystery bush, some daffodils, 2 hostas, and a bleeding heart), but it was mostly overgrown and weedy.

I dug out the weeds and went to work.  Through the generosity of a few local gardeners, the Lowe's clearance section, and some nice greenhouses, I've got hundreds of new plants coming up.  Here this same space is a year later:

I can hardly believe the difference!  Here is the old front part of the bed (those green things coming up?  Weeds.):

And after:

Another before:

And now:

The old garden bed stopped several yards short of the porch edge, for some reason.  I extended it all the way to the end.  The old front:

And now:

There are many plants that are only an inch high right now.  This garden is going to be stuffed and lush in about a month!  I'm so pleased.  I also added this side garden last year:

You can't tell from this angle, but it's quite large.  I've only got about six things there now, but it will be full soon enough.  A wind storm destroyed several of my little growing greenhouses (argh!), but I managed to save several things.  I transplanted 48 - yes, 48! - deluxe tall snapdragons this week.

I also managed to save some hollyhocks.

Our apple tree will be blossoming in about a week, and the lilac is about ready to pop:

Late spring flowers are opening, too, like this Jacob's Ladder:

It's a daily delight to me, going out early in the morning before anyone is stirring and poking around in the garden.  It is a happy family link (and one of the few that I have): my great-grandma, who was a prolific gardener, could frequently be found amongst her flowers with her cats and little dog. 

I've got the cat part down!

I've got some interesting things happening there, for sure.  One thing I'm monitoring is this:

They're coming up all across the front bed - hundreds of them.  It reminds me of obedient plant...and I *do* have obedient plant (but just two) in that area.  If I'm right, then I'll have a glorious display like this: 

(photo credit:  The Spruce)

Or, I'm going to have a ton of weeds to pull up.  I guess I'll just have to be patient!

For Easter this year, I dropped the ball a bit.  No big meal, no special flowers, no Easter basket.  I've been distracted, and I'm also severely limiting my trips to town - so no greenhouses, no spontaneous grocery store run.  I decided to make miniature carrot cakes (carrots, spring, rabbits eat carrots, Easter Bunny = rabbit...get it?).  I found a great recipe at Desserts for Two and used my Easter egg sprinkles and special (Easter) bunny plates.

So delicious and it added just the right festive touch.  Bosewichte was impressed, for sure!

Have a great week!