the languid step of spring
The house needed a little TLC both inside and out and because it was gorgeous over the long weekend I decided to start outside.
I cut at least 30 oak tree saplings out of our front bulb/fern garden…
cut back the MAMMOTH ROSE BUSHES without too much bloodshed, which was a first. One year I got my hair caught in a rose bush and it wasn’t pretty. I swear they’re related to the scary apple throwing trees on the Wizard of Oz. Mean!
Anyway, after that I could safely get to the side garden that was being overtaken by weeds and grapevines and I was amazed that my hostas were actually growing under there!
I cut some more lily of the valley for bouquets inside the house…
On Monday we got up bright and early to bring Gracie to school. She went with her class on an overnight adventure to Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center.
And while she was taking naturalist courses and zip-lining through the tree tops…
We had date night on the deck.
I made homemade buttermilk ice box dressing…
for this edible flower-fresh herb salad…
this yummy chicken…
~Greek Goddess Chicken~
Marinate a cut up fryer chicken in 1 cup dry red wine, 1 cup canola, juice and zest of 1 lemon, sea salt, a dash of cinnamon and fresh pepper for 3 hours. Grill on a charcoal grill.
…and a COBBLER for dessert. It was a beautiful evening.
Today I got a little more spring cleaning done. I’m just so happy that the warm months are finally here! Tomorrow is the last day of school here in Red Wing and we’re looking forward to so many things… beach days, going to the swimming hole in Welch, ice cream for lunch, hanging clothes on the line, our California vacation, making jam, and all of the other wonderful stuff this season holds.
What have you been up to?
What are you looking forward to?
~Melissa
i would much rather be making jam than weeding, but your beds are beautiful! 🙂 Thank you dear!
Thanks sweetie! I’m gathering the courage to make my first batch of jam. Silly, huh? 🙂
Not silly – that’s why it took me so long to try making yogurt. I failed the first time, but will try again soon! Once you do it, you will enjoy it, it’s like a whole new world!!
I’m so excited! And I feel much more brave knowing that I have you, an expert, to guide me if I need it! 🙂
well, i’ve made all the mistakes myself, so if you have any roadblocks, i can probably tell you what i did to get out of that jam! HA
no pun intended? LOL 😉
What a perfect day! I love looking at those beautiful pictures so much because I live in dusty Phoenix, Arizona. The desert is pretty in its own ways…for example the 180 degrees of starry skies 🙂 But, I need green! The only thing I can do is house plants… Do you recommend any that really flourish in indirect or little sun? Thank you!!
I would rather look at my flowers, then eat my flowers…<3
I like to eat my flowers while I look at the garden…It makes me feel so mother naturey 🙂 hee hee
Hi Heidi!
Thanks so much for the sweet compliments!
Well, I’m not a natural green thumb. I’ve successfully gotten ivy to grow in our bathroom (because it’s pretty humid in that room,) wandering jew, and pothos plants are the only other house plants that I can keep alive. I currently have no houseplants. Sorry I can’t be more helpful. I do know that outside my hostas and impatiens like very little sun.
xo
Spring yard work is such a pain. Cleaned out the broken daycare toys & tools, leaking hose, and other crap from around the yard & garage. Loaded up the trailer and took it to the dump last weekend. I managed to get my lilacs and rocks cleaned up around the house, and my neighbor planted flowers around our shared mailbox.
With the way mother nature treated us this year, along with my unusually busy schedule, weeding has been a HUGE undertaking for me this year too. I’m still not done. I repaired the 2’ x 5’ bed of blueberries, and freshly installed another 3’ x 6’ bed of blackberry bushes. Still need to repair & expand the area of rhubarb which I’m enlarging to 8’ x 8’ x 8’ triangle in the back corner of my yard. And then I plan to extend my vegetable garden & build an herb garden area. My garden continues to get bigger every year, but I am finally settling on 30’ x 20’ and installing fresh farm dirt & permanent edging walls. HOPING that this is the weekend I can finally get it done…
I’ll try to take pictures with my pathetic camera when I get the chance.
I agree! Tons of work! Our ferns are bigger than ever this year and I agree with you, so are the blasted weeds! Please take a picture, I’d love to see your progress 🙂