The Homestead Archives | Page 21 of 30 |

Strawberry Surprises & Pixel the Hedgehog’s Reviews

June 6, 2010 By Laura 5 Comments

The last time I had checked the strawberry bed, there was 1 strawberry that I was sure would be good and ready the next day for pickin’, and I had my name all over it!!

But I didn’t actually get out there until 2 days later.

And lo and behold, there were several ready, and some were downright huge!

Not only were there a good many ready, it was obvious there would be a good many more ready in the next day or two also.

They always look so pretty among the green leaves, and dark rich soil, that I’m always feeling a little….reluctant, to pluck them off the stems. I remember having the same hesitations last year.

I know. I’m strange.

One more photo. One more angle.

Sometimes, one more day.

We did get to picking the first ones, and filling up this shallow dish. As a side note about the dish, it’s one that was always in my home that I grew up in. It’s blue, and is a Pyrex piece. I always thought it was a little odd, but always found it useful. Somehow, it made it’s way to my own home, once I was married. I have no idea how. I don’t recall taking it, and my mother was not the type that would come over with a dish of something delicious in hand. But somehow, it got here.

One of the times my mother was here, I took out the dish to use, and told her I didn’t know how it ended up here. She then told me something else I didn’t know: It was once her mother’s (my grandmother’s), and it used to have a handle that attached to the extended lip there, for when using with the oven or stove. Well, that explained the oddness about it.

It also took on more meaning in that moment.

I was determined to somehow show you all, how big this strawberry in particular was. Here it is next to a nickle. But…..my comparison photo somehow does not convey my intent.

So I tried another angle, looking down at it. It was a wide strawberry! But still, it was bigger than the photo looked.

I wished you all could be there, to just hold it in the palm of your hand for a moment, because that is how you would truly comprehend it’s size. It was the circumference, that was impressive. But there were many that were almost as big.

They were so nice to look at, we put them in a pretty bowl for like….a half an hour.

But then the kids wanted to eat some, and Michael wanted to cut one up and put it on his cereal.

I would LOVE to do more commercial photography. I have so much fun taking photos of stuff like this. It’s yet another reason I blog. So I have an excuse to take such photos, and have something to do with them. Can’t you see this shot in a commercial?

Or this one on the front of a cereal box?

Maybe I can work for Kellogg’s.

Do you think I’m good enough?

The kids were enjoying them just as they were. So fresh and juicy!! The bowl was emptying quickly, but since then, we have filled up that Pyrex 2 more times in the past few days, and some were even BIGGER!

I’ve had so many plans for our strawberries this year. I want to make some jam, and strawberry shortcake. But I wonder how I’ll have enough at one time. Maybe I can freeze and collect them until I have a good amount all at once? If they make it to the freezer.

It’s good for a hedgehog’s diet, to eat certain fresh fruits and vegetables, too. So we were SO excited to let Pixel try a strawberry!

She’s going to LOVE IT, right?

Not so much. She put her visor right down. We even tried cutting off little bits, since she wouldn’t take a bite.

WHAT?! We all just love them so much. Strawberries are so GOOD!

This couldn’t be true. She MUST love them too!

So we tried again the next day, and felt hopeful, for a moment…..

….but she turned away again. What in the heck. We’ll keep trying to introduce her to different things.

She has grown, hasn’t she? She doesn’t fit in a t.p. tube anymore.

I am still working on posts about our front yard transformation/gardening progress. It’s going to have to be a 2 or 3 parter, with what I have right now. I think you’ll love seeing how things are going, and what the plans are. The future plans include growing other fruit as well. But right now, strawberries (& tomatoes) are the only fruit we’re growing. Although we do have a wild raspberry bush out back.

Are you growing any fruit this year? What are you growing, and how is it going?

That’s a wrap with this post. It’s Sunday night as I type, and we did a lot this weekend. I’m tired! I promise the next blog post will not be about our strawberries. In fact, I believe the next will be in the Home Schooling section. But thanks for sharing in our amateur gardening excitement with us! We hope to hear from you.

Let’s have a great week!

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I Am Seeing RED!! | Strawberries

May 31, 2010 By Laura 6 Comments

It’s Monday evening, at the close of our long Memorial Day weekend. It’s a bit sad the weekend has gone by so fast, but we’ve got to be happy with all we got accomplished outside! I have been taking photos like crazy, and can’t wait to show you all what we got done, and what the drawn out plans are for our front yard transformation, into a garden wonderland! But for this post, I want to share with you the excitement over our strawberries!

As some of you, who have been following us for some time now, know, our strawberry bed was just planted last spring. We planted Everbearing, and June Bearing. So while we got a small handful of strawberries, there was really never enough at any given time, to really do anything with. But THIS year, they are more established, and maybe we don’t know what we’re talking about….(and as new gardeners, there’s a good chance of that….)…..but it looks like we’re in for an amazing strawberry season!

To start, once our plants broke through the straw mulch with their green leaves, and we raked most of the mulch off, things just started growing like mad! To see how much things change, day to day, is nothing short of full-scale excitement, in my simple little world here!

Check it out……

I took a photo of these strawberries on the late afternoon of Friday the 28th. These are the Everbearing, that are producing fruit right now, of course.

This is the same strawberries this evening, Sunday the 31st. I have to admit, it wasn’t a big surprise, that just smacked me in the head out of nowhere. I watched it grow from a tint of pink, to a richer and richer red, with about 100 visits to my gardens in those 3 days. RiiiiiighT. I have nothing else to do. I only have 4 kids, who live in my house ; ), who want to eat all of the time (like meals 3x a day? Is that normal?), love to dirty the clothes they where, not to mention themselves, etc. What else could I possibly have to do? Nada!

As to not look too pathetic, you need to know I wasn’t watching just that strawberry. They are all over the place!

Honestly, it’s a jungle in there! I am sure the occasional neighbor driving by, is wondering what in carnation I am doing, bending over so extremely with my big-bum to the street, as I peek under all of the leaves and into the strawberry forest.

The more I look, the more I find! They seem to be multiplying like, like, like…. rabbits! Or…. Catholics! lol. (Just a little joke there. I can joke about that if I AM a Catholic, right?) (I think so. Errr…I’m pretty sure. I mean, I’m fine with it.)

Here’s another! And I’m telling you, there are lots that are just GIGANTIC! Or, you know, HUGE.

Ok…it’s our first year, and maybe we are overly-impressed. BIG, anyway.

Look at this baby! It’s the only one that is THIS juicy red. I think it’s going to be red for pickin’, like, tomorrow! Whatever would we do with ONE strawberry? I say, whoever finds it ready first, gets to have it!

I am sure someone visits the gardens frequently.

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Pansies, Verbenas & Berries | Photography

May 19, 2010 By Laura 7 Comments

I wanted to share with you some fun photography I did of my yard pansies, verbenas and berries.

Yesterday morning, I found myself up wicked early. And not at the computer, in my bathrobe, with coffee. But up, dressed, and outside with my camera, taking photos around my yard. (With coffee.) I had to wonder what in the heck was going on with me lately. I have never-ever been one to get up early, unless I absolutely-no-way-out-of-it-have-to. This morning, I was not only up at the crack of dawn, but after a night where I had laid in bed during the night, for at least 3 hours, wide awake! I thought for sure I’d be sleeping like a rock, come morning. But no. I was more than up-and-at’em. I am becoming more and more convinced, that this means I am indeed ‘approaching elderly’.

Doesn’t this sleep- pattern mimic the old folks? I always hear many of these dear old ones talk about how they “just couldn’t sleep all night”. And on the occasion that ‘I’ have had to be up and out early to be somewhere, old folks are everywhere. Why? They are retired! They have no kids to get off to give breakfast to and get off to school! It puzzles me. Ok, maybe there is a handful with a doctor appointment that morning. ; ) But not THAT many. I want to go up to them and say, “WHAT, on God’s green earth, are you doing up this early? Don’t you know, you can do anything you want with your time now! Why aren’t you sleeping in?!”

Later in the afternoon, I was telling some friends about this new mystery of myself and sleep. One girlfriend replied, “Maybe the spirit was a-movin’ ya.”. Another said, “I think you have a condition called Spring Fever. No worries though, I hear it cures itself. ;)”. A third friend just came right out and said it: “I was going to say…..your age!”. We all need a friend who will tell us the truth, no matter what. Don’t we?

So back to the photos I was out in the yard taking. These gorgeous dark pink flowers are some of my verbenas. I have some planted in the ‘window box’, that is actually sitting on a foundation wall, under the ledge of my front deck. Upon the sight of little flower buds in my pots, boxes and gardens, I get little butterflies of excitement inside. I love to watch them slowly open up, or happen-upon the surprise of sudden full blooms.

In the same flower box, in between the verbenas, I have planted shasta daisies. I am not all that familiar with them yet, so I’m not sure if the little nubbies I see on them are almost buds? But if they are, I’m excited. There is also some white verbenas in there somewhere, but for some reason or another, they aren’t blooming yet.

Over at my bench seat in the front near the garden beds, I have a few pots, that contain some of the leftover pansies and verbenas, after I had filled my box, and other bigger pots on steps and such. The white verbenas are in bloom here. The verbenas, by the way, will grow to spill and hang long over the edges of it’s containers. I look forward to them covering my heinous foundation wall under the deck. (Big plans for that coming up soon, to permanently take care of that! Very exciting project we’ll be sharing here.)

I really enjoyed, not only photographing the things I have grown around my yard, but processing them with textures. Have you notice the textures on the photos? Photographing whatever I am inspired to, and processing them any way I want, is often almost way more fun than I can take. ; ) Especially without the pressure of time lines and deadlines, for clients, that often comes with the photos I take.

Here is a bloomed bunch of white verbenas.

I forget the name of the variety of these smaller pansies, but if anyone remembers, feel free to enlighten me. : ) If no one does, I can always look at the pot tag I saved out there somewhere near the pots. (And I might have to.) But I sure do love their colors.

Let’s just get this out of the way: Yes, the lawn weeds we have out front need mowing. It’s not looking like it is going to happen for at least another week. But anyway, this is our strawberry bed.

I have a confession to make, regarding the strawberries, and all of the planted flowers you’ve seen here: Somewhere early t0 mid April, I was getting the gardening-bug so bad. I was just itching to get out there and get dirty. We were having beautiful spring days, and I was convinced it was here to stay! So I planted flowers all over the place, and raked most of the straw off the strawberry beds, since I could see green leaves popping up through. All of this, despite the warnings that it was way too early for planting, etc., since there was still a good chance of frost, which could destroy it all. The recommendation for planting is Memorial Day weekend. Mother’s Day at the earliest. But I’m a true gambler. (O.k., not really, but I like how that makes me sound gutsy and tough.)

Well, I’ll tell you where that risk got me: Out in the pitch dark cold, at about 11:30 at night, on 3 different occasions, covering the beds and plants with large sheets of plastic, because a weather-check before bed said temperatures would dip that night, and frost was likely.

That should teach me, come next year. But I can’t guarantee it.

Thankfully, everything survived, and we should be home free. Although technically, Memorial Day is not until this coming weekend. But look how the strawberry plants are growing like crazy!! We are anticipating an abundance of strawberries this season. Last year, the beds were new, and the strawberry plants were just planted. But this year, they are more established, so we should have more strawberries than we know what to do with. But we’ll figure it out. In fact, I look forward to it!!

Strawberry jam…… strawberry shortcake…….. chocolate covered strawberries…… strawberries in our cereal….strawberries right off the vine……strawberries for our kind neighbors…..(Yeah, just the kind ones. Not the chipmunk-killing-outdoor-cat-owner ones.)

If there was one thing I was noticing while I was out this morning, taking these photos, it was that….I was noticing everything! The moist dew in the air, the clean and fresh air, and the scents of new growing life coming and drifting away, the silence……WOW….the silence. I think the quiet, was why I could notice so much! This Mama of 4 (home schooled) kids, is not used to such quiet. I had all kinds of complete thoughts, running through my head. Weird.

Quiet early early hours of the day have been so foreign to me. I guess I never knew what I was missing. Come to find out, it’s rather nice! Perhaps I’ll watercolor paint a little more often, with these extra hours in a day, too.

Yeah, maybe this old lady could really get used to this early morning thing.

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Easter Homestead Decor Photos

April 6, 2010 By Laura 5 Comments

Now sharing just a few Easter Homestead Photos.

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Let’s Talk Trash | A Solution to Hide Your Kitchen Trash

March 25, 2010 By Laura 12 Comments

In this post I’m going to do a little personal venting, and then I’m going to show you the solution to our kitchen trash problem!

Ask anyone who lives with me. I’m a sheer-compulsive-pet-peeved- maniac about certain aspects of our home. The sudden sight of clutter is one. It sends me over the edge. Like a sunny 30 mph Sunday drive, to a buck-60 in a clap of thunder.

I’ve analyzed my seemingly over-reactions enough, to figure some of myself out. The sight of clutter, instantly clutters my mind. An organized mind of thoughts and agendas is something I work very hard at. So I don’t need some tall and disheveled pile of paper to come along, and mess with me. See what I’m sayin’?

Another personal demon I’ve been determined to beat, is the trash. I know where this issue started for me too. I was living at someone else’s house at the time. I was in the kitchen one day, went to throw something away, and the sight of that cover of that plastic rectangle trash can stopped me in my tracks, and grossed me right out. Nasty as all get out. Thank goodness it had one of those levers you could step on to open it, but I found myself holding my breathe even as I did that. Yuckity-doo-da.

I never forgot that. The haunting of it has followed me right into my own home. You may understand the thought process for example, that your own bathroom, for instance, as in need of a cleaning as it may be, never seems quite as dirty as say, a public bathroom. Right? One might apply the same perspective to their trash can covers. In your own home, it may be like, “Oh, that should be wiped down.” In someone else’s home, or worse on the sidewalk in front of the storefronts, it’s more like, “OH. GROSS. I am NOT touching that if I can help it!” Am I right? (O.K….if it’s just me, don’t tell me. Sometimes I like to make believe I am one with the world.)

At any rate (….my mother used to say that phrase ALL Of the time. I don’t get it. But I still say it now.) At any rate, I see the clutter in my home, and the yuckity-doo-da on the trash covers, through the eyes of make-believe unexpected visitors. I really do not want someone to come into my home, and be repulsed. Know what I’m saying? Yes…I COULD go the therapy route. But why not just fix the problem instead, so we ALL can be comfortable?

So…that brings us to our own kitchen trash container. I’m going about my happy day. I go to throw something away, and I see that cover. So here we have already gone from sunny, leisure Sunday drive, to a buck-60 in a clap of thunder. Then I try to put something IN, and the trash-a-plenty keeps it from opening properly. Ggrrrr. Once I do finally get said-trash in, then the cover is stuck open, on some trash. Now I have to touch it a SECOND time.
I’m ready to throw the whole thing off a cliff at this point.
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As IF I’m not self-conscious enough, this inevitably also becomes part of that ‘fun and relaxing experience’ I try to give my clients, that I photograph in my studio. We come up from a good time, after an exciting and fun photo shoot in my studio, and we begin to climb the stairs when we are done, with me leading…..and the sun sneaks behind a cloud….

……there it ISSSSSS. The trash. Practically in our faces as we come up the stairs. I notice the sticky spot. I think I might smell something. I keep the conversation going with a little more enthusiasm, as my distraction tactic.

But really. WHO is going to miss that thing?
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Oh. And then there is my ‘participating ingredients’ shots I do when I am planning a recipe post for the blog . . . .

I get it all set up. I set my camera. I look through the lens. And it’s not the ingredients I see first. All I see is the FREAKIN’ TRASH IN THE BACKGROUND! Oh my gosh! Somebody move that thing!! The light seems to have disappeared, and I up my ISO.

So I was heck-bent on a solution, for this trash-matter. (Yes, there is such word as heck-bent.) I have spent many a moment, just standing in this room or the other, brainstorming on a solution. And I’ve had a successful brainstorm or two, as a result of my desperation.

As you enter our kitchen from the front of the house, we have these corner shelves. When we first saw this house and bought it, I thought these shelves were as cute as the dickens. Another little unique feature to our first home, to display cute little things. Most recently, I have had these storage baskets on the shelves, because I really needed somewhere to put ‘stuff’. Like extra phone books we might need sometime. I did get past that one, and just throw them out. But then….the cover would get stuck open. : ( Or, the umpteen photo lab invoices I get. Those piles of paper I mentioned before, or questionalbe mail. Etc. It was a great idea for awhile for another place to stick things, until I saw the clutter in the baskets! So I got creative and bought matching table place mats to throw on top. ; ) I was feeling super-clever until one day, my Dad was here, and as he walked by for the 100th time that day he said, “What are these things anyway”. I told him-storage baskets. He said, “OK, but why are those things on top?” So I told him; to cover the clutter of course. But by his, “Oh. O.k.”, and the moment he took to take that in, I got the feeling he thought that was tacky.

Now, I am quite sure my father doesn’t really know ‘tacky‘ when he sees it. So I was concerned. About my basket covers. Not him. Hmmm. We have a problem, Houston.

Once upon a time, I kept a few cook books on these triangle shelves. They were awkward items to keep there. I had a few decorative kitchen items too. All of it could have been cute. If no one (like me) looked closely enough at the dust that collected on the shelves and the things I kept there.

I had better use for that space. I told Michael I had a good idea for the kitchen. He’s all ears now-a-days. He’s come to realize the genius that I am with my ideas. I knew he’d see the light, in time. ; )

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1. So Michael ripped out those shelves and supporters, and took some measurements.

2. Then he built a custom-fitting container. That was, of course, after he accepted the fact that he would have to buy larger trash bags from now on, and that would mean fewer in a box also. That took a bit for him to live with in his mind, but he came around again.

3. To finish it, he built a nice door for the cubby. (And now, what I see is that counter-cabinet above it, that I despise. It’s next on my hit-list. But we won’t go there today.)

It’s really nice though. I could look at it all day.You know how you do that, with new things in your home? I might tomorrow, too.

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It opens perfectly quietly. And when you throw trash in, you can’t miss, or not be able to close the door again.

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The container itself, pulls right out, for easy trash bag changing. There is felt buttons on the bottom, so it just slides in and out softly. The door closes completely silently. There is a spring hinge on it.
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The door is built with a wainscot paneling face, framed out, and a brushed nickle knob. The wainscot bead-boarding flows the lower walls of our home in the sun room, flowing right into the main living space under the breakfast bar, and wraps around right into the wall of the kitchen.

YOU can do this too, in any floor level kitchen cabinet, to hide your own trash container! You can build a custom fit trash bin, to maximize your trash cabinet size! Just be sure a trash bag will fit your new container. Or, just stick your current trash container in a cleared out cabinet.

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The trash door now also now matches out school room cabinets Michael did. They still need kick-board faces on the bottom.

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In time, we’ll be replacing these kitchen cabinet faces with the same doors. They aren’t TOO bad looking. And thank goodness, because who knows if it could be years before they get done. But, they don’t really say ‘farm house’ to me. And remember…I’m pretending I am living on a farm. Minus anything gross.
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The best part? No UNSIGHTLY trash can to look at anymore! I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. I ride these joys for weeks on end. And some days, when I need a little pick-me-up to think about how far we have come, I say out loud to no one in particular……”Remember when we had that ugly, nasty-covered trash can in the kitchen, right by the stairs? Man, WHAT were we thinking all of those years. HOW did we even let people come over?“

There is no longer panic coming up those stairs with my clients. My kitchen floor plan is wide-open, and the eye does not stop in some black sticky-topped container. It’s a sunny, leisure Sunday drive. Not a cloud in the sky looking east-ish.

See? I am my own therapist. And all it costs me is a little fluttering of the eye-lashes, and asking Honey, nicely, if he”ll make my new little dream come-true.

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Who wants to come over and throw somethin’ out with me?!

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