A Planting We Will Go . . .

Garden is tilled and partially planted,  my dear husband planted our first part of the garden for this season.  He planted cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, radishes, onions, lettuce of all varieties, and the potatoes will go in in two weeks.  I planted some herbs for inside and out and cleaned out where my mint and oregano are growing.  I planted some dill and rosemary outside in my planters, I planted rosemary and basil for my kitchen and brought some oregano in to try and root.
I love playing in the dirt and it was a beautiful day today.  I even cleaned off my porch and trimmed my camellia bushes.  It was a good day.
While I was outside enjoying the sun and the dirt, I had an idea.  I think I will plant some herbs and take them to work for the kitchen so we can use them when we fix our lunch and dinner.   I will have to let you know how that goes later.  I will try and post some pictures later too.
We woke up yesterday and took Sprat to the airport to go back to school.  I am always so sad when he goes back to school.  He has a few more weeks and he will have completed his freshman year.  I was so sore from working in the yard on Saturday that I could barely walk.  The hubbs and I both are so very sore, I guess I need to do more yoga.  Today I am still sore and I have another doctors appointment.  I hope I do not fall off the table, my legs hurt so bad, you would think I ran a marathon or something on Saturday. 
Updates to follow on Sprat, Big T, the garden and the doctor. 

My Little Corner. . .

Our little corner of the world is blooming and growing like crazy.   I told you about planting a clove of my garlic from my counter well, it is growing and I am so proud.  I planted another one that I had sprouting, it is not doing as well.  I hope to be able to cultivate my own garlic since I use it so regularly.  Not from a monetary stand point, although that is another bonus, but just because I like to use veggies and herbs that I have grown.  There is nothing like cooking fresh from your own back yard.  Since the hubbs has been out of work this week we have eaten some fabulous recipes that I have found on Pinterest.  What did we ever do before Pinterest?
Yesterday I fixed a wonderful stir fry with broccoli and cabbage, both from our garden, that was with a sauce recipe from Pinterest.   This is sugar free and gluten free sauce and uses no soy sauce.  Immune boosting stir fry sauce you can find it at this link or keep scrolling and I will tell you some more about it.   I never follow the recipe to the letter so please keep that in mind.

2 cups chicken broth
2 large cloves of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp cayenne
1tbsp arrowroot (optional)  I did not use this
2 tbsp ginger root minced ( I used ginger powder and I did not use 2 tbsp)

I combined all of this in a sauce pan to simmer while I chopped up my broccoli and cabbage.  I used about 2 cups of broccoli and half a head of large cabbage.  I heat up some extra garlic and a little spring onion in some olive oil before I added my broccoli and cabbage to my stir fry skillet.
My hubby loved this and I liked it too.  Very filling too.  Below are the pictures of my garlic that is really growing.  I cannot wait to harvest it and try it in one of my recipes.

This is my new garlic I just planted along with the one I planted earlier.

A Planting I Will Go. . .

I love playing in the dirt and in the yard.  I have a beautiful trellis that my hubby gave me one Mother's day and each year we plant sweet potato vine to run on it.  I went yesterday and picked up my sweet potato vine and a Gerber Daisy.  I love the garden shop.  I potted my daisy in a new pot for my front porch to go with my huge Geranium.  
Last night we had grilled chicken and I was fixing a marinade for it, this is a garlic and wine marinade.  I noticed my garlic was sprouting,  well I decided I would try and grow some garlic.   It already had a little green shoot so I filled a pot with some potting soil and stuck my little toe of garlic in the dirt.   I left a little bit of the green shoot sticking out of the soil.  Below are my pictures.  I used a good size pot so there would be room to grow some delicious garlic. I have never done this so I will keep you posted on how it grows.  We tried a few years ago to grow garlic in the garden but it did not do anything.   I hope this works.

This is my sweet potato vine from a year ago.

New Year...New, New, New....

On this New Year's eve of 2015 I look back and see how things have changed and how I would like things to change in 2016.   So,  I am still in school, on break and between semesters.  I loved my public speaking class this session.   I highly recommend that for every high school student.  This is a necessity if you are going to make a good impression on interviews or even presentations.  This next session will be all about criminal justice. 
  The boys are growing and ever changing.   I cannot believe Sprat is a sophomore in high school and Big T is in seventh grade.  They both are growing in their interests.  We will start planning college tours soon for Sprat.   Breathe.  . .
College???? Ughhhh. Am I really ready to push my baby out of the nest?  Many more post to follow on that one,  with tears. . .   Big T is turning into a nasty teenage alien.  I never thought my sweet T would ever become an awful teenager but, that is happening right before my eyes. 
  The hubbs is still recovering from his nasty fall on the ice in March, surgery, and finally going back to work.  Here is what I learned from that episode.  If you are a diabetic and have any kind of surgery or trauma you sugar is going to go through the roof.   The hubbs is a controlled diabetic and after he had to have surgery his sugar was upward of 500(this is VERY high).  Even if you are not insulin dependent they give you insulin to control your sugar.  Nobody told us this, so I flipped out.  This should really be something they make you aware of before any surgery.  Needless to say I cried myself to sleep that night in the hospital and it took weeks before his sugar came back to where he was before the fall.  I am very thankful for a family doctor who talked me off the ceiling that night and a pastor that visited and prayed with us before and after surgery. 
Our clan has so many things to be thankful for this year too many to list and many things to look forward to for 2016.
From my house to yours Happy New. Year!!!!