Wonderful Weekends

Now that I am a working woman...Woohoo!...I love my weekends!  And this happened to be a fabulous one!  

Friday... Dinner with friends we haven't seen in a while which included nursery talks with our beautiful prego friend, one bouncy baby girl, a bonfire, s'mores, and lots of fabulous friend time.

Saturday... Paisley woke up at 5:30 despite the fact she always sleeps until at least 6 if not later.  So my gorgeous husband took her out while I slept in...did I mention how amazing my husband is?  

Then we watched college game day and made pancakes.  With Chocolate Chips! 

I was a little low on syrup though so I decided to make my own.  YUM!...if I do say so myself.  It was so easy.  Here is the recipe I used...

1 1/2 c. brown sugar (packed)

3/4 c. water

1 tbsp. butter

Dash of salt

1/2 tsp. maple flavoring

Mix brown sugar, water, butter, and salt in saucepan.  Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Stir in maple flavoring.  Serve warm.  

Be care not to overcook.  I think I cooked it too long because after it cooled all the way, it was more like thick honey than syrup.  But it was very good and it was great on the pancakes.

I totally recommend trying in it.

In the afternoon, we finally got around to picking our sweet potatoes.  Boy was that fun!  No really...it was like digging for gold!  They were huge!

We are so excited about them!  As you can see we also had 2 baby watermelons left.

Sunday was a spirit filled day as we celebrated our 3 year birthday with our church.  The way God moved was truly indescribleable as we were moved to awe watching God move his people to give to Charity Water and be baptized.  You can celebrate with us at www.awakenamovement.com.

I hope you had a fabulous weekend as well!  Try some homemade maple syrup!  Visit awakenamovement.com!  Make your Monday feel like the weekend!

Fruits of Our Labor

I know what you are thinking.  No really I do.  I'm an idiot.  I broke my blog.  Yes it is possible.  I did it.  I will slowly be restoring it to his full glory with the magical assistance of the beautiful and talented Caity Shinnick.  I'd be lost in this big ol' blogland without her.

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Can you believe it is the end of July!  Summer is flying by.

But with the heat of summer, comes the full bloom of our garden.  All of the hard work finally pays off with dividends...and maybe some more work too.  Picking is exhausting and back-breaking; oh well, at least the veggies are good.

Flowers are in full bloom!

 Veggies are coming in like crazy!  So I snapped a quick pictures a couple of weeks ago of my picks.  

Squash and Garlic.  Tomatoes and Onions.  Zucchini and Green beans.

Speaking of green beans...

They are crazy!  We've already picked 3 times and we need to pick again.  Its nuts!

 Here is part of my first pick.

Now onto the snapping.  Removing the ends and "snapping" the beans into your desired size.  I usually snap smaller beans for good old southern green beans and longer beans for green bean bundles.  Its not particularly necessary to snap longer beans for bundles but I find it to be much easier to bundle beans when they are longer.

Next, it's time for canning.  Canning is not difficult and is a great way to preserve your garden favorites.

Left:  My southern green beans.  Right:  My green bean bundles.  I was so proud of my stacking.  Can you tell?!

Next a half of a teaspoon of salt for every pint of green beans (a full teaspoon if canning quarts).  I prefer to do most of my green beans in pints because I have found it is the perfect amount for two people.  I often put up my green bean bundles in quarts due to their size and I usually make them for company.

 Then you fill the jars with boiling water to cover the beans.

Place the sterilized lids on and screw on the band.  Place the jars in a pressure canner and process as recommended by your owner's manual.

TADA!!!!!!  Dinner is served!  AND...You have green beans for the whole year!

Putting vegetables up and having them to eat for the rest of the year is one of my absolute favorite things about gardening!  It is so nice.  And I SAVE so much money!  Yay!

Our favorite new way to cook green beans is on the stove with some chicken base (bouillon), seasoning salt, pepper, and sugar.  Cooking for as long as I can...45 minutes-ish on a light simmer.  It's even better if you have a strip of bacon or fat back.  Yes, you know you are in the south when someone uses the word fat back.

What is your favorite way to cook green beans?

On the Hottest Day in June...

On one of the hottest days in June, we decided to landscape our poor un-landscaped house.  Luckily, we had my Dad's help.  I'll admit the boys did most of the work and I was more of a foreman doing other little spray paint projects while they worked.  Imagine me and spray paint...I've been becoming a little obsessed with it.  But back to the bushes...The boys went all out to do it correctly and not skimp on any corners.

Landscape paper and pins and all.

3 loads of mulch.

The brick walk way has been begun...

We have a friend who owns a landscape business and he recommended this concrete glue.  We got ours at Lowe's for like $3.96 a tube.

Using a guide line the edging went in perfectly.

The outside of the house is finally done!  Well mostly minus the sidewalk but I call that done compared with where we started.

Catch-up Blog #2

Look at me posting two days in a row....  I'll pat myself on the back.

She's a Growin' Folks

Look at my babies grow!  My garden is officially in bloom and is adorable!

Look that baby broccoli in the eye and tell her she's not cute.  You can't because she is.

Potatoes are growing strong!

From little rotten eyes to big strong greens!

We even have a baby tomato growing!

Even my flowers are coming in beautifully!  

Now I've been working on turning my hydrangeas a little more blue...as it is my signature color.  

(If you are anything like me you just read the last line with a thick Southern accent as Julia Roberts once did and added on "my colors are blush and bashful."  I love that movie!)

  It entails adding aluminum to the soil in order to change the pH in the soil slightly acidic.  I think its a delicate process and as detail oriented as I can be in certain areas of my life, no comments from the peanut gallery, this wasn't one of them.  I just threw the stuff all over the place.  Oh well.  Pink is a lovely accent.

(Side bar:  I have to do a lot of googling in order to write this blog.  All of my southern and not-so-southern phrases must be googled because I often change the phrase in my head and you guys would get much too good of a laugh if I didn't double check it.  For instance, in the last two posts I have googled (1) "riff raff": I didn't have a clue how you would spell that or if it was a real word and (2) "peanut gallery":  I have a tendency to say pea gallery.  Do you guys ever say a phrase and then realize in your head you are spelling it way off or even have the words wrong?  No, just me. Oh well.)

(Side bar:  I like side bars.  Sorry if you don't.  Its how my mind works.)

I should take more pictures of the garden.  I think we officially have everything planted with the exception of some kale I found for Grei but I missed the first planting season and will have to wait to plant it later in the year.  I'll leave you with a list of everything we have planted this year.  Its overwhelming but I like to think I will be glad of it when it taste so good.

The Steele's Garden 2011:

Zinnias

Radishes

Garlic

Sweet onions

Random flower

Potatoes

Squash

Zucchini

Cucumbers

Carrots

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Pole Beans

Corn

Okra

Watermelon

Tomatoes

Bell Peppers

Jalapeno pepper

Cayenne pepper

Some herbs

So far only the radishes are coming in and we are just eating them as we go.  I plan to put up a lot of the vegetables later in the year.  (If you aren't from around here that means preserve them in some way...freeze, can, dry, etc.)

Hope you are enjoying your Memorial Day Weekend!

Catch-up Blog #1

Yes I will have to number them.  I am approximately 3-4 blog behind and I'm so mad at myself for it.  In my head, I have let my readership down (what readership? please) and the post like food or celeb gossip is never better than it is fresh off the presses.  So here is my slightly stale take on 4 blogs I've been storing up for you guys.

Spray Paint Your Way to Newness

I have an admission:  I used to be afraid of spray paint.  All that dripping and running.  All these rules about how far away to hold the can and at just this right angle and this kind of long stroke...Aaaaahhhh!  I can't handle it all being on me like that.  I thought it was supposed to be the easy alternative to real paint.  

But alas I have slowly confronted my fears and now think spray paint can be a true Life Changer!  That's right I made a huge sweeping statement there that I will not take back.  In fact, I will repeat it.  

Spray paint is a Life Changer!

My latest adventure in spray painting includes giving new life and uniformity to my ho-hum flower pots.  You know those pots you bought last year for $4 at big lots that looked shiny and vibrant but now look muddy and have startling amount of dents and scratches just from a year of taking the brunt of a Tennessee summer...Yes, even those pots can be revitalized.

Case in point.

Now I couldn't just let these ladies be less than their best on my porch.  They needed a good spit shine before I would let them on my brand new porch.  In comes their knight in shiny metal armor...

I recommend the spray paint gun-handle thingy for all painting projects.  Total finger saver.  I chose to use the above spray paint because my mom already had like 6 cans.  Boom.  Great reason.  And I wanted a not to shiny, not to dull, just right paint.  

(Shhhh....I'll let you in on a little secret.  I also used the same spray paint to paint my ...don't tell anyone... shutters.  You heard me.  The shutters on my house were spray painted white.  I bet you can't tell though.  I'll show you a picture once the house is complete.  B says I shouldn't show you the house yet.  But I think we should be complete-ish by next weekend so expect pictures after that...hopefully more timely than my recent tract record.)

Step One:  Find your paint and buy a spray gun thingy.  Done.

Step Two:  Gather your old pots.  You can use any of them no matter how opposite they appear in the beginning or if their matching twin finally went to be in garden heaven, because after we're through with them they will have a brand new uniform-matchy matchy family.
(I forgot to take a picture of all the pots beforehand.   Blogger fail.)

Step Three:  Find a place to paint.  To my husband's dismay I usually choose our brand new grass.  He loves when I paint bright white circles into it. We're just going to cut the paint off next time he mows right?

Step Four:  Paint. Paint. Paint.
It takes no time to dry so paint light even coats and Repeat.
(Not as hard as I used to think it would be.  Just go slow and keep moving.  Its better to go over the same spot 4 times as you circle your pot than try to cover it the first time and it look splotchy and drippy. Yuck.)

DONE!
Now I have beautiful new shiny white flower pots instead of a riff raff bunch of random loose ends that don't match.  As Jackie would say, "It makes a bigger statement if you use all one color!"  That's her summer 2011 word of wisdom.

(Oops...Guess I gave you a sneak peek of the house.)

I don't have all my pots planted yet but I'm already loving the uniform look.  It makes it look like I went out and spent $$ on all my pots but in reality I just re-invented what I already owned.  Now that's what I call being smart with your money.
My total cost:  Under $10.
My cost if I had bought new matching pots:  almost $100!
...and that's if I stay frugal.

So if you are tired of your blah random assortment of pots.  Do something about it!  Its fun and you can blog about it.  I'd love to see what color you choose.  (Color can be fun!  I almost went with green.)

Excited about Dirt!

I'm SO behind on blogging.  I've got so many on my Blog: To Do List.  We have been in and out of town and undertaking large projects around the house.  One of which is the start of our garden!!  Naturally a once medium size project is now HUGE because that's how we roll around here.  It all started when my mom got a greenhouse, which changed our motto from "what should we grow" to "why not grow it".  One day I came home to find this...

  My dad had started plowing the field.  This officially solidified the enormity that is our garden.  Its approximately 10 yards by 35 yards per my quarterbacks' estimations, Dad and B. 

Last weekend, we along with my parents started planting our "cool weather" veggies and a few vegetables that were just getting too big in the green house and just had to be planted.  A total of 3 1/2 rows.

Row 1/2:  Zinnias 

For a little color and pretty-ness as you view the garden from the house.

Row 1:   Radishes   Garlic   Sweet Onions 

...then a few flowers to fill in to the end of the row.

Row 2:  Potatoes

Planted from these guys.  They look like rotten potatoes but you got to do what you gotta do for some yummy home-grown potatoes later. 

Row 3:  4 Zucchini mounds    5 Squash mounds   Carrots   4 Cucumber mounds

**We realize its early for zucchini, squash and cucumbers but they were so large in the green house we were afraid they would die if we didn't plant them.  And we have more if they die from being planted too soon.

Luckily, we had my dad there to teach us about the precision of growing a row garden.

First, we staked a big tobacco stick in one side of the garden at least 2 foot from the edge of the garden.

Second, tied a string to the stake and ran it to the far other side of the garden.

Third, measured our two foot from the side and staked another tobacco stick and tied the string to it.

This allows us to have straight rows that aren't curving back and forth like the waves on the beach or running diagonal and wasting precious garden space, which is for sure how I would have ended up planting if I didn't have the string for a guide.

(Its hard to see but the string is yellow.)

Lastly, Just uproot and re-stake the tobacco sticks by measuring at least two feet on both sides of the garden to create your second perfectly spaced straight row.  

**We did two feet spacing (really more like 27-28" because that is how big our tiller is and we want to be able to run in between our planted rows.

Now to add to my already growing lists of projects:
I really need to make some cute but sensible signs so as to remember where I planted what.  I tend to have a rather finite memory or so I like to think but a few cute signs as a reminder are always nice.
I can't find much inspiration online but I like these because they are simple.

I love the chalkboard signs but I don't understand how they work.  Gardens require either rain or watering and doesn't that erase what you have written??  Please let me in on the secret if there is one.

We are so excited about having vegetables fresh from the garden all summer!  It will be so nice to just walk out the door and grab our dinner.  And hopefully we will save TONS of money!  My favorite thing to do.  That's all for a garden as of the beginning of April.  We will keep you updated with our progress and additions.  Matter of fact I have broccoli and cauliflower that needs to be planted asap so I guess we will begin Row 4 in the next couple of days.

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I love all the responses for the Chandelier Vote!  With all of our big projects going on, my time is running low.  And... You know me I like to do my projects as frugally as possible so I will be looking with caution and a careful eye for all my supplies.  

So go vote if you haven't already!

VOTE

Let's play catch up

FIRST...  Let us welcome to world Micah Jonathan Clayton!  6lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long.  He was born June 24th to our friends, Dave & Sydney!  We are so so excited about this little guy. 

 He is such a C-U-T-I-E!

May and June were a BUSY months!  So here is a photo recap...

Our Little Tee-Ball Player, Caden

Getting a big hit!

Copelan had fun at the game too... Running onto the field a couple of times in the middle of a play.  He can't wait to be out there himself.  

Brandon's brother, Wes, got married June 5th.  We are so excited to have Stephanie in the family!

Isn't this outfit adorable!

Now for a garden update:  Its beginning to pour in!

I am going to be making some salsa this week for sure!

I am fighting bugs off these beauties like crazy!  If you have any ideas of how to keep bugs away please share!  I am trying to be organic but I might have to succumb to the Seven dust if nothing else works.  So please share your bug secrets!