What to do on a rainy day? Make homemade salsa! I haven’t made any homemade in quite some time (years) and with my garden producing a bumper crop of tomatoes, I knew I had to use them up quickly before they went bad. I dug through my recipe box and found the one I had used for salsa the first time I made it and decided to use it but put my own twist on it. The best part was I was able to use my homegrown tomatoes! I was a little bummed out that I didn’t have any of my own cilantro anymore, so I had to buy it from the store. One of my tomato plants pretty much swallowed it up after I trimmed it back. I wish now that I had taken some and made dried cilantro so I would at least have some on hand when I needed it. Oh well, lessons learned for next season’s garden!
Here are all the ingredients I used…not a whole lot to make scrumptious, mouth watering homemade salsa…….
Simmering everything for about 15-20 minutes……almost done!
Here is the recipe that I came up with. I love lots of cilantro and garlic, you will want to adjust these to your own taste. You might also prefer more or less onion and green peppers, I recommend tasting as you go.
I used a food chopper for the tomatoes and chopped the onions and cilantro by hand. I used a garlic press to save time on mincing the garlic. I used a fresh lemon for the juice.
And puppy dog tails, that’s what little boys are made of ???? Nope, not my son. Mine is made of pure destruction. This is what you get on Day 2 of summer break….so much boredom in this kid already it’s pathetic.
I had walked in the house for 5 seconds to get a drink of water. I had been hammering in some pvc pipe in my garden and left the mallet out. Needless to say he found a way to keep himself entertained. Typical boy. Those WERE hotwheels cars….not any more.
Saturday we had our final pack meeting for this year at a local park. The leaders quickly got down to business and gave out some final belt loops and awards then it was on to the fun! There was a huge water balloon fight, a water gun fight and just all around chaos and fun. Water was going everywhere!!! When the water balloons started flying I stood back taking pictures but then I sat the camera down and jumped right in. I saw that Terry and his group needed some help. They had run out of water balloons in their cooler so me and two of the boys ran over to the other side to steal some of theirs, it was so funny! I had spent 2 hours on Friday (as did many others) filling up and tying the balloons. I think I must have filled around 75, I lost count though. It was so funny to see how fast they all went, within 5 minutes it was all over. It was so worth the blisters though! The boys had a total blast and it was so fun to watch them chasing each other around with the water guns. The best part though were the “sneak attacks”. Several of the boys sneaked up on unsuspecting leaders and soaked them with buckets of water. One of the scout dads had a balloon slingshot and would hurl balloons at unsuspecting kids and parents, but in the end he got back what he dealt out. You’ll see that in the photos and videos below. We all had a lot of fun and I can’t wait to be our Dens leader this coming year, we are going to have so much fun!
Well, it’s week 6 of gardening and it could not be going any better than it is. I probably just jinxed myself saying that, but it’s true. I love walking out there everyday and seeing what’s new, because every single day the garden changes. The tomatoes are doing so much better than expected and they are producing so many new tomatoes that I am already thinking of how I will be using all of them. I had all but given up on my 3 bell pepper plants. When I recently read some online articles about how hard they are to grow and how temperamental they are to temperature changes, I had basically written them off as a loss. The blooms would set, the baby peppers would start to grow, then they would fall off the plants. This went on for over a week. I got so frustrated and gave up on them. The day I walked out to dig them up I was surprised to see that I had several baby bell peppers and they looked healthy! I couldn’t believe my eyes. That was a little over a week ago and as of now I have about 10 peppers that are marble size or bigger. The biggest one will be the size of a golf ball in about 2 or 3 days I am figuring. I am so happy I was too busy to dig them up! My very first tomato that set 3 weeks ago is just about ready to start turning. I have been giving it gentle encouragement to ripen. I am getting slightly impatient……ok, very impatient. I am not the only one though, Brady is very anxious too. He loves tomatoes just as much as I do. The cilantro is trying to take over the garden and it has become a running joke to see just how tall it will grow. It’s about 3 feet tall and I will soon have to cut it so it won’t shade the other plants, but it has been so fun to see how tall it’s getting. I keep thinking it would be a neat addition to any flower garden as it grows fast and produces pretty little white blooms on top that resemble baby’s breath. The cantaloupe didn’t make it so it got pulled up and I had to relocate my strawberries to a pot on the grill patio for more sun. They were getting shaded by the tomato plants. It’s just day 3 of it being moved and I am already seeing shoots that the strawberries will grow from….should have moved it sooner. I planted 2 okra plants yesterday and have read that they love the heat, grow very very fast and can tolerate drought. Can’t wait to see how those do.
baby bell pepper
a cute little bunch of cherry tomatoes
my very first tomato is getting ready to ripen
the early girls are going crazy- a few of these will be ripening very soon.
kristen duke - wow, very nice. i like your new (i think its new) green swirlies on the blog sidebars.
Melissa - I have garden envy! ;-) The two tomato plants and the sole basil plant I bought two weeks ago are BARELY clinging onto life on my deck. I have yet to plant them in their containers. What was I thinking . . . with four kids and two under 4?
Last night we went to Kacey’s preschool class graduation. All of the kids were so cute in their little graduation caps marching in to “Pomp and Circumstance” Everyone went crazy, it was just the most adorable thing ever. They took their seats and the teacher spoke about the year and what all they had learned. They sang a cute little song about what sounds the letters of the alphabet make. They also counted by five’s to one hundred and sang “You are my Sunshine” for us. I held back the tears until a slideshow came on with photos from the year. The song they chose was “Let them be Little”. If you have never heard this song….it’s a tear jerker and a great song. Then the teacher spoke and I was crying even harder and in fact I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room, including the teachers and directors of the school. The kids then each received a special award and their diplomas. Kacey got the award for being the most improved girl, we were so proud of her!!! She had a fantastic year and is so ready for Kinder or as she likes to call it ” bubba’s school” or the “big school” She learned so much this year and it was so fun to watch her learning and blossoming, I almost can’t believe she will be starting school in just three months! Here are some photos and video from the evening…
waiting to get her award and diploma
her hat was all crooked here, she had already taken it off before I got the photo, oh well, it’s funny
back home after graduation
Here is a short video of Kacey receiving her award and diploma
I have been slacking big time on the blog here and figured I would force myself to make time to sit down and catch everyone up on what’s been going on the last few weeks. Nothing majorly exciting but here goes…
Last week Brady earned his first stripe on a belt test and we are so proud of him. It seems Kung Fu is really for him and he is doing exceptionaly well in it. After he earns 3 stripes, he will be eligible to test for the next belt…which will be a yellow striped belt. We have seen huge changes in him (for the better!) and we love seeing his face when he masters a new move. He goes 3 days a week and even though I feel like that’s all I do lately is drive back and forth to Kung Fu, it’s totally worth it to see him excelling at what he loves to do.
Kacey will be graduating Preschool on May 20th so that is just around the corner. She has grown leaps and bounds and we are continually amazed at just how much she has absorbed and learned since September. She loves to write her name, Brady’s name and my name. She has the alphabet down pat and can recite numbers 1 to 100! She will have no trouble in Kindergarten and is more than ready to be at “bubba’s big school” as she calls it. I almost can’t believe I will have both kids in school full time next year, for 8 years I have had kids at home with me. Scott and I are discussing me trying to find a part time job, but finding one to fit the hours I will need is going to be hard I am sure. I am anxious to see how that pans out. I dont have to go back to work but I just can’t see sitting around the house for 8 hours a day with nothing to do. I need to get out of the house after 8 years. Scott is being very supportive and will back me with whatever I choose. I think he would rather me focus on my photography business but it would be so nice to have that extra money to go towards growing it. New lenses, new camera, etc.
This past weekend Scott and I continued on our outdoor projects and this time it was expanding the patio that sits just off our main patio. Years ago Scott and my Dad built a small patio made of 2′ x2′ concrete pavers to hold our grill and smoker. He has been wanting to expand it for a while now so we could position our smoker differently and have plenty of space to move around. Friday we went to Lowe’s and got all the pavers needed to build on to the patio and Sunday we started the project. I didn’t take any photos and wished I had now. To say it was a huge undertaking would be an understatement! First he dug up around the patio where the new extension would be then came the back breaking task of pulling up all of the existing ones so that we could level off the whole area. The pavers weigh 80 pounds a piece. Yes. 80. Needless to say I couldn’t help with that part, I just needed to stand out of the way. Once they were up I helped him level it all out and get the area ready to lay the pavers down. The patio went from 48 square feet to 80 square feet. We were so tired and poor Scott is just now able to feel his wrists again…haha! We love how it turned out and he is happy to have so much more room now. The next thing we do will be order river rock and landscape around both patios. We have a large area that sees a lot of foot traffic and grass won’t grow so we have decided to just put in rock and then do some cool plantings in it. I can’t handle the mud and dirt anymore so I am very anxious to get going on that.
While hanging out in the backyard this weekend, we noticed a female cardinal going in and out of one of our shrubs next to the shed. When I took a closer look I realized she has a beautiful nest in there with 3 little blue and brown speckled eggs! The kids are so excited to have this little nature lesson in our own backyard and I hope that we don’t scare her off her nest too much. It is eye level with the kids so they love to run out and see if they are hatched yet. I keep telling them that if we chase her off her nest too much, they won’t hatch. So we agreed to check only every 2-3 days. My worst fear at this point is a stray cat getting the eggs. My second worst fear is once they hatch, they fall out of the nest and one of our dogs finds them. I’m pulling for these little babies and I hope they survive our yard.
My garden is growing like crazy and I love going out in the mornings and seeing all the baby tomatoes and baby bell peppers! I ended up having to move some plants around after I took the first photos (see previous post) and actually added some new ones. I planted a canteloupe vine and a strawberry plant. I am going to let the canteloupe trail out of the garden and along the ground behind it if it gets too big. The variety I got is supposed to be a shorter more compact vine so hopefully it won’t get out of control, but if it decides to then I’m ready. My tomatoes are going nuts and they are loving life. Lots of blooms and lots of babies. Brady is getting so excited about eating some vine ripe tomatoes soon. I have a few baby bells now too. My cilantro is about 2 feet tall and needs a haircut. Everything is looking healthy so far!
Yesterday Kacey and I accompanied Brady’s second grade class on their field trip to Elgin Christmas Tree Farm. We left the school at 9:15am met the buses there around 10am. When I first found out that they would be going here for their spring field trip, I was puzzled and kept wondering why they chose this over some of the other things they could have done. I mean, come on, a Christmas Tree Farm…in the spring?! Well, turns out that the Farm operates not only during Christmas but October and April as well. In April they open the farm up to school field trips only. It was a very nice day and the kids (and me) had such a fun time. When we first got there our class headed over to a barn where they each planted some wildflowers in a cup to take home. There were plenty of animals to pet, even some baby goats, kittens and ducks. Sally the Bassett Hound was a hit and if I could have smugled her out of there without being noticed, I would have. The kids got to run through a maze, although it is still being built and will eventually be a maze of 6 foot tall wood fencing. As you will see in the pictures, even with just the orange netting, the kids kept going in circles trying to get out, all the adults thought it was so funny! We ate lunch under a big pavilion and listened to one of the ladies that works on the farm talk about what it takes to raise the trees. We were shocked to hear that last year they lost many trees due to the 8 month drought. That’s right…8 whole months without a single drop of rain! She also did a project with the kids that involved making a flower out of a pencil, some clay and a pipecleaner. While the kids worked on their projects she talked more in depth about growing plants and flowers and what they need to grow. After lunch we all hopped on a lengthy hayride that criss crossed and went all around the huge property. The tractor driver dropped us off at a play area back in the trees. The kids got to play for a bit before it was time to leave. It was a fun day, complete with a few sunburns and some alleriges, but all in all it was a blast! The kids and I decided we really need to go back during Halloween and Christmas. Click on the picture below to view all of the photos.
Scott and I have been talking since last summer about building a raised garden so we can grow some herbs and vegetables. Last year I grew one tomato plant and swore that I would have a backyard garden this Spring. Well, after 2 weeks of planning and doing our research…we did it! Scott did a great job on building the frame for the raised bed and had it put together in just about 2 hours. Once it was built we (kids included!) went to town getting all the grass and out of the area where the box was was going to sit. We leveled out the ground then sat the assembled frame down on it. Once we had it level, we began the back breaking task of dumping all the soil in. Scott had to make another trip to Lowe’s to get more soil but by 5:30pm we had it all finished and ready for planting. I had bought my tomatoes about a week ago, along with some lavender plants. Lowe’s had really nice tomato plants and I was worried if I didn’t get them then they would be gone by this weekend. Scott surprised me this afternoon when he returned home with the rest of the soil, he had bought me a large assortment of veggies and herbs. The kids helped me get all the plants into the dirt and watered and the whole job was finished around 6pm. I fixed spaghetti for dinner and kept thinking how nice it’s going to be having my own tomatoes and herbs to cook with! Here are some photos we took during the building process and one photo of the finished project. I’m so proud of it! Thank you so much honey for spending your day off from work doing this for me. I had so much fun working on it with you and the kiddos.
Here is a list of what we have planted:
2 Celebrity tomato plants
1 Early Girl tomato plant
1 Cherry tomato plant
1 Sweet Basil
1 Curled Leaf Parsley
1 Cilantro
3 Bell Peppers- green, orange and yellow
30 Texas Sweet onions- some of them I will pick for green onions and the rest I will let mature into full size “dry” onions
kristen duke - wow, all that in one bed? I'm anxious to hear how they all turn out.
Melissa - Congrats on all your hard work! I want to do a raised bed too . . . in the subdivision where we live the builder stripped all the topsoil and as a result, my attempt at growing tomatoes last year failed miserably. I have a DELICIOUS recipe for a Tomato Tart that is **great** for fresh tomatoes. I am sure I will be putting it on my blog sometime this summer, but if you want the recipe in the meantime email me. :-)
Melissa (Brady's mom)
writefield@bellsouth.net
Here is a list of what we have planted:
by krmac
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