Drying Herbs

Last year's garden included an "herb spiral" which I wrote about here. It was a project we really enjoyed, from building the spiral itself to watching so many plants thrive in such close proximity.  

Ready to plant our herb spiral

Our thriving herb spiral later in the summer

We harvested A LOT of herbs from that spiral and we couldn't possibly use them all right away, so I took on the task of drying a good portion of them.  

Drying herbs is a great way to preserve them and also a nice way to share your garden with friends and neighbors. Some herbs dry better than others, so I referenced my gardening book to be sure I was choosing herbs that would keep their flavor and dry well.  First I gathered my herbs. 

    Rosemary, Silver Thyme, Mint, Golden Oregano and Sage.

    

Golden Oregano

After sorting through them, I used string to tie small bunches to plastic clothes hangers.

I hung all the herbs in a small closet with slatted doors. This worked out really well because it was dark in the closet, but there was still good air circulation. On each hanger I made a note with the date and checked their progress periodically over the next 2-3 weeks. 

Silver Thyme, Rosemary and Mint.

Once they were good and dry, I laid them out on the counter, cut off the string, and gently removed all the leaves, being careful not to bruise or crush the leaves.  Then I placed the whole leaves into mason jars and labelled each one with a small square of fabric.

To preserve herbs fragrant oils, crush, tear or chop them just before using.  All of our herbs dried wonderfully and added tremendous flavor to our cooking long after our garden season had ended.

Bush Beans, Peppers, & Lettuce

One of the most rewarding parts of having a garden is watching it flourish. 

This past week has been a wonderful display as our pepper plants begin to flower...

our bush beans begin to grow pods...

 and our lettuce seeds begin to sprout.

Happy, healthy garden = happy me :)

Basil - Fighting the Whiteflies

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that our basil plants weren't looking so good. Some of the leaves had small patches of brown and yellow on them, and the plants didn't seem to be growing as much as I had expected them to (see the little brown spots on the leaves? and the shape of the leaves isn't quite right ).

Upon further investigation and a little research online, I figured out that we had a small infestation of whiteflies. YUCK! These little teeny tiny bugs can not only ruin your basil plants, but they can spread throughout an entire garden.  Whiteflies suck the sap from the leaves of the plants, weakening the plant, and stunting the growth of the plant - which on a basil plant, means less yummy leaves :(

The good thing was that the basil had grown just enough that we were planning to make pesto soon anyway. So the next day we thoroughly picked through both plants, harvesting only the best leaves, and destroying (and trashing) several leaves which contained an incredible amount of whitefly larvae. 

Then we set up some sticky bright yellow whitefly traps. Whiteflies are drawn to this specific yellow hue, and when they fly close enough to these sticky cards, they get stuck. If the whiteflies (teeny tiny moths) can't lay more eggs, then the eggs can't hatch and the babies (nymphs) and adults (flies) can't suck the sap from the plants.

Everyday for the past two weeks, whenever we walk by the garden, we give each plant a gentle little shake. This disturbs the whiteflies and any that fly off the plants get stuck on the yellow card (unfortunately other flying bugs can get stuck on the card too, so we have caught a few beneficial bugs that we would rather have not...) The good news is, we haven't seen too many whiteflies these past fews days.

And the basil plants have definitely been looking healthier, and growing stronger. 

We're really looking forward to making pesto again. Oh happy ending :)

Tomato Flowers!!!

We are very excited to have our first tomato flowers!! 

They started a couple of weeks ago and I have been watching them as they grow. 

When they started opening earlier this week I got so excited!

Because above all other fruits and veggies,

I think tomatoes will always be my favorite. 

Farmer's Market Carrots

We really like buying carrots at the farmer's market.  We pick up a bunch about once a week. I particularly enjoy their varying colors, they're so much more interesting than the typical orange ones at the grocery store, and they're local, too.  Did I mention they are also delicious?! We even share them with our little dog, Napali, who gobbles them up just as quickly as his favorite treats! 

Oh, Farmer's Market carrots, we love you <3

Basil Pesto & Heirloom Tomato Hors D'oeuvre

We love pesto, and since our basil plants are doing well this year, we decided it was time to make some basil pesto. We used this recipe from Simply Recipes.  It's easy to make and tastes absolutely delicious. I use 1 clove of garlic (instead of 3) and if I'm freezing any I leave out the parmesan cheese and garlic until I defrost it (garlic can get bitter when frozen and cheese doesn't always hold its flavor well).  

We enjoyed our basil pesto sandwiched between slices of an organic sourdough baguette and heirloom tomato fresh from the farmer's market. Simple, fresh and delicious. Just the way I like it!

9 Grain Cereal with Mango

We're always looking to try new things, especially new food, so when a friend of ours mentioned a 9 grain cereal he found at Whole Foods, we went right out to get some. We found our 9 grain cereal in the bulk section and tried it this morning.  

To prepare our hot cereal, we combined 1 part dry cereal with 2 parts water (about 1/2 cup dry cereal/person) and simmered it on the stove top for about 10 minutes (until all the water was absorbed). 

It was simple and quick. 

And while it cooked we had a chance to cut up some fresh fruit. Champagne Mango for me and strawberries for Tom. I also added a little milk and some maple syrup to my bowl, while Tom opted for a simple sprinkling of sugar.  It made for a delicious breakfast that was light, but also filling.  And we're excited for all the possible variations we can try (cinnamon & sugar, peanut butter & banana, coconut & blueberries....).

It's safe to say this breakfast cereal will be reappearing several times in the near future!

Keeping Up with the Farmer's Market

We support local farmers and small businesses whenever we have the chance.  It's something that's really important to us and we are trying more and more to make it a part of our daily routine.  We've been exploring quite a few markets since we moved to California, but found that we were having trouble keeping track of them all (there are so many that we could go almost every day of the week :)

After missing a few markets that we wanted to check out, Tom came up with the idea of making our own schedule. He spent some time creating it, and then I picked up a simple white frame at Target for $3. Now we have a market schedule tailored exactly to our needs and an original piece of artwork in our kitchen :)

I think I'll go for a walk outside now....

We love a good hike, and so does our favorite pup, Napali. So we were all happy to go for a hike this morning in beautiful Briones Regional Park. The sun was shining and there were lots of critters to watch as we hiked. It was a nice chance to reflect, relax and get a little exercise :) 

How to Reupholster a Side Chair

We recently purchased a dining room table and we're very excited that we no longer have to eat dinner on the sofa :)

We found our set on craigslist and knew it would be perfect for our space. Like most of the other furniture we own, it is gently used and we figure, if we can reuse something....why not?!

We did need to recover the chair seats, since the original fabric was stained and looking pretty yucky. 

We began by unscrewing the chair seats from the frames. Tom then spent a few hours removing all the staples holding the original fabric in place (there were about 75 staples/chair!). The chair shown below also had a crack in the right back support, so after filling it with a some wood glue, we clamped it tight and let it cure for 24 hours before removing the clamp. Now it's good as new and you can hardly tell where the crack was.

Here's a chair with the seat taken apart. The foam was in good shape so we opted to use the original. You could also replace the foam if it was too worn/stained/smelly etc.

Each chair seat had a black fabric on the bottom of the seat and those pieces were in good shape too.

Since I'm still in the process of choosing fabric for our living room/dining room/entry way(it's one big room and I would like it to all flow together), I picked up a canvas drop cloth at the hard ware store for $10 to use as new fabric to recover the chair seats. It's a great color in our space, and it will give me some time to continue looking for fabric without rushing.

After cutting out a piece of drop cloth for each chair seat (I just laid the seats on top of the fabric and cut out a square a few inches larger than the seat itself), I used my staple gun to attach the fabric to the chair seats. Starting in the middle of the top edge of each seat, I stapled the middle of each side before continuing to staple toward the corners. This allowed me to make sure the fabric was smooth and taught on the front of each chair seat and adjust as necessary. 

I then tucked the corners in, military style (just like the sheet on a bed) And replaced the black fabric that came with the chairs. This gave the seats a more finished look (although I don't think anyone would ever know if I skipped this step since it's on the bottom :)

Here's the final product! I'm really happy with how they came out and I'm so happy to be rid of the stained fabric they came with. They look fresh and clean and now I can take my time finding fabric for the rest of the room, since these chairs will match anything!

Farmer's Market Artichokes

Mmmmmm artichokes!

Another successful trip to the Farmer's Market :)

Napali's Birthday!

We can hardly believe that Napali has been with us for 2 years already! 

He's such a wonderful energy in our lives and we love him! 

Happy Birthday to our beloved Napali!

Roasted Beets & Goat Cheese

Last night we roasted beets from the Farmer's Market (also mentioned here) and made this delicious appetizer. It was absolutely incredible and very easy to assemble. 

We opted not to add sliced lemon to our little stacks, but instead added lemon juice to the goat cheese, which I highly recommend!  The flavors were wonderful. The beets were slightly caramelized from roasting, the goat cheese was smooth and creamy and the lemon juice added the perfect little punch. Not to mention, I was excited to be able to use the whole beet, greens and all, wasting nothing.  I really enjoyed the added flavor of the greens, which are a little like spinach (one of my all times favorites!).