• Two Broccoli
• Three Kohlrabi’s
• Bunch of Radishes
• 2 Zucchini
• Pound of Green Beans
• Pint of Strawberries
• Half a Dozen Beets
• Lettuces
• Head of Cabbage

$15.

Healthy Deal if you ask me.

Have a go at breaking the conventional grocery store shopping habit and search out the weekly farmers market or front yard farm stands in your area for freshly picked, seasonal produce.

Buying direct from the producers when possible is a rich shopping experience at a great price.

Cheers to farmers markets everywhere.

michele.

Well isn’t this a fine how do you do!

After all the love I’ve shown the Mulberry the past few years… this is what I get.

Look closely….you MAY see a berry…or two…..

And here we were — all dressed, jars in hand….ready to make good use out of every juicy one.

Our Mulberry trees that have ALWAYS produced more berries than one knows what to do with are holding out this year.

A bit bummed about the situation, to be honest…but that’s nature for you.

I’m thinking the weird winter (or lack there of) and one late frost may be the culprits. There are lots of dried up leaves scattered about the Mulberry branches – may be an indicator of something else that’s going on?

Even our raspberries pale in comparison to last year — and just a few weeks back it looked as though it was going to be a bumper crop…ah, not so much.

Maybe they’re on a year, off a year?

Oh well, it takes a bad year to appreciate the good ones, right……we’ve at least had a few sweet berries to enjoy, which is better than none at all!

Anyone else having a berry bad year?

No cheers to the berries today….ha.

michele.

Congratulations to Chad here at b. organic and his beautiful new baby girl….

Campbell Rae Adams….

she joins his other two beauties Cortney (wife) and Ryer (daughter)….

A house full of ladies is nothing but FUN with a capital F….just ask my husband Jon!  hee.hee.

Our office gift to the Adams family

was of course, a basket full of cloth diapers

AND

The Adams Family Action Figures

…..Chad would have been very disappointed had we not MADE him something to mark the occasion…..

They turned out cute, eh?!

Love these guys and so many ways to customize and tailor for different occasions.

Make some for yourself, my friends…project can be found here!

Cheers from all of us at b. organic to the new bundles of joy everywhere!!

michele

It’s always fun to think ahead whenever you purchase materials to use.

I try to ask myself things like….How long will they last? What else could I do with them?

Last year, we built a fort out of straw bales and it saw many pint-sized adventures in each of the four seasons, but the time has come for it to be disassembled and used elsewhere.

Our daughter’s fort was happily scattered about the yard and garden for some much needed mulch.

It went a looooong, long way and proved to be an incredibly cost effective venture all the way around.  

And the little miss is well on her way to building a new ‘grown up version’ of her fort…only the next one is out of salvaged wood and will be around for a long, long time.  It’s a pretty special Father/Daughter project that is teaching her some sweet building skills….more on that to come.

Cheers to ‘living it up’ in your mulch before you use it!

michele.

….again.

The last time a rescue took place in the yard, it ended sadly because they were so young.

digger and hopper (maddie’s first rescue bunnies)

This time around, it’s certainly been a rough go of things, but this tough little bunny is hanging in there.

‘sandy’

We’re on house number 2….

and Location #3

with this one…..

so far.

…………Last week, Lulu the cat was ‘playing’ with something in the yard and when Madeline went to check it out, she intercepted and saved it from the very one-sided game it had unwillingly become part of.

It was a little beat up of course, but it was big enough to eat on its’ own and had a few good nights in my shop, so we thought it was the right time to find a home for it in the garden. Madeline could then decide after it healed up and was stronger, if she was going to set it free or not.

However, the troubles began when we put the cage outside.   The dog, the cats, the raccoon….have been relentless.

The mesh wire on the first cage (which was one my dad had made some twenty plus years ago) was a bit rough on it….. it became skittish from all the attention it was getting and I think got a little too crazy with its’ jumping around, (to put it mildly, had a skinned up nose one morning….and a bit of fur removed from its’ side another afternoon…..ugh…a bit heartbreaking, to say the least)…….so Madeline asked her dad to help her build another one…and fast.  They rummaged around for scraps of this and that…maddie picked out a design that she liked and the nails were flying.   We obviously don’t have much experience with wild rabbits, but are quickly learning…..the hard way.

It’s almost finished and while the rabbit is in a much more protected environment, the dog is still very interested in what’s inside.  She was a bit obsessed and chatty with the new addition at first, so I put another round of fencing around it to keep her from being able to get close to it for a while…… hopefully this will give the bunny some much deserved ‘peace’.

‘Sandy’ seems to be healing up nicely, is eating well, and I’m confident we’ll get to a good place with it all…..but it’s been one heck of a journey, thus far!

Cheers to kids and their rescues!

michele.

Eating lots of greens every day does your body good.

They’re easy to grow and you don’t need much space.

Perfect for balcony, container style gardening.

The only thing is, I can’t seem to get enough growing to keep up with our appetites.

Reseeding and having containers/garden plots at different stages of growth is key to maintaining a steady supply but at my house, there always seems to be a waiting period for the next batch! Thank goodness for farmers markets.  I recommend planting a variety — there are so many different textures and flavors to explore and since they’re easy to grow and quick to harvest, why not try them all!?

They’re a cool weather crop, so as we get further into summer, I move my efforts to the shadier areas of the garden and they do beautifully.

Cheers to growing your own greens!  Mesclun mixes are my favorite…..what’s yours?

michele.