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| October 4, 2013 |
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| April 2014 |
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| Summer thunderheads. Beautiful, aren't they? |
With summer comes our short window of time to make progress on the outdoor dreams.
We built the steps last year, and finished the fire ring a couple weeks ago.
October's storm has provided plenty of free firewood and a new hobby for the boys - using their skills with an ax. :)
This year, we're adding fruit to the yard.
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| It helps to have young muscles around for jobs like this! |
We planted a cherry tree this week. Of course, Thatcher wanted to help!
The garden is planted, and the raspberry bushes are in!
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| The seeds are planted, and some are sprouting. I promise - this will be a garden! |
Speaking of raspberries, I've found my new favorite decadent-tasting snack.
It's only decadent tasting, because it's really quite healthy. No added sugar, low carbs, no fat. Can you really get any better than that?
We'll call it Jan's Raspberry-Yogurt Swirl
You can use any combination of ingredients you like, but this is what I use:
The main ingredients you don't want to change are the yogurt and raspberries - although you could certainly use strawberries, or blueberries, or blackberries....
You can use sweetened yogurt, too, or sweeten your plain yogurt with sugar instead of Truvia.
And you can use regular milk instead of almond milk. Or cream. Mmmm.... It's great with cream, although then it isn't low fat anymore!
Here's what you do: Put about one cup of yogurt in a bowl. Add about 2 Tablespoons of almond milk and 2 teaspoons Truvia (or sweetener of your choice). Mix well. It should be the consistency of pudding, but not too thick.
Now add up to 1/4 cup frozen raspberries. You can also use fresh, but frozen ones chill the yogurt down so it's almost like you're eating ice cream :)
Add a few extra raspberries to the top. Now, doesn't that look rich and decadent?
And it's guilt-free!!!!
It's the perfect summer afternoon snack. Let's all have a dish while we wait for the baby cherries to grow.
But we won't look too closely at the next project on the list...our poor lilac bush.
It wasn't doing all that great, and then October's storm really destroyed it. Poor thing.
Now it's your turn - tell us about your current outdoor project!
Our cherries are almost ripe! And I love homemade yoghurt. Mmmmm.... So many flavors. I like to make mango and honey.
ReplyDeleteOutside? Well, a storm shattered our outdoor table because we left the umbrella up and the wind blew it over. The glass was a sort of safety glass, so it fell into a zillion pieces. My husband was out trying to sweep it into piles, when I suggested he get the shop vac.
Cue the nosy neighbors. They were very confused while watching hubby on his hands and knees, carefully vacuuming every inch of grass in a ten by ten area. Hubby is known as sort of a yard guy, the type that looooooves to mow and plan and care for the lawn. So, I'm sure the neighbors thought he'd developed some weird grass-growing regime that involved shop vac sucker hose stimulation.
Oh, Virginia! That is so funny! I can just hear your neighbors' conversation - Is he vacuuming each individual blade? Does that make them greener? Where's our shop vac?
DeleteToo bad about your table, though. I hope you'll be able to replace it soon!
LOL, Virginia! We had a friend at our last church who treated leaves as if they were trash. So she might do something like your neighbors suspected! :)
DeleteVirginia, that's so funny but so practical! Those bits of glass/grass together. SMART CHOICE ON THE VAC!!!!
DeleteI weep over your lilac bush. :-( I
ReplyDelete'm loving this glimpse into your garden. And yay -- square foot gardening I'm thinking! I'm a big fan. Haven't been able to plant any kind of veggies this year though -- or past years either for that matter -- because my landlord hasn't repaired my outdoor water faucet. This will be the fourth year!!!! Argh. There's no point in going through the trouble and expense of planting a garden when you don't have a water source. And my perennial garden has really suffered too. I've lost about half of what I planted due to the drought last summer. The weeds however are having a field day. So I weed for my gardening enjoyment. And yes, I actually love to weed. So satisfying.
I'm going to give your raspberry recipe a try. Sounds delicious and refreshing. We've pole vaulted into summer up here. Going to be a nasty 34 and humid. Of course it is also the first day I start packing up my library in no air conditioned school. Wish me luck!
I used to like weeding, too. There's something so satisfying about pulling them, stuffing them into a bucket, and ending up with a clean space ready for the plants you want.
DeleteNow I just watch the weeds grow while I work to meet my next deadline. :(
And yes, our lilac bush! It looks horrible, doesn't it? But I have plans to terrace that spot. There's a slope going down to a window (not a good thing in an area that is prone to cloud bursts!). So we'll need to put in some drainage along the house, terrace some flower beds, and install a path leading from the front of the house to our new steps.
I'm thinking of hiring someone to do it!
Stay cool in your library today!
Jan, your lilac bush empowered me!!!! :) So many little tasks, if God gives us enough years and manpower to do them! Go, you! And do lilacs like to grow by you? We have them here (Rochester is Lilac City/Flower City) but they're a little fussy. And some kinds are fussier than others. I love the idea of a corner terrace. I love LEVELS!!!!
DeleteThings are looking well in your part of the world, Jan. 108 today. NO outdoor projects except running to a/c.
ReplyDelete108°!!!!!!????!!!!!
ReplyDeleteBut at least it's a dry heat, right?
Yeah, like your oven is a dry heat :/
Keep cool, Tina!
I'm with Tina. Although I do need to plant my flowers in the pots on the front porch.
DeleteYou can make fun of me now. :) I know I'm not much of a gardener!
BTW, I LOVE your fire pit!
We love it too, Missy! Evenings are cool most of the summer, so camp fires abound - and yes, s'mores too :)
DeleteLOL on the dry heat! We don't have any humidity but 110F isn't decent, no matter where you live.
DeleteAnd I love the fire pit, too!! My husband made one last year and I was SO taken with it. I thought it might be a good idea... but when it was actually in the ground, I was completely charmed by the whole thing. Sitting around it, talking and sharing the evening with our kids. It was such a blessing to us.
One of the first things we did here on our farm was make a fire pit. Six young kids, we turned off the tv in June and worked on the farm, played sports and sat around the fire pit at night eating sandwiches or burgers or toasting marshmallows. Our new fire pit looks like Jan's and it's such a nice respite... Love it! Jan, it's gorgeous.
Delete