24 Olive Street

salsa

Note: Be sure to check out my giveway post here to see if you were the winner!

A few years ago I started canning for the first time. And I have to say I'm hooked! Now don't get me wrong, I don't can a ton of things. I'm still learning and trying to expand my garden every year.

And this year, quite honestly, my garden was pretty lame. Going to Disneyland in June kind of set me up for failure when it came to my garden (and really my whole yard) because I didn't get things planted in time. I only planted some tomato plants and cabbage. And out of 5 cabbage plants I planted only one survived thanks to some pesky pests.

I did plant some pumpkin plants but only one pumpkin is growing :( So next year I will probably have to try and pollinate them myself since the bees didn't do their job this year. I noticed within the last week that I might have more pumpkins starting to grow but they won't have enough growing time between now and Halloween. Although, I might have some green pumpkins for my fall table :)

It's all a learning process for sure. But my little one loves helping me in the garden which makes it so much more fun!

Every year the one thing I always plant is tomatoes. They're easy to grow and you can do so much with them. Although this year mine didn't fare so well and I'm wondering if switching planting beds was what made the difference.

I don't usually make spaghetti sauce since it takes a ton of tomatoes for even one quart sized jar of sauce. And quite honestly, the time it takes just isn't worth it to me. But the one thing I love to make is salsa. It's pretty easy to make and my whole family loves it. Seriously, when I start making it we go through several jars! And my kids love to take it in their lunches. So I like to can a lot of it to last us til the next year's salsa making.

I love to use this salsa mix. You can find it at just about any store that sells canning supplies. When I first started making salsa I found tons of recipes online but I worried about getting the wrong balance of spices. But this one is perfect. If you're not a canner you can still make it and either freeze it or just eat a lot of salsa! hehe It makes six pint sized jars out of about 6lbs of tomatoes.

After I've cooked the salsa I like to use my immersion blender just before adding to the jars. We like our salsa a bit more on the "saucy" side & less chunky.

Btw, these immersion blenders are great for soups, too!

Then just process according to the package directions!

I also got to finally use my blue canning jars. I've been hoarding these cause they're so cute! You can barely tell they're blue but I like how it makes the salsa look like a deep red color.

You can see the difference in the regular jar vs the blue one. Well, I have another batch of salsa to make! Cause those 11 jars that we have left will not last us til next year!

sunflowers

Oh how I love them. The insects in my garden seem to love them, too :)

One of my favorite flowers of summer and fall.

Even the closed ones are pretty.

When we got back from Portland the first sunflower in my garden had started to bloom. And they are massive. Like, 12 inches across and over 8ft tall!!

You can see how tall they are by seeing how they tower over my 6ft fence.

Next year I need to plant smaller sunflowers in with these mammoth sunflowers...cause most of these are just too big to be cut flowers!!

garden progress

So here's the progress in this year's garden...the 2nd year I've had a garden in this yard. The first year I started with 2 raised beds & this year we have 4. As I said before, my goal is to add 1-2 raised beds/planting areas every year. This year we added a new smaller bed for my tomatoes & a larger one (I believe it's 8'x4') for my corn. We used more sturdy lumber (but still cedar) since this bed is so much bigger.

I have a new compost bin...which I love...but I think I need to move it because it's getting afternoon shade & I don't think it's getting hot enough to break things down in there.

I also have 2 blueberry bushes...one is almost dead but is trying to make a comeback. I think I'm going to plant one more so that we'll have at least 2 good blueberry bushes for next year (you don't really get any fruit the first year). I just discovered that my little one looooves blueberries...like in a eat.the.entire.container loves them!

And in between the raised beds I also have pumpkins & watermelon...although the watermelon isn't looking too good. It's my fault, I waited too long to plant it & it dried out a little in it's container. So we'll see if anything grows or not...I'm keeping my fingers crossed :)

baby green beans

Finally starting to see some tomatoes.

With all the rain we had they just didn't grow a whole lot. The rain is good but with no sun they still can't grow much. Once the rain moved out all of my plants just took off.

beautiful corn :)

I started to worry when it wasn't coming up when it should have...thought maybe the birds had a meal. But then they started sprouting. All but 2 came up.

Can't wait to have fresh - non-GMO - corn!

Btw, all of the seeds & plants in my garden are non-GMO and most are organic. I normally buy my plants from a local nursery, my seeds (mostly) from Seeds of Change (online or at Lowes). I also sometimes buy plants at Lowes and the non-organic plants they sell are also non-GMO (Bonnie Plants).

And on the side of my garden my older daughter has her own little flower garden.

She gets to pick the flowers she wants & I help her plant them. Our new garden tradition we started last year :)

Petunias always do so well over there.

And over in the corner I planted a bunch of sunflower seeds. I thought they'd look really cute as a backdrop for my garden...and they'll hide that ugly green thing (which is for a sump pump).

I can't wait til they bloom!!

beautiful tuesday

Spring is finally here...weather wise. It's absolutely beautiful out. Blue skies. Cool breezes. The sounds of lawn mowers, people working outside & kids playing in the streets.

I will be bringing several of these potted flowers to the Strawberry Festival next month :)

Addie & I hung out in the yard yesterday, I planted some flowers, she walked around transferring mulch & dirt back & forth between buckets & doused herself with water...water that was in a bucket for the dogs that she decided to add mulch to & then tipped all over herself :)

Gotta love toddlers!! hehe

We played, we bbq'd some hot dogs, we ate lunch on the porch while jealous doggies looked on.

It's proper hot dog eating etiquette to remove the hot dog from the bun & eat the parts separately :)

Apparently we needed some flowers on our table :)

Oh, and one more thing before I end this...I found these cute mugs in the Target dollar spot the other day...

Love that Target has a dollar section! I'm sure the mustaches will eventually wear off, but for a buck who cares??!!

Happy Wednesday friends!

weekend

That about sums up our Saturday. Soccer, working & playing in the yard.

I picked up some more evergreens at Costco to plant along the back fence...partially to block the annoying dog that's indirectly behind us. One day there will also be a shed back there.

These are seriously a great deal at Costco. They're 5 or 6 ft tall and 17.99 each. When you need a ton you have to go cheap! We have 11 along the back fence and next year we'll fill in between them for a total of 20. In a few years we'll have a nice green 'fence' to look at :)

I also started working on getting my planting beds ready for my veggies. I'm so glad I didn't plant them...on Sunday we got this:

Hail/ice/whatever you want to call it. Mixture of rain & ice. It's the weirdest thing, we get it every spring. And the next morning my truck was covered in ice & I had to pull out the scraper!

I need to keep patient for just a couple more weeks :) For now, the few plants I've been growing & the ones I picked up this weekend are nestled snuggly in my little mini greenhouse.

This was my garden last year...

2 planting beds that were mostly filled with tomatoes & a couple pepper plants. I also had this herb garden that is up on my deck. I find it's easier to have the herbs up on my deck. That way I can just step out when I'm cooking & cut what I need.

This year I plan to add another planting bed like the 2 I already have and then 1 long one along the side fence for corn.

I need to take more pics this year so you can get an idea. I'm basically trying to use the part of the yard that is the least utilized but gets great sunlight. I'm also trying to leave the better part of the yard open so the kids can run & play without worrying about running into the garden.

In hindsight I kind of wished I would have brought our fence up a little further to the front of the house so I'd have more of a side yard for the garden. Maybe one day we'll have them move the fence up.

For now, it's baby steps when it comes to my garden :)

determined

 

We have one very determined hamster. The other day we caught her trying to take one of her sticks up into her tubes...very unsuccessfully I might add. But it was cute to watch!

I'm also going to state for the record that I think every child should own some type of pet at some point in their childhood. Yes, the parent does most of the taking care of the animal. But there's just something about calling a pet your own...and caring for it, feeding it, buying cute 'toys' for it :)

Of course, in my house I've told my son no when it comes to reptiles or other animals I deem gross or icky...snakes, spiders, lizards (hey, we had 3 lizards get into our house in GA and they ran all around outside, so it was like they were our pets anyway! lol) I did tell him he could have a hermit crab but he ultimately chose the hamster. And, of course, my daughter still has Bugsy the guinea pig.

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It's grateful, not 'greatful'

'nuff said :)

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My tests went well yesterday. No blockages. Yippee!! I have active Crohn's in my small bowel so I'll stay on my same meds for now. He did take a few biopsies so if that turns up anything that might change. I'm happy about that but at the same point I still feel like crap. So where do you go from here??! I'm hoping in maybe another couple weeks my meds will star helping.

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This week the heater in my truck broke. And yesterday, as I was getting ready to head to the hospital, the dryer broke...with my pants in it that I wanted to wear. No, they weren't dry in time. Bummer.

We pretty much run our appliances & every other big ticket item in our home into the ground. My truck is almost 12 yrs old...so I guess it's allowed to break now and again.

My dryer is I think about 11 yrs old. I think I bought it when my oldest daughter was a baby. And other than a belt breaking one time we've never had a problem.

My husband seems to think he can fix it (fingers crossed) so he's going to stay home tomorrow & work on it. A new washer & dryer just isn't in the budget right now...esp since we have a lot of medical bills coming!

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We've had many sunny days lately. The temps have been above freezing. It's so giving me spring fever...not to mention all of the gardening ideas I've been pinning on pinterest :)

How cute is this watering can fountain?? And I already have the bucket!

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I really want to have an outdoor bbq pit. I don't think it's in the budget for this year...but soon :)

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Love the idea of having a mailbox in the backyard to hold all of my often used garden tools. And you could decorate it up all cute :) I'll be on the hunt for one of these while out hitting the garage sales for sure!

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I love this homemade garden hose holder

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I'm working on making a garden journal so I can plan plan plan for this year's garden. I mentioned last year that my goal is to add a little bit each year...don't want to bite off more than I can chew so-to-speak!

Not to mention, with a new yard (and new climate) you never know what's going to grow well and what's not, and in what part of the yard.

I discovered that my tomatoes didn't grow well and I need to add some lime to the soil this year...not to mention get them in the ground much sooner than last year. But they did like the spot I chose so I'll keep them where they're at.

I'm also going to start my seedlings in the next week or 2. Just trying to figure out where in the world I'm going to put them til it's time to transplant them outside. Cause I have a toddler running around who gets into everything!

I have several boards on Pinterest for gardening...a few personal and a few that are public boards. You can check out my Pinterest boards here :)

friday

I love short weeks! Especially when you're getting used to a new routine.

The kids went back to school this week. It was pretty easy slipping back into the routine. Addie has adjusted well to getting up earlier...and is compensating with a longer morning nap. yey!! Especially considering she pretty much only takes one good nap a day.

Yes, 1 yr old and only 1 good nap a day.

{sigh}

So I take full advantage of that!

My son had a great first day. My daughter...not so much. It seems there's a kid in her class who was less than nice to her. I will save the words I would really like to use and let's just say this boy is a brat and leave it at that...shall we??

{double sigh}

But it's getting better and the teacher it seems has already recognized it...which in my book is half the battle already won.

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Speaking of the first day of school, it was also my birthday :) These pretty flowers came for me...

Aren't they gorgeous??!! Oh man, I could smell them even before the guy came up on my porch! And that sunflower is huge!!

I {heart} sunflowers

And my new love from Ephiphanie (from my hubby)...

{swoon}

Seriously, I haven't had something this nice since before I had kids!!

I've been drooling over these for a loooong time. The mustard colored one is my 2nd fave. I can fit my camera, lens, Fuji instax, video camera & wallet in there with a bit of room to spare!

Although, I will tell you, I don't think the colors on the website look the same in person. At least not with this one. Online it looks more blue but in person it's more green. Just an FYI.

But it doesn't matter to me, I still love it :)

So I guess this will carry me through the next 40 yrs. Right honey??!

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Moving on...

I hit up an estate sale out in Deer Park this morning. I was a little hesitant driving out there because the ad on Craigslist didn't look super promising.

I was wrong. Love when I'm wrong about that!

When the van is full...it's a good day junkin'!!

Some cute furniture pieces. About 10 gorgeous big frames (one I'm definitely keeping for myself...stay tuned on that one!)

That little nightstand reminds me of the dresser redo I did for my daughter's room a while back...

Now to find room in my garage...hopefully I can manage to do that before the hubby gets home ;)

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I managed to sneek in a tiny bit of crafty time to whip up these cute little tags...

I love cute packaging :) These will go on some goodies I'm taking up to my space at This Old House.

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My garden is slowly but surely coming along. I planted it about a month late. I think I might have a batch of Romas by this weekend. That means some canning!

I have quickly discovered that my twine 'trellises' do NOT work with these Roma tomatoes. These things are growing EVERYwhere. It's crazy! I definitely need to use something better next year...

But they're working perfectly for the 'regular' tomatoes...can't remember what I planted...

Olivia's flowers are loving where we planted them...

baby green pepper :)

I'm hoping to head up to Green Bluff this weekend & maybe get some peaches :)

TGIF!!!

2012 garden...baby steps

When we moved here last year I didn't have a chance to start a garden. Having a baby a month after moving will kind of put you behind on things! I have lots of plans on what I want to do with our yard but there just isn't enough time or money to do everything all at once so I have realized that I'll have to do it in baby steps.

One day I envision several raised beds filled with veggies & herbs with tall, pretty sunflower plants around the edge. And maybe some rows of corn. And I've always said I wanted to grow some pumpkins.

But for now I have just 2 raised beds of tomatoes and a pepper plant. A couple of them didn't make it because I started my garden about a month later than I should have. 2 of them are struggling to revive themselves so it still remains to be seen if I'll get any tomatoes off of them or not. Off to the other side I have a couple blueberry plants.

I started my garden just to the left of where the builder did the landscaping. Eventually I envision that entire area filled with raised beds with mulch in between. I chose this part of the yard because it's off to the side, in the corner. It gets great sunlight and isn't in the way of the rest of the yard, i.e. playing children.

I had the hubby make these raised beds out of cedar fencing. They're lightweight so if I decide to move them they'll be easy to move. But I wanted cedar to help prevent rotting since I plan on using these year after year. Since I picked such lightweight pieces they were very inexpensive...only a couple bucks for an 8ft piece.

To support the tomato plants we screwed in pieces of wood with string. This isn't something I plan on doing every year, I really want to do some version of this in the future...

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But again...time and money. So for now it's wooden stakes & some string :)

While we were in Seattle a few tomatoes popped up on my plants.

My daughter also has her own little flower garden made with smaller cedar fencing planks...

I wasn't sure where I wanted to put my herb garden (and I didn't get my seeds planted early so I didn't have that many anyway) so I decided to put them up on my deck. That way they'd be easy to get to when I'm cooking.

Sadly, my herb garden didn't make it past July...

This is what happens when you lock one of my dogs on the back porch (because she was wet from a bath) & head out for the day. She's a bit neurotic & cannot stand it if she is locked somewhere where she can't protect her house. She is extremely protective...probably the shepherd in her. The newly replaced screen door suffered her wrath as well.

Someone (not me) thought it would 'be ok' even though someone (me) said 'you know how she is'

I hate being right sometimes. {sigh}

What's funny (or not) is that we had just replaced that screen the week before (actually it might not have even been a week) from when the other dog accidentally ran into it & busted it open.

I think I'm going to start some herbs from seed & probably end up growing them inside until I can start a new herb garden next year.

So that's this year's garden. I can't wait to see the progress year after year until it turns into my 'dream' yard :)