Invisible Zucchini Tuna Salad

If you garden--or if someone who loves you, likes you, or barely knows you gardens--then you probably have one of these sitting on your counter right about now. Or four of them. The infamous gargantuan zucchini that has grown past its prime.

Short Absence, Big Changes

Finally some yellow! The first of our dozens of sunflowers
have bloomed. I can't figure out the variety of this one!

Still waiting on these sunflowers to bloom,
but in my 4 day absence, they grew to be taller than me.
We planted 4 different varieties, and several came up as volunteers...
we're itching to see what all blooms.

Our First Garlic

Refrigerator Tea

During the summer, my kids crave sweet drinks.
At a certain point, after pushing ice water all day, I give in to
their urgent pleas--but not with kool-aid!

This Moment

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

(inspired by Soulemama)

Controlling Mites in Your Worm Bin

These simple tips will work in any indoor worm bin--homemade or commercial. While encouraging your worms to reproduce, flourish, and continuously devour the food scraps you put in the bin, you also want to keep other critters at bay.

Stop to Smell Mom's Flowers

What are flowers good for?

Ever since I caught the gardening bug, it seems I've focused heavily only on the veggies. When you are working with a small yard, flowers can sometimes be dismissed as a space-devouring luxury. Not to mention, I tend to be practical to a fault, and for the longest time (well, my whole life, really), I have thought flowers were kind of a waste. Pretty, yes. But what do they do?

Plus, my mom grows flowers. That's her thing. That last little echo of daughter rebellion states that "I do not want to become my mother."

Purslane Tacos

It's everywhere right now; hiding in the herb garden, crouching beneath the peppers, tiptoeing around the marigolds and tomatoes. A pretty little plant that I always disregarded as a never-ending weed, purslane is really quite a wonder.

Jam Without Pectin

*Scroll to end of post for a jam recipe that doesn't use pectin!*

Let's just get this out of the way: I have a real thing for my mulberries.

We have spent a good part of the last week up and down and around the mulberry tree, collecting close to 4 pounds of berries. This tree just keeps giving us fistfuls of berries every day. The birds are kindly

Today In the Garden- Father's Day

Things are definitely greening up out in our 'nook and cranny' urban garden, and we have several projects that are still in the works. I wanted to share a photo tour of what all we have going on at the moment. Camera in hand, I walked my usual path through the side and back yards earlier today. Slowly working my way through and looking at all the different parts of the garden is something I do several times a day if I can, not only to check up on how everything is doing, but to gain an often much-needed sense of peace, calm, and security.