Welcome Spring! (yeah right!)

Puppies and Dogs - April 8th Snow fall!

Train Wreck About to Occur (someone stealing someone else's food)

My little Garden Zone.. Waiting Patiently

I'm still complaining over here...

We got 2 inches of snow last night.. It was a beautiful storm, I must say.. Big ol' fat flakes.. My husband was in Hermiston and had to drive over two passes with a trailer full of cattle... GADS.

But he got home safe and sound. Thank goodness for answered prayers.

A neighbor who has lived here all her life called... I thought she was calling to give sympathy to the poor Californians... and give a tease or two (we are the Californians, who have been here 9 years).. BUT she was complaining too! She called to see what was on our Christmas List, since Spring/Summer/Fall have decided to leave... We had a good laugh.. Unreal. Even the natives have had enough...

The sun is out now, and it's 26 degrees.. The 10 day forecast shows higher temps in our future.

Fingers crossed!

Like My Tomatoes???

They Are Getting Ripe!

Remember these babies from 2 weeks ago? Almost ready!!! Nothing like a garden tomato (in late October!) with balsamic vinegar and mozzarella cheese! Yummers!

Tomato Harvest - Eastern Oregon Style!

The Big Harvest.. Green Tomatoes..



Take a 2nd look! Notice anything 'funny'?

So, last Sunday, during 'break time' from SOF, the kids and I went out in the yard to clean up the garden and harvest as many tomatoes as we could.. Keep in mind, we've had about 5 frost days, so I could only get the ones that were not damaged.... This is so typical of Eastern Oregon! Just as soon as the tomatoes start to turn red, we get a frost... usually the first weekend of September... Our growing season is very short!

Oh.. notice anything 'funny' hanging over the window valences? Hmm??? That would be my sheets and pillow cases. No, not trying to conserve resources..or share my 'bedroom linens'. MY STINKING DRYER DIED! Why on earth it has to die during cold weather is beyond me...hello... How about summer, when it's warm and a nice breeze blows through? Eh? Well, that's not entirely true.. Since we live on a ranch, flies sit on the clothes and leave fly presents.. I actually tried doing the laundry line thing before, heard sunshine is a great whitener, and your clothes smell so much better when line dried... Murphy's Law again... The dryer is just over a year old... typical appliances of the 21st century! Or, is it 22nd?

So, it is now Friday... 6 days later... Dryer is still broken. I did have a service dude come out on Tuesday... Need a new heating element. I bought the dryer from Sears. A funky little store in Baker City.. Which is being sold - the store, that is. The Sears service dudes would not get here until today, even though I called on Monday...and, they can only be reached through a painfully horrid voice activated 1-800 number.. ACK! The Sears service dudes have to come from Walla Walla in Washington (3 hrs away!)... I live in Oregon. For crying out loud! Mr. Independent service guy has been here before... for other stuff... Parts are ordered.. most likely on the slow boat...and arriving Monday or Tuesday of next week, if I am lucky...

So, I have two lines strung across the living room, the woodstove is going, and little people laundry is drying... I'm just doing the kid's clothes for now. Did you know, that clothes that dry on a line are very wrinkly and stiff? Poor soccer shirts! I'm Holding Out. I am not into wrinkly or stiff clothes...... I'll bet that is how fabric softener got invented! For the clothesline people! Who knew?

The kids love the laundry line setup... They run through it... toss a ball over it... the joys of youth! They are so darn cute.. Wish I was getting a kick out of it as well.... It could always be worse.. The washer would be on the fritz as well, and I could be hand washing clothes, like a real woman of the wild west! ... Nah, I actually do have my limits! ... I'd be purchasing some new appliances and calling it good!

Food Art - Garden Style

Some goodies from my garden!

Happy Sunday! I woke this morning with some sort of crud.. Yuk! Finally feeling better. Jake had a bout of it as well. It's 5:00 pm. We are both still in our jammies... no need to change now!

I'm getting into my 'clean out the clutter' mind set. Gotta make room for all the new stuff, right? Spent 4 hours this morning purging junk in my bedroom closet.. Which is where all sorts of stuff lands (outgrown kid clothes, holiday decor that never makes it back upstairs, presents I forgot about). I have lots of big heavy duty trash bags full of crud in my SUV right now! Yeah! Books, magazines, my old clothes, kids old clothes. The loose Easter, Christmas and fall decor is back upstairs. I found a baseball I 'forgot' to give Jake for one of his birthdays! Hmm, wasn't it two years ago we gave him baseball stuff? Or was it three? I even found my 'old' jewelry! We are still unpacking stuff from our move here 8 years ago. If I don't miss it, I don't need it, right?

Can't wait to tackle Jake's room next! HA! I made an attempt, but he was right there supervising... dang. School starts Tuesday. I'll make my move then.

So, just sending a garden smiley face! Hope everyone had a wonderful Sunday!

Intensive Gardening - Andi Style

The 'Old" Garden Site


Southern Side of the House
and Location of my Intensive Garden
(between the junniper bushes)


Zucchini Flower and Hidden Zukes!


Intensive Gardening:
Cabbage, Tomato, Zucchini & Sage

First Ripe Cherry Tomatoes!
The first of about 1 million...

About six years ago I wanted to have a garden with enough production to take extra veggies to our local Farmers' Market. Dick wanted the garden out in the field behind the backyard... I wanted the site closer to me, in the backyard, and where I could gaze at it lovingly from my kitchen window... and I wanted to kill 2 birds with one stone - reduce the size of the mowing area and have the luxury of walking out barefoot to the garden without stepping into surprises. Since Dick was the man behind the ground breaking machines, his location won. We bought a greenhouse kit, raised beds were made and into production I went.

We put a hot wire around the garden area. Yet, the cattle and sheep still kept sneaking in and eating stuff. I would find footprints in the raised beds (huge), tomato cages and pea fences scattered and twisted out the field, and drip hoses drug off from their staked positions. My garden became 'mobile'. Not only that, when the adjacent field was being flood irrigated, so was my garden area. I had to wear rubber boots - sometimes losing one from the suction caused by the soaked ground. The greenhouse was flooded, and my beautiful basil, eggplant and tomato plants looked horrid. And, to make matters worse, the site did not want to give up it's identity as pasture. After three years, I abandoned ship.

About the time the greenhouse was being built I happened to rescue two cool glass doors from the dump (Yep, me. The gal who complains about trash day and all the nasty germs!). Not the County dump. The Haines dump, which is only open on Saturdays from 7am until noon, and is 'so much nicer' than that big City dump. Anyway, I had cold frames made for the doors, and put the cold frames on the south side of the house. Their purpose was for the more delicate goodies: lettuce, basil, and a few herbs.

Well, this year I decided I wanted a garden again. I missed my tomatoes and zucchini and other favorite garden friends! But, I didn't want the hassle of the old site. Too much work. My greenhouse has been overrun with cattle and the pasture has reclaimed it's site. I planted my garden friends all together in and around the cold frames. I decided to experiment with 'intensive gardening'. Kind of similar to intensive grazing, where you have a large number of animals in a small area for a short period of time, and rotate them. The difference here is, the plants don't get rotated per se, but I will rest the ground come late September.

I had to retire 2 zucchini plants. I should have pulled out some cherry tomato plants as well, but can't bring myself to do it. Our first frost is about September 3rd, right when the tomatoes start ripening up, and each one is precious.. Looks like I'll be doing some canning if these babies stay on!

The zucchini and cucumbers have been very successful, and I now have a handful of my first ripe tomatoes! I also have green onions. Yum! This summer's garden was fun. The way it should be. Oh! I have a zucchini recipe to share, too! I'll put that on the next post.