Raised Bed boxes

My mom and dad came over today and helped me to buld two more raosed bed boxes for my garden. I already had 2 8x8 boxes and 1 2x6 and 1 8x4. I really wanted to have 2 smaller ones to do some Square Foot Gardening. We built 2 4x4 boxes.

I really need to ge a hold of someone who can deliver about a dump truck full of dirt. I need to add the dirt to my boxes and I really need to level the land off in and around my boxes.

I was also able to straighten out my fencing and get a really good idea of how much more I need to buy. I am also going to look online to see about building a garden gate.

Tomorrow I want to go out and take a picture of the garden before I start to do all of the work and then every time I finish a task - take another picture. Kind of documenting the progress of my garden.

Jury Duty Over

Jury Duty is officially over. The case I was closed, we deliberated, and now it is over. It was actually aggravating for me to sit on this case. Suffice it to say that it was about a minor car accident and it was completely frivolous.

I know all about Tort Reform and I can't say that I agree with that scenario. I don't think that a one size fits all approach is the way to go. That being said, there has to be some way to discourage the filing of frivolous lawsuits. I feel that the last five days were a waste of  time and taxpayers' money, not to mention the money that the defendant in this case had to lay out.

A good idea, though probably not feasible, if a case is decided in favor of the defendant and it is determined to be a frivolous case then the plaintiff should have to reimburse the defendant for court costs. 

I don't know that there is any solution to this problem. I can just say that I am glad this is over!

Jury Duty

I reported for jury duty at  8:00 this morning. I ha stopped off at Dunkin' Donuts to get a dunkaccino(my guilty pleasure) and a cinnamon raisin bagel for lunch. I was early and walked across the parking lot and up the stairs to the scanner and metal detector.

"You have scissors in your bag?"

Now this bag I packed for Jury Duty would have put Mary Poppins to shame.

"Um, probably"

"You have knitting needles in the bag?"

I was excited because I knew the answer to that question.

"YES!" (OK maybe a bit too much exuberance)

"You can't come in here with knitting needles or scissors."

Did I mention that the knitting needles were plastic and the scissors were safety scissors?

"I can't?"

"You can't what?"

I was getting confused at this point.

"I can't come in with safety scissors or plastic knitting needles...?"

So I slowly turned, walked back down the steps, across the parking lot, opened my car and deposited my weaponish safety scissors and plastic knitting needles. Then back across the parking lot, up the stairs, and through the scanner and metal detector(again).

The guard said to me, "If you had wooden knitting needles that would have been ok."

"Because they are...what...less pointy?" I say.

"No because they are wooden."

I love Jury Duty.  'Nuff said.

"Homegrown Herbs" A Book Review

I have been researching herbal gardens. I finally found a great book, "Homegrown Herbs: A Complete Guide to Growing, Using, and enjoying More than 100 Herbs" by Tammi Hartung. 

This book was exactly what I was looking for. It covered everything from designing the herbal garden to soil preparation, propagation methods for different herbs, pest and disease control to harvesting herbs, drying them, making tinctures, cooking...so many topics.

The book is very well written. It is very concise and to the point. Finding the  information you are looking for is very easy. I especially love the charts that are provided - they make finding information about specific herbs sooo easy.

Just reading my gardening books is getting me so excited for gardening time to begin!!!

Book Review: "The Commonsense Kitchen"

Last week I got a really great book through my book club. "The Commonsense Kitchen" by Tom Hudgens. 

It is a pretty big book. 607 pages. 607 pages filled with recipes and "lessons" for a "hand-crafted" life.

Tom Hudgens was Head Chef at Deep Springs College. The College was founded in 1917 and is situated on a working ranch in California. It is a two year college and only 26 men attend. They accept about 13 students a year. You can read more about the College and its programs in the book.

The book starts off covering "Kitchen Basics" - what tools, spices etc. you should have on hand in your kitchen. Specific kitchen terms are also covered.  Every kind of comfort food and just , well, commonsense recipe is given.  

Canning, bread making, gooey desserts, all kinds of meats, poultry and fish dishes, cakes , pies, tarts, vegetables, breakfast, lunch and dinner are all covered . Sample menus are shared, as well as recipes for taking care of all sorts of stains!

I have been having some difficulty with my bread making and so the first section I turned to was "Bread Making". The recipe and instructions seem to be very comprehensive. A time line is even shown (I could really use that). I will be trying the bread recipe tomorrow and hopefully will have a keeper. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime...live, laugh and love...

Baking All Day for Relaxation

I really needed to relax my mind today. The best way for me to do that - get into the kitchen and start cooking!

I started out trying to make a plain white bread. It looked good  - but it never did rise. Now if anyone ever needed a weapon, something that one could throw at another's head and do some serious damage - well then these two "loaves" would it the bill! I am going to give it another try tomorrow. Then I figure three strikes and I'm out (at least for a week).

I also made mini donuts. I bought a small pan an inside was a recipe to bake donuts. They are very tasty. I think that the ground cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg seal the deal on the tastiness. The donuts are also topped with a confectioners sugar icing - I pop a little orange extract into it to give it a punch.

Let's see - in the midst of this I made spaghetti sauce and then some meatballs to pop into the sauce.

Followed by a really good yellow cake. It was the Everyday Cake recipe from Martha Stewart's original cookbook.  I also made the icing - but it was just OK - it called for a teaspoon of vanilla which kind of left it to alcohol-y (new word) tasting to suit me.

It felt really good to get all of the cooking done. It even felt good to be at the sink and wash all of the dishes. I just wish that the bread had turned out.....

Spring Clean for the Craft Room

I finally did it today - spring cleaning for the craft room. 

I moved some things around and went thtrough many of my bins. I discovered things I didn't even know that I had. I found a bunch of old felted sweater cuffs that I think I am going to work on tomorrow. They will make some really great insulated cup holders. When I go to get my coffee I won't need to take the cardboard cup holders. Small steps....

I was also able to work on a small sunflower painting today. I really got the look that I wanted with it. I think I may transfer the image to some ACEO cards.

The weather was also crazy today. I woke up and looked out the back door and saw...snow. It snowed a bit, rained a bit, sleeted and hailed a bit and then BOOM! Thunder and lightning!! Mother Nature was trying to get in every type of weather today. It is still suppose to rain tomorrow but that is ok by me...more time to spend in the craft room...

"Mother" was finished being fed today and I tried my hand at a loaf of sourdough bread. The top was crusty but separated from the bottom and it wasn't done all the way through. I am going to keep feeding "Mother" this week and give it another go. Tomorrow I am going to tr to make a plain yeast bread.

Remember live, laugh and love...