Who goes out on Halloween?

Two rolls of duct tape and some caution tape and we're off to Creepfest.

I was not going to squeeze back into my duct tape dress for an outside spooky garden party. So I put on my favorite Pocket Lady costume loaded with pockets full of toys for spooky girls and boys.

This boy's blade was extremely heavy...

This boy made me smile...

These were spooky...

These were bad to the bones...

Frida in the forest was fantastic...

This fairy in the garden was magical...

I just love this growling little literary leopard...

And finally this commando was really the most scary boy of all...

Queens of the Summer Garden

Early spring, as I tuck 15 different tiny seeds into little pots, I start dreaming of the ripe, sweet goodness of these Queens of the Summer Garden!

This summer heat, regular pruning, and water has produced some of the best ever. Here's some of my favorites.

Tomato Cour di Bue

a favorite Italian Heirloom, and now my favorite for heart shaped romantic slices

Seed from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Beaverlodge Plum

Seed from Territorial Seed Company

Northern Delight
seed from Territorial Seed Company

Sun Gold Hybrid

absolute sweet gems!

Seed from Territorial Seed Company

Striped Roman

a long funny fruit with a silly nose at each end

Seed from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Black Cherry

sweet and wonderful color

Seed from Abundant Life Seeds

Green Zebra

tart and zesty

Seed from Renee's Garden

Apron Adventures - Plum Galette

fresh from the orchard and ready for a delicious Plum Galette

pate brisee

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
8 ounces chilled unsalted butter (2 sticks; frozen then cut into cubes)
1/2 cup water

In the bowl of processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse flour and salt.

Add the butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal; about 15 seconds.

With machine running add water in a slow steady stream; process until dough just holds together.

Turn out onto lightly floured surface; roll in rectangle shape 1/8 inch thick.


Fold and transfer to parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Plum Galette filling

1/2 cup nuts

2-3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

Chop in bowl of processor until nuts fine bits.

Pour over dough leaving a 1 inch edge.

Slice plums and arrange over nut mixture.

Fold over edges and lightly brush dough with egg wash (1 egg, lightly beaten).

Chill 30 minutes in refrigerator.

Bake 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 400 degrees; bake 30 minutes more or when plums are soft.

Cool to room temperature.

Heat plum, red-currant, apricot, or grape jam until melted and drizzle over the plum slices.

ENJOY!

Eureka Botanicals Lavender

A couple weekends ago, we visited our family farm: Eureka Farm. We were fortunate enough to catch the fragrant purple field just before harvest.

Avril enjoyed the hummingbird sized bees and grasshoppers.

If you ever need lavender oil, feel free to contact my folks at Eureka Botanicals.

Stop and smell the roses...

I have a new tradition. Every Monday I take a small bouquet from my gardens with me to work. I find I miss the gardens. This is the first summer in 8 years that I've had to leave them everyday for an office! I just have to take a bit of them with me.

The arrangement from last week included some of my favorite red roses, lady's mantel, willow branches and euphorbia sprigs.

Co-workers have asked... "Is it your birthday?" "Who are the flowers from?" "What's the occasion?"

A bit of home brings peace and fragrance to a tiny, modern, high rise office space. There is nothing like pulling your eyes and focus away from the computer screen to stop and smell the roses.

Tiki Ikebana

I recently did some fun floral arrangements for a girlfriend's fabulous Tiki party. They built a lovely retro outbuilding with kitchen and bar decorated with retro Hawaiian kitsch.

I enjoyed the challenge of taking flowers out of my Pacific Northwest garden to create some tropical floral arrangements.

The Ikebana arrangement above has large purple clematis blooms representing earth, euryngium sea holly representing man, and the delphinium spike representing sky. The accents are boxwood hedge stems, spanish lavendar, grass and lady's mantel leaves.

Peonies, giant hosta leaves, and a sprig of grass make a simple hula girl bouquet.

Me and three of my hula girlfriends.

Favorite Flowers of June

Today was a day in the gardens. Our giant Paul's Himalayan Mist rose is in full bloom over the garden fence. The fragrance of this rose is truely intoxicating. The wash of light pink blossoms with large clematis flower laden vines makes a stunning backdrop to our garden room.

One of the last drooping peonies.

Betty Boop rose always brings a smile to my face, as her colors start vibrant then fade to a muted pink and white.

I love to watch as this Impressionist Rose turns more golden as the summer days lengthen.

One of my favorite and most hardy roses, Hot Cocoa is just starting to open it's dark burgundy blossoms.

I adore cabbages, how they reach outward with such force, then curl tightly inside themselves.

These Euringeum Sea Holly blossoms are a stunning spiky mass.

T-pees of purple pea blossoms will soon turn into purple pod peas. Can't wait for this yummy snack!

I just love the spiked texture of these golden clematis seed pods.

Even the spinach is blooming. So, I harvested a bushel basket of spinach leaves and feed the stems to the chickens. Time to make a pan of spanekopeta greek spinach pie for dinner!

our garden sink

Mimicharmante inspired me to write about my garden sink.

Thanks to her for this lovely photograph of our new addition to our garden room.

For a couple years now, I have dreamed of a sink in the garden. Our garden is a room, an extension of the house. The gate opens in March and we can't wait for the first tasty little snacks. We spend hours out there, puttering, planting, and snacking.

We needed a place to wash earth off freshly harvested veggies.

A place to wash little helper hands.

A place to wash off handfuls of radishes and carrots to snack on.

I was really hoping one day to find an old concrete sink with metal stand. But they are unbelievably heavy and harder to find. Last summer my search began. I found a couple concrete contenders, but nothing compared to this lovely 1940's enamel sink I found a few months ago on Craig's list.

All it took was a fresh white wash of paint.

And a trip to the hardware store. Then a helpful husband to help with plumbing a french drain.

Moss Mobile

I stopped to get gas the other day and couldn't resist taking a picture of this rig!

The owner proudly told me that she works with kids and they just love Moss Mobile of course. The kids are also excited to see what else is growing besides succulents... as she pointed to a small mustard weed plant.

This proves succulents really can grow just about anywhere!

Not sure I'll be planting up the grill of my minivan with succulents anytime soon. I think I'll stick to keeping them in my strawberry pots ;-) But it certainly brought a smile to my face.