Herbs for the Holiday

Did you forget to plant your herbs for your holiday dishes? Me too! But no fear, Woodman's has a poultry pack for $1.99 and parsley for $.99. So, for under $3 and some old spice bottles, you can have this display:

I think that my table is going green this year. Lining these up down the middle will be perfect!!! Way cheaper than a centerpiece from the florist:-)

How do you preserve the summer? I wrote earlier this week that I organized my Canning Cabinet. Organization is essential for canning with ease. I am NOT a canning expert but, I have had some success using the instructions from this little number:

Following this manual, I can break it down to some steps.

First, boil your jars and rings:

Score your tomatoes with an "X" on the bottom:

Here is where the pictures end but,

Next you boil your tomatoes for 30 seconds and then shock them in ice water. This will make the tomatoes easy to peel and seed.

Quarter your tomatoes and place them at the bottom of a hot pan and crush them with a wooden spoon.

Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Ladel into warm jars with a 1/2-inch headspace.

Secure the lids with the rings tightly and place in the canner.

Bring your canner to a rapid boil. Once a rapid boil is achieved, start the processing time of 45 minutes.

Remove jars from canner to a clean towel and allow to cool over night.

In the morning, check that seal by lightly pressing on the lid. If it doesn't make a popping sound, you know you did it right. If you didn't, refrigorate and use within a week or remove another 1/2-inch and freeze for up to a year.

Canning Cabinet

This week, I tackled organizing my canning cabinet. Here is what it look like before with all the dirty glasses and all disorganized:

And here is what it looks like now all shiny and labeled:

Now, I am ready to keep going and can up the rest of summer:-)

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Processing Tomatoes

I wonder how many of these....

...will come out of my 55 tomato harvest?? Today, we will see:-)

The Frost is Coming...

...so, I had to pull my tomato crop! 55 tomatoes!! They aren't ready yet but hopefully, they will ripen on the counter so, I will be able to can them this week:-)

Saving Roses During a Remodel

As part of the remodel, I had to dig up two of my gardens. I experienced physical pain ripping my babies from the earth. I wanted to keep everything but the repairs are going to take me well into October. They will not have a chance to reestablish before the ground freezes. So, I have to stash some in my veggie garden over the winter. Here is how I did it:

1. Dig a hole:

2. Fertilize the hole:

3. Fill the hole with water:

4. Put the rose in the hold and pack with dirt:

5. Water well and keep watering well for the first two weeks. This will help everyone settle in.

Wish me luck:-)

Grandma's Rose

Growing up, we lived in m grandma's house. She planted the roses at her house. My brother bought the house. I told my SiL, if you ever want to get rid of those roses, I want them. She gave them to me. I planted them at my house and this year, they came back in full bloom!!!!

Playing along with Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

Prolific Grape Vines

Ok...I tried to kill the old grape vines however, it just won't go swiftly into the night. So, I decided to go with it and root it and here is what happened after only 2 days!!!

Maybe these will take off better than my new ones:-)

Thank You Flowers

Look at what my Daisy parents gave me last month:


I am so blessed to have such great people to work with for the good of the girls:-)


Playing along with Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

Irrigation System

This week, I finished up my irrigation system for my veggie garden.

Just in time because it is looking pretty sorry:-(

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Lilacs Are My Favorite

I even had them in my wedding bouquet! Happy Anniversary Honey! Eight great years and counting:-)

Playing along with Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

Getting the Yard Ready

I hope everyone had a GREAT Memorial Day Weekend! We did! Other than watching my youngest in her first parade and a little thing called my birthday, we did A LOT of yardwork. This work included getting our yard ready for summer. The triumphant return of our pool!!!

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

New Grape Vines

I can't wait for this to cover my pergola this summer:-)

Happy Daffodils

Here's what's blooming in my garden today:-)

Black Gold

This is why I missed Tackled It Tuesday. My husband and I were working hard on filling my new garden with beautiful black soil for planting next month:-)

Playing along with Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

Indoor Garden

I am getting all my spring plants ready to go back outside:

Now, it just has to warm up!!!

More Signs of Spring!

Keep them coming!!!

Playing along with Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

Hope Springs Eternal

In direction contrast to yesterday's post:


I celebrate my first signs of spring peaking out:-)

Have You Started Sowing?

With all my baking these last couple months, I haven't even started thinking about my outdoor garden!! Yikes!!! I had better get going!

Holy Blizzard Batman!!

That's from inside my garage!! You can't even tell that fence hold pots of beautiful flowers in the summer. Where are they?!!!

I Am Testing

I am testing my seeds today to make sure they are viable for sowing.


If you want to know how to test your own seeds, check out this post:

http://susieshomemade.blogspot.com/2010/01/testing-garden-seeds.html

Speaking of Blow...

My transformer on my giant grow light in my nursery blew!!! I hope my plants can wait for the new one to get here!!

Winter Parsley?

Riddle me this...

Why is all my indoor parsley dead while my outdoor garden has parsley alive and well under snow?