The Pacific Northwest garden can be a challenge sometimes. We tend to get a lot of rain in the spring and early summer. Hello… we are known for that in the Seattle area! But, this summer has been a garden dream come true for Pacific Northwest gardeners! It hasn’t been too hot, but we’ve had a lot of sun!

When we first moved into our house, almost 20 years ago, There were two big maple trees and this brick “roundy-round” as I call it. There was nothing in it, but it was the sunniest part of the yard. I decided that half of this area would be perennials that were well known to be good in Pacific Northwest gardens. The other half would be our veggies and herbs. As the trees have gotten taller, over the years, this area has gotten a bit shady. I’ve had to get creative with planters, placed around the yard.

I’ve recently added two raised bins, just for strawberries. I was searching for 2 different varieties of berries that grow well in the Pacific Northwest garden and discovered Ozark and typical Juneberring. They are both amazing. There is nothing like a berry that is red all the way through, as they are meant to be. I don’t grow enough to make jam. I still have to buy flats from the local farmer’s markets, but I get enough to snack on.

Basil is my absolute favorite herb, but it does not like our wet Pacific Northwest gardens. I ALWAYS plant it too soon. Then, it rots and withers away, forcing me to replant. Once the warm and dry weather sets in, my basil always does great. I devote another raised bin just to basil. I make my own pesto and we use basil in a lot of dinner recipes.

Is there anything that goes better with basil than tomatoes? I think not! Honestly, I only have three tomato plants each year, so I grow enough tomatoes to eat while I’m out watering. Once in a while, I might share with my family, but I don’t think any of them love tomatoes as much as I do anyway.

There are lots of other areas around my yard that come to life in the summer. This area used to be shaded by the neighbors trees, but they recently had them removed, making for a great flower cutting garden!

I’m not sure why the hydrangeas in my backyard are slow to bloom this year, but they are finally starting. I just counted and I have 15 hydrangea plants in my front and backyards. I guess I’m pretty fond of them!

Happy Pacific Northwest gardening!

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Hey, friends! I have a fun new crafty gardening project for you today. I made some Calendula Salve and I’ll share the recipe with you.

First off, you need some Calendula flowers. I bought some seeds online during our quarantine and planted them in my small garden. They are doing well, but no flowers yet.

Fortunately, my son got a job as a loader at Flower World. I’ve been spending a bit more time there lately (hello discount!) and they had a few Calendulas in stock.

Once the plants have bloomed, pick the flowers. I cut the stem down to the next piece of plant growth, but then cut the stems off of the flowers to dry. I bought a dehydrator this year for my herbs and it works perfectly for this project too. I put the flowers in the dehydrator on the lowest heat possible, for several days. You really want your flower petals to be dry for this project so they don’t rot in the oil. That would make some really gross Calendula Salve.

In this next picture, you can really see the difference between the dry flowers and the freshly picked flowers. Once the flowers were dry, I picked off all of the petals and put them into a Mason canning jar and filled it up with olive oil. I let that sit for about 2 weeks.

After the two weeks were up, I strained the olive oil, discarding the petals.

In a double boiler, I melted one ounce of beeswax with 1 cup of Calendula infused olive oil. I let it cool a tiny bit and then added 40 drops of orange essential oil. I was planning on using lemon essential oil, but came across my orange oil first and decided to try it. Then, all you have to do is pour it into the little tins and let it set up. I’ve been using this on my hands lately. I wash my hands so much (because… Coronavirus) that they are really dry. I’ve read that this salve is great for cuts and scrapes. The Calendula adds a healing property. So there it is, folks. I hope you’ll give it a try. It was really easy and I’m happy to be able to put these flowers from my garden to good use.

Calendula Salve:

1 ounce of beeswax

1 cup of Calendula infused olive oil

40 drops of your favorite essential oil

Happy gardening!

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I’m going to share a few things this magazine says on the very first page of every issue:

*We believe there is a movement happening in our generation.

*We believe it is the epitome of days gone by.

*We believe that this back-to-our-roots movement embodies families moving toward sustainable options.

*Whether we live in a big city or a wide-open prairie, we are embracing natural products, mindfully made things, and the renaissance of lost arts and skills.

*We believe that our culture is coming full circle.

*We desire a more authentic lifestyle, similar to those lived out in the households of quieter times – where family values prevailed; ingredients were simple; mason jars, quilts, and shiplap were commonplace; neighbors were friends; and time well spent trumped task lists.

Friends, this is me. I swear they were inside my head when they wrote this. Do you believe these things too?

I subscribed to the magazine as fast as I could and even bought a few back issues. Picture a kid waiting by the mail box when grandma says she sent you a card with birthday money inside. That was me. I was checking the mail all the time. I could hardly wait to get my magazines. When they arrived, I poured through them and they did not disappoint. I saved every single one in a cute little wooden box in my family room. I usually don’t save magazines, but these felt more like books. Then, I got the letter in the mail. The letter that said, “Sorry, we will no longer be producing The Farmhouse Movement magazine.” Nooooooo!!!!!! I had just found my people and it was already over! They do have a website and the letter said that new things were in the works. I will anxiously await their next bit of work.

Then I ran across a new magazine. Farmhouse At Heart has many of the same ideas as the Farmhouse Movement. It talks about the sweet joys of homesteading, back-to-basics gardening, cooking, and crafting. All of these things are right up my alley. It’s part of a bigger company of magazines, which is ok. I really liked The Farmhouse Movement, knowing I was supporting a small business.

So, I picked up Farmhouse At Heart and I was thoroughly pleased. It’s one of those magazines that comes out once in a while, but you can’t subscribe to it. That makes it much harder to get my hands on, but I’ll do my best.

To be honest, the farmhouse dream for me includes an actual farmhouse, room for animals (chickens, dogs, and bunnies), and enough space to have a large garden. My current garden is quite small and its sunlight is blocked by the neighbor’s large trees. Herbs and lettuce are my best bets in my garden space right now.

I think, with our current state of affairs (#pandemic2020), people are finding that they really are capable of doing things the good-old-fashioned way. Flour has been sold out for months at the grocery store. I haven’t been able to find yeast at all and finally had to do a bulk order and split it with a few neighbors. That tells me that people are baking again. Garden centers are still open because they sell vegetable starts and they are considered essential. They have lines wrapped around buildings to get inside. The local butcher is not taking large orders. They are limiting the amount of meat each customer is allowed to buy because they are selling out. Families are learning how to make their own cleaning products because the cleaning aisle at the grocery store is empty. We are sort of being forced to ask our grandparents how to do things (or just google it). Honestly, living through this pandemic is tough, but it makes me so happy to see families spending time together, bread being baked, and seeds being planted. We are getting back to the basics and I’m ok with that.

Happy homemaking!

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The flowers really love the rain.  No matter how much water they get with the sprinkler or hose, there’s just nothing like Mother Nature’s sprinkler.

The pets got to enjoy some outside time too.  Cookie has recently discovered that there is a whole new world underneath the deck.  My hubby came out with us and his job was to watch the bunny, while mine was to watch the turtle.  Well, guess who bolted for the deck?  My son came out and found us trying to lure her out from the playground under the deck.  As he went back inside I could hear him tell his sister, “Dumb and Dumber lost the rabbit.”  She finally came out when the dog started barking and spooked her.  When she’s scared she wants her humans.

Peanut is home for the Summer and finally got to go outside to catch some bugs.  She loves her potato bugs.  We flip over the landscaping bricks and she charges after the bugs as they scatter.  She’s quite the hunter.  She loves basking in the sun and hiding under the plants. For those of you who don’t know, Peanut was gifted to our kindergarten class last year.  She is a 30 year old box turtle.  She is very set in her ways, doesn’t like to eat her greens, prefers bananas, and will grab onto your finger (tightly) if you wave it in front of her. (Ask our librarian how we know that!)

Here’s the big guy.  This is Cooper.  He’s such a dork.  He’s a total goof ball and he loves his pets.  He gives the bunny kisses on the side of her head and kind of sniffs the turtle.  He gets upset when the bunny goes under the couch and was really upset when she went under the deck.  He tried to go under to get her, but quickly realized he’s too big to fit.

Seriously, could these three be any cuter?  Someday I’ll have my farm animals, but for now I’ll be happy with these guys.

I’m so thankful that the rain stopped and that sunshine is on the way.  I loved getting outside at the perfect time of night.  Between sunshine, the golden hour, my favorite pets, and getting the chance to use my camera, this was just the mood booster I needed.

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I know that lavender spreads, so I usually buy a pretty plant at the nursery and keep it in a pot. The plant in the front is a yellow variety of lavender.  I can’t wait to see what it looks like.  I’m hoping this one grows quickly and I will need to move it to a bigger pot.

I have two different varieties of oregano this year.  I planted a traditional oregano and a golden variety last year.  These plants have been extremely happy in my garden.  I think I have enough oregano to share with the whole neighborhood.

Parsley grows very well in my garden too.  I use parsley, in my cooking, when I feel like something needs a little color.  My bunny is a huge fan of parsley too, so she gets a handful once in a while too.

I’m just starting to use chives in my cooking.  I had always pictured chives on baked potatoes, but I’m starting to come around to using these oniony flavored stems in other dishes as well.

Lemon Balm is my newest herb.  I bought 4 small plants last year and they didn’t even grow as tall as the top of the planter.  Once the warm weather hit this year, these guys took off.  Lemon Balm is a relative of mint, so I planted them in their own container to reduce unwanted spreading.  I can’t wait to try this in salads and teas.

Last year’s Rosemary plant is still going strong!

Just because I love it, I planted another container with Oregano.  I really will be able to feed the whole neighborhood.

All of these herbs are leftovers from last year, so I didn’t even need to spend any money in my garden.  I have lots more to show you in another blog post. So many herbs, so little thyme.  Sorry.  It had to be done.

Happy planting!

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So, here I sit, on a rainy Wednesday afternoon.  I wouldn’t really go out in this weather anyway, so I might as well do a little indoor garden prep.  My friend, Diane, said she’d take me to Flower World on Friday.  OMG, I’m getting out of the house and I get to have my doctor-allowed afternoon stroll t Flower World.  Poor Diane will have to pull my cart and lift my plants, but she’s a friend who doesn’t mind getting dirty.  Heck, we pulled a tree out of her front yard one day, on a whim, and she was wearing a skirt!  Ok, back to the garden.  We have a big “roundy-round”, as I call it, in our back yard.  The right side is mainly perennial flowers.  It gets quite a bit of shade from the big maple trees.

The left side of the roundy-round is used for my herbs and veggies.  I divided it into 4 quadrants and this is my herb and lettuce quadrant.  Sadly, this area has seen less and less sunlight over the years, as my neighbor’s tree has grown taller and added more shade to my yard.

This year, I’ve decided to focus my gardening efforts, in this area, mainly on things we really and truly eat and that I know grow well here.  Every single year I try to plant corn and every single year my cousin, who is a farmer from Eastern Washington, laughs at me and reminds me that we don’t get enough sun on this side of the state.  So, corn is OUT this year.  For some reason, pumpkins don’t like my garden either.  I plant them and the vines grow but I never get past the flowering stage.  I’ve thought about going out in the morning and cross-pollinating the flowers with a small paint brush, but that seems like a bit more work than I’d bargained for.  Pumpkins, you’re OUT too!  I’ve given potatoes one last chance to prove their worthiness, but it’s now or never with those little guys.  That means I’ve freed up an entire quadrant of my garden for more herbs.

We use a lot of parsley and cilantro at our house.  I’ll plant about 5 plants of each.  In addition, I’ll sprinkle some cilantro seeds so all of the cilantro won’t be ready at the same time.

We do eat a lot of lettuce, so I’ll plant plenty of that.  I already found some Romaine starts this year and they are in the ground.

I love basil with all of my heart!  I plant as much as I can fit in my garden.  This year I’m thinking 5 basil plants in the garden and 5 basil plants in my planter up by the house.  I cook with basil all summer long and my kids also love pesto.  I think I made 6-8 double batches of pesto last summer.  This year I’m going to remember to freeze some so we’ll have it in the winter too.  I don’t buy basil starts until May.  In the Pacific Northwest, basil will rot in your garden with all of the rain we get.  I’ll resist the temptation to buy this when I go to Flower World… ok, maybe just one little plant that I could bring inside!

There are a few plants I put in my garden just because I think they are pretty.  Whenever I run across white or yellow lavender plants, I snatch them up.  I love the way they look.  I usually put these in pots because they spread so fast.

My oregano, sage, mint, and lemon balm come back every year.  I use those in cooking, baking, and in tea.  I bought a few books about herbs last year and I’ve been trying to use my herbs more frequently in the kitchen.

Here are a few of my favorite herb books:

Happy garden planning!

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Now that my kids are older (my son turns 17 tomorrow and my daughter is 13), I’ve taken back a little time for myself.  They are off doing their own things, spending LOTS of time at sports practices, plenty of time chilling in their rooms, and a good chunk of time doing homework.  Sadly, when they have spare time they don’t usually say, “Hey, mom, do you want to play a board game?”  Nope, those days are gone.

So, how do I spend my time?  I really love to cook.  I enjoy looking through cookbooks, Pinterest, and blogs to find new recipes.  If I can cook with ingredients grown in my own garden, this makes me even happier.  As much as I love to cook, I must confess something.  There are days when I ask myself, “WHY, oh why, do my children want to eat 3 times a day EVERY single day?”  I try not to use too much processed food as I’m cooking, so that makes things a bit time consuming, but I have a hard time keeping every meal on the healthy side.  I really love cheese, and cooking with butter and cream just makes things taste better.  It’s a work in progress to find healthy meal options, but I’m trying. (If I don’t try hard enough, my naturopath gently reminds me at every appointment.)

I’ve always loved to bake.  Cookies and bread tend to be my favorites.  Lately, I’ve tried to change things up and try whole wheat breads or flourless cookies.  When my kids were younger, we’d have Cookie Friday.  Our district dismisses early each Friday and I’d always have cookies ready for the kids when they got home from school.  There would usually be a handful of friends and neighbors and sometimes a cousin or two.  Those were the good old days.  Now the kids just hurry home so they can take naps.  Ah, teenagers.

Sometimes (most times) I really wish I lived in a sunnier location so I could happily enjoy my garden day in and day out.  To say that I love to be outside is an understatement.

Most of my edible garden space consists of herbs and veggies that don’t require full sun.  My neighbor’s trees have grown so tall that they shade my veggie garden.  I’m barely able to produce tomatoes any more, so I’ve just given up on things that needs tons of sun.

My basil and mini tomatoes have been moved to a plant stand on the deck.  The deck gets a good amount of afternoon sunshine and the heat reflects from the house onto the plants. Basil is probably my favorite thing to grow and we eat a lot of pesto in the summer time.

I have my fair share of perennials in the center of my yard.  I love that I don’t have to replant them every year.  Every few years, I get to divide them.  Score!  Free plants!

The best part about gardening is the end of the day.  I love the “golden hour” in my yard.  After spending the day getting my hands dirty, I absolutely love putting my feet up and enjoying the view.  I do miss the days of the kids playing on the swingset or jumping on the trampoline, but there is also something incredibly relaxing about the quiet of the backyard.

Sewing and quilting are my winter hobbies.  When I can’t spend time outside because of the relentless rain, my sewing room is my happy place.

My mom taught me to sew when I was about 7 years old and I insisted that both of my kids learn to sew.  I make all of my own home decor items.  I love making curtains, valances, pillows, and quilts.  I love the personal touch handmade items have on a home.  I’ve even been designing my own quilt patterns with a quilting program for the computer.

I’ve had to start changing pillows and quilts out seasonally because I’m running out of space. I’ve started putting zippers into my pillow covers so they are each to wash and change out frequently.

This was one of my favorite projects.  When my daughter was younger she picked out a fabric line that she thought was pretty.  I bought the fabrics and she chose a pattern that she liked.  We painted her room a color that coordinated and her new room was born.

I love looking through blogs and seeing cohesive quilts that all have the same feel, but I can’t seem to stick with one theme.  I love vintage/scrappy, French General, warm and cozy, and also whatever is new and trendy.  As much as I like the cohesion, I also like to try new things when it comes to quilting.

I don’t even know where to begin when it comes to photography.  I love trying new things with my camera.  My favorite subjects are my own kids and my YoungLife kids.  My YL kids are Juniors in high school and I feel so lucky that they’ve allowed me to follow them around with a camera on my neck, capturing memories of Summer camp and school dances.

Of course, these two have my whole heart and they know to always pack “picture clothes” every time we go to the farm or the beach.

How about you, friends?  What’s your hobby?

I’m sharing a few of my favorite photography items that are sold through Amazon.  I’m part of the Amazon Affiliates program and if you choose to purchase through Amazon, I get a teensy-tiny portion of the sale.

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My garden was my happy place this year, but the squirrels still got the best of my sunflowers.  I planted over a hundred seeds, but this was the sole survivor.

The tomatoes loved the sunny weather, but I still didn’t get as many tomatoes as I’d like.

I’m holding on to every last minute of Summer, so I’ll just sit here watching the sprinkler go back and forth.

Happy Summer… and don’t blink!

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I live by my watering a fertilizing schedule in the Summer and I love my hanging baskets and window boxes.  I fill my baskets with red and white flowers and tuck little flags in everywhere.

Geraniums line the stairs on my tiny porch and more flags are there to greet people.

I may have a slight obsession with using flags as decor and it might be time to take the 4th of July decor down and store it for next year.

I bought a new variety of hydrangea for the front of my house.  This a brand new variety from Monrovia, called Bobo.  It’s a compact hydrangea, so I’m hoping it will stay nice and short.  I also planted some Blue Star Creeper, which will fill in nicely as a ground cover.

Here’s my Bobo

I finally got rid of my old benches in the front of the house, and we bought some pretty Adirondak chairs from World Market.  We also dug up all of the overgrown hydrangeas and moved them to the back yard, replacing them with Bobos as well.

I planted a pretty little basket for the front of the house to add a little color to the white chairs.

I did save two Annabelle hydrangeas, because who can live without Annabelles?

I can’t wait until my flowers fill in!  They will grow up to be so pretty!

It’s almost time to start figuring out how to turn my 4th of July house into a Fall house.  Until then, I’m just going to hold on to Summer.  Welcome to our house!

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I have this planter box on my deck, right up against the wall so it would get lots of afternoon sunshine.

My basil loves the heat and the controlled amount of water.  I started the tomatoes inside, with my Miracle Grow Aero Garden and then moved them outside to my new planter.

I’m not sure what it is with my big garden this year, but the tomatoes and basil aren’t looking too great.  They look kind of scraggly, so I’m happy to have my new planter.  I now have tomatoes and basil to cook with!

Thanks for my planter, Kenny!

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