All posts tagged Garden
Inspired by all of the mason jar Message In A Bottle crafts,  Halloween Vitrines, Holiday snow globes and Terrariums that have been consuming me over the last year, I decided to create some Spring Vitrines. This is the first installment of the village I will create out of glass jars, cake and cheese covers, glass bottles and bells jars that were found at local thrift stores and junk shops. I am thrilled how these are turning out and it has me thinking about Easter and Valentines Day Vitrines. Stay tuned for that!
I have been on a terrarium making kick for some time as exhibited HERE. So I can not express how thrilled I was to discover this little gem at a thrift store and with my teacher discount I scored it for only $4.25!! I could not wait to hit the plant store for some supplies so I headed out first thing this morning and scored some half dead plants at Lowe’s for only ¢.25 each. I am confident that I can totally bring them back to life. Those plants combined with a bunch of free spider plants that my friend Tom gave me and I have an awesome display and spent under $6 (note: I had the soil, terrarium supplies and root grow on hand already.) Thrilled beyond!
- BEFORE – Thrift Store Find
- AFTER – Planted
- Close Up of Plants
I had an over abundance of Kale recently from our CSA, Chow Locally, and so I baked some into delicious kale chips.
Raw kale with olive oil and sea salt
Baked kale chips - ready to eat
KALE CHIPS
Ingredients
- 1 bunch kale
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
- 1 pinch sea salt, to taste
Directions
- Preheat an oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
- Cut away inner ribs from each kale leaf and discard; tear the leaves into pieces of uniform size. (I made my pieces about the size of a small potato chip.) Wash torn kale pieces and spin dry in a salad spinner or dry with paper towels until they’re very dry.
- Put the kale pieces into a large resealable bag (or use a bowl if you don’t mind getting your hands oily). Add about half the olive oil; seal and squeeze the bag so the oil gets distributed evenly on the kale pieces. Add the remaining oil and squeeze the bag more, until all kale pieces are evenly coated with oil and slightly ‘massaged.’ Sprinkle the vinegar over the kale leaves, reseal the bag, and shake to spread the vinegar evenly over the leaves. Spread the leaves evenly onto a baking sheet.
- Roast in the preheated oven until mostly crisp, about 35 minutes. Season with salt and serve immediately.
We love the C.S.A (Community Supported Agriculture) that we are a part of — it is called Chow Locally. This is a dish, about to be roasted on the grill that I made from a recent ‘share’. It is Fennel, Candy Striped Beets and Korabi which is kind of like a turnip. It was drizzled with Dijon Mustard and Balsamic Vinegar and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Delicious!
The work on the backyard garden continues. I was standing at the window looking outside from my pantry and baking studio overlooks my garden and the other day I was thinking I should put in a window box planter. Then I realized the wall was stucco and metal framed so installing a planter box would prove difficult. The Tall One has a lot of old reclaimed boards around so I asked for one he wasn’t using and combined with cable wire I created an instant Hanging Garden Shelf. I am so thrilled with how simple it was and how great it looks! I am in love with this rough old farm board!
