The Great Zucchini Explosion of 2008 Update

Present count: 52

Sure Fire Recipe For Success

Ingredients:

1 Lonely Country Road

1 Ice Chest

1 Table

1 Children's Handmade Sign

An Assortment of Fresh Summer Veggies Painstakingly Weeded, Grown & Harvested By Mom

1-96 lb. Black Labrador/Retriever Cross

3 Hopeful Cherubs Who Have Convinced Mom To Please, Please, Please Let Them Have A Vegetable Stand

Directions:

Gather Ingredients from list.

Enlist Cherubs help in carting the ingredients down the mile-long driveway, ignoring the complaints that begin sprouting along the way.

Chase down 96 lb. Lab/Retriever Cross who thinks a frolic by the road is a grand idea.

Place Table and Ice Chest out on Lonely Country Road.

Tie 96 lb. Lab/Retriever Cross to Table Leg.

Arrange Fresh Summer Veggies in pleasing display on Table.

Painstakingly tape Handmade Children's Signs to Table, only to watch as the wind rips them off and sends them flying like kites down Lonely Country Road.

Take off at a sprint to try to gather them all up before they are blown to kingdom come.

Find all the Signs and bring them back, panting. Tape them more firmly to Table.

Chase down 96 lb. Lab/Retriever Cross who somehow got loose from table leg. Secure Lab/Retriever FIRMLY to table leg once again.

Position Hopeful Cherubs prominently behind Table, watching over them as they wave and jump and smile winningly at each and every car that drives by. Rejoice with the Cherubs when each and every single car honks back at them (much to the annoyance of the neighbors just across the road). Step back and watch out for the Cherubs safety when potential customers swing into the driveway. Watch each customer take one look at the hopeful eyes peering up at them and immediately succumb to the charm of desperate little salespeople.

Look up driveway and realize the Country Cats are heading down to join the party. Chase the Country Cats back up the driveway for their own safety. Give it up as an exercise in futility when they refuse to be herded. Run back down the driveway, panting again, to stand by the Cherubs sides so they won't get stolen by some crazy person.

Stand out in the blazing sun for three hours. Watch the Little Cherubs rack up $8.50 worth of vegetable sales and $10 bonus tips for just looking cute.

Call it a Wonderful Day.

:)
Chickadee

The Great Zucchini Explosion of 2008

Last count: 27.....

Lilies and Hollyhocks...

Wishing all of you a sunny-sweet-hollyhock-dreaming-kind-of-day!

xoxo,
Chickadee

Funky Kid Art (Or: I Certainly Would Have Never Thought Of That)

Sometimes you have to wonder where they come up with these things...

Tomato Avenue...

These are the Roma Tomato Plants I grew from a ten cent pack of seeds. At last count there were 54 in this East Garden. I also have a motley assortment of some 50-odd cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes and hierloom tomatoes in the West Garden. But none of it is ripe yet! Can you hear the frustration? And since I refuse to pay exorbitant grocery store prices for tasteless veggies, we wait.

Soon, I promise myself, soon. And by the time they start to really produce I am going to need some friends to come over and dig me out from underneath it all.

The Cucumbers Are Growing...

Gardens....

July Blooms..

This is the flower bed just outside the Lodge. It is jam packed with all sorts of lovely things: hostas, daylilies, foxglove, sedum, snapdragons, peonies and hydrangeas. I absolutely love it. Just looking at it brightens my day, and there is always something beautiful blooming in it.
Here are the nasturtiums in the West Garden that are adding their sunny faces to our landscape. They are also edible and add a peppery splash of brightness to salads, or at the very least they can provide a beautiful garnish. They are easy to grow as well, which is a good thing for a gardener like me. (I have an innate ability to kill indoor plants and anything fussy, but amazingly my children are all alive and thriving). Nasturtiums do not like to be moved around, so it is better to seed them directly where you want them. Pop them in the ground in the spring and keep them weeded and watered and they will bloom like mad.

Here is a recipe for Nasturtium Risotto. I haven't tried it yet but plan to. It sounds scrumptious!

Waiting....

Roma tomatoes that we are impatiently waiting for...

Harvest Time (Finally!)

We are thrilled to finally be getting enough food to harvest. The garden peas are so succulent and sweet, there is no comparison to frozen store-bought! And the One Lone Strawberry is hopefully just the first of many to make an appearance.

Garden blessings to you!

Happy 4th To You!

Garden Progress...

We had such a late start this year on our gardens due to the weather, but things are coming along nicely now. Above are our rows of cucumbers, and the first row of tomatoes.
More tomatoes....


Garden peas and snow peas....

We are (not so) patiently waiting!

Happy July To You!

Some local pastoral scenes....isn't Minnesota beautiful? I just love it and feel so blessed to live here....

xoxo,

Chickadee

What Should I Do Today?

I was a little bored today and needed to scare up something to do. Mr. Chickadee was kind enough to stop at the store for me and get these:


I had to smile when I saw this on the cartons. Yes, that would be me! I am so richly blessed in so many ways...

Aren't they just gorgeous? And they made some heavenly peach butter when the day was done. Mmmm......stop by and join me for some homemade bread and fresh preserves. The door is always open at Chickadee Lane Lodge!

More June Beauty....

Foxglove....

Peas Gone Wild

What's Blooming At The Lodge...

Geraniums....

Gorgeous poppies....

Uninvited Guest

What in the world is that up in our tree right in front of Chickadee Lane Lodge bright and early this morning?

A pesky raccoon! He mistakenly decided our big tree looked like the perfect place to snuggle in for a long springtime nap. He spent the entire day profoundly ignoring our many attempts to get him to vacate the premises and slept away like a baby for nine hours! Obviously this was a calculated effort to torment the dogs as much as possible, and I must say it worked extraordinarily well.

He checked out after dark (when the dogs were in for the night) and left quite a mess around the bottom of the tree, too. We do like our guests to feel at home but this is carrying things a bit too far.

However, all's well that ends well. The final tally came up to this:

Disappointed Canines who were really, really hoping to get in on a Good Ole Coon Hunt: 2

Relieved humans that the pets all had their rabies shots: 6

Chickadees who really, really think this whole Country Living Thing gets a little out of hand at times: 1

Breaking New Ground...

Mr. Chickadee digs up one of our two new garden plots for this year. After this we will tackle the 2 acre field. And yes, this might just qualify as being just a tiny bit insane to take this much on in one spring but you know our motto at Chickadee Lane Lodge is:

"Life. LIVE IT!!"

And so we do. And besides, I am always up for a good challenge.

(And don't let the big guy on the tractor fool you...it was the only time he was on it all day and he was lucky to get to drive it that much! That baby was MINE!) :)