What a wonderful day, despite the rain grrrr, spent working on our writing! I had a lot of fun getting to know the writing styles of each person who attended our workshop on Saturday. Thanks for joining us and welcome to any new writers who would like to give us a try.

Yours in W

Here is a way to get rid of those pesky moles if they are wreaking havoc in your yard of garden.  Let me know how it works for you.

2 Tbsp of Castor oil
1 Tbsp of Joy liquid dish soap
1 gallon of water (I make it not quite full, about ¾ full).

Perhaps fill the water 1st , add the soap & caster oil , then you
can mix/shake it, it will bubble. Pour over the run or make holes & pour into the holes.

Good luck
 
This recipe came from a friend through another friend.

Spring is here at last and so are the dandelions. Here is a way to combat this "flower" without the use of chemicals.

Dandelion Season NON-toxic Weed Killer Recipe
Good to use in yards with Pets & Children roaming around!


                                          
1/2 gallon of Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 c table salt
1/2 tsp Dawn liquid dish soap

Mix above ingredients in a spray bottle.
Spray weeds thoroughly.

1/2 gallon for around $6.40 or less depending on where you live.

Works better than Round Up - kills weeds on 1st application.

The Dawn dish soap strips the weed of its protective oils so the
vinegar can work with deadly force. Safe for use in yards used by children and pets!! 



 

Just want to encourage everyone out there to find a farmer to get your eggs from. I get my beef, chickens and eggs from the same farmer.  I've heard that eggs at the grocery store are usually about 5 weeks old by the time they hit the store shelves.  If you've never done it try this comparison...crack an egg from the store and crack an egg just a few days old from a farmer.  You will see and taste a difference!  Just imagine when grocery stores have a sale and a dozen eggs are reduced to .99 how old they must be that the store wants to move them quickly.  I go every Friday night to pick up eggs for our family and a few others.  It's great to drive in the driveway and have to watch for the chickens as they run all over the place free ranging as chickens were meant to do:)  Fun fact I learned: the color of the egg is determined by the breed of chicken and not by the feed.  Also in colder weather chicken tend to lay fewer and smaller eggs. You can trick them by sprinkling paprika in their water. It keeps their insides warm and they lay better when it's cold. 

Lots of strawberry blossoms!  We will be adding another bed at the other end of the garden.

My goal is to have a weed free garden without weeding. Usually I put grass clippings in the rows to keep the weeds down and that works pretty good. But a friend of mine takes it a step further and claims she doesn't have to weed. She covers the ground with newspapers and then grass clippings to hold the paper down. Air and water can get through but not sunlight so the weeds don't grow. Here are my 9 cabbage plants in the coffee cans. I only plant cabbage every other year to make sauerkraut.

This is a place that gets a lot of weeds throughout the season.  I have laid my paper down and weighted it with some stones until it's time to cut the grass again.

I planted 14 tomato plants today.  I sprinkle crushed egg shells in the bottom of each hole and then put the tomato plant in on top.  This is especially important if you are gardening in a spot that has not been a garden before.  The egg shells supply calcium to the ground and plants.

Rhubarb is ready. I did my first cutting today.  We only have one hill but it seems to be enough for us.  I can it and use it for baking...our favorite is rhubarb upside down cake...good with vanilla ice cream:)

One of my favorite flowering bushes is the lilac.  We were fortunate when we bought our home to have a lilac border in our back yard. Beautiful sight and smell.

What a beautiful night!  Strawberries are blossoming. Our strawberry bed is only a few years old but it's filling in nicely.

I finally got 18 broccoli plants and 8 cabbage plants in the garden. The stems of the plants are still thin and fragile so I put these cans around each to shield them from wind and critters like bunnies.

I love getting my honey from Carol O'Brien in the Guttenberg Iowa area.  She often is at the scenic overpass area of Hwy 52.  She will give you a taste of her honey so you can find the one for you.  I thought I did not like honey until I visited with Carol. Turns out I just hadn't tasted a kind I liked.  I get all my honey from Carol now to use in my baking.  I replace sugars with honey so I go through a lot of it.  Home made granola bars are the best with honey instead of corn syrup..yuck:(  Give it a try!  Look on my links page for Cedar Creek Apiaries.

Just sent my finished manuscript off to the publisher.  Here's hoping this process is smooth.

Pat and I needed to can beef. To use up the wait time for the pressure canner we decided to do some experimental baking.  We both needed bread and had some rhubarb to use up as new is growing...I love rhubarb!

We had one ooops (it's all about making memories:). After baking the rhubarb cake I put the bread in the oven to bake but turned off the oven instead of leaving it on....the loaves of bread sank and they were such nice loaves before my oooops...bummer!

Sam, my miniature schnauzer, was jealous of the time I spent with Pat.  He views the weekend as his time....he's such a momma's boy:)

Anyway, the cake turned out delicious.  And we had great company for dinner with Pat's husband Russell joining us.

Great day with Pat:)
Follow Pat's writer's blog at patjaegerspages.com.

Got onions in the garden today and my herbs are up:) Pole beans vs row beans....anyone have advice?