spring is in the air

feels more like summer. i swear! it must be close to 80° out there today!

took the camera out to the garden today. it's really coming along. all the construction is done. ken got the fence up and as soon as he's done working on baby mac's crib he'll build a gate and an arbor. it's going to be great.

i was supposed to take it easy today, my back has been misbehaving badly but the day was calling me. the sunshine, the birdsong. how was i supposed to stay indoors? i walked around the yard for a bit, scoping things out. looking at everything coming up all over. it's always fun to see what makes it from one season to the next. we have hostas galore! lilies, tulips, the astilbe that i thought died last year is up, better than ever. and we even have one tiny little fern. ken's going to be happy about that.

i sat in the garden for a bit and plotted things out in my mind - the best place for all the sunflowers, how we have room for a table and a couple of chairs out there. i couldn't resist getting my hands dirty so i took the zinnia sproutlings we started a few weeks ago and got them settled in their new bed. and i planted a few rows of seeds too, just to have some rotation in my cut flower bed. have i mentioned yet how i have no idea what i'm doing?

i also transplanted some poppies. we'll see. i've heard they don't move well. i watered them and now i wait. hopefully ken won't dig them up mistaking them for a weed in my garden. i think perhaps we need a new garden rule - anything inside the fence he doesn't mess with. oh, and grizz has discovered he can fit through certain slats in the fence. we may need to do something about that before we have a little grizzly bear nibbling on our goodies.

for now that's it. the major veggies should go in the ground in the next few weeks. i'm really excited. i love my garden. i think it's going to be a great place to relax and enjoy the summer.

what's good for the goose

the garden girls got a late start yesterday. ken had hauled all the dirt to the beds for us so with nothing to do we headed out to the green market at the creamery. i didn't even realized they had vendors year-round. when the weather turns bad they move the market up to the red barn. i love it! it's so charming with the bales of straw pushed aside for the local merchants peddling their wares.

it was fresh eggs that caught my eye yesterday. goose eggs to be exact. i've never had a goose egg. maybe never even seen one before this weekend. and today, i had one one for breakfast and made this absolutely luscious ice cream for dessert:

(you're gonna want to click to embiggen)

goose eggs are amazing. first of all they are twice as large as a hen egg. heavy too. their thick shells don't give in easily. i can't recommend frying these babies up. the whites stayed translucent and were quite rubbery. but the yolk! i had toast points and a dippy goose egg for breakfast. it was good.

in reading what i could find online today, goose eggs are to chicken eggs what goose meat is to chicken meat. meaning goose eggs are fattier and richer than hen laid eggs. twas certainly true in my ice-cream!

I took Nigella Lawson's custard recipe, my two goose eggs (plus one double-yolked fresh chicken egg) and ended up with the most wonderfully creamy concoction ever.

I'll call this two goose egg vanilla bean ice cream. Check out Nigella's How to Eat for the custard instructions.

and check out your local markets for your own goosey goodness.

you should smell like dirt

according to Margaret Atwood, anyway. "In spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." and we do!

the garden girls came over yesterday and we made good progress in the garden.

this first shot is the shade garden off the back patio. that big pine stump in the center will soon be covered in wisteria. my cousin's husband gave me a few seed pods from his brother's vine and i brought them home and planted them. it's slow to bloom but when it does! the lavender blossoms drop like clusters of grapes from the vine. and they are unbelievably fragrant. hope i live to see it! when i said it's slow to bloom, i wasn't kidding - it can take upwards of ten years! but -so- worth the wait.

my hard-working man and his best friend.

and garden progress!

the girls dug out the beds while i cut down scrap fencing panels to create our little garden fence. we're all so excited about this garden. ken is going to help me finish the fence today and then we start talking dirt!

here's a shot of the cold-frame/compost bin ken built. cami gave us the windows and in no time at all i had a mini green house! the frame to the side of the cold-frame will hold my compost. i may build it up with wire fencing if i need to, but for now, this works.

and how about some knitting? i started this dishcloth last night as a little breather from the wrap i'm knitting. needed something mindless. can't believe i waited so long to try this simple pattern. it knits up lickety split!

and the wrap:

it's lovely, but knitting one big thing can get a little tedious. it's featured on the cover of debbie bliss' premiere issue knitting magazine. i think it's called a summer wrap. simple knit. yarn is lorna's laces (i think) and it's a dove grey (my description, not their colorway).

i've been summoned to fix my hard-working man some sustinance. it's what i do. now go get your hands dirty! but wash them before you pick up your knitting. :)

california dreamin

meet new baby alex. my cousin timmy's son. i hogged him the whole time we visited.

my cousin cristi and i enjoying the warm california sun:

my mom after the big reveal. we planned a 70th surprise party for her and this was after the shock of seeing all her kids in the same room.

me and my new baby, ginger. :)

more soon. . .