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Let's Talk Soil Temp
Every spring, as soon as the sun begins to warm my face, I’m ready to put seeds in the ground. I cannot control the urgency I feel to begin planting. This past spring, I learned a valuable lesson: air temp does not equal soil temp. Every type of seed has an optimum soil temperature for germination. It so happens that beans like 75-80 degrees F, and at this optimum temperature, they will germinate in seven days on average. Planting them…
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What is Overwintering in the Garden?
In case you were under any false impressions that I am a seasoned gardener, I will go ahead and make this clear: I am a “Google gardener”. While I don’t have many years experience gardening, I spend a lot of time reading forums and articles about gardening and the specific crops I am growing or planning to grow. I’ve often used Google images to identify my garden pests and then research how to avoid them in the future. The past…
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Pesto!
I should have snapped a picture of the basil in my garden because it had grown into such a large healthy clump! The past couple days I’ve been meaning to harvest it before it tried to flower, and this morning Scooby and I went out in search of pine nuts, which we finally found at Fresh Market. I made my pesto with a colander full of fresh basil, three large cloves of garlic, about one-fourth a cup of olive oil,…
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Still Fighting It
It’s been two months since my discovery of miscarriage at the 12th week of pregnancy. Despite the initial sadness and the recurring fits of envy, I feel like I have been moving on with my life fairly well. Or I thought I had. This month, I was about 80% sure I was pregnant again. I was having headaches and nausea and even felt a little rounder. It’s amazing the power the mind has over the body, because my favorite aunt…
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Changing Seasons
Scooby and I have really enjoyed our local public pool this summer. It took him a week or so to warm up to playing, but this afternoon he was taking a running (think toddling) jump into my arms in the adult pool. He’s really kicking his legs, blowing bubbles and is just a little too brave for my liking. I think if the summer were a couple months longer, I’d have that kid doggy paddling laps, maybe even doing the…
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Updated Recipe: Spinach and Feta Wine Sauce Stuffed Chicken
Because I cannot resist feta, here goes another quick and easy recipe. The measurements below are loose. It is very similar to the Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken, but I have doubled the stuffing for the sauce, added some things, and dropped the bacon and broth. Serves 6. Ingredients: 6 boneless chicken breasts4 tbs butter (or more if you like butter!), can substitute with olive oil1 bag of fresh, frozen spinach, chopped1 8 oz package of block or crumbled feta2…