• Fourth of July!

    Happy Fourth of July, friends! Today we have two things to celebrate. First, we got rain! Hooray! Wookie and I were outside poking around in the garden when the drops began to fall. We sat on the deck under the overhang of the roof to watch it come down. Second, Joe and I have been married eight years today! We’d really like to thank you all for commemorating our anniversary by lighting fireworks every year in our honor. We are…

  • July Planting in NC

    Because I like to make things easy for you, here’s a quick table of crops you can plant in July in the coastal and piedmont regions of NC. If you live somewhere else, try Google. It’s pretty great. (Sorry, that was snarky. We are zone 7b and our first frost is Nov 1(ish), so add or subtract days to your timing based on your frost date.) Source: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/pdf/hil-8001.pdf Vegetables Suggested Planting Suggested Cultivars Days to Maturity Asparagus (crowns) Nov. 15–Mar.…

  • New Pots

    I’ve been throwing pots, crushing more in the process than finishing them, and here’s some shots from my phone. Between the mosquitoes and heat, it’s hard to stay at the wheel. I’m super excited to be having a table at my friend Michelle’s silent auction for Kindred Boutique, so I want to make sure I have some fancy new things to sell.

  • Weekend Heat Wave

    Whew. This heat wave is something else. We have a thirty minute window in the morning during which the heat is tolerable and we water the garden and trees and let the boys play outside. Then, it’s indoors for the rest of the day. Joe brewed his first batch of beer (it will have nice sweaty overtones), and I got the heck out of dodge and went out with a friend to shop for clothes I don’t need and eat…

  • Single Serve Garden

    As a harvest of beans has been steadily coming in for several weeks now and the heirloom tomatoes are starting to blush, I’ve been thinking on the idea of a single serve garden. Some days we haul in a grocery bag of beans, squash and cucumbers, and other days it’s just a handful here, and a sprig of something there. Several weekends ago I wanted to saute squash for guests and didn’t have enough for everyone, so I threw in…

  • Harvesting Beans with Kids

    Daily I am learning that my four-year-old is capable of much more than I ask of him. I find that the more responsibility and tasks he is given, the less he whines and the more he takes pride in his abilities and being helpful. I suppose preschoolers do have something in common with Thomas & Friends – they want to be very useful! This brings us to beans. Our garden is jam-packed with pole beans, bush beans, edamame, peas, and…