What a shitty ass spring we’ve had. Awful. Cold, wet, windy, and depressing. All the things that no one wants in May.

I can go along with April showers like the songs goes but seriously what the hell May and where are the May flowers?

What started off as a great beginning for my veggies in the greenhouse they have not been happy for a few weeks.

I waited until Memorial Day to plant my tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Then it got back down into the low forties and one night 38 degrees!

Ugh! Every gardener that I know of which includes the Vermont Gardeners group is in anguish.

We have such a short growing season to start with this is such a disappointment to many of us.

I have several things that may have contributed to the further demise my veggies since I am a newbie.

This is the first year for my new garden expansion and the compost and soil are brand new.

People have already told me not to expect a good garden this year. Discouragement right off the bat.

I was a total ass when I stupidly watered my greenhouse plants with water from the hose when the water was still too cold.

I never thought about the temperature of the water in which you water your plants with.

I didn’t amend the soil in the new garden beds enough. I thought I did especially from how fast the weeds and unplanted plants were popping up and growing.

Another thing was hardening them off too soon. I should have left them in the greenhouse longer, but who in fucks name expects it to be so miserable so late in May.

Tomatoes don’t like extreme temperatures differences such as 72 in the day and 38 at night. I don’t like it either!

The things I sowed directly in the garden beds are doing fantastic. The broccoli and brussel sprouts are growing.

All of my greens and root veggies are also growing.

The three varieties of squash, cantaloupe, peas, green beans and cucs have popped through the ground and look healthy.

The ones that are very important to me and the ones trying to keep growing.

I did add calcium nitrate around the tomatoes plants and I fertilized everything with some organic fertilizer.

A part of me wants to grab some miracle grow and douse the hell out of the plants but I am going to try to do things the right way for us.

I saw in a gardening group a post where someone waters their basil with potassium water.

I have found since trying this the basil is improving after the leaves started turning yellow.

Now I have a water jug filled with water and banana peels. Everyday I keep adding peels and more water to it.

Once the jug is too full with peels I dump them into the compost pile and start fresh again. Oh, I started a compost bin too.

I realize I am still very new to gardening and should treat every hurdle as another lesson like I do in life.

We just completed our 27 consecutive weekend of rain here in our area. Seriously, WTF!

The bright side is the weather is changing next week to warmer sunnier days and warmer lights.

Hopefully, that will help everyone’s gardens and moods out.

Here’s hoping for a better garden update soon.

It’s the week before Memorial Day and true to nature this is when the weather dips into the low 40s at night and in the low 50s during the day.

While it may not frost this week, tomatoes, peppers, sunflowers, and eggplant don’t like the cold.

This is why they say not to plant hot weather loving veggies until Memorial Day here in VT.

Our last frost date for this area is May 21 or 22. I’ll be keeping on eye on the weather and will decide when its safe to finish planting my garden.

This week is forecasted to be rainy and cloudy along with the chilly temps.

This totally sucks and is a big disappointment not only to gardeners but for everyone. Boooooo!

My greenhouse is full of veggies again. I’d rather be safe than sorry. Sigh. Oh well.

They said we will have a late spring this year and whoever they are, they were right.

Yes, you read that correctly, like the eggs.

I was going thru healthy and light recipes for the month of May and stumbled upon this genius idea

Whoever thought of it should get a huge pat on the back. There are so many recipes for deviled strawberries it’s crazy.

I chose one and made it this morning. I only made half the amount of filling and still had some leftover.

The recipe calls for cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, heavy cream and I added a little lemon zest and a tiny pinch salt,

That’s not healthy you may be saying but you aren’t using a lot of any ingredient and each strawberry gets about 1/2 teaspoon of the “cheesecake” filling.

So, unless you eat 50 of them they are a light and tasty dessert option for the spring and summer.

I immediately began thinking of different variations you could do with the “cheesecake” filling or even just flavored whipped cream.

Most recipes call for a sprinkling of graham cracker crumbs but I didn’t have any on hand.

Gluten free ones are expensive and not worth it.

I did crush up a Trader Joe’s GF chocolate chip cookie because I always have those in hand.

I haven’t really started thinking about what other fruit you can do this with but just while typing this I thought of ripe peaches or plums.

As I was packing up what didn’t fit in my nana’s deviled egg platter I thought hell, you can half strawberries, put the cheesecake filling in a separate container and just dip them it!

Then I thought if you didn’t want to dick around making deviled strawberries you could put the filling in the center of a platter and spread out strawberry halves.

The crumbs you can top it with is also endless possibilities.

Marty and I sampled a couple of the strawberries and I gotta tell you. They are very good.

Here is the recipe I used. Yes, there are healthier ones but I chose this one since it was one of the first ones I saw.

https://dangthatssweet.com/deviled-strawberries/#wprm-recipe-container-6889

Chocolate hazelnut cream is another delicious option even mixed into the cheesecake filling or just a flavored whipped cream

Anyway, I said I would always share recipes and ideas I think are good ones and this one is definitely a good one.

If you will be at an event I will be at this summer don’t bother bringing these as they will be my signature summer dessert. 🤣

Well, she’s looking like a real garden now!

The garden expansion is almost complete, we still need to order mulch and spread mulch all over the different garden beds.

The garden is 90% in with the exception of the four varieties of tomatoes, eggplant, and two types of peppers.

Those are set in their spots where they will be planted, hardening off.

I did see the temps will dip down to the 40s next week so I am holding off until then.

There doesn’t seem to be any frost in the next couple of weeks, which is good for everything that is in the ground already.

As you can see from the top photo I have tomato flowers on two plants! This is a major achievement for me!

I planted three varieties of winter squash, butternut, mini butternut, and acorn.

I also didn’t listen to what people said as far as planting melon, they are a waste of time.

We wanted to try to grow cantaloupe which if it fails will only cost $1.49.

If it produces sweet and juicy fruit it will save us a nice chunk of change.

I also planted green beans in the blue half barrels along with cucumbers.

I built the trellises for the squash and melon beds and the teepees for the cucs and string beans.

The beets and carrots have popped through the soil along with radishes I just planted last week! Woo-hoo!

My potatoes are growing! It’s amazing to watch. I hope I get a lot!

I didn’t end up planting any flowers on Mother’s Day because I saw the temps were going to be in the 30s. And they were.

Almost all of my flowers are planted with the exception of a few.

My petunias are stellar! I am so proud of them! Actually, I am proud of everything since I did it all from seeds.

Now fingers crossed my veggie garden has a good harvest and decent yields. 🤞🏼

I planted all of my herbs and potted up some gorgeous basil.

The lettuce and greens are coming along nicely and should be ready to eat next week.

The head lettuce that everyone advised again is doing good. To me it’s an experiment I wanted to try.

I moved the pots of sunflowers around the garden spaces. They are getting big!

I also have a lot growing in the greenhouse to transplant in the sunflower patch. If I did them from seed in the patch the birds would get them when they are too small.

I am pleased with the progress of the expansion. I also have been working a lot in the beds in the front of our house.

But that’s another post.

Or did it?

Try as I might, I cannot or don’t want to write in my garden journal.

I didn’t use the one I made last year, instead I referred back to my photos and blog posts.

That’s when I realized I am recording a garden journal but through my blog.

No wonder why I didn’t want to write shit twice!

If gardening isn’t your thing by all means you don’t have to read my garden updates.

I do know that people find the updates helpful when it comes to their own gardens through my failures and successes.

That’s it, I’m about to write another update since a lot has happened.

This week, I planted a lot of beets. I grew them last year and was mildly successful. I now know I didn’t thin the beets out enough and ended up with small beets.

Small beets that tasted fantastic that is. That was when I decided I had to plant our beets the correct way this year

In the meantime, I found a package of beautiful beets packaged beautifully at a market in my way home from a doctor’s appointment.

I was searching for beet recipes and I found tons. I also watched some recipes on YouTube.

I made a roasted beet and feta salad on greens with crushed praline pecans and raspberry vinaigrette to go with steak on Friday night.

I used the rest of the beets I roasted and made Harvard beets as a side dish tonight.

Harvard beets are such an old school side dish that is delicious! I am here to remind or introduce them to people.

While the beets are very healthy for you this dish does have a lot of sugar in it.

I’m sure there are healthier versions if you are watching your sugar.

I watched a woman make Harvard beets with a twist, she added freshly grated ginger and orange zest! Yum!

I never had Harvard beets before but I have heard of them. The sweet and sour sauce is just that.

If you used pineapple juice instead of water in the recipe you would have a Chinese sweet and sour sauce.

I followed a classic Harvard beet recipe because I wanted to taste the real Mc Coy.

The recipe calls for sugar, cornstarch, water, vinegar, cooked beets, salt & pepper.

It took me less than 10 minutes and that included peeling and slicing the beets.

Here is the recipe I used: https://www.thespruceeats.com/classic-harvard-beets-3051459

I am excited to watch my beets grow. They took a long time to grow last year.

This year I sped up the germination process by starting the seeds in a dish with wet paper towels.

When I lifted the paper towel up to check on the beet seeds I started jumping up and down.

“Hey Marty! Look! My beet seeds germinated!” I called out to him. I ran over to show him. “Nice!” I was grinning from ear to ear.

I used egg cartons to create perfectly spaced indentations in the soil this time.

I painstakingly dropped the germinated seeds into each indentation. It was fun and I enjoyed doing it.

I copied the guy I watched on YouTube and used tweezers so I could carefully peel the germinated seeds off the paper towel.

Now, I play the waiting game. With some sun, rain, love, prayers, and a little luck, I’ll have plenty of beets!

After harvested, I can squeeze in another batch for late fall and winter which will be stored in our root cellar.

My friend and reiki master Everley let me know that soaking strawberries doesn’t remove all pesticides since some soaks into the cells. Ugh.

She suggested buying organic. I realize that everyone can’t afford organic but if you want to and can then go for it.

Local strawberries in season are probably why they sell out so quickly during the short season. They are expensive but worth it.

Lastly, she also said to still soak organic strawberries since they are grown on top of dirt. soaking will remove the mold spores and bacteria.

I forgot to mention in my original post to soak the vinegar solution for 20 minutes.

I read somewhere a long time ago that washing or rinsing your strawberries doesn’t remove pesticides and other yucky things.

What I didn’t know was you need to soak your strawberries.

At a neighborhood gathering at our friends next door, a new neighbor told me about soaking your strawberries in a solution of vinegar and water.

I asked Dylan to tell me more. He said when you soak your strawberries in a 3:1 solution of water to vinegar it removes mold spores, bacteria, and pesticides.

He went on to say after you soak and dry your strawberries, they keep longer and taste sweeter.

Really? How did I not know this? Probably because before last year I didn’t eat a lot of fresh fruit.

I know, I know but in my defense, I was on a low residue diet for years because of my ulcerated colitis.

Last year, I got the all clear to eat anything I wanted to since I was in remission!

Last summer, I ate more fresh fruit than I had in my whole life. Marty and I couldn’t get enough fresh peaches, plums, cherries, melons, and berries.

On Tuesday, I mixed up to he vinegar and water solution and soaked the strawberries I bought on Saturday.

I was disgusted when I saw what came off the strawberries that collected in the bottom of the bowl. Yuck.

Shit, I was eating that. Ew.

After I soaked and dried off the strawberries I put them back into the fridge.

That afternoon I tried a strawberry. It was smooth and tasted delicious. It tast d clean. Yum!

I looked up the percentage of average people who knew to soak their strawberries in vinegar water.

Not many average people knew about the soaking. Well that made me feel a little better, but I don’t like being average.

Let me know if you soak or don’t soak your strawberries. Have you heard about the vinegar and water thing?

I was very late to this party but better late than never. 🍓

Growing up Mother’s Day was a big day for my mother and her mother, Nana.

Oh, there were corsages, gifts, getting dressed up, and dinner out. That was when I was little.

As I got older the corsages were no longer a thing. My father would buy two gifts for my mother, one from him and one from me.

Eventually. the second gift he bought came from me and the other child they adopted. It was always jewelry I think.

My father never gave my mother a Mother’s Day card so I had to make one every year.

Eileen would always ask my father the same question every year as to why he didn’t give her a card.

My father’s answer was simple, “Because you aren’t my mother.”

As I got older and had a job I told my father I could buy my own Mother’s Day gift for my mother.

All of my gifts were never right if they weren’t jewelry or the right kind of jewelry.

That’s how all the gifts I ever gave her were received. Wrong. Believe it or not my mother-in-law was the same way!

When I became a mother I had a simple wish, I wanted to go to a nursery and buy some flowers to plant.

As a stay at home mom, I was with our kids 24/7. I needed a break sometimes but never asked for one.

My desire on Mother’s Day was always the same, go to a nursery to get flowers and have Marty “babysit” the boys.

Now I think it’s ridiculous I felt like I to ask him to babysit his own children!

Back then, I felt that since I wasn’t working a real job, I didn’t deserve time alone. The kids were my responsibility 100% of the time. That was my job.

I know now that kind of thinking was fucked up.

It was a branch off the “I’m not worthy tree” I experienced growing up, always having to be perfect and be a good servant since after all, my parents adopted me.

I owed it to them. I owed it to Marty. I definitely felt like I wasn’t worthy to have anything I truly desired, even if it was an hour or two here or there.

My mother is the one who made me feel and treated me that way and used that in all of her guilt trips and manipulation until she died.

The branch growing off that “I’m not worthy tree” was that I felt guilty doing anything for myself since Marty was the bread winner so I could stay home and raise out boys.

I did get my wish to buy and plant flowers. It rained on many of those Mother’s Days. I didn’t care I would be outside for 2 or 3 hours with a raincoat on planting my flowers.

I was able to breathe while I was planting the flowers. It was my time of zen and joy. I throughly enjoyed that time alone.

I always planted petunias because they are one of my favorite flowers. I loved dead heading the spent blooms every night while sipping wine.

I took very good care of my flowers every year. They made me smile and made the outside of our home beautiful.

I haven’t done the planting flowers on Mother’s Day thing since the kids grew up.

Yes, I always plant flowers in the springtime but not on any one particular day anymore.

I didn’t think about that until today. I had mixed feeling about it. Sad, relieved, nostalgic, and bittersweet feelings.

As for my petunias this year, I started my own from seeds and they are better and bigger than any I ever purchased from a nursery! Yay!

However, nothing will ever beat those petunia hanging basket I had a few years ago. They were amazing.

Marty didn’t like them because they blocked his view from the front porch. Everyone loved them almost as much as I did.

This story is about me being the unlikely homesteader in a very Irish storyteller way again.

My first story was when Sam told me the piece wasn’t really about gardening. Oh, but it was my man-child.

Each of these stories in this series will keep explaining how I got to where I am today.

What started when the kids were little as an idea to get a little me time and beautify our home turned into something that I cherished each year.

It was so nice having some quiet and peaceful time but now I realize how much I enjoyed having my hands in the earth.

I loved watching my flowers grow. It wasn’t a task to take of them like all the other things I did.

I found it to be like a ritual to me during the spring and summer. Then the first frost would come and it was all over until the following year.

When I was ill with my lung disease two years ago, I wanted to start doing things that brought joy to my life.

I could have chosen anything, but the first thing I thought of was gardening.

This year I’ve spent hours and hours by myself starting seeds and all the other things that go with growing your own garden plants and flowers from scratch.

My favorite time is in the greenhouse or the garden. I get the same feelings I had while planting my flowers on all of those Mother’s Day’s.

I never would have imagined that I would be a real gardener and not just a mom who liked planting flowers and got a little time off.

Everyday I can’t wait to get out there and explore and check up on everything outside.

It’s become a ritual for me that I don’t have to wait for only once a year. It’s my life now.

Today, I decided I am going to plant some of my flowers again on Sunday, Mother’s Day and bring that tradition back. ☺️

Life-net 7-2 posted this photo celebrating nurses week at the their base.

No time for a post but I wanted to share the photo of our boy Sammy. ♥️