Gardening

My seed planting helper

Well, it's getting to be that time of year again! Garden season! I am sooooo excited!! It has been hard for me to wait and not rush to get things started outside since we've had such warm days lately. But I know I am in a different garden zone now and have to plan accordingly. That was one nice thing about Oregon. We could grow just about anything and at pretty much anytime. We'd be eating lettuce and spinach from our garden by this time of year back in Oregon. Here, not so much.

But we were able to start some seeds so hopefully if all "grows" well we'll have some starts for the garden. We have a bunch of heirloom tomatoes started from seeds we saved from a couple years ago. We also have some lemon cucumbers, zucchini, broccoli, herbs and some lettuces. Most everything has come up nicely, though it looks like there may be a few things we either have to try planting again or just get starts from a nursery.

The girls have been good about helping me keep the soil moist with a little spray bottle and they are so happy to watch the seeds sprout and grow.

 We also planted some wheat seeds and lemon seeds for fun in our kitchen window. The wheat has grown so fast and looks so pretty! However, I think we are going to have to try some more lemon seeds as we haven't seen any signs of life and it has been a couple weeks now.

Little gardeners.

 One thing we did end up planting outside already was some early carrot seeds. Since our soil is pretty hard out here (I REALLY miss my raised garden beds!) we decided to try growing carrots in 5 gallon buckets. The girls each got a bucket and planted their seeds and make sure to keep them moist. They get plenty of sunshine as the backyard faces South and we have the buckets close by the house so they can't really get frosted. Hopefully we'll see some results, but if not, it will be a good lesson in perseverance and we'll just try again!

Some of our little sprouts. They are already much bigger than when I took this picture a couple days ago.

 This week I also got out the power tools and built a trellis for growing peas and beans on. I had a lot of fun and hopefully the trellis will last for many more years of gardening.

So, that's pretty much how our garden is growing right now. I will be trying to post regular updates as the season progresses. In the meantime, I'm off to read some books on gardening. There is always so much to do and learn!

Blessings!

Farm Tour

 Today the girls and I got to go take a tour of a local raw milk dairy. It was a blast! We are all such country girls that we loved every minute of being out in the fresh air with the animals! Hannah was concerned that we'd only see cows since it is a dairy, but I told her that there was sure to be at least a few other animals since it is a farm. We saw the cows of course, calves, pigs, chickens and LOTS of goats and baby goats! I think we all decided that we need to have our own goats someday. :) 

It was a great afternoon hanging out with the animals!

(Sorry the pictures aren't that great...once again, I left my real camera at home and had to depend on my phone. *sigh*)

King of the hill!

Sleepy pig

More sleepy pigs. The animals had just eaten before we got there so they were very contented.

Practicing being goats. :)

This was the girls' favorite goat. I think mostly because she was the one sticking her head through the fence to lick their hands.

"Dinnertime!"

One of the pretty cows. Love the big, dark eyes!

LOTS of goats!

Lots of the babies were all huddled up together. They are soooooo adorable!!! I really wanted to take one home with me. Our landlady said we couldn't have dogs here, but she never said anything about goats, so it'd be okay, right??? :)

How could you not love that face?

Hello!

Hannah the goat whisperer.

Ellie giving them more "dinner".

Blessings!

Winter is still here

 Just when we thought Spring was here, Winter decided to send in a little more white goodness for us to enjoy! And that's exactly what we did today! 

Last night we got a few inches of unexpected snow (though much needed!) and so after breakfast we bundled up to go outside and play...and shovel the driveway. :)

 It was fairly warm outside so it made the snow perfect for snowballs!

 And snow cakes!

View out the back door this morning.

 And GIGANTIC snowballs!

Hannah was going to make a snowman and then just decided it would be more fun to just keep rolling it and see how big she could make it. She did a pretty great job!

Most of the snow was gone by this evening. In fact, the kids were playing with some neighbor kids in the backyard tonight kicking a ball around in the grass. That's Colorado for ya!

It's supposed to be in the upper 60's the next couple of days and maybe even reaching 75 on Friday! I guess Spring is still on its way!

Queen of the snowball!

Blessings!

Rejoice!

Two smiling faces! Couldn't resist sharing this! :)

"This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!"

Psalm 118:24

I was just thinking about how many gifts are in my life. From little, sometimes-overlooked things, to the big, "that's a HUGE blessing" things. There is so much to be thankful for! Each new day is a blessing in itself to be glad and rejoice in!

On my previous blog, I tried to share some of these things from time to time. More as a reminder for myself than anything else. And I thought it would be nice to start doing that over here at Ripples of Grace.

So here's just a few things that I've been thinking of and thankful for lately.

1. Grace- beautiful and wonderful! Just the thought of how much God loves me is beyond my comprehension sometimes! And He loves YOU too!

2. Hugs and kisses from my little princesses- so precious and sweet!

3. Snowflakes floating gently down, glittering as they fall. In fact, they are falling right now as I type. Just when we thought Spring was coming...

4. A warm, cozy bed to curl up in. I LOVE my bed! Hannah and I were talking one night about talents and things we are good at (sparked by reading TinkerBell) and she told me I was good at sleeping. I think I might have to agree with her. :)

5. Sunshine to warm and cheer! Living in Colorado with its 300+ days of sunshine has been wonderful! I feel like a new person with all the sunshine! It is one of the best things to wake up in the morning to a beautiful, sunny day!

6. Play time with my girls- they are such a joy!

7. Little baby smiles- my best friend and next door neighbor back in Oregon recently got a new phone and we are able to have face time conversations now! And that's extra wonderful because I get to see her little one's adorable smiles!

8. Long phone conversations with my mama- she's the best! 

 

There is SO much more that I could write about, but I will leave it at that for now. It's time for this mama to head to bed. (See? I told you I love my bed! Well, that and it is going on midnight. *sigh* There's just not enough time in a day.)

 

Blessings!

Carrot-Potato Mash

On one of my recent browsings of Pinterest I came across a recipe for a dish made with roasted carrots. It sounded delightful! Though I wasn't sure if my kids would go for it. So I decided to modify it a little bit and add some potatoes in the mix. It was quite scrumptious and a fabulous side for our chicken and green beans.

Carrot-Potato Mash

Carrots

Potatoes

Cauliflower

Coconut oil, melted

Salt

Butter

I am sorry I don't really have an exact amount for anything. I just kinda eyeballed it to get the amount I wanted. Probably about similar amounts of carrots and potatoes and a little less cauliflower.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut up your carrots into carrot sticks. Toss with the melted coconut oil. I used around 2 tablespoons. But the amount will vary depending on how many carrots you end up using. Just make sure you use enough to coat the carrots nicely. :) 

Roast the carrots in the oven for about 40 minutes or until nice and tender and browned. Stir them once halfway through cooking time.

Meanwhile, peel and cut up your potatoes and cauliflower and cook in boiling water until tender.

Once all your veggies are cooked and tender, puree` them together with butter and salt to taste. The more butter and salt the better! :) I just used my kitchen aid mixer to blend them all together. Some of my carrots weren't quite as tender as I would have like so there were some bigger chunks that didn't want to blend up. My girls and I liked it that way but my step-son was not happy with it since he doesn't like cooked carrots. He ended up not even trying it because he could see the carrot pieces. All the more for the rest of us I guess! :) Next time I might use my vita-mix to puree` the carrots first and then blend everything together so there won't be chunks. 

This is one of my favorite side dishes now! Even better than plain old mashed potatoes! One of these days though I think we'll try the original version with just the carrots and cauliflower. Roasted carrots are delectable! And good for you! :)

Blessings!

Nature Study: Downy woodpecker

 We were so excited to have such a beautiful bird visit our yard this week! One morning Hannah happened to look out and notice this sweet little woodpecker in the lone, little tree in our backyard. He was so cute hopping around and pecking on the tree and the girls really enjoyed watching him. I decided to see if I could catch a few pictures of him out the back door so we could enjoy him after he was gone, but he decided to fly off before we could capture his image.

 This morning at breakfast though I just happened to glance out the window and saw that he was back! Hooray! We watched him for awhile again before I grabbed the camera. This time I just snapped pictures through the glass so I wouldn't scare him off.

 He is such a cute little guy, and we are just delighted that he visited our yard! We looked him up in our Audubon bird app on my kindle to find out more about him. And then we drew and painted his picture in our nature books. My girls just LOVE nature, and did not stop talking about our little woodpecker all day...well, okay, neither did I. :) It is just such a wonderful thing when God shares little gifts like that with us.

 Since it was such a nice day today (nearly 65 degrees and sunny!) we decided to take a bike ride to see what else we might see. We saw lots of mourning doves, heard a meadowlark, examined some cattails and enjoyed the fresh air. Along the way, we stopped for some play time in a grove of trees behind our neighborhood. And we spent a good hour at the playground before heading home. (The girls went right to sleep at bedtime tonight!)

 After our ride, we came home and played in the backyard and worked in the garden. I  got more than half of the weeds cleared out of the garden space which felt really good! The rest will probably have to wait as we are expecting a bunch of snow this weekend. Winter isn't quite through with us yet!

The raspberry/strawberry patch...hoping we get some yummy treats from here! Tickled pink that this was here when we moved in!

So thankful that we found a place to rent that has a nice garden space!

It was another great day in Colorado! Laughing, learning and playing together!

Blessings!

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky displays His handiwork. Day after day it speaks out; night after night it reveals His greatness."
Psalm 19:1-2

SNOW!!!

 On Sunday we got a big snow storm just like we had been hoping for ever since we moved out here to Colorado! It snowed ALL day and it was so cozy to sit inside and watch the snow pile up! We got around 10 inches by the time it was all said and done. Woo hoo!! What a fun way to get some much needed moisture!

 Of course, we couldn't just let all that snow pile up and stay inside for the whole day. Sooo we bundled up and trekked outside for some sledding and romping. I even pulled out my cross-country skis! It was quite windy though and with the snow coming down and blowing around, we didn't stay out too long.

(It was fun watching the ruler disappear!)

 Today was a much better day for snow play! The sun was out and there wasn't a cloud in the beautiful, blue sky! And the snow was perfect for making snowmen and having snowball fights!

 Ellie just adored the snowman and couldn't stop hugging him after we finished making him. This was her first experience with snowmen!

Hannah had a great time with the snowmen too! After helping me make the first one, she went on to make another one by herself!

 We also had fun rolling up snowballs to make a little fort. Then the girls insisted they hide behind it and told me to throw snow at them. Every time a snowball would plop over the top you could hear peals of laughter coming from behind the snow wall! It was great fun!

 We also made some snow ice cream for dessert after our lunch today. That was a delicious treat! And Hannah said it tasted just like real ice cream! It was super easy to make too! I found the recipe here.

Snow Ice Cream

8-10 cups of snow

1 can of sweetened condensed milk (I made my own. Recipe here. Can I just say, "I love Pinterest!")

1 teaspoon vanilla

Gather your snow. Pour in the milk and vanilla. Mix and enjoy! 

We put some chocolate and caramel syrup and sprinkles on ours. :)

So far life in Colorado has been amazingly wonderful! Snow, sunshine, blue sky, mountains...what more could you ask for?

Blessings!