Our Little Garden Experiment...

(*If you read our family blog, you have already read this. :o)  ~Tracy)

Planting the seeds.

Watering.

Trying to save the kale.

Counting out the seeds to plant.

This spring we decided to plant a family garden.  The girls were very enthusiastic and helpful throughout the process.  We chose to use "the square foot garden" style of gardening, due to our small yard.  We had a mixed start, planting some seeds and some plants previously started at the store. (Hoping this would increase our chances at success!)

First strawberry!

DH assembled the garden box and moved most of the soil, since it was too heavy for the rest of us.  The girls spread the soil, with help from me. The girls also created the grid to separate the sections of the garden.

DD8 and DD4 especially liked having some say into the plants we were to grow. Strawberries came into the picture quickly!
It was exciting to see the plants emerge from the soil in around 2 weeks! Weeding was minimal, which kept them willing to help :o)  They also enjoyed the nightly watering routine. (Our summer has been terribly hot and dry.)
We were pleased that the deer seem to have found other sources of food this summer.  Perhaps the direct sun and the high temperatures kept them away.  Although, they did seem to like the taste of the bean bushes!  They also sampled our tomatoes, but mostly left them alone.  The neighborhood cat was a little more of a nuisance, along with the caterpillars who ate all of our kale...
All in all, we have enjoyed the experience and hope to have repeated success next year. ~Tracy

New Summer Favorite~Blackberry Platz

...with ice cream and syrup!

We were thrilled to see so many Blackberries this year in our CSA basket!  Many were eaten straight from the basket, but I was able to bake with some of them :o)  My new go-to recipe for our summer blackberries is a coffee cake called platz on the site where I found the recipe. (*It seems to be of German-Austrian roots, but is very similar to a cherry cake I enjoyed in Poland.)

We went crazy one night and ate it with ice cream and a quick blackberry syrup, made on the stove. The kids loved it! 


It also tastes great made with blueberries. Be careful if they are frozen, my first time attempt resulted in blueberry mush in the middle! My second attempt, I thawed them and strained the excess juice and water.  I also was sure to spread them out across the top of the cake. That took care of the mushy, clumping problem.
Enjoy!
~Tracy

CSA goodies make a favorite~Beef with Snow Peas

One of our favorite dishes early this summer was Beef with Snow Peas! It's my mom's favorite dish and I am glad I can make it myself. I basically followed the recipe, but added mushrooms, red peppers, and peanuts (the next time I made it!). We enjoyed it with steamed white rice. I love how our CSA challenges me to try new recipes!