Weeding

Spent Sunday weeding rose bushes.  Good thing I waited to do it last.  I was going to pull an entire rose bush, that I had thought died over winter.  After weeding and cutting it back, I found one tiny new sprout of growth.  Oh happy day!  It's my most fragrant rose bush I have so far.

Fire Starters and Random Tidbits

There were a few requests on how I made these fire starters.  I do write another blog regarding the use of scraps of just about anything, and creating something new, useful or even art. 

Scrap Yarn Fun and Other Tidbits

It rained, and two kiddos left for the day (and night), and when that happens.....

I tend to be lazy.  I did get some dishes done, but I opted for porch time.  The rain cooled the weather so nicely, I could not resist.

Homemade Frozen Yogurt

I have one kiddo who loves frozen yogurt.  However the stuff you buy in the store is processed with unhealthy ingredients (high fructose corn syrup etc).  I decided to buy some yogurt, and toss in some honey and my homemade vanilla. 

The kids churned it in our ice cream maker.  As a kid, my siblings and I, always churned ice cream (on special occasions) with a hand crank ice cream maker.  I love my ice cream maker too.  We made goat's milk ice cream in it last year. 

The results?

Rhubarb BBQ Sauce

Once again Eating Well magazine provided a recipe that begged me to try.  My rhubarb is not ready to harvest this year, and I finally found some to buy.


I made pork tenderloin (organic), but decided to make it in a pulled pork version vs. baked (as the recipe instructed).  The sauce can be prepared ahead of time and frozen for future meals. 

Porch Thyme

There is always time for the porch.  Last year I planted thyme all around in the flower garden surrounding the porch. We'll see if it deters more mosquitoes this year.  I have some by the back porch too. 

Weeded most of the day, did some laundry and blah-de-blah-de-blah.  Oh wait, we are supposed to be happy when we do that stuff.  What am I thinking?  Tsk tsk.  Actually, I was happy to see that most of my carrots came up.  I may have to replant some beets, but they look pretty good too.

A very short post today.  This blog-a-day challenge is really a challenge today.  There was only one exciting thing yesterday. 

This! 

New Sign ~ Chickens, Herbs and Rodents

Hubby bought a new sign for the front porch.  I thought you could use a short post to read today, since a wrote such a long one yesterday.  Ha ha!  

After weeding the herb garden (or rather part of it), I tossed some lemon balm  I thinned out, into the chicken's nesting boxes.  I read that some herbs are great pest controls in the coop (Backyard Poultry Magazine, 2011, June/July issue).  

By the way, the author of that article, Susan Burek (Herbalist), also has an article you can read online. It's for making a natural  citrus disinfectant.  And it's for the chicken coop of course.  I found her article very interesting, because we do have a natural branch ladder in the coop, and I never thought once about the cracks and the possibility for mites to live and breed.  We don't have an infestation, but this is a nice preventative.  And it's natural.  

I have also found that my chickens don't eat my herbs.  They would rather have grass and bugs.  So for now, it will just make their nesting box smell good, and keep the rodents out.

If you don't like to see dead animals, don't click on the "read more" today.