Lavender

I love lavender.  The color, the smell, the way it lingers in the laundry, the way the leaves feel when you rub them….

I know, I have a problem.  But I just love the stuff!

Last year I finally planted a small plant by our front door, and this spring I was able to add another plant as well.  It’s been thriving, and now that I have a little time to play with it, I’m so intrigued with using lavender in our kitchen.  Growing up there was a tea shop in my town, and the owner made the most delicious chocolate-lavender cake, and I’ve been more than a little obsessed with cooking with it since.  Anything I’ve read has suggested that it goes well with honey, pork, anything sweet (thus the chocolate cake).  Today we started small by starting some lavender sugar (it will have to cure for about two weeks before we use it) and then I steeped some the leaves in a simple syrup and made sweet tea.

The Sweet Tea is delicious with just the right amount of herby goodness, and I do believe the lavender sugar with be amazing in some shortbread cookies, or even mixed in with some lemon zest as a muffin topper.

Endless. Lavender. Possibilities.  EEEE!!!

A case of the ickies

 

I’m laying on the couch with a 101 fever watching my Lucy chasing something in her dreams and listening to JGL snore over in the chair.  I really, really hate taking medicine, and the concept of the medicinal herb garden I read about in The Backyard Homestead is sounding real appealing right now.

So hopefully when I stop feeling like a mini-heater we can get to some of the good stuff–the cleaning up the gardens and mapping out exactly what we want.

Any herbal remedies you all recommend out there?

Easter Weekend

Both JGL and I are beat.  We’ve spent most of the day outside, and I’m pretty sure I have a sunburn on my back and tan lines (Forgive me, ELF!  I’ll fix them before your wedding!!).

It feels great 🙂

We took a TON of pictures today, so rather than post them all here, we’ve put them up on Facebook.  You can still access them even if you don’t have a FB account by clicking here to see the public photo album.  I’ve tried to narrate them as we’ve gone along so you all can follow what we’re documenting. 

It’s been a stunning few days, compared to last weekend.  It’s been in the high 70s, low 80s, sunny and beautiful.  JGL cleared out the carport, and we even had dinner out there last night.  More than likely we’ll be out there again tonight 🙂  The week is looking to be the same, but with some rain towards the end of the week, which we’ll need.

But here’s the rundown of what’s been accomplished this weekend thus far:

• Fencing put up around the vegetable garden (woo hoo!  Take THAT deer!)
• Lime worked into the soil, “back forty” re-tilled and turned, and as many clumps of grass as we can moved OUT.
• Salad, bush beans, and two rows of corn put into the ground 🙂
• Grass seed put on the very bare patches of lawn–watered and hay placed on top
• Negotiations started with Neighbor about using his truck to procure mulch for the flower beds

The seedlings are looking strong, although they need to be thinned out.  I’m pretty amazed that we haven’t killed any yet, but we’ll take it–fresh tomatoes are going to taste sooo good!

But before we get ahead of ourselves, I think it’s time to get clean, pick up the house, and take a breather–I think Carson and Lucy would like to spend some quality time with us rather than watch us run around.  Happy Easter, everyone!

It's the Easter Lab, Charlie Brown!