FullCircle Florals Gardening

Blueberries! As 6AM rolled around I was excited to hop out of bed this morning! I jumped in my car and drove the 11 miles to the town of Corning, CA, my hometown, to do something totally new to me…pick Blueberries! A few days ago a sign appeared on the corner of Houghton and South Avenue that boldly announced, “u-pick Blueberries”.   I was elated to see such a novel proposition in Corning. When my sister called last night to invite me to go with her this AM I was thrilled! We arrived at the site not having any idea what was in store for us except for a few helpful hints from some relatives who had been going daily to pick there. One, go EARLY! Less people and the berries are firmer as is the case with most harvesting. Two, pick from underneath the plants where the berries are bigger, juicier and firmer. We grabbed ourselves a bucket, which we informed we should fill up for $5. They are easy to pick with no thorns unlike our other summer favorite, Blackberries! My sister and I ...

A friend of mine just submitted a post to her blog http://mealsandsteals.blogspot.com   that made me think. actually, it made me listen and think. So in response to her prose, I write this….LISTEN. It really does go a long way. My husband tells me I don’t listen sometimes and he is SO right. There are so many beautiful sounds in this world that get muffled with the high paced life we live. I many have, from time to time, given the impression that living it the country on this farm is all peaches and cream. Which would be wonderful, but, it is incorrect. However, if I listen to Lindsey, the above mentioned blog author, I could change some of that chaos in to calm if I practiced listening in the moment. In my garden I have found that there is a peace that exists. I get a sense of calm and relaxation from simply visiting it. I find a bed and observe what is happening there whether it be the tips of potato vines just peeking through the soil, or new baby plants and flowers emergin...

Part 3: The Aftermath The bee keeper was very careful to assure the bees were moved safely from their happy home to a new nice white box, their new happy home. He commented that they were the most docile he had ever encountered. This may not have been such a good thing, as during subsequent check ups they weren’t found up to much of anything productive. They had let their brood (baby bees) die, weren’t doing much comb building and he didn’t see sign of the queen at all! In attempts to rectify the situation he brought out another hive to do a combine. He attempted to combine them together so that the bees from the house would have a queen and get to stepping! Another week pasted as we watched and waited to see if the combine took. When he examined them he found that there was in a queen in the box from the house bees after all and separated them again.   They have been sucking down the sugar water that I have been filling up for them every few days and one hive seems to be muc...

Since I was unable to attend the extraction, I have posted this slide show to detail thr process. A picture is better than a thousand words, right?

I have long wanted to join the ranks of the beekeepers. With all the gardens, flowers, blossoming trees and garden veggies that need the little flyers for pollination out here, I knew they would be happy out here on the ranch.  I have done a little research about them but haven’t taken the leap to start me an apiary. However, as I often find is the case out here, they choose us! Early this Spring I was weed eating on the North side of our house, a pretty low traffic area, and discovered to my surprise bees were frequenting a hole in the side of the house where my husbands grandpa had installed the hot water line for the bath tub many years ago. At the time I thought, “this weed eater is going to make them mad, I should steer clear” and did so.  Later that evening, suddenly realized the ramifications of what I had witnessed and I nearly shouted at Eric, “there are bees in the side of the house!”  My son’s wall is directly on the other side of this area so our first thought...

My Easy Quiche I made one of my favorite recipes last night for a dear friend's visit. Years ago she and I spent many a night in the Kitchen cooking up a quiche on a whim and have thus, established a strange tradition between up. I have been making this version of my own design for many years and find it easy and satisfying. I have tried a million flavor combinations and all have been pretty tasty so be creative and find out what is your favorite. Here are the basics: Erin's Easy Quiche 1-cup Veggies-Steamed broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, are my favorites. or mix it up! Just make sure its cooked because it only warms in the quiche. 1 cup diced meat-Ham, bacon, sausage work well. Again make sure it cooked. 1 pie crust (your preferred recipe, box or mix. I use Krustez pie crust in the box you just add water to and roll out). 1 Dozen Eggs 1/2-3/4 cup milk 1/2 block cream cheese-Softened 1/2 cube softened butter 2 cup cheese mix. I use swiss, chedder, mozzerella, jack, whate...

When I first started gardening organically I was armed only with books and magazines that swore it was not only possible but beneficial to garden with out chemicals and pesticides. As a gardener for many years using what it thought were the conveniences of chemicals it was hard to convince even myself that this was even remotely possible. However, now that I have been hard at it for the last 6 years I feel like I have a pretty good handle on what I believe to be the 3 keys to organic gardening. Attracting beneficials: I have found this to be my favorite thing about organic gardening because it give me a perfectly legitimate excuse to justify buying flowers that don't produce veggies that we can consume. The right ones, however, do attract the "good" bugs that an organic garden SO needs. It is common knowledge that lady bugs are good for the garden but the why of it is not always clear to everyone. Lady bugs are very effective "bad" bug predators. Aphids are th...