Happy Anniversary!

Today is my amazing older brother and wonderful sister-in-law's 4th Wedding Anniversary! 

I remember their beautiful wedding day in Tucson, AZ four years ago today and wish them many many manyyyyyyy more years to come!

Happy 4th Anniversary, Randy and Becky!

xoxo

Fall Garden - 5 Weeks

It rained three days earlier this week. It wasn't constant rain for three days, but a pretty good amount each day. After day two I thought that a few of my crops were getting too much water so I covered my beets and carrots with the chairs and brought the basil inside. It lived in the guest shower stall for a good 24 hours and seemed to not mind one bit!

Beets

Carrots

I have to admit, I was scared that it might, but the rain didn't do any damage.  Yes, I know - rain = good for gardens, but too much rain isn't...

The herbs are still all doing amazing.  Even with cutting back the Flat Leaf Parsley and Garlic Chives a week ago, they're still going strong.  The Parsley may be a lil small still, but I have faith it'll be full and leafy again in no time!

Flat Leaf Parsley

Garlic Chives

Cilantro

Scallions

Mint

Upright Rosemary

Basil

My Basil plant continues to amaze me!

And look - it even has tiny new growth near the soil.

My Spinach is still doing great, but not much with it has changed. I plan on enjoying it in a couple salads this week!

My Snap Peas looks really cool, but it is still just the vines. I can't wait until it starts to produce food! 

The Tomato Plant looks kind of sad.  I've finally come to terms with it and can admit it. Although it's appearance isn't the greatest, it's still thriving.  I see new flowers and tiny tomatoes all the time and am excited to see new clusters growing!  

And last but not least, the Jalapeno Plant.  I have about 5 mini jalapenos growing with other blooms and tiny buds too!

Check back next week for the latest progress! :)

Bats, Leaves and Pumpkins Galore!

I LOVE decorating my apartment for Fall. I get to enjoy the Halloween Decorations and keep some other Fall ones up until after Thanksgiving is over!

Since I love it so much, I figured I would get the most out of it and decorate as early as possible.  I could have decorated last weekend because it was technically Fall then, but I wanted to wait until October to begin.  I couldn't wait any longer and started the decorating this weekend!

The gourds are something new this year.  I've always loved the way it looked and finally bought enough at a bargain price and created this display outside my front door right below the hanging pumpkin Welcome sign shown above.

The hallway has been turned into a bat cave with tiny hanging black rubber bats.  My cats want to get them but can't so they just meow at the bats.

I've done the hanging bats a couple years now, and last year thought falling Autumn leaves would look just as cool.  I didn't want real ones because that would be messy, but I wanted something that looked real!  On a whim I found parchment paper Fall leaves at Cost Plus World Market a few weeks back. 

A garland with leaves similar to the falling leaves is hung over the entrance to the Den.  I previous hang this under cabinets at my old place, but I like it's new hanging spot better!

Here are other random festive decorations around my apartment.  I still have a few more to add - and of course a carved pumpkin or two closer to Halloween, so look out for more soon!

Can't forget the candy!

Oh and this crow...this crow that I put up!  

It's scared ME numerous times.  Oh yes...

Fall Garden - 4 Weeks

A month in and all of my crops are doing very well.  So well in fact that after taking the pictures for this post, I was able to do quite a big Spinach harvest to sautee and enjoy. I will be posting about it soon, so stay tuned! :)

Like I've said before, my herbs are doing amazing, but again, after taking these pictures, I cut quite a bit of the Flat Leaf Parsley and Garlic Chives to use in a soup I was making. You will see the difference next week after a little bit of growth.  

Flat Leaf Parsley

Garlic Chives

Cilantro

Sweet Basil

Scallions

Upright Rosemary

And the Mint that just grows and grows and growwwwws!

The crops I started from seeds - my pride and joy because I began their lives - all seem to be doing great. I planted a few more beets because I had room and they started to come up this week.

Beets

Baby Beet!

Carrots

Snap Peas

I can't forget the old favorites - the Tomato and Jalapeno Plants!  They both are still blooming every day and I can't wait for another full crop from both!  Yummmmmmy!

Tomato Plant

Jalapeno Plant

Friends, Food, Fun & Folk Music!

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending an annual Folk Scene.  I've done so for the past five or six years and it's only gotten better! There's great Folk music, a huge variety of food and drinks, and of course, you get to see some great friends.

I always make something delicious to share with everyone, but this year I made something that included crops from my garden. I love being able to tell people that they're eating something I grew.

My friend Rachel seemed to enjoy the Caprese Skewers with Basil from my garden. That's the benefit of having such a big plant of it on my balcony - I can take whatever sized leaves I need and exactly how much I'll use that day.

I also made a batch of my Great-Grandmother's Banana Bread.  I turned the dough into muffins and mini muffins, and man were they a hit. Some people had more than one. Maybe I'll make them again next year, but double the batch!

And last but not least, I made Garlic Chicken Bites. They are tiny bites of amazingness and this was evident by how fast they went! I served them with Ranch Dressing and BBQ Sauce.