Plant Rehab Continues.

I am planting a few more succulents I have rescued from my visit to the store. I have done the potting most and had three more, and I think that is all for this summer/fall of 2018.  

I have created almost like an altar for my crazy collection of plants. I am enjoying them very thoroughly. I can't wait to record the progress of these tiny plants in the future. I hope I won't put them to rest! 

I am beginning to enjoy my morning walks, and they are just around my neighborhood. I am so happy that I can walk without excruciating pain in my legs. Each week I am adding a bit more to my morning walk like walking around another block or training to carry weights less than 5 lbs. 

I am also noticing the nature.  How some individuals have gone out of the way to take care of their gardens. I am fortunate to friends with a few expert gardeners in the town. 

I have so much work in our garden to get done during this fall, and I genuinely think I can if I can make more progress on my health. I couldn't help myself today by taking a few of these pictures during my walk. The cactuses called me to stop and adore them, and that is what I exactly did here. Morning glories are so beautiful and peaking them through the white picket fence was like out of this world. How could anyone past them not capture their delicate beauty? Nature has its way of healing, and I cannot walk by not taking it entirely. 

Indoor Plants

I developed a love of planting when I was very young. It all started way back in Sri Lanka. I remember when I left my home I had collected many including outdoor and indoor plants. I would rotate them by bringing them inside. When I moved to the US, I began to answer this nature calling by taking a few cuttings from a parent dinner night from a former student, and the rest was history. I went to a creating a jungle. I recall that I moved with my plant collection. My son used to enjoy watering the plants when I stick them outside for summer. Then I had to make this big move from VA to NY - Long Island I gave my jungle away to friends and family. I decided never to have any house plants it was hard, I had a great collection of African violets, and they died due to my traveling.  

I am rekindling my love for plants for the past few years. I have a tiny collection some I keep at work and some I stay at home. I mainly take care of rehab plants in other words plants that need some attention. However, I have also purchased a few. I hope I won't get too crazy about my interest in plants. 

To my surprise, I find my daughter wants to keep a couple in her room, and how could I resist her interest. Well, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. Here I am rooting/ rehabilitating a few succulents, Devil's ivy (Epipremnum), and Silver Pothos, (Pothos Argenteus) are a handful of  ubiquitous houseplants.   

Thanksgiving Menu 2017

Thanksgiving Menu 2017  

Thanksgiving Meal 2017 Created by Nicolette and Amma

Salad

Hearts of Romaine with Crisp Red Apples, Celery and Cider Vinaigrette

Soup

New England Clam Chowder

Main Course 

Maple Glazed Turkey

Linguiça Sausage stuffing with mushrooms and Caramelized Onions

Sweet Potato Purée with Pecan Streusel 

Green Beans with Lemon-Butter Bread Crumbs and Toasted Almonds 

Cape Cod Cranberry Compote

Dessert 

Key Lime Custard Tart

Honey Roasted Bosc Pears with Sticky Toffee Pudding Ice Cream

Spiced Pumpkin Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Photo Credit goes to JDH Wealth Management, LLC 

Our little bit of EARTH...

It's being a while I have written something in here. I have not visited this space mainly I have been in school, travelling, injured, and everything in between. However, the creativity has been in always progressing. Well enough of that, I want to share some pictures from 2017 urban gardening. Straight from our backyard.

These are garden runner beans, when I was in the UK last summer, I saw these in a friend's garden. They were not that big I immediately walked towards it because of the lovely flowers. This past spring one of my friends did an art show, and she had these beautiful plants incorporated into her art exhibition. So far they are not producing many beans but a ton of flowers and few beans here and there. 

I have stopped buying dill from my local nursery mainly because every spring I get few plants from the previous year's seeds. So it so cool to see them going into seeds. I also like them in my salads, and of course, I am looking forward to pickling some runner beans with dill if I am lucky with my beans. 

I changed the spot for eggplants from last year, and unfortunately, they are not doing well this year. I see one flower and the bees are buzzing around it. Hoping to see at least one eggplant this summer. Few more happenings at home; besides summer courses this summer we are making popsicles at home and celebrating the month of August with canning.  

A pot of strawberry jam simmering while I time myself outside pulling weeds and attending to our garden. 

We loved the honey peach popsicles with a hint of lemon!

Knitting

I love knitting and in 2016 I decided to knit few pieces every month. I did not get to knit during the month of August. I tend to my foot and spend few hours in our yard. However, during summer I was able to knit few pieces when I was in England and then it stopped. I am always winning new ideas to knit this month. 

I love knitting cowls and hats especially the winter up north could be a hash. Getting out of the house to the car, from car to work, and around school could be tricky. If I don't have the right gear, I am not a happy camper. Besides its fun to knit, I know that repetition does so much to the brain according to various researchers. 

I love knitting; this also gives me an opportunity to make those lovely handmade items as gifts for close friends and families. I don't come from a knitting family no one in my family knits. I hope this holiday I can hone my skills to another level by making few unique pieces. 

Eating my vegetables

I occasionally I enjoy cooking when I am not stressed about dinner. Mainly weekends have been lately busy with classes and catching up with friends and finishing up projects. This weekend I had a great time cooking and prepping food for the upcoming school week. 

This year I have started to prep food for a week and froze them mainly meat including fish. It is almost like the blue apron but not much cutting on weeknights. I like coming home when dinner is ready to go and to tackle classes. 

This is a super easy vegetable dish we all love. The recipe includes cauliflower, carrots, and potatoes. Our little miss helped me to cut vegetables, and she was so proud that she gets to help me to cook. Not only that she was so happy to finish all her food.  

This year Nicolette is taking, swimming, karate, and music. I am super excited for her, and she is too. I am looking forward to seeing her creating music. 

Summer 2016 Gardening

I always planned this somewhere in January. Yes, I think that is where the itch of planning the garden starts. I know by March I am looking for potted plants. I guess it is a gardening thing you can say. I was unsuccessful this spring planting beans. Out of all plants green beans, that is how I embarked into 2016 gardening. I planted about three to four packages of green and wax beans and still have not harvested nor cooked a single green bean from our garden. 

This year I dug out few plants from my compost and as usual, they were wines. At first with no clue what they are going to be I nursed them with love and care and off I went to hurt myself to another country. 

Later found out of three wines I have planted, they have been producing butternut squash. We have harvested total of five squashes and shared them with neighbors, co-workers, and there is still more to harvest.  

Kale seems to be doing great this year, our first crop of broccoli was delicious with stir-fried pork. The children and the husband loved it! I have been gathering kale, beet tops, Swiss chard, and New-Zealand spinach often this summer. We also pulled a couple of beets, picked few cucumbers. 

Our Garlic harvest was tiny, but individual bulbs were fleshy. We also add another raised bed to our small backyard, and I planted eight eggplants. Out of eight four are Italian while other an Asian variety. So we have been blessed with eggplants. As of chillies, I planted four plants of green peppers and this summer I have not bought green chillies to cook! There is also this unlimited supply of herbs such as; sage, thyme, flat parsley, basil, fennel, cilantro, and mint. 

The tomatoes have been the queen of the crop this season; I think mainly to the lack of rain and the heat they have been just producing pounds and pounds of tomatoes. I want to say I have harvested more than fifty and made sauces out of it. Chickens are laying but not on a regular basis, but we have had eight eggs few days this summer, and we are not complaining.