What an incredibly gorgeous Sunday it was today! I sure hope you took some time and spent some time outside!

Pushing close to 60 degrees, we were barefoot and in summer attire! Woohoo! Warm grass with soft new green grass underfoot … some places anyway … bright blue skies and warm sunshine, honestly what feels better than that?! Not much if you ask me!

This morning we took all the plants out to the outside greenhouse to also enjoy the beautiful sun! Sunlight filtered through a window just isn’t the same for plants or people! It is SOO important to get out and get real sunlight!

So with everything in the greenhouse I got a better idea how much space I really have to work with . It actually was quite a good bit of space for the typical home gardener or even the ambitious home gardener! There are 6 shelves that can easily hold 3 of the trays(per shelf) you can pick up almost anywhere stores or here (single tray) or 10 trays here and a good walkway giving space to move easily! This is the greenhouse I’m currently using outdoors!

For me, this greenhouse seems very small because all my life my family has had greenhouses up to 100 feet long Haha so my opinion on “big enough” is a wee bit scewed! A larger greenhouse is definitely high on my wish list, I’d love to be able to have a few plants able to really grow to harvest early and late if not year round! I dont believe that would be optional with my current greenhouse, I may be able to have a few things grow a bit longer in it though?? Anyway …. for now my current set up is working and I’m sure it can for anyone wanting to get started but have the gardening “mess” remain outside!

Today Aurora was in a better mood than the last few days so I was able to get some more done! While she was napping I potted some strawberry roots, a few were already growing woohoo! In total I potted 21! They are everbearing so we can look forward to berries throughout the summer instead of just 1 boom in June! I forgot the name of these but I’ll be sure to post a link to somewhere you can get them in an upcoming update 😁.

I also planted more peas for early picking and eating of the greens. My last batch, which were old seeds, mostly didnt grow, the few that started just sort of died off after sprouting. Unfortunately seeds do lose viability over time so dont save the same packet for too long 😉 just plant them! I started some black cherry tomatoes as well.

After Aurora woke up she came outside to watch me in the greenhouse. Between a spare bassinet to play in and a bumbo seat I managed to get an extra hour outdoors! Where there’s a will there’s a way!

Summer and I cleaned leaves out of the plants in front of the house. We have tulips, waiting to see colors, daffodils and day lily coming up so far. There’s also another plant I’m trying to figure out if it is a weed that we dont want or something  cool 😜 or better yet, a weed that I’ll want 😁 My mom wasn’t sure either so I guess we just wait!!

My mom stopped by to drop off a few things and help identify plants so we don’t accidentally tear up something we want. When it comes to plants and flowers my parents are a goldmine! My mom grew up in the floral/farming industry and continued it herself for the last, nearly, 50 years! My dad is a master gardener and has all sorts of helpful information and ideas! So we are incredibly blessed to have them handy for questions, help etc.

A few days ago my dad brought my mom an arrangement of red maple branches, right now they have little red buds on them but when they open they have a really cool red and orange poof to them. My mom picked me some branches during our walk around the yard. I’m anxious to see them opening … if you have any in or around your yard you should grab a handful! 😁

As the afternoon passed we realized the greenhouse gets shaded earlier in the day than I had originally thought .. current placement was my 4th idea and I hadn’t watch the timing there oops! Thankfully it is easy to move so theres another project for tomorrow, like more are needed 🤣 We will move it to my 3rd idea which I did watch and gets sun into the evening. It is all learning right now, I sometimes feel like I’m saying “this is just a temporary thing to see how we like it or how it will work”, about everything!

Yay I just got an email from the lady we are getting hatching eggs from, I can pick up the eggs tomorrow!!! I LOVE hatching! I’ll tell you more about them tomorrow!

Now for dinner! I don’t talk that often about dinners but this one was fun, yummy and taught me something new!

Tonight was a “clean out” meal … that means it was using odds and ends, left overs, things that just haven’t been used for other meals etc. With a little thought these clean up meals can come out really good instead of just “boring left overs” or instead of just throwing things out!

Most of this meal actually came from items that had been gifted to us over the last 6 months or so, making it even better!

We had a small pack of venison burger and 2 small venison steaks, neither being enough for a family meal by themselves. Also a small cabbage, 1 large, soft but not gone bad yet, beet, some parsnips, radishes and I’d gotten some fresh asparagus the other day.

All of these vegetables will be grown in our garden … the only thing is, is I hate parsnips, radishes and beets 🤦‍♀️ … others like them though, just picky mom doesn’t Haha. Sooo … I was trying to think how I could manage to make dinner and not waste this food. I had heard that roasting the root veggies is really good so I figured I would try. I chunked up the parsnips, sliced the radishes in half, then chunked up the beet which was about the size of a softball! I then cut the cabbage in 8 pieces, I tossed the root veggies in olive oil and dipped each side of the cabbage wedges in it. Put them all on a cookie sheet and sprinkled with Himalayan salt and pepper. Covered the whole deal with aluminum foil and put it in the oven for 45min.

Normally I saute asparagus in a but of butter with some garlic powder in a frying pan but Aurora was getting grumpy and wanting to nurse. I needed a quick option so I put the asparagus and a few pats of butter into some foil as well, folded over the seams and ends, kind of like you would do with veggies on the grill, placed the pack in a pan and put it in the oven for 25 min. I now found my new favorite way to cook asparagus! It came out tender but with a bit if crunch still with virtually no work!

So everything is all cooked, plates served up and those roasted root vegetables that I hate ….. I tasted because that’s house rule, even for parents, oh my goodness … they were AMAZING!!! the bitter taste from the radishes, gone! The odd taste of parsnips, gone and replaced with this almost creamy, slightly sweet taste! The beets were really tasty and cabbage was delicious!

Like I tell my kids, sometimes, you dont like a food the way you tried it but if you find the right way to cook it and suddenly you love it! Well, I think i just found a new favorite and will definitely be cooking root vegetables this way very regularly this year and beyond! Give it a try next time you are stumped on what to do with these, sometimes, hard to figure out what to do with vegetables!

Have you discovered a food you thought you didnt like was actually really good prepared a different way than you’d had before? Please share in the comments!