Neighbor Treats

Ahhh, that time of year again... baking Christmas goodies! That's what has been on my mind the last few days... what to make for the neighbors?

Last year I made yummy white chocolate popcorn with mint M&M's. Just melt some white chocolate or almond bark (about 3 bricks), pour over a freshly popped bag of microwave popcorn, and mix in some M&M's!

This year I am considering the Almond Toffee Crunch my mom taught me how to make. Although I'm a little concerned that it won't make it out the front door before I eat it all. Anything toffee flavored is my very favorite!!!

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 cup ground almonds

Place first 4 ingredients in a heavy pot with a lid on. Bring to a boil on high, covered, without stirring. Once mixture is boiling, remove lid, add almonds, and begin stirring quickly. Continue stirring rapidly until toffee thickens, darkens, then begins to smoke. Allow to smike for 10-15 seconds, then pour immediately onto a foil-lined baking sheet. Spread out and allow to cool. You can spread melted chocolate over toffee once it is cooled. Allow to cool completely, invert, peel off tin foil, and crack. If covered in chocolate, allow to cure for6 hours before cracking.


These Giant Ginger cookies (source) have also been a favorite at our house lately. Mike says they are the best cookies he has ever had, which is saying a lot considering he loves my snickerdoodles and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies too! I think they would be cute tied with pretty ribbon. We also love them with vanilla ice cream smooshed in between.

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups shortening
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
3/4 cup coarse sugar, or granulated sugar

In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt; set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat shortening with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds to soften. Gradually add the 2 cups granulated sugar. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and molasses. Beat in as much of the flour mixture as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour mixture. Shape dough into 2-inch balls using 1/4 cup dough. Roll balls in the 3/4 cup coarse or granulated sugar. Place about 2-1/2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 12 to 14 minutes or until cookies are light brown and puffed. (Do not overbake or cookies will not be chewy.) Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.

What's baking in your kitchen? DO share!

Festive Centerpieces

I haven't done anything flowery or crafty this week so I took a look back in the Christmas archives. I love hosting Christmas get-togethers if only because decorating for them is so much fun! My favorite centerpieces include live flowers, but there are lots of pretty things you can do even with a few ornaments.

One time (in the years before kids!) my friend Bethany and I hosted a little dinner and made this fancy centerpiece. I still had a floral wholesale license back then, so I took a trip to the flower cooler and picked up evergreens, red callas, and berries. Floral foam held everything in place in a small vase within the larger vase filled with ornaments.

Another year a friend asked me to do a large centerpiece for a party she hosted for her husband's work. She actually just found the flowers at Costco: white callas, red glads, red berries, and greenery. (Sometimes you can special order things from the Costco florists--check with your local store.) I love the height and simplicity... stunning.

I also love these handy nesting vases... all you need is a few roses, some greenery, and small ornaments and you have a sparkly little display.

Continuing the ornament theme, it's pretty enough to just fill clear vases with shiny ornaments or berries and call it good!

I found these other sweet and simple ornament centerpiece ideas here. Use whatever you have--candles, cake plates, crystal bowls... the sky is the limit!

Happy hosting!

Snowflakes

"Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated. When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind." - Wilson A. Bentley

When was the last time you made snowflakes? I grew up making snowflakes with my mom (the master snowflake cutter) to decorate our windows at Christmas time. I have such fond memories of it! I think it's time to continue the tradition, so we are playing with snowflakes over here today. I love how even the simplest cuts make something beautiful.

For our daily advent surprise we did a craft: W for Winter with iridescent confetti snowflakes.


Cassi from a wonderful craft blog I follow recently posted this incredible history and tutorial on snowflakes, and gave me permission to pass it on.


You really ought to try Make-A-Flake! It is so much fun!

Free Gardening Advice!

Here is my first official Q & A session! I know only my mom and sisters read this blog (hi guys!) but in the case that anyone else does, I would love to try to answer your questions about green things.

My friend, Tina in Pennsylvania, asked:

"So we have an apple tree but it, along with the whole yard, has been neglected for years. It did grow apples this year, but they were very small and the cores seemed rotted almost immediately. They almost sounded hollow when I tapped on the cores. So, my question is, can it be fixed, and do I need to call an expert? I'm thinking it's overcrowded. Can that happen? And if I trim it myself, can I ruin it? Could it have some sort of bug or infection? Does that kind of thing happen? And finally, if I call someone, should I do it now or in the spring? I'd love to have apples and make apple sauce next year."

My answer:

From what I have seen, it’s pretty hard to grow apples organically. Most people who have apples trees spray for insects and diseases, because, yes, they do commonly happen! I would say spraying usually happens in the spring. Your best bet would be to contact a professional for the spraying, but you can learn to do the pruning yourself! It's not hard!

Also, most people don’t know about an awesome FREE information source—your local university Cooperative Extension service and Master Gardeners. They are trained volunteers who are familiar with the horticultural region and growing conditions. They have tons of information and resources at their fingertips and they are there just to help you! They may even have a list of professional arborists to get you started.

Here are some links I found just from perusing the Penn State Cooperative Extension website:

Contact a Master Gardener directly (click on your county to get numbers)

Complete guide to growing apples! (click on pome fruits)

Tree Fruit Resources

You may wonder, why such a plug for cooperative extension? Well, I'll toot my own horn for a moment... (although again, mom and sisters already know this! Hi guys! :)

I'm a Master Gardener! Or was, when we lived in Nevada. To be certified in Utah I would have to take a few more classes and start over with my volunteer hours.


In the fall of '07 I began a course through the University of Reno Extension Service to become a Master Gardener. It sounds like a flashy title, but really it's just a name for a person who volunteers to teach and 'extend' education to the community. I took a 70-hour classroom course (mostly a super quick review of my hort education) and then had a year to complete 50 hours of volunteer service to become certified. After graduating from the coursework in December, my volunteer hours were put on hold to prepare for and welcome little Maddie! But starting in April I began participating a couple of times a month on various projects. Most of my time was spent on the Master Gardener help line (call in to get your gardening questions answered today!) and also as a leader for the Junior Master Gardener program that met 2x a month. The kids enjoyed growing pumpkins, planting herbs, and learning about compost. It was a rewarding way to serve the community and stay connected to the green industry.

For those of you living here in Utah, here are the contact numbers for the Utah State Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners. More info on their website here.

Here is another great cooperative extension website:

"Gardening and landscaping is extremely popular in urban areas and, in many ways, the public's main connection with agriculture and the natural world around them. Extension offers an extensive catalog of publications on every aspect of landscaping and gardening. We have demonstration gardens in several areas around the state where you can see plants and landscaping techniques before you try them at your home. Underlying all of our gardening programs is conserving water - Utah's most precious resource."

Happy gardening!

Bearded Iris

My mom came to visit this weekend and brought a little gift from her yard. She has the most beautiful bearded iris... I remember loving them when I was little because they have little fuzzy beards that looked like colorful caterpillars. And when you examine the petals up close they have a opalescent sheen that sparkles in the sunlight.

Who would think that iris grow from this funny looking thing? It's called a rhizome, and for this little lesson I broke out my plant propagation book from school- 880 pages of mind numbing instructions on how to grow plants! So here is a basic description of what we're working with:

"A rhizome is a specialized stem structure in which the main axis of the plant grow horizontally, or just below the ground surface. The lateral stem is composed of nodes and internodes. Adventitious roots and lateral growing points develop in the vicinity of the node. Upright-growing, above-ground shoots and flowering stems (culms) are produced terminally. The rhizome is thick, fleshy, and shortened in relation to length. It appears as a many-branched clump made up of short, individual section. It is determinate; that is, each clump terminates in a flowering stalk, growth continuing only from lateral branches. Rhizomes grow by elongation of the growing points produced at the end of terminal and lateral branches. Length also increases by growth in the intercalary meristems in the lower part of the internodes."

Get all that? Told you it was mind-numbing! Basically, rhizomes are underground stems, and the off-shoots can be broken apart and re-planted. This is known as division. Let's move on to the practical part of our tutorial.

Step 1. Chose the location. Iris prefer a sunny, well-drained position in the landscape. They need at least a half day of sunlight.

Step 2. Prepare the soil. Soil should be cultivated 12 to 18 inches deep and amended with organic matter. The bed I chose was covered with that nasty weed barrier stuff, so I had to rip it all out and start from scratch. I turned the soil and added the last of my potting soil/organic matter and turned it in the best I could. Every little bit helps!


Step 3. Lay out plant material. The rhizomes should be spaced 12 to 18 inches apart.


Step 4. Plant! Dig a hole about 6 inches deep and wide enough to fit the roots of the rhizome. Build a small mound of soil in the middle, set the rhizome on top and spread the roots down around it. This assures that the roots are deep enough, while keeping the rhizome itself in reach of the sun's rays. They should not be planted too deep! The growing point (where the green begins) should be at surface level when planted. Firm the soil around the roots and water in.


Step 5. Long for beautiful blooms next June!

(Photo courtesy of plantanswers.com)

That's all for today's gardening adventure. It might be the last for this year... but I will try to keep things interesting with indoor projects! Oh, and I thought you might like to see my side-kicks! (pj's and all)

A Pact

I finally cleaned out my beds today. The breeze was fresh, the sun was warm, and the soil was dark.

As I worked, we (the soil and I) made a pact that next year was going to be a lot of fun.

Sweet Treats for Fall

This week I thought I'd share a few recipes we have been munching on... it's hard to keep my baking bug in check during these delicious fall months!

Pumpkin Scones

2 cups flour

½ cup brown sugar

¼ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp allspice

½ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

½ cup cold unsalted butter

1/3 cup buttermilk (1 cup buttermilk can be made by adding 1 tsp lemon juice to 1 cup milk—adjust amount as needed)

½ cup pumpkin

1 tsp vanilla

½ cup white chocolate chips

Mix together flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Cut butter into pieces and cut into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. In a separate bowl, mix together the pumpkin, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and mix until the dough comes together (don’t over mix). Add white chocolate chips.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead gently 3-4 times, then shape/pat into a circle about 1 ½ inches thick. Slice in half, and then cut each half into 4 equal pie shaped wedges (8 scones).

Bake on a cookie sheet at 375 for 20 minutes, or until toothpick some out clean. Pour ginger glaze over the scones while they are cooling.

Ginger Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

¼ tsp ginger

3 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

Whisk ingredients until smooth.

A few others we have loved (thanks to Mike's new epicurious "app"! ;)

Pumpkin Apple Muffins

Fuji Apple Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

It's Autumn Time

I have had this Primary song going through my head all week:

It's autumn-time. It's autumn-time. The leaves are falling down.
It's autumn-time. It's autumn-time. It's all around the town.

It's autumn-time. It's autumn-time.There's yellow, red, and brown.
It's autumn-time. It's autumn-time. Bright colors can be found.

Maddie has been loving fall as much as I have. On our jog this morning she pointed out all the yellow and orange leaves and how they were falling to the ground. Later, she noticed the red leaves on our little maple were almost all gone. She happily announced that they would come back green. I was amazed at how well she grasped the abstract idea of the changing seasons.

Along with explaining things and pointing out signs in nature, I love teaching Maddie by reading books. My sister gave me this adorable set a few years ago (we will have to see if the seeds are still viable next spring!). Eric Carle is a masterful storyteller and artist--we love all of his books.

The Tiny Seed begins in the autumn and shows how a seed blows on the wind, weathers the winter, and bursts forth into a plant in the spring. I love how is teaches not only about seasons, but also plant life cycles and growing requirements. It's a great read for a budding gardener.


I was thrilled to come across this book at the library this week.

The author's first two books, Bear Snores On and Bear Wants More, are also well-beloved at our house! This new one follows Mortimer the Mouse through a season of discovery as he plants one of his precious sunflower seeds to see what will happen...

Your little ones will enjoy finding out!

Fall Planting Time!

The kids and I took a fun field trip to Linden Nursery today (click here for an interesting story about it's name). For me it's almost as good as walking down a candy aisle!


I chose this beautiful Sunrise Mix for my "cover crop". I love the variation.

Frigid mornings and warm days remind me of planting time at the Noni Gardens. Allow me to show you a day-in-the-life fall planting tutorial!

This was our holding area for the pansies. Is that not an impressive sight?

To prepare the soil, first turn it with a shovel, add your amendments (we used a granular nitrogen fertilizer, bone meal, and mulch, pictured above), and then till it in.

Rake smooth...

Top dress with the beautiful dark mulch and you are ready to lay out the plant material.

Bulbs (tulips and daffodils) are thrown out first. We generally put taller, spotlighted varieties in clumps of threes and fives and filled in with smaller varieties. We often scattered hyacinths along the front edge because they are shorter and they smell so good they have to be within reach of your nose!

Pansies are thrown out over the top of the bulbs. I have always laughed about the name "pansy" and the connotation of being wimpy. They are actually the toughest flowers around! They add splashes of color all season long, and believe it or not, they survive through the snowy winter to flourish in the spring!

Here is a bed all ready to be planted. I feel sorry for whoever had to perch in the center of that one... oh wait, it was probably me!

Just as a general rule, bulbs need to be planted at a depth about double their height. The point, or growing tip, should always be up. I have seen a few tough tulips send their shoots down and then find their way to the surface, but it's a lot more work for the poor plant!

Stay tuned and maybe I will find some pictures of these beds in the spring to show you what those little brown, wrinkly bulbs produce in all their glory!

Seasonal food tastes better!

My love of growing things and yummy food are intertwined. Seasonal, fresh food is in-arguably the best food there is. Take tomatoes as an easy example--who in their right mind wouldn't choose a fresh garden tomato over a grocery store pretender that has been shipped on a big truck from a few states away?

This summer I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (a master storyteller). It's about a year in the life of her family wherein they ate only food they had grown themselves or purchased from local farmers. It's an understatement to say they made big sacrifices and worked hard, but it goes to show that eating well takes effort. The benefits, however, are immeasurable: tastier, more nutritious food, leading to better health... support of local business and economies... working toward less dependence on fossil fuels (to transport food) and preserving the environment. In her celebration of fresh, locally grown food Kingsolver inspired me to think much deeper about what I am putting on the table to feed my family.

I look forward to someday having land with a large garden, fruit trees, and flower beds. For now I have been doing all I can to cook with seasonal produce, buy from local farmers, and preserve fresh produce myself for the fall and winter months ahead.

I also think I read this book at a very applicable time because of our job layoff and relocation. It encouraged me to be provident and self-reliant. Making my own bread, canning some fruit, and using food storage basics doesn't seem too bad compared to what Kingsolver did!

Fall Glory

I had another life once upon a time. It was an abundant life, although in very different ways than my current life is abundant. I guess that's why they say there are seasons in life... a time for everything.

When I was nearing graduation from BYU with a degree in horticulture, I knew I would be hard pressed to find a good job in my field in ol' Provo. Only now can I appreciate how lucky I was to stumble upon a job posting for this diamond in the rough. Morinda Gardens, more commonly known as Noni Gardens, became my second home at the base of Mt. Timanogos. Even now as I look at these pictures I feel like I am visiting an old friend. After two years of working in those gardens--sun, rain, and snow--that place became a part of me, and I like to think I became a part of it too.

I am a sentimental fool by nature, but working in nature brought it out in me even more. I love the four seasons and all of the nuances of change that correlate in the plant habitat. I thought I would share with you some snapshots of my gardens (if I may call them that) at this time in September of 2005.

The roses bloom abundantly in the very late days of summer, before fall frosts nip them in the bud.

Notice the view of the trees turning red on the mountain benches. I had a front row seat.

Grasses are one of my favorite sights in the fall landscape. This one is an annual (meaning it only lives one season), called Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’: Purple Fountain Grass.

Miscanthus sinensis 'Silberfeder': Silver Feather Grass... This beauty is a perennial (meaning it will grow back year after year).

Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster: Feather Reed Grass is one of my very favorites. I love how it is so tall and linear with gorgeous wheat colored plumes at the top.

Lobelia cardinalis: Cardinal Flower also produces a flush of color in the late summer warmth.

Acer palmatum ‘Red Filagree Lace’: Laceleaf Japanese Maple is already red, but adds to the fall landscape with its pretty hue.

Doesn't this make you want to visit my secret gardens? Maybe they aren't so secret anymore... but I like to think of them that way.