Here's my winter planter with more height and new compost added, all gussied up and ready for some serious planting.

We also had stairs added leading up to the second tier. We are in the process of picking out slate which we will use to "face" the steps and lower cinder block retaining wall with.

Now the real fun begins!!!

Mission accomplished!

The backyard is done and we are so, so stoked. As soon as the crew finished cleaning, the kids ran out and began enjoying it. Unfortunately I have no pictures to post tonight but I'll try and get some taken and posted tomorrow morning.

I am extremely stoked about my new and improved planter. It gained over 18", is double dug, fully composted and out of the late afternoon shade caused by some errant tree limbs which have been pruned. It will now get a solid 8 hours of sun or more.

I've started drawing up plans for what to plant where. There will be Spanish lavender and creeping thyme as a border on the edge of the top tier. Pomegranate bushes and rosemary will create a border at the edge of the second. I'll train jasmine and at least four types of grapes vines on to the fence of the bordering the dog run. Alpine strawberries, various flowers and herbs will go in to the brick planter near the gate. A few dwarf fruit trees will go nicely in a sunny portion of the bottom tier and lots of shade loving plants such as hostas and ferns in the shady, covered area under the patio.

We're off to San Francisco...

to eat luxuriously at an olive oil customer of mine, Bistro Aix and to catch the Giant's Game afterwards. It's a bit chilly for the outing but it will be awesome fun. I'm really looking forward to seeing Johnathan who is the owner of Bistro Aix. He's a great guy who's really passionate about what he does.

We were thinking about going to Laiola, which is also a customer but the wait, even with reservations can be horrendous. Ya see, Laiola is the new and happening spot to nosh in the Marina District and everybody and their mother has been trying to get in there - especially since they received three stars from Michael Bauer at the Chronicle.

We also thought about going to O'Reilley's Holy Grail but that's a rollicking Irish party spot and we aren't looking to take it to the limit this evening. I will say this, if you are ever in the mood to party Irish style and get your corned beef and cabbage on, O'Reilley's is absolutely the place to do that. I also highly recommend their Hunter's Pie made with Guiness and vennison ~ heavenly! Great bartender and very cute Irish staff.

So far so good...

The doggies have been in their new run for three days now and they seem to be totally happy and have not figured out a way to escape. This is very good news. They get supervised romping in the rest of the yard every day and a nice hour long walk each evening in addition to lots of inside hanging-out-with-family-time every night. This is turning out to be a win-win situation which is really hard to achieve where dogs, kids and landscaping are concerned. Mauricio has found it incredibly easy to clean the run and it has some nice bonus amenities such as shade, ample drainage, compliments of a perforated drain pipe which we had installed out of site and then covered with a decent layer of drainage gravel. This means that Mauricio can hose off the entire run without creating a mud pit when the need arises.

Speaking of doggies, we're taking our massive lug of a beast Leo to get fixed in a couple of weeks. He's done most of his growing. He weighs in at 114 pounds and is just three months shy of his second birthday. The huevos aren't doing him any good anyhow, especially now that Luna's fixed.

The next phase...

Here's my Winter Garden bed before having another 24" inches of depth added to it making it 30" deep, 10' wide and 18' long. Once that's complete it will be double dug and filled with a premium organic compost mix and then augmented with the "holy trinity" of animal crap being bat, worm and steer. The dog run is obviously adjacent but that's fine because I will be creating a small path with stepping stones in between which will run the length of the box in order to save the actual planting area from compaction. We will attempt to grow grape vines along the deer fence that makes up the run - we'll see how that goes.

The next picture down is of the run itself down to the red fence at the bottom which is now opened up to add another area which is hidden from sight but runs the entire length of our house.

Another shot of the enclosure at the top of the run which surrounds and is shaded by the mulberry tree.

The next picture is taken standing at the top tier looking down on to the second and patio. Although it is not shown in the picture, I am standing under the massive plum tree at the top right corner of our property.

Lastly, a picture taken standing at the bottom, on the patio looking up to the second tier. The crew is really making great progress so hopefully this project will wrap up by next weekend and I can start the fun of planting and filling in with other landscape components.

Here are some before pictures of the back yard...

Notice the mini-bobcat in the upper left corner... yes,this is a large project. It will probably span the next few weeks. I'll keep y'all posted on the progress.

As part of this project,we are having two good sized retaining walls built which will span the width of the back yard. The space itself is about 3,000 sq. ft. in total. including the patio. Our back yard and property in general is much bigger than the backyard and lot at our last house by about 1,000 sq. ft. but we've found less of it to be usable because of the slope, albeit gentle.

We are basically creating three distinct levels one being the patio and the other two being tiers above. The dog run (off to the left out of the picture) will keep the dogs out of the majority of the yard. They will still have the entire length of our property being over 100 ft. and a large fenced area under the shade of the Mulberry tree in the above right corner. My large, raised Winter garden bed is getting a foot of depth added to it which will make it easier for me to access and better for the plants that will go in there. The upper tier will contain tan bark and a large play structure with an enclosed fort, slide, monkey bars and swings. The structure will be placed under the shade of the massive plum tree which shades the left half of that tier. The middle tier will have a sitting area under another impressive shade tree which is also on the left side of the yard. We will put some nice landscaping around the sitting area and make it semi-private and difficult to see from the lower patio area. There will be some furniture in this area such as benches and a small bistro table and chairs. Needless to say it will take me some time to fill up these tiers with plants and objects d' art but it will be a fun to create the space from scratch and we'll finally have a totally usable, kid friendly and dog proofed space.

Happy First Day of Spring!!!

Happy happy, joy joy! Many blessings upon your garden. May your zucchini grow GINORMOUS, may your tomato plants bend with fruit, may your eggplant be sweet and your peppers spicy.

Here: Maia, you can read about the lass that makes it all happen - "Fauna" or "Maia" the goddess of Spring.

Humble Beginnings...

Here's a "Candy Stripe" tulip about to make it's grand entrance in to Spring. I've dozens more beginning to poke their heads up or unfurl their elegant petals. My tomato plants have been in the ground for a couple of weeks now. They've more than doubled in size since I planted them and are thriving nicely in the worm, steer and bat poo-poo mixture that I amend my soil with. This is a "carmello" heirloom tomato that I grew from seeds given to me by the "Tomato Man", Gary Ibsen of Carmel Tomato Festival.

I love this variety! They have amazing flavor, and yield abundant
crops of fist sized, peach, rose and yellow striped tomatoes.

Composter Picture

Mary, as per your request here is a picture of my composter. It's nothing fancy and it has seen better days, especially before the kids began using it as a jungle gym, but it continues to serve its' purpose well. Less than two months ago it was full to the brim with fresh grass trimmings, shredded newspaper, dead leaves and kitchen scraps. As I've added layers, it has also simultaneously shrunk and turned in to the black, loamy, rich soil that is pictured a couple of posts below.

I actually offer to rake the neighbors lawns to obtain their brown, dry leaves as they make some of the best dry compost material ever. When composting, there is a delicate balance that needs to be maintained between dry and green material and how it is layered, how moist it's kept and how and when it is turned. Almost anything degradable will compost over time if left to the elements but that can take months. Based on the system I use, I can turn trash & trimmings to compost in approximately a month and a half.

Little League & T-Ball Opening Day!

This is their first season playing. They are so excited and truly enjoying the experience so far. Games actually begin next weekend - It is so cute to see the little 4 and 5 year year olds on Jason's T-Ball team hit the ball and run the bases - precious!

Michael's division is just slightly competitive although no body really takes it too seriously at this level. It's more about picking grass and messing around than anything.

Pictures From The Composter

Here's some broccoli which has been nourished by compost from the pile. It's ready to be picked and steamed. We've become exceedingly spoiled by the produce we grow. There is nothing like picking something from the garden and preparing it for consumption, literally minutes later. The freshness is translated in to the final dish and the results are beyond compare. This is my personal stash of black gold and the amount of worms that have set up camp in my compost is simply magical. I've been making and using compost for years now but I am always surprised, inspired and grateful when I gaze upon its' soft dark mounds with worms curled throughout. This is going in to a couple of beds that I've been pampering.
I turned the bin this afternoon and found droves of happy red wrigglers.

Tonight for dinner...

(Yes, I am already thinking about dinner at 9:00 a.m.) When it comes to food, I am a planner. I have to be with two young boys, a full time career and all of the other obligations that go along. We abhor eating crap which constitutes just about anything we can order on the phone, heat up after being frozen in a store cooler or drive through and buy. Tonight I will make curried golden lentil soup studded with delicately spiced miniature lamb meatballs. There will be greens in the lentil soup so this is a fully rounded, healthy meal. I will bake some fresh onion naan (traditional Indian flat bread) to round it out. I will also make a moderately spicy cilantro chutney for dipping the naan in. Cool refreshing mango lassi's, a traditional Indian beverage of yogurt blended with honey and fresh fruit (think milk shake) will also be served.

The greens (swiss chard and spinach) will come from my organic Winter garden which is still in full swing and loving this little bout of rain and cool, gray skies.

The lamb shoulder is from Prather Ranch.

The golden lentils, organic fruit and lentils hale from Monterey Market.

The kids have swim practice tonight and will be ravenous when they come home. Hubby is always ravenous :) .

The Bloomery

Just a few pics. of the yard in bloom. I finally got my Italian Purple Artichoke seedlings in the ground - They are adorable little things! The tomato, and pepper seedlings are thriving. I need to get some pics. of those when I have some time. People always look at me funny when I tell them that I like to get my tomatoes in the ground by the end of February. Well, here in Zone 9 with the aid of artificial lighting which allows the seedling a six week indoor head start, protective cloches and the right type of seeds, tomatoes can absolutely be augmented to go in to the ground and do well even in the Winter month of February. I must admit though, I did get a slightly late start this year and didn't get them in to the ground until March this year.

Here's my little volunteer sunflower that sprouted right after the holidays and is now in full bloom.

African Daisies in lilac and eggplant are so drought tolerant and easy to grow - They reward me for neglecting them year after year.

My gardening plans are rather ambitious this year - I have added another 250 square feet of garden beds to my existing 700 square feet or so. This gives me almost 1,000 sq. ft. of garden which will supply our household with most of our fresh organic, heirloom produce over the next 9 months or so.

Butterscotch Apple Sweet Rolls

I subscribe to the King Arthur monthly bakers magazine The Baking Sheet and in this month's publication there was a particularly tasty sounding recipe for Butterscotch Apple Sweet Rolls. I decided to make these last night.

The recipe starts off with a slightly sweet, rich, egg based yeast dough which is proofed and rolled in the same fashion as cinnamon rolls. 1 1/2 pounds of tart apples are cooked down in butter brown sugar and cinnamon. Once the dough has had its' final rise, it's rolled in to a 16x11 inch rectangle, slathered with the cooled butter-apple mixture and rolled in to a cylinder. It's cut in to 12 good sized disks, each one placed cut side down in a 9x13 buttered baking pan. These bake and get quite gooey and carmely in the process. While still hot out of the oven, a simple powdered sugar and cream glaze is slathered on top.

Even though it was a bit over the top, I decided to also make 2 quarts of vanilla bean ice cream in my ice cream maker. A friend had sent me a pound of fresh organic Tahitian vanilla beans and since they don't keep very well, I decided to make use of a portion. We served the apple rolls hot, gooey and glazed with a scoop of the vanilla bean ice cream atop, a la mode style if you will. I wish I had a picture to post but alas, the poor things did not make it through the night.

Happy Monday

It's only 10:30 but I can't wait to get home to see my kiddies and tend the garden. I'm installing drip irrigation to my beds sometime this week. I'm so excited because drip systems really help to ward off many of the diseases that can plague vegetable gardens. keeping the soil moist and the foliage dry is key to staving off mosaic virus, wilts, mold, fungus and many other insidious summer garden culprits. Furthermore and just as important, drip systems conserve water and save time.

I'll also be planting my artichokes, lemon verbena, anahiem pepper, bell pepper and marjoram seedlings this weekend. I was planning to do it last weekend but there was too much happening *sigh*.

The weekend before last, I helped my neighbor Lisa plant a vegetable garden. She had been longing for one but didn't have a clue about where to start. We went to the garden supply store together and purchased some FoxFarm organic soil. I LOVE fox farm products, they are simply amazing and I have nothing but great results from using their products. Any how, we also picked up some steer manure. Fox farm organic soil incorporates bat guano and earthworm castings right in to their mix. It's not cheap but it's the best as far as store-bought soil goes. So we double dug the soil and mixed in the steer manure and a few bags of Fox Farm. She's got a serious snail/slug problem resulting from massive bushes in her yard so we had to use Sluggo - It's not my favorite method but it's relatively harmless when compared to others products. I went and surveyed her garden this morning before heading to work. It's pretty and functional as any jardin potager should be. We completely encircled the garden with marigolds and I was delighted to see a sea of little lettuce seedlings just beginning to poke through. As I was standing there a neighbor who lives a few doors down, drove by and asked me if I could help her do the same in her yard... I need to find a way to clone myself.

This weekend...

the kids have two birthday parties to attend, t-ball practice and little league practice. One thing that I am really beginning to learn about parenting is that in some cases, more is less. Simpler scheduling can be better and promote less stress in children and parents. The more we allow our kids to cram their already brimming schedules, the more stress, chaos and general lack of serious devotion seems to occur. Sometimes we cram their schedules for them regardless of how willing they are to assume said schedule.

It is my humble opinion that kids can focus and achieve a better equilibrium when their choices are pared down. As much as the word is out that kids need way more physical activity than they're getting, there is such as thing as going too far. It is my belief that kids need down time just like we adults do. This is not to be confused with time spent watching TV or playing video games. I see down time as space in their hectic schedule to process the events of the school day, and reconcile their emotions. Reading books, coloring, crafts, gardening, artwork and writing all constitute down time in my mind. Taking a nap to recharge the battery fits in to my definition - we all need a nap from time to time.

I suppose what I'm objecting to is a schedule that looks something like this:

1. Wake up
2. Eat breakfast
3. go to school - 6 hours - 1st grade up
4. come home from school
5. go to practice A, B, or C or a combination thereof depending on the day
6. come home from practice and eat dinner
7. homework - it takes at least an hour per child these days
8. get ready for bed
9. do it all over again

It doesn't leave much in the way of down time. I think the average kid has virtually no time for reflection or time to just be a kid. Once you start socializing with other parents who have kids of similar age to yours, there seems to be this strange cult like mentality to cram as much "activity" in to your child's life as possible. Your success in effectively "cramming" is measured by other parents in the following way: Jane says, "Susie is horseback riding, taking gymnastics and acting lessons, Peter is playing soccer, goes to Junior Science Camp after that and is on a swim team that meets on the weekends... So what do your kids do?" This whipping out of the measuring stick is standard operating procedure. For those of you who have kids old enough to participate in extra curricular activities, you know. For those who are planning to have kids some day, you will find out. It all adds up to the fact that our society doesn't see value in taking breaks let alone stopping to smell the proverbial flowers. We horde our children's time the way that we horde just about everything else.

My Big Fat Seed Planting Party!

This weekend, as part of my busy agenda, I'm hosting a seed swapping/planting party for some friends and neighbors. I have way too many seeds even for my ambitious gardening goals and would like to share the wealth. I must have over 200 types of seeds in my collection. Most come from Heirloom Seeds, a few from Stokes a handful from Park Seeds and the rest from Gary Ibsen of The Tomato Festival in Carmel. Gary is an heirloom tomato god amongst men. Aside from the 20 or so varieties I have purchased from him in the past, he was kind enough to have sent me 18 hard if not impossible to find heirloom tomato seed packets from his collection just this week. We made a little barter, his seeds for my oil and balsamic vinegar. Gary's collection, all of which is grown organically, includes over 600 types of heirloom (non hybridized) tomatoes.

Pictured above is a small swatch, part of a much larger jungle of swiss chard which popped up over night in my winter vegetable garden. I love swiss chard for this reason and many others. It's a fantastic vegetable because it loves abuse, grows anywhere, tastes amazing and is uber good for the body. The yellow flowers are a broccoli plant going to seed. This relatively warm weather has sent many of my cold weather vegetables in to flower.

Cheese!

Garden Pics.

Lemon Scented Geranium in Bloom



Purple Tulip in Creeping Rosemary

Doughnuts

The kids and I made doughnuts this weekend. Good stuff! This picture shows them fresh and hot after being fried in grape seed oil. We dunked them in vanilla glaze while still hot. The results were akin to what you might get at Krispy Creme except much tastier and slightly better for you. Krispy Creme uses hydrogenated shortening to fry their doughnuts.
The boys love the opportunity to roll any extra dough resulting from a baking/cooking project. Unfortunately, in all of their excitement they over exercised the gluten in this yeast dough causing their doughnuts to be dense and unpalatable once out of the fryer. They now understand why we let dough take a rest.
I'm standing off to the side explaining that even though they're having a blast, the resulting "doughnuts" after taking this abuse will be like little fried rocks. They obviously don't care espeically since out of sight of the camera sits a platter holding over two dozen hot glazed doughnuts.