Friday's Quote: Thodore Roosevelt

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."---Theodore Roosevelt

I feel as if every other year I go through a mini personal crisis about my life and the personal goals I want to set/achieve in my life.  It's not a big deal, and I should probably term it as a soul searching journey for potential growth rather than calling it a crisis. 

Anyhow, this year is no different.  The only major difference about this year is deciding if I want to actually stay where I'm at or if I want to pursue something else elsewhere.  Of course, I don't exactly know what else I would do professionally, but personally I wonder if it may be best for me to stay in Minnesota.  I love various aspects of the State (and I love my little house), but I hate the winters.  Professionally, I guess I am "comfortable," but is that a good thing?

I think for the time being, I am going to do what I can, with what I have, where I am at.  I think I need to sort out what it is that will make me happy, but for now I will be here.  As much as I want to be somewhere else, to start a new life, I don't have the energy and faith to leap without looking.  Of course, I may change my mind.  Maybe one of these winters will send me packing to a warmer state where I can grow in my yard, cherries, citrus, and blueberries.

Are you doing what you can, with what you have, where you are?

Apple and Crabapple Blossoms

[Taken on April 22, 2012.]

Cherry "Orchard"

This past weekend was pretty productive in my garden.  My lawn got mowed, my wood got split (some of it even got burned in a little bonfire), and I planted my two cherry trees.  I also noticed that my morello cherry tree had some beautiful cherry blossoms.  Now, I may have ordered a more mature cherry tree, but I didn't expect the tree to already be sending forth blossoms this year.  Well, I still love the beautiful cherry blossoms.

As for the other two cherry trees . . . I ordered and planted a Stella cherry tree and Lapins cherry tree.  Somehow, I learned a couple of seasons ago that it was possible to grow sweet cherries in my neck of the woods.  Of course I can't grow the typical sweet cherries found in the grocery store (e.g. Bing and Rainer), but I can grow sweet cherries such as Stella and Lapins, and neither needs a pollinator.  For the longest time, I thought I could only grow sour cherries (don't misunderstand me, I love sour cherries), but I was floored to learn that I could actually grow some sweet cherries in my neck of the woods.  I'm so excited.  I feel that had I known this information all along, I would have planted these trees on my property two years ago.  Oh, how I grieve for time lost and wasted.  Oh well, I'm looking forward and to the future of sweet cherry pickings.  I think one of my two trees is more mature, so I'm hoping for cherries next year.

I feel as if I'm starting a little cherry orchard in my yard.  Do you have any cherry trees on your property or any other kind of fruit trees?  

If you want to learn a little bit more about cherries, please check out the following website:  http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/treefrt/homegdn/cherries.htm

Friday's Quote: John Ruskin

"When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece."---John Ruskin

I love gardening books and magazines, especially when the books and magazines have lots and lots of lovely pictures.  I love poring over the pictures and pondering about the gardens' designs.  I'm always amazed and inspired by these beautiful gardens (may it be simple or extravagant), and I hope to try and turn my yard into a masterpiece.  Of course I love to garden but I think I need to work on my skills a bit. more  One of these days, my yard and my gardens will be a masterpiece.  Now, what skills must I hone to get my masterpiece?

Cherry Surprises

I've been a little absentminded lately.  This week I posted my "Wordless Wednesday" picture on Tuesday April 17th because I thought the 17th was Wednesday.  Oh well . . .  I blame it on work.  I've been a bit busy.  Yet, yesterday, I wasn't too busy to notice at my door a badly wrapped package just for me.  At first I thought it was a very long fishing pole meant for my ex beau, but upon closer inspection I discovered it was the two cherry trees I ordered earlier in the year.  How exciting.

I will most likely plant the trees this coming weekend.  The weather here has gotten a bit chilly and I am afraid of a potential frost, which might not harm my trees, but I just want to err on the safe side and plant the trees during a warmer time period.  I'll blog about the trees once the trees are planted.  I promise that at that time I will reveal what kind of cherry trees I got.  I just can't wait until next year.  So excited.

Tulips and Pansies

"Preserved" Lemons

Last weekend, a friend made dinner for me.  She made a dish called tagine (or her own version of it).  It's a Moroccan dish that's traditionally a stew cooked in an earthenware, also called tagine.  Her dish was still yummy even though she didn't have any preserved lemons to put into the dish (she just substituted with a lot of lemon juice).  Of course, when she was making it, I thought to myself that I would try to make my own preserved lemons at home (especially since I already had a bag of lemons at home and I came across a blog with a recipe for preserved lemons several weeks ago).  FYI, it's the lemon rind that gets used in the Moroccan dishes.

Many of the recipes I came across require three weeks of preservation before the lemons are "usable." Of course, I really wanted something quicker, so I came across another recipe by Mark Bittman (food critic for The New York Times).  I will also make for myself some traditionally preserved lemons, like I said, I wanted something quicker.

Preserved Lemons

1 pint jar (sterilized)

2 medium lemons (unwaxed or with the wax scrubbed off)

Lots of kosher salt
(Spices--not necessary, but I added a bay leaf and some whole peppercorns)

1.  Slice lemons into thin slices and then in half.  Remove seeds.

2.  Put lemon slices into a bowl and sprinkle salt on top. Layer lemon slices on top and add more salt.
3.  (If using spices, put the spices into the the pint jar.)  Transfer lemon slices and all juices from the lemons into the pint jar.  Push down on lemon slices to extract the lemon juice.

4.  Let the jar sit on the counter or in the refrigerator.  [I intend to use this in a week.  I hope it works.]

According to Mark Bittman's article, if you have waxed lemons, in order to get rid of the wax, "blanch [the waxed lemon in] boiling water for 30 seconds, then rub off the wax with a towel[.]"

Check out the links below for preserved lemon recipes:

Mark Bittman's "Preserved" Lemons:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/dining/20mini.html?_r=1

Other recipes for preserved lemons:

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_preserved_lemons/

http://www.gardenbetty.com/2012/02/moroccan-preserved-lemons/

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2006/12/moroccan-preser-1/

Spring Cleaning

For those who know me well, I am a semi-messy person.  I don't mean to be and I have been trying my very best to be less messy with each passing year.  I will admit that some of my messiness is due to my laziness; yet, I will also admit that I lack sufficient organization skills (but I'm working on it).  At the same time, just because I'm messy doesn't mean that I don't like things to be clean.

Every spring, I try to "spring clean" my home.  Today is my spring cleaning day.  In addition to my semi-weekly cleaning routine (e.g. changing bed sheets, cleaning bathroom, laundry), I rotated my mattress, washed some windows, washed all pillows, and washed all of my winter blankets.  Considering that today is a beautiful day outside, I hung my blankets outside to dry.  I will store these blankets away for the summer, ready for fall's chilly nights.

For the last several years, I've moved on to homemade/organic products to aid me in my house cleaning.  I find that baking soda, ammonia and vinegar are not only cheap, but also very useful cleaning products.   Of course I still use cleaning products found at stores, but I find that these three products pretty much suffice for a lot other cleaning products.  In the picture above, I'm infusing the vinegar with grapefruit zest in order to minimize/replace the vinegar's odor with the grapefruit odor.

Do you spring clean?  How is your spring cleaning coming along.  If you are interested in creating your own homemade/organic cleaning products, check out the following web page:  http://chiotsrun.com/2012/04/12/homemade-whitening-scrub/

It's [a] Ranunculus!

[Taken April 8, 2012.]

Spring Flowers

Okay, so I will admit for a little bit that spring is finally here.  The weather has mostly been blustery, cloudy, and a tad cold.  Mix in with it a little sunshine, some drizzling rain, and some cool temperatures.  It feels like a perfect Minnesota spring.  Yet, I digress.

I've gone around noticing that the the tulips and other "spring announcing" flowers are forcing itself out and announcing to the world that it's ready to bloom.  I took a couple of pictures here and there, but I cheated a bit and went to the conservatory to take pictures of their spring bulbs.  I don't know why it takes me so long to finally decide on this, but I think this fall I will order and plant myself some spring bulbs for Spring 2013.

Friday's Quote: Mary Webb

"Saddle your dreams before you ride em."---Mary Webb

I don't think it hurts to dream big.  However, if I plan on dreaming big and want to make my dream a reality, I better know that it is something I want to do and have a plan in place to reach my dream.

Have I ever mentioned that when I was younger, I wanted to be a professional artist.? I specifically wanted to draw and create graphic art.  I really loved art and I really loved to draw.  Yet, as I got older, I realized that maybe it wasn't the best profession to enter into because I really didn't want to be a  starving artist.  This isn't to say that I wouldn't have found a job doing something in the art field. I  guess in the process of saddling up my dreams, before I rode out on it, I realized that it was a dream that I didn't want to pursue.

I have since found another profession that I'm pretty happy to be in and was also once a dream.  Even though I have made a dream into a reality, I continue to dream big.

Do you have any dreams that you've saddled up and rode out on?  Did you get to make your dream a reality or did you change your mind at some point?

Gummy Bears and Jelly Beans, Oh My!