Life On The Central Coast

We live in one of the most beautiful places around, the Central Coast of California. Mild winters, hardly any time during the year that you can't grow your own food. Our little town of Grover Beach is surrounded by fields of strawberries, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, spinach, blueberries... well you name it and it is probably being grown here! On our home lot we grow blueberries, grapes, ollalieberries, blackberries, yellow raspberries, fuyu persimmons and apples. Not bad for an ordinary backyard that also has grass. Well, it has grass during some parts of the year. We also have chickens that do their "free ranging" out there so they deplete the grass by the end of summer. BUT, in return, we are given lovely, rich yellow yolk eggs so we don't mind. I also grow 2 beds of various herbs that we use to enhance the flavor of our cooking. And best of all, we have a share in a community garden just down the street from us. It is a plot that is...

Lovely Lavender, Lavandula Angustafolia, one of my favorite flowers! It attracts and feeds tons of bees, smells heavenly in bouquets and has historically been a useful herb due to its antiseptic qualities. After visiting two local Lavender farms in my area, I started growing Grosso and Provance and each year I get a bumper crop of flowers. Last year I dried bouquets for decoration, made wreaths and a bunch of drawer sachets. This year I'm trying a little something new, lavender "wands". They can be swished in the air to add a sweet smell to the room or use them as I do, as a means of relaxing right before bed. I keep one on my night table and will take deep breaths of the wand right before I drift off to sleep. If you would like to try your hand at making Lavender wands, check out this YOUTUBE VIDEO .   After watching I got my scissors, clipped some lavender, made my wand and then added on some ribbon for a feminine touch. I can't begin to tell you just how wond...

It's Day 14 of the 23 day challenge over at Frugally Sustainable . Today's topic is Urban Gardening. Have you given any thought as to how much money you could save growing your own produce? You could tuck some herbs in to your landscape, have a couple of raised beds, tubs of fruit such as blueberries and citrus trees, even do some sprouts right in your own kitchen. Saves a bundle of money! If you need some help on figuring out where to start, check out the Urban Organic Gardener . Mike has A LOT of ideas no matter how big or small your gardening space is. I really like his sections on composting and natural pest control.  We are organic gardeners and sometimes I think the bugs must spot the "open for business" sign. Mike has some pretty good, and funny ideas on how to control those little BUGgers.... get it? Bug.... Well, onto the Daily Goal...... Daily Goal:  S hare with us your gardening goals for 2012. Gardening Goals? Wow! I have a bunch! We started gar...

A quick little garden update.... Our gardening year began with a harvest of sweet shelling peas, strawberries and Ollalieberries . We were getting so much berry fruit this year I finally decided I would have to freeze some along with eating it and giving a bunch away. We planted zucchini , yellow squash and pattypan squash in April and have been harvesting that for the last month and are about to pull whats left and plant a heavy crop of Roma tomatoes and basil. I'm hoping to be able to make and can spaghetti sauce for the upcoming year. And right now, we are having to pick apples daily to keep up with the fruit our little tree is giving us. So far, we are mostly drying it but I found a recipe online for apple pie filling that looks delish !! And the apples would make really good applesauce too, so I have some options. Hubby and I have already discussed moving some of our planting boxes to the yard and increasing how many we have. We have done a pretty good job supplementing what...

"If The Only Prayer You Say In Your Entire Life Is - 'Thank You' - That Is Enough" Thanksgiving is only a week away. People all around the United States will be celebrating with a bountiful table filled with roast turkey or a vegetarian substitute with all the trimmings. We in America are really blessed when it comes to food. Most of us have never experienced starvation or empty cupboards. When I was little, I did hear stories of that from my Mom though who lived through the Depression as a young girl. There is a really sweet woman over on YouTube, Clara , who features Depression Cooking along with stories of what it was like to live during that time. Check her out! But for my entire life, my cupboards, refrigerator, pantry shelves and freezer have been full. Sometimes too full. We not only have food, a substance to fill our hungry stomachs, but we can have what we want to eat, when we want to eat it, pretty much fresh the entire year round! Fancy restaurants take ...

"If The Only Prayer You Say In Your Entire Life Is - 'Thank You' - That Is Enough" Meister Eckhart 1260-1328 Christian Writer and Theologian Technology. Think how many things have been created or upgraded in just the last 25 years. It's absolutely amazing! In the 1990's, we got our first cell phone. Compared to the cell phones of today... IT WAS HUGE! And it pretty much installed in the car, for use in the car not out running around like we do today. We had cassette tape players and DVD players that have almost been replaced by something 1/3 of the size that can hold even MORE information, music, books, etc. Computers have gone from taking up an entire ROOM to desktop versions, laptops and not the notebook size. All I can say is... it's really exciting. I can't wait to see where technology is going next. As my husband and I age, we think it's pretty important to "keep up", technologically speaking. And affordable, these items are not all...

"If The Only Prayer You Say In Your Entire Life Is - 'Thank You' - That Is Enough" Meister Eckhart 1260-1328 Christian Writer and Theologian It is said that when you find the perfect work, it isn't work at all. Some people know what they want to "be" from the time they are children. Others decide somewhere along the way. Some jobs require years and years of formal education and some less. Some find a need a fill it creating entire business empires from simple ideas. When I was young and thinking what I'd like to do for the rest of my life, it was simple... I wanted to be a mom. I wanted to stay home with my kids and teach them, attend PTA meetings, volunteer at their schools, cook, sew and be a supportive partner for my husband. When I was in High School, I took all the Home Ec classes offered, babysat for friends of my parents and also took secretarial courses "just in case" plan A didn't work out. AND... I was lucky enough to have a ...

"If The Only Prayer You Say In Your Entire Life Is - 'Thank You' - That Is Enough" Meister Eckhart 1260-1328 Christian Writer and Theologian Yesterday I went for a walk on the Beach. The sun was shining, the breeze was cool and it made me feel so relaxed. We take in information about the world around us everyday, without even thinking much about it, through our senses. Today I am Thankful to be able to S ee, Hear, Taste, Feel and Smell all that is around me! Since this is Thanksgiving month, just imagine that feast without senses. The table is set in finery, flowers, a fruit bowl, candles. We gather around with family and friends, laughing and talking, exchanging a hug or handshake, "feeling the love". Then we sit down and in comes the food.... the turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, stuffing... all the tantalizing smells of what we are about to eat. Ummmm, and the taste! Then the blessing comes, heartfelt, quiet... we listen and are fille...

Happy Halloween "My Pretties." Hope your day is filled with fun, laughter and loads of sweets! Stay tuned.... Putting the final touches on my closet!! I KNOW! Mike finished work on the "skeleton" part and it looks FABULOUS! I'm running out to Marshalls and Ross today to see if I can "flesh out" the insides with some organizers and hangers. Then everything that has been lying around for the last month will have one last sorting of "do I really need this" and then placing back in. It's funny when you ask yourself that how much you can part with. No more "3 sizes of clothes" stuffed in there... if it doesn't fit today, it's outta there!! I'm even going through things I was keeping as sporting equipment to make certain I only keep what I plan to continue doing. No more excess just space, space, SPACE. I'm loving the feeling of emptiness and openness. It's freeing!

It's no surprise to those that know me... Lavender is my FAVORITE flower! It's been my favorite for many years but most particularly since I took massage and healing courses and used lavender essential oil to clean my head and hands, its scent to perfume and calm those I was working on and yes, to even flavor my tea along with mint. Its lovely lavender flower and sage colored leaves are peaceful to look at, smells beautiful and because of its camphor content, repels most plant damaging insects. It grows well with very little water and in less than perfect soil. Here are a few things you many NOT know about lavender: The stem is square not round stems It is a member of the Mint family Used to scent water for the Greeks Root word "Lavo" means "to wash" During the great bubonic plague, glove makers would scent leather with lavender oil, as this was known to ward off the plague. This claim may well be true as the plague is transmitted by flies, and lavender is v...