Cabinet Nightmares - Do You Have One.....

Cabinet doors are a wonderful invention.  One would never know what lies behind them if they could remain closed.  I finally decided it was time to tackle my nightmares that lay hidden behind my clean white doors.  LOL.  Yes...a nightmare is what I will call it.  I actually found a lizard in the pot cabinet and the scary part was - he was still alive.  As I was pulling the pots and pans out he arrived inside my slow cooker. Needless to say, every single pot, pan and lid was scrubbed in hot water, dried and put back.  I finally decided that I didn't need so many skillets and other items that never get used so those will now become bottoms for pots that I grow plants in outside.  The before and after of the pot nightmare I faced every time I cooked and put them away.

I purchased this cleaner at the Dollar Store.  It's Awesome!! If you've never tried it, do.  It cuts grease faster then anything I have found to date.  The name of it....I all ready said... Awesome!! So appropriately named as well. Word of caution. Do  NOT use this on rubber - it will eat it away. Perfect cleaner for everywhere you need to quick clean grease, dirt, soap scum or whatever else you would normally have to clean with some muscle. It only cost $1.00 per bottle. It's Awesome!

The next is the dreaded plastics cabinet.  If we weren't such fans of left overs, I would not have a single plastic container in my world.  How does one get so many lids with no containers to match.  Every time I clean this cabinet, I always have more lids then containers. Once again, it's cleaned and organized and there are still some that I have in the dishwasher for a good hot clean.

I think I've solved the problem of where to put the lids.  I went to the Dollar Store (yes, I love shopping there for household things) and purchased this basket.  It's perfect to keep them contained......at least for this moment.

That's my dirt for today.  I found magic at the Dollar Store to solve this problem.  Magic is everywhere, if you look for it!!

A Quick Makeover - Rock Lake Garden

With the arrival of spring comes spring cleanup in the yard so I painted the river deck and noticed that the area along the outside of the river was woefully bare.  The fig tree was nice and coming into season with small figs everywhere.  I had planted some Zinnias in a little patch in front of the rock and knew it needed more.

So I grabbed my hoe and hard rake and shovel and promptly prepared the area for a little fantasy garden.  I purchased some log style landscape bricks at the local hardware store and "fenced" the area in. 

 I planted several kinds of flower seeds that will bring much magic later but it needed some pop while waiting for them to grow so I placed a few Phlox to hold it until that time arrives.  I put some weed barrier on the ground, mulched it all and gathered my Christmas houses from the shed. Then decided it needed a lake.  Thus the name Rock Lake.  Of course every lake needs a bridge so...I turned to Larry and asked - "won't you build me a bridge" and he did.

I find I'm out of fairies so in the interim using my little village people and a few turtles makes the village a nice spot to look upon and smile.

The pot with the tree is my Shaving Brush.  I have decided that it will need to be moved but it is just getting it's blooms and has shot a tap root into the ground. For now, until it blooms, it will stay. Once that is finished I'll carefully dig it up and move it to a new permanent home.  I had a visitor while I was working.  I believe he likes the new area....grin.

The entire project took 2 hours and I feel it was time well spent.  And, on to the next project.

I use Weed and Feed in and around my gardens.  It's the perfect "tool" to help prevent weeds from growing while letting flowers and bushes share their beauty.  

Always feel the magic.  It's everywhere, if you look!!

The Birth of The Starburst Flower Cluster

Awhile back I posted a blog on the stunning showstopper, The Winter Starburst.  The pictures I posted were of trees I had found in my rides in the country.  For the better part of the past 2 months, I have taken pictures each day of a bloom that had begun on mine.  This beautiful plant, with it's purple and green leaves keeps me amazed with it's magic.  Below is the bloom of a cluster from almost the beginning to the end. This blog is basically the pictures.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did taking the pictures and anticipating what was to come.

The blooms just starting to form and after a couple of days it started to grow.

Don't forget to look for the magic!!! It's everywhere :-)

The Most Scrumptious Dish You'll Ever Make Eggplant Rice Dressing

In our house the most magical dish we make is called Eggplant Rice Dressing.  The flavors that comprise this dish will keep you and your family or guest coming back for more.  Make a lot so folks can take some home.   It's very easy to make and I'll tell you how.

First we want to cut up:

1 large eggplant, pealed and diced into approx. 1" cubes
4-5 Stalks of Celery - chopped very fine
2 Bell Peppers - the color choice is yours. In this dish we used green and red
1 Large Onion - chopped small
1 small Jalapeno - cut the seeds out and remove them from the pepper - then dice fine (optional)
Depending on your taste you can also shred carrots. Raisins are good in it as well as pecans- ground up.

In a large pot combine the above and add approx. 5-7 dashes of soy sauce - good strong dashes
and 3-4 dashes of Worcestershire Sauce - nice strong ones here too
Add a couple shakes of Gumbo File' - it's not just for gumbo.

some salt to taste and pepper to taste.   You're going to let this cook down for a good hour. It will look like the following picture.  Eggplant has a lot of water so as it cooks down the water makes a good juicy base.  This is where most of your flavor will come from.

Cook some sausage (hamburger meat can be used or if you don't eat meat, skip this step all together). We prefer maple sausage - it adds a little extra sweetness. And cook a pot of rice. I make 2 Cups.

Then mix the cooked sausage into the cooked rice.

Now pour your cooked down veggie mixture on top of the rice and meat.

And mix together.  You can add your choice of a turkey or chicken gravy or eat it just like this.  It's a good one dish supper or an excellent side dish.   Storage is super easy with this.  I freeze half of it and we eat the other half through the week.  For the freezer I simply put it in a large baggie. When I'm ready to have it again, I let it thaw and pour it in a bowl, add a little water,cover it and put in the microwave for approx. 3 minutes.  It depends on your voltage of microwave so use your judgement as if you are just reheating rice.

And that's the dirt for the day.  A wonderfully magical food that as I said, will keep them coming back for more.    There's magic everywhere, even in food, if you look for it.

A New Era of Chickens at the Lazy A

Years ago we used to have a brood of 15 chickens.  We had many different kinds. Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rock, Orpington, Silver Laced Wyndotte, Top Hats and many others.  Through time a fox found our yard and our hens.   We waited until a time when I would be home full time to start over.  The old hen house was torn down and the time has come to, once again, raise these adorable, funny creatures.  Today my blog isn't about all that entails raising them but just to share the new journey.  The picture at top is of the hens we used to have.  The laughter and magic they brought was amazing not to mention collecting fresh eggs almost every day. At one point, we had so much egg production that our neighbors would say they had plenty..lol.  Needless to say, our pups got a steady supply.

Today I brought home the first of 6 that we will raise.  Meet the new members of the Lazy A family. These are all Rhode Island Reds and will lay large brown eggs. That should start happening around 6 mos. of age so until then, it's all about the fun and magic and teaching them that they are special and loved and to learn their names and come when called. :-)  Yes, I know, too much fun ahead.

Clotilde

Matilda

and last but not least is Henrietta

They are 1 day old so I've made a note on my calender to be sure to know when to celebrate their birthdays in the years to come.  For the next month or so they'll live on the porch in their little warm cage.  To raise them to be strong healthy egg laying hens will involve daily cleaning of the cage and multiple times of taking them out to handle and play.  I also need to teach our pups that these are additions to the family and out of bounds for them to play with.  That will be my biggest challenge. 

For now, they are just finding their food and water and enjoying the newness of their temporary home.

 I think the most important thing for them, other then plenty of attention, food, water and a clean cage is warmth.  I have a red heat lamp hanging just above the cage that will keep them nice and warm.  It's positioned so that one end of the cage will stay very warm and it they get too hot they can move to another area of the cage that will be cooler.  Our Parrot, Dixie Lee, has a new fascination as well. You can see her peaking down to figure out what I have added to her "living area". LOL.

For now, I have 3 and in April I will order some Ameraucana's.  3 to be exact.  These are also called Easter Chickens as they lay green and blue eggs.  Tomorrow the new hen house\coop will arrive and I'll share the construction of it and the little chicks will have a protected play area for warm days until they can move in permanently. All so exciting and another touch of magic in our world.

I hope you enjoy and remember, magic is everywhere, if you look :-)

How to Make A PVC Strawberry Planter Fairy Garden

This design is not my idea.  I saw a picture on FaceBook and decided I would give it a try.  I didn't see a list of items needed or instructions, just the picture. Also, it was written in Portuguese.  I believe they used PVC pipe, PVC T's and PVC 90's.  Upon my arrival at Home Depot with the list I made, I was very surprised to see how much these items cost, in the larger sizes. So, I stuck to my budget of $40 and made some decisions of changes to what I would buy and kept my cost down.  I purchased a 4" x 24" of PVC. It was all ready cut so the size of length was determined for me.  I then found these Y shaped pieces (there were pricey at $8.00, +\- a couple cents, each)  I found a pot that would fit in the top of the PVC.  I wanted a little flare at the top.The large pot was all ready on hand to mount the "structure" into.  And, quite by surprise, I found a little fairy kit :-)  Fairy not included but the kit was complete and cheep enough to stay in budget.  I also bought some spray paint to "bring the little pot into a "rhythm" with colors.  Below are the times I purchased.

Almost forgot, I bought some strawberries and a little Begonia.   Time to assemble.  I'm not allowed to use the chop saw, unsupervised. For some reason, my husband believes I will chop my fingers off and I didn't want to cut the PVC with a hand saw, laziness on my part, so my husband cut the 4"x24" pvc into 8" long sections. I then lightly - and lightly is a key word so as not to break the pvc, hammered my pieces together.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of the face of the customer service rep. when he came to assist me in selecting my pipe.  He just knew I had no clue what I was buying and asked if I needed help.  I said no. He asked what plumbing project I was working on and I promptly said, A Strawberry Planter.  Yes...lol.  I wish I had had my camera.  LOL.  I didn't need glue as this won't be under pressure but I did lightly hammer the pieces together to make them good and snug.  An 8" section at the bottom, A Y thing (I apologize.I have no clue what that piece is called), another 8" section, another Y and the last 8" section. Like so .....

And spray paint.  I did this on a windy day.....and you'll see what happened when I walked away.  Luckily it was almost dry...almost.... but I touched it up.

Then we take the planter and insert it in our pot, half filled with dirt and fill in around it to the top  (leave a good 2" from the top of the dirt to the pot rim) and fill the entire "structure" with dirt.  I stuck my hand in the bottom hole and pushed down and then when I got half way up I packed the dirt again and the same with the next side hole and so on until I reached the top.  

 And planted my strawberries in the 2 side sections and half of the back of the large pot.  I have more strawberries coming, so the other half is "dirt in waiting".  I ordered some Pineberries.  They are native to Chili and not modified or a cross mixture.  They are white berries with red seeds and the flavor is a mix of pineapple and strawberries.  Try some. You'll love them.  Anyway, back to the planter.  After getting my strawberries planted, I dabbed a little silicone around the edges of the top - just for safety of the little pot.  And put the pot on top with the little Begonia planted in it.

I dressed it all up with red mulch and made a little fairy village at the bottom.  It's all about the magic and dirt in my world and how I can bring them both together.....grin......

Water with a watering can or a out of a bottle.  If you use a hose the water pressure will be too strong.  And the success for watering in the Y's is much better.  The pot at the top has a hole in the bottom so that water will flow on down as well.

When the strawberries grow I will share an update.  But for now, I like the outcome and have great anticipation of the berries that will be harvested for jam on my toast. If you make one, please share with me. I love seeing others creations!  Thanks for dropping in to see the dirt I've been into.  Enjoy the magic.  It's everywhere ...... if you look!!