Category Archives: Gardening

A Backyard Salad in Greeley

We are just starting to get our small harvests in, but it has been enough to net us a good lunch. We went out and weeded the garden, planted the summer seeds (like watermelon, cucumbers, cantaloupe and basil) and harvested the early summer bounty.

Raw Materials for salad

The Raw materials from the garden for our backyard salad included: eggs from the Leghorn, strawberries, radishes, spinach, lettuce (arugula, romaine and bibb), mint and garlic scapes.

Backyard Salad
The Prepared Lunch

I think lunch was about 90% from the backyard. We only added suntea, lemon and homemade dressing that included the scapes. The rest was washed, chopped up or, in the case of the eggs, boiled and served. It was very delicious and reminded us of why we spend so much of our time toiling in the soil. I love making these locavore meals. I can’t wait till I can do it year round in the tropics. You truly reap what you sow! Yum.

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Friends, Farming, and Fun

We had a pretty busy weekend. We went out to lunch to see  some friends who were visiting from Tuscon, AZ. We went to a good Creole food restaurant in Longmont called Lucille’s Creole.

At Lucille's Creole
Me, Britton, Isaac, Koabi and Sara at Lucille’s Creole in Longmont

Later that afternoon we painted the new house and then went home to a beautiful sunset. Here’s a picture we took from our backyard.

Sunset in Colorado
Backyard Sunset

We have been letting the chicks stay outside lately. We were worried how the big chicken would react to them, but so far it has been peaceful. We had to play musical chicks for a while to allow the big chicken time in the coop to lay her egg. I knew we wouldn’t be able to do that today because of work so we just thought we’d wait and see what happened. Well, I went out to check on them and she had laid an egg! Seems to be working so far.

Integration of the old chicken and the new pullets is not going quite so smoothly. The chicken has found a way into the greenhouse even when we shut the door (through the secret cat tunnel), so she hasn’t been sleeping with the pullets. When they are playing/pecking around in the yard, the big chicken does her thing and the little girls do theirs. I think eventually they will form a flock. I hope so! I hope Big Chicken AKA Salt is not left out!

Here’s a few pictures from around the yard today. Plus our first small “farm” harvest!

Kitty in the yard
Kitty in the Yard watching over the chicks (he’s the manager)

Pullets in the yard
Pullets in the yard (FYI- when a chick is too big to be a chick, but too little to be a chicken they are called pullets!)

First Harvest
The First Harvest -the strawberries and lettuce are just coming in. The mint and eggs are ongoing and plentiful.

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Mi Swing es Tropical

I heard this song and thought of Puerto Rico. It really feels like Puerto Rico to me. I love the summer-like weather we’ve been having. Gardening, listening to music, wearing warm-weather clothes and flip-flops, drinking sun tea with fresh mint from the garden, eating salads that are 10 minutes old. 

For about 4 months a year in Colorado it feels tropical here too, and I love it. My swing is tropical, too!

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Britton found his ring!

We were out in the yard today just watering the plants and taking the baby chicks out. Britton was watering the new daisies where we had been working when he lost his ring last week. He looked down and made a double take. It was there in all it’s shiny glory! He found the ring! I usually am the one to water the plants so it was cool that he happened to be doing it and looked down as I was walking around with him looking at the plants and flowers.
The ring and corvette

Squeeze those fingers in close! (With the ’75 Corvette in background)

This video is of when he was out looking for it with the metal detector. I guess good ol’ eyesight, a little wind and rain work better. He said we have a lot of metal in the yard.

Also, we went out to dinner to Roma’s in west Greeley with our old roommate, Bob. It was fun catching up with him and his crazy stories.

Cassie and Bob

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