beautiful end of summer kindda day

 this afternoon i made kale chips with curly kale from the farmers market & red kale from the garden 

recipe: toss washed chip size pieces of kale in a bowl with extra virgin olive oil, salt to taste, and then you can add extra flavors that you like...for example i added a little garlic & chipotle powder, then lay on a baking sheet, try not to over lap too much, & bake at 350 degrees until crispy (about 10-20 minutes)

finished & delicious 

cosmo flower
the deer ate all the others, but this one survived :)

i slackline...it's a fun type-rope-esqu activity & a good core body workout as well

i own the 50 mm gibbon travel slackline & have no complaints...check out the gibbon website here & if you have any further slack line questions feel free to ask! 

view from on the line...it was quite difficult to balance with the camera though  

walking the line 

i didn't realize when i was taking the photo, but this flower looks like a heart :)

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hope everyone is have a good week <3

nasturtium

my nasturtium has finally began to flower regularly 

 i'm quite happy about it because these tiny flowers are so vibrant & lovely 

they make a great addition to salads, and have a slight peppery taste similar to watercress

nasturtium is also a good garden companion plant and grows easily in most conditions 

to learn more check out this page...there's even some recipes that look delicious :)

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hope everyone has a wonderful weekend <3

a few from the morning

my beautiful orchid plant, from jon for our 4 year

my african violet is blooming again 

cherry & heirloom tomatoes harvested from my garden

harvest for the morning 

cherry tomatoes 

the tomato plants have reached jungle status & they keep climbing! 

animals were eating the pumpkins on the ground...solution grow them up the swing-set :)

pumpkin flower 

if you save the top of a pineapple you can re-root that top & it will begin to grow a new pineapple plant...it takes three years until you have a fruit ready to pick, but it's a fun process! for more details on how to do this yourself check out this page 

i found this interesting creature on my tomato plants & after looking it up i discovered it is a hornworm moth in caterpillar form with braconid wasp, also know as a parasitoid, (the white things all over it) using it as a host. the hornworm eats the tomato's and the parasitoid eats the hornworm...circle of life at work... i love learning all these new things as a result of having a garden.

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have a great day everyone <3

returning...

hello. i am returning to blogging. something that i have been wanting to do for some time now, but have been putting off because of school and summer amongst other things. i've graduated now though and summer is ending .so while i job hunt & have free time on my hands i figure this will be a perfect time to begin :) i'll be attempting to post everyday, hope you enjoy!

*the sunflower photo above is my own, taken during a recent camping trip to vermont, of a beautiful sunflower field we passed on a country road on our way to a vineyard...more pictures of the trip to follow.