Two Salads with Garden Ingredients

Recently, I've made two salads that were both delicious and really beautiful.  The first one, I was able to use radishes and herbs from the garden.  I loosely used a delicious recipe from Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables, by Joshua McFadden, one of my favorite seasonal cookbooks.  To amp up the pretty factor I sprinkled chive blossoms all over the salad and the color combination was so lovely.  I highly recommend using edible flowers in salads!

The second salad was from the cookbook Cook Beautiful, by Athena Calderone, and featured pickled rhubarb from our garden.  It would have been even prettier if my rhubarb was pink and not green.  I LOVED this salad.  It was the perfect combination of different textures and tastes.  I could eat it for every single lunch!

Peonies

Our peony season is almost to a close and while I still don't have nearly as many blooms as I did at our last house, I certainly got more this year than last!  Those blooms that I do cut (it's best to wait three years after planting to cut extensively), I cut short stems for bouquets.

Last fall, I planted some alliums and I just adore how they float above the peony blooms!  Also, the allium blooms last much longer than the peonies!

This season, I have had an issue of some of the peony petals turning brown (it's happening much more with my roses) and my guess is that it is due to the high volume of rain and cloudy skies we've had. 

 These ruffles... perfection.

 If you are looking for a beautiful, informative book on Peonies this book is calling your name. 

Favorite Things #57

It's no secret that I am a fan of classic things that I can rely on day in and day out (see this, this and this).  I've never been one to change out my purse very often, though I do love clutches, and I tend to use the same purse for a long time.

When we were in London last year, Bryce bought me a new purse, for our anniversary, that I've carried ever since and I don't plan on getting a new one... ever.  I love it! 

The store where we picked it out was so beautiful and special and the people could not have been nicer! 

My very favorite part of the whole thing is that Bryce and the children both wrote something to me that was then embossed, in their own writing, on the inside of the purse.  What they wrote was a secret until the purse arrived months after our trip!  Both the children wrote something that made reference to something we often say to each other, and I love that every time I use my bag I see their little love notes!

A Few Things

Last week was rainy and gray so we are so thankful to see the sunshine!  I don't have a lot blooming right now, the peonies aren't quite ready, but the lilacs that I put in last year finished up their blooming.  I love this one, Yankee Doodle, because of its deep purple blooms.  I think they looked lovely with the snowball viburnum.  The allium that I planted is looking striking too as it bobs its head over the peonie's buds!

The twins are doing well and there seems to be some confusion as Rosie believes she is their Mama and the kittens have gone along with it.

Grace had her spring recital and, as always, we loved seeing her dance.  She's so graceful and lovely up on stage and I'm so proud of her.

The chickens have moved to their coop, even in the abysmal weather last week, and are doing great!  They are so fun to sit and watch. 

I'm planning to take advantage of the good weather and get some dahlia tubers in the ground today (clearly, we stored them incorrectly as we lost a lot to rot over the winter).  Here's hoping spring is well and truly here!

Barn Cats

Recently, I saw a post on our local Facebook page offering up kittens.  I jumped at the chance as we have been looking for barn cats, but have found them surprisingly difficult to come by.  Foolishly, I didn't ask a lot of questions but rather found myself and Grace going on Sunday to pick them up. While we went, Bryce readied a box for the kittens in the barn.

As soon as we walked in, we realized that these kittens were far younger than we had anticipated.  In fact, they were far to young to even have been taken from their Mama.  However, they had already been separated (and Mama cat shooed off) and the couple who were giving the kittens away were leaving on vacation so we didn't know what would happen to the kittens if we walked away.

Therefore, we have found ourselves with two four week old kittens that, while adorable, are a lot of work at feeding time!  For now, they have to be bottle fed with kitten formula.  Needless to say, they are not yet in the barn!

A Shoe Closet

It's surprising, but our old home has lots of storage!  Little closets are tucked around the house, we have a beautiful built in linen closet that we added in the first renovation two summers ago, and we have some pieces of furniture that can be used for storage (our chifforobe holds a ton!).  When we started the bathroom renovation we knew that we would be keeping the two little closets on either side of the fireplace because storage in a bathroom just can't be beat.  The closet on the right is being used for miscellaneous linens and bathroom essentials (think toilet paper) but that meant the one on the left was up for grabs!  Naturally, I felt that a shoe closet was called for.

It's such a luxury to have!  Bryce built and painted the shelves for me and I love how it turned out. The top two shelves are slanted with a cleat for heels and the rest of the shelves are flat.  We made the bottom shelves high so that taller boots could be stored there.  I don't know that it has the same effect in these pictures but my favorite thing is the color of the closet!  It seems super special that it's a color instead of white (the color is the same one we used in the closet and our bedroom)!

Spring at the Farm

Spring has finally sprung.  We are outside working in the garden, and the field, planting and planning.  We are already wishing we had done more to prepare for this season, but the renovation just seemed to take up all space and I suppose it's no use lamenting what wasn't done.

The chicks are doing great and we have begun taking them out to their coop (it's in the garden) while we are in the garden working.  We did lose one of the chicks within the first week, I'm guessing he wasn't healthy to start with but it was very sad.

Three of the four lilacs that I planted last year are blooming.  I love looking over and seeing their lovely blooms.

Our rhubarb is growing like crazy this year!  I'm hoping to make a cake with it this week.  Also, the asparagus is almost as tall as I am.  I'm leaving it this year so that it can grow really strong root systems and produce for the next couple of decades, but will look forward to our first harvest next year.

An old, craggy apple tree that last season produced no blooms (that we saw) has exploded in blooms this year.  We can see if from our kitchen window and have so enjoyed it.

The daffodils that I planted when we first moved to the farm were so beautiful this year!

I made a dandelion cake for Marilyn's birthday.

And then there is Rosie, who loves to roll around in the fresh grass and who can often be found making sure every square inch of her body is in contact with the cool grass.