Years ago we learned about dipping leaves in beeswax from a friend, where it was a fall tradition at their local Waldorf School.

Since then, it has become a fall tradition in our home as well.

We have a crockpot dedicated to beeswax, and every fall we melt the wax, and dip leaves in the melted beeswax.

I love that we are able to preserve, and enjoy the gorgeous colors of fall for awhile longer. And I love infusing the house with the smell of beeswax!

Many years we have dipped leaves with friends. I’ve brought our beeswax crockpot to homeschool gatherings, and nearby farms, and it’s been fun to share the magic of beeswax leaves with others.

All the colorful leaves in the pictures above were from last year’s leaf dipping, when we had an autumn celebration with friends. There were so many different colors and kinds of leaves that people brought, it was really beautiful!

This year it wasn’t meant to be to dip leaves with friends, but we carried on the tradition in our home. We collected and dipped apple leaves for the first time. I love the yellow! B also collected some goumi leaves, and even a strawberry leaf! See that in the pictures above?

We also collected leaves at a friend’s house (with the most gorgeous fall leaves on their trees), but we got busy and didn’t get a chance to dip them for too many days afterwards and the colors had faded.

You can press the leaves in a book beforehand to flatten them, but we don’t like to do that for long (usually just overnight) because the leaves are best dipped when they are fresh and the colors are vibrant.

The thing with B and I, is that we always find more leaves we love. Look at this one! Oh, we need to dip this one! This year we kept finding more leaves around the yard we wanted to dip, and then we’d plug in the crockpot again. We’ve dipped our leaves for the year, and I finally just tucked the beeswax crockpot away.

We love to give the beeswax leaves as gifts. And I love to smell them! We’ve had them keep their color for a year or more, which still amazes me. When they eventually lose their color, they make great fire starter.

It’s wonderful to have some of the colors of fall indoors to enjoy, when there is not much color to be seen outdoors during the colder months.

Each season is busy in it’s own way.

In the spring all the raised beds need to be prepared in the garden, and all the planting done. In the spring we feel a burst of energy with all the possibility for the year, and want to do all the things. Do you feel that way too?

In the summertime, both harvesting and watering can feel like a full time job at times. And then there’s the preserving too. By summer, we don’t want to add anything like we did in spring, but have our hands full just maintaining what’s already on our plate.

In the fall, the last of the harvests come in and everything needs to be preserved. There is much to do to prepare for winter, and we dig deeper into our energy reserves to wrap things up. By that point we’ve been hard at work for many, many months and are looking forward to the slower pace that comes with the colder months.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, our winters are very rainy. Every year we have things we want to accomplish before the rainy season hits. It’s the fall hustle, with busy, squirrel-like activity before the cold season arrives. This year felt like we had an especially long “before the rainy season” list.

Back to summer for a moment. A big project on our list for the summer was to remove the front porch, which was at the end of it’s lifespan. It was a huge undertaking and Jeff and I felt overwhelmed and intimidated by the project. We’ve tackled many projects together over the years, but this one felt particularly daunting.

Some friends offered to help us and I cannot express enough how grateful we felt for their help. So very grateful! They took a day out of their busy schedule and gave freely of their time, their experience and expertise, and their tools. What a blessing it can be when people so generously share their skills.

The relief we felt after the porch project was done was huge!

After that Jeff and I needed to repair some siding on the front of the house, and do some painting. I learned some new skills! I had never put up siding before. There was no siding available to match what was already there, but we found some siding that we liked and I felt really proud of all the work we did.

Ideally, I would have gotten all the painting done during the heat of the summer, but projects always take longer than you expect (and we always have a lot of projects going on at one time), so I was busy painting in the fall and trying to beat the rain.

Jeff had been busy building me an adorable shed for storing animal feed, and things for the animals. (The majority of the materials were repurposed, much of it from the old deck boards my dad and stepmom brought us when they upgraded their deck. Everything was appreciated, and put to use. Moving the animal feed to the new shed meant clearing out the garden shed where it was blocking all the tools we needed access to for all the projects we do around here, so this was a great project to finish up for so many reasons!)

In addition to finishing painting the front of the house, I wanted to get that shed painted too, so I had lots of painting to do. Jeff was busy with some painting also. Our truck bed was rusting, so he sanded it down, did a rust treatment, and then painted the back of the truck. Much better!

There would be plenty of outdoor projects that we’d do on rainy days, but for all the painting we were wanting to do, we were trying to beat the rain!

My dad and stepmom came for a visit in October, and we had an early birthday celebration for B. We sat around the campfire at night, ate homemade ice cream and brownies, sang silly songs, and watched the night sky. Some good memories were made with B’s Granny and Gramps.

While they were here, they helped us with the garden clean up and we appreciated the extra hands so much! It looked like our last sunny weekend in the forecast for awhile, so we made the most of it and got a lot wrapped up in the garden for the season.

And now are we all caught up on projects?

Hahaha.

We have a list of outdoor projects for sunny days, and for days with lighter rainfall, and every time we cross something off the list it seems we think of three more things to add! Funny how that goes, isn’t it?

Our family has been building cover for some hay storage, so that’s one project. We cleared out the woodshed for firewood (I had been storing bales of orchard grass in there all summer), and got firewood stacked. With storms in the forecast last week, we did all kinds of storm prep, replacing some ties on a greenhouse, and getting buckets of water filled for extra water for the animals. We are in constant storm prep mode during the fall and winter.

Our rainy season is here, and the days are shorter. More time is being spent indoors now, which is appreciated. I’m reminded every year how important the colder months are to regenerate. Our bodies need a chance to recharge!

We’ve been working on some cleaning and organizing projects around the house, and making lots of things for our family’s woodworking shop. Since I find it easier to encourage others to slow down than to follow the advice myself… I appreciated the outside encouragement from a friend to pull out my knitting. I did just that. It’s a wonderful, and calming way to end a cozy fall day. Are you making anything these days? Do you feel that push in the fall to get all the things done before the cold season arrives?

Some of the last things we harvest in the garden each fall are Concord grapes, hardy kiwis, and winter squash. This year all of those things were harvested in late October.

The fresh fruit was very welcome because we have all been craving fruit like crazy. I love the smell and taste of Concord grapes. They taste like the essence of PURPLE. Do you know what I mean?

The Concord grapes growing in our yard have seeds in them. At one point in time I was nuts about the addition of the crunchy seeds (and they’re so good for you), but our whole family prefers seedless grapes these days. Now I want to plant a seedless Concord grape because there is no other flavor like it.

Our favorite thing to do with seedless grapes? Freeze them. My grandma froze grapes and they make the most delicious treat. Have you ever frozen grapes before?

We planted hardy kiwis in our garden years ago to have fresh fruit late in the season. We waited years, first getting a few handfuls, and then larger harvests each year until finally harvesting colanders full of hardy kiwis each fall.

We always have fun delighting friends and family by handing them a ripe kiwi to try when we are in the garden. People are so amazed at the little treats and get so much enjoyment from them.

You can eat the whole kiwi, skin and all, like a grape. As with the grapes, they are also good frozen. The kiwis are delicious when they are fully ripe, but when picked too soon they can irritate our mouths a bit.

We lost a male hardy kiwi plant last year, and replaced it with a new plant this year. We have two female plants and two male plants for cross pollination.

The last to be brought in with the October harvest was the winter squash.

The pictures above were from last year’s harvest, when we grew a variety of winter squash in all different colors. That is what we do most years, but this year we grew only one type of winter squash, Candy Roaster. Over the last few years, Candy Roaster has become our favorite winter squash to grow.

The new winter squash comes when we have finished up the last of the previous year’s winter squash, which works out well. Our family enjoys winter squash baked, with simply some butter or coconut oil, and a sprinkle of salt on top. Another way I use lots of winter squash is baked in muffins.

What about you? Have you been bringing in fall harvests from the garden, or enjoying fall treats from the farmer’s market? What foods do you look forward to in fall?

I’ve shared a lot about what we grew in the garden this year, and there’s more goodness from the garden to share with you yet!

You want to know one of my very favorite things that we grew this year? Mushrooms!

Yes, mushrooms! You can grow them in your garden! How amazing is that?

We have grown different kinds of mushrooms in our garden for years, but this year was the first time we grew oyster mushrooms in a laundry basket. And I gotta say, we love it!

Today I will share our process with you- to show you how simple it is to grow oyster mushrooms in your own backyard! While some types of mushrooms can be trickier to grow, oyster mushrooms are great for beginners.

Not only is this project simple, it doesn’t require much space! So if you are wanting to grow food in less space, and you love mushrooms, this could be a great project for you.

You can also utilize areas of your yard or garden that have more shade, where you might not otherwise be growing much food.

Here’s what you’ll need to do this project:

-Oyster Mushroom Spawn

-A Plastic Laundry Basket

-Straw*

-Water

………………………………..

*Finding straw that is not sprayed can be a bit challenging sometimes. There can be a lot of glyphosate/Roundup sprayed on straw. It’s worth it to do some searching to find a good source of straw!

It took years before we found a regular source, and we are so grateful to now have a local feed store, Eugene Backyard Farmer, that sells organic straw from Blue Mountain Hay. Many thanks to Blue Mountain Hay for growing organic straw, and to Eugene Backyard Farmer for selling it locally!

To find straw that is not sprayed- you can check out your nearby feed stores, chat with local farmers and ask around at the farmer’s market, search online, or seek out mushroom growers in your area who might be searching for the same thing.

If a store doesn’t carry it, put in a request. The more demand there is for straw that is not sprayed, the more people will be inspired to provide it for their local communities, knowing how much it will be appreciated.

Now to the laundry basket.

I bought this plastic laundry basket when it was on super sale at a nearby grocery store. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for growing mushrooms, and I was stoked!

After growing mushrooms in it, I can now say it was fantastic for that purpose!

Laundry baskets are great for growing oyster mushrooms outdoors.

If you are able to find a vertical style laundry hamper, like this one, with lots of holes in it, you can grow a lot of mushrooms in a small amount of space.

The holes in the laundry basket provide places for the oyster mushrooms to fruit.

No laundry basket? What about plastic crates? Get creative! Do you have any containers to repurpose that could be used for growing mushrooms? If you don’t have something already on hand, I’ve seen lots of plastic laundry baskets at nearby thrift stores that could be given new life.

Oyster mushrooms can also be grown in straw covering raised beds in the garden. We also did that in this year’s garden, but growing oyster mushrooms in the laundry basket is where we had the most success by far!

Once you find something that works for you to grow mushrooms in, it can be used again and again.

Okay, let’s talk mushroom spawn.

This year we wanted to grow oyster mushrooms outside in the garden, and we wanted to grow them in straw.

We decided on Italian Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus pulmonarius.) They love straw, and the fruiting temps said 65 – 75 degrees F, which sounded good.

The Italian Oyster Mushrooms were described as a thicker and meatier oyster mushroom, with a mild flavor. That sounded good too.

We ordered Italian Oyster Mushroom Sawdust Spawn from North Spore.

We had ordered other mushroom spawn from North Spore in the past and had been very pleased with everything we had gotten from them. (This is not an affiliate post, I simply love sharing products and companies we love supporting!)

*Side note: oyster mushrooms can be great for growing outdoors, and there are many varieties of oyster mushrooms to choose from. I’m sharing about Italian Oyster Mushrooms in this post because that’s the variety we chose for this project.

Choose your location. Ideally, you want a spot that is not in full sun, is convenient for watering, and where you will see it every day.

I wanted the laundry basket to be in a spot where I would walk past it every single day, making it easier to remember to keep it watered. I chose a spot near the goat yard, so I could check it multiple times a day when I walked past to care for the goats.

We also chose that particular location for the laundry basket because it was near the garden hose, and it was in a more shady part of the garden where it wasn’t in full sun, so it wouldn’t dry out as quickly and would stay cooler during the heat of summer.

Okay, let’s recap…

Location with water source. Check. Laundry basket. Check. Straw. Check. Mushroom Spawn. Check.

Once we had everything on hand, and our location chosen, our next step was to sprinkle a layer of straw on the bottom of the laundry basket, followed by a layer of mushroom spawn.

We then watered each layer as we went. We put the hose sprayer on the shower setting, to give it a good soaking.

We continued that way- straw, mushroom spawn, watering, straw, mushroom spawn, watering- until with all our many layers, we were to the top of the laundry basket with straw. If you have multiple people helping, you can work together and each do one of those parts.

We lightly spread each layer of straw, not packing it down tightly. Watering it did the packing down.

Notes: Some people sterilize their straw beforehand, but since the oyster spawn takes over so quickly, we didn’t worry about doing that.

It’s important to get your straw very wet from the start to make it easier for the mycelium to colonize it. The straw can be soaked in a tub of water before doing the project, to fully saturate the straw, before doing the layers in the laundry basket. We decided to water each layer as we went instead.

The spawn we ordered from North Spore was 5.5 lbs. and we had enough leftover for one more laundry basket of the same size. We would recommend planting two laundry baskets, and breaking the 5.5 lbs. of spawn in half, and spreading half throughout each laundry basket. This is what we plan to do next time.

I wrote down that we “planted” our oyster mushrooms in the laundry basket in the garden, on July 24th.

For daily watering, we changed the hose sprayer setting to mist.

We watered it daily, and sometimes twice daily on especially hot days. (In hindsight, in my zest to make sure it never dried out, I believe I overwatered it at times. You will get a feel for it.)

Even though the laundry basket was in a location with some shade, Jeff also wanted to wrap it in plastic initially to retain moisture in the beginning due to the summer heat we were experiencing. If planted earlier in the season, that step might not be necessary.

On August 7th we removed the plastic.

We watered it and checked on it daily. At first, all we were growing was grass.

But then… we spotted our first mushrooms!

I wrote that on August 11th we saw our first three mushrooms. Three!

You should have heard the ruckus our family made over those wee mushrooms, exclaiming over each one in our excitement.

We had “planted” our Italian Oyster Mushrooms on July 24th and already on August 11th we were seeing our first mushrooms! That’s mushrooms in less than three weeks! Awesome!

On August 14th, we harvested our first oyster mushrooms from the laundry hamper.

Homegrown mushrooms! Hooray!

On August 15th, we harvested more.

On August 16th, we harvested a whole colander of oyster mushrooms!

And the mushrooms kept coming!

On August 17th we harvested another colander full of mushrooms.

On August 26th, a second flush of mushrooms came on, and we harvested more mushrooms. And then we harvested more on the 27th.

Then there was a gap, and on September 20th we were surprised with a third flush of oyster mushrooms! We harvested more on September 24th.

These last two pictures were a bit blurry, but I wanted to share them to show some of our final harvests.

(None of the pictures in this post show the back side of the laundry hamper, which was also covered in mushrooms! I wasn’t able to take good pictures from the other side because there was a fence there with beans growing on it.)

On October 14th, the fourth flush of oyster mushrooms started! On the 16th we harvested oyster mushrooms. Wow!

In all, we had four flushes with the oyster mushrooms fruiting, beginning in August and going through September and October. Some flushes gave us days and days of harvests, which were sometimes quite abundant.

When we ordered the Italian Oyster Mushroom spawn, the fruiting temps said 65 – 75 degrees F, so we were amazed that we got so many mushrooms during the heat of summer.

We’re sure the shady location helped with that, as well as keeping it misted every day. Perhaps the cooler nights here in the coastal range of Oregon made a difference too.

I read that Italian Oyster Mushrooms can fruit in early spring and late fall, so I would like to start ours earlier than summer next time around.

What did we do with all our homegrown mushrooms you might ask?

We sauteed the Italian Oyster Mushrooms with butter. Yum! We were very fond of the taste, and definitely want to grow the same kind again!

We also had enough mushrooms to dry some for the winter, which we plan to use in soups.

Jeff has grown many different kinds of oyster mushrooms over the years, in all different colors, but didn’t love the flavor. The Italian Oyster Mushrooms have been his favorite oyster mushrooms yet, and also the easiest to grow.

For the cost of a laundry basket (which can be re-used each year), some oyster mushroom spawn, and some straw, you can grow an abundance of delicious and healthy mushrooms right outside your door!

(We are going to experiment to see if we can use our same spawn again with fresh straw.)

The initial set up doesn’t take very long, and watering takes only a few minutes a day. Totally worth it for delicious, homegrown mushrooms!

We can’t wait for next year’s garden season to come around again to grow more oyster mushrooms out there!

So, what are you waiting for? Are you ready to start growing some mushrooms?

Is your family wondering why you are dumping all the laundry on the floor and heading out to the garden with the laundry basket? Yep, that’s called mushroom fever my friends. It’s a real thing!

……..

*As always, make sure you confidently identify any mushrooms you harvest before eating them! Also, it’s always a good idea, when eating a mushroom for the first time, to start with a small amount to see how your body responds to it.

I have found throughout my life that some of my most challenging experiences have brought the best lessons and opportunity for growth. You know what else? Sometimes those hardest experiences can deepen our gratitude more than anything else.

I have felt my gratitude deepened the most, not by things being easy, but by things being downright hard. I have felt humbled, and I have felt grateful, from those experiences.

During one of the hardest times in my life, I felt very disconnected from my truest self, and now feeling that connection to my soul means everything to me.

There is gratitude in the contrast.

My body has so much gratitude for the feeling of being physically and emotionally safe because in the past I have experienced the opposite of that.

At one point in my life, I walked or took the bus to go places. That deepened my appreciation for being able to drive where I want to go in a car.

In my first apartment, I had no furniture. Just a sleeping bag, and a suitcase. You know what I think is really awesome now? A comfy chair to sit in. (Though I do still enjoy sitting on the floor as well.)

You want to know why I appreciate a washing machine so much? Because I’ve been without a working washing machine on multiple occasions.

Many of us have experienced feeling strongly disliked or judged by another. Doesn’t that make the feeling of being treated with love and warmth, that much more welcome?

For those who have experienced trauma, what a relief it can be to simply smell flowers, listen to birds, and engage with all the senses in nature, in a space that is peaceful. Sometimes the simplest things can be so healing.

Whenever the power goes out it deepens my appreciation for the convenience of electricity. And running water. (So did our time without a working well last summer.)

That feeling in my heart when I hear the sound of my son singing? B had a speech disorder when he was young (with the initial diagnosis informing us he would likely never be able to speak intelligibly), and the first time he sang I cried like crazy. That sound is still something I will never take for granted.

When my husband Jeff feels good in his body, I feel grateful. He is still recovering from harms done during his time in the hospital years back, and it has made us both appreciate health and well being in a whole new way.

The busy pace of the warmer months makes me appreciate the colder season when the pace slows down. Then the cold of winter makes me appreciate the warmth of summer when it comes back around.

Knowing what it’s like to be the new person who doesn’t know anyone, sure made me grateful whenever someone went out of their way to make me feel welcome, and made me more mindful to introduce myself to others when they were in that position.

Moving far from home, I came to appreciate time spent with family more. The time together became precious in a way I could never have understood before.

Periods of time being self-employed, with money tight and without a steady paycheck, gave me a deeper appreciation for every bill that got paid, every tank of gas that got filled, and every bag of groceries that got purchased. It also made me appreciate, even more, experiencing such abundance in so many areas of my life.

I am grateful for the feeling of community, near and far. I know what it’s like to go through something hard, and be in need of support that is not always easy to find. Over time I have come to appreciate, deeply, the treasure that a true friend is, and for people who are there for you when you need them most. In person, and from afar.

For someone who has experienced being without a roof over their head or enough to eat… can you imagine the depth of gratitude for those things many of us take for granted each day?

Every day I practice choosing to be grateful. Some days I feel more grateful than others, but I am constantly reminded that there is much to be grateful for.

What experiences have deepened your gratitude?

In 2024 Garden Notes, I told you I would share more about the peppers.

In my previous post, I shared about growing peppers vertically in GreenStalk planters, as well as growing and fermenting jalapeno peppers and Hungarian Hot Wax peppers.

I also shared about overwintering peppers for the first time. And guess what? We overwintered a cayenne pepper plant too!

A cayenne plant lived in the greenhouse over the winter, produced more this year, and now we will see about overwintering it for another season.

These pictures were from last year’s cayenne pepper harvest. We harvested most of the cayenne pepper plants and hung them to dry, and saved one cayenne plant for overwintering.

Jeff loved using the whole, dried cayenne peppers when making fermented pickles, usually one per jar. Along with jalapenos and garlic, it gave the pickles a spicy kick.

I am a fan of hot peppers. I love ferments with habanero peppers, and I really love fermented jalapenos, but the pepper I consume most often is cayenne, in the form of cayenne powder.

Since I use cayenne powder on meals all the time, I wondered about making some from our very own homegrown cayenne (wouldn’t that be cool?), but felt a bit intimidated about grinding up dried peppers in a blender…

I could just imagine myself in a cloud of pepper dust, blinded and trying to crawl to the door for fresh air and survival. <hilarious to picture, but not quite fun sounding>

Perhaps with some gloves and goggles? Have any of you made your own cayenne or pepper powder before?

I do love cayenne. It’s more than a delicious addition to meals, it’s a powerful medicine, and so good for circulation! It’s also good for the heart, the digestion, and the immune system. Cayenne can even be used topically in salves etc. for pain relief.

(I love all the information shared about cayenne in one of my favorite books, Rosemary Gladstar’s Medical Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide. I felt like mentioning it here because it’s such a gem of a book!)

There have been times that I have bought spendy supplements and did not notice any difference or improvement, even after taking them for awhile.

Then there were other times when I bought an inexpensive, common kitchen ingredient to begin using regularly and noticed positive effects right away. That was definitely the case when I started sprinkling cayenne on many of my meals!

If I wanted a good dose of cayenne, I would sprinkle extra on my meal separately, in case the rest of my family didn’t want anything quite so spicy. I noticed an improvement in my circulation immediately when I started adding more cayenne to meals.

Sometimes our bodies don’t need anything fancy in a pill, but simply something straight from the earth.

That being said, each body is different. A medicine for one person might not be a medicine for another. There are also different stages we go through, when the needs of our bodies change. I simply want to share things that I have personally found helpful, in case others find them helpful too.

Cayenne can be another great medicine to add to our kitchens! And if you live in a climate where you can grow cayenne (it can grow in a pot on a balcony or deck), perhaps some homegrown cayenne can make it’s way there too!

I wonder how many times I have used the term “Vertical Gardening” on this blog over the years? Many, many times. I’ve shared favorite ways we’ve found to create trellises, and grow things vertically in our garden to make the most of our space. Even cucumbers and winter squash can be found growing upwards in our yard.

The last few years we also started growing strawberries, lettuce, and herbs vertically, thanks to our favorite GreenStalk planters. And now we can add peppers to that list!

I shared that we grew peppers vertically in our GreenStalk planter for the first time in last year’s garden. (2023.) We grew peppers in our GreenStalk vertical planter again this year, and I wanted to share pictures with you. (Jeff took bamboo and twine to create support for the pepper plants, which can get quite large.)

If you haven’t heard about GreenStalk planters yet, more on that below.

Before, we had grown peppers in raised beds in the garden, and also in pots in the greenhouse.

What we love about growing peppers in the GreenStalk planters, is how many peppers we can grow in a footprint of only a few feet!

Thinking of how many raised beds it takes to grow the same amount of peppers that fit in the GreenStalk… or the space it takes to fit that many pots of peppers… Wow! As I’ve shared before, the GreenStalk planters are such an incredible use of space.

We are able to grow more peppers in our garden now that we grow them vertically with the GreenStalk planters, and our family is quite pleased about that!

In the GreenStalk vertical planters, we’ve been growing jalapeno peppers and Hungarian Hot Wax peppers. Our favorite are the jalapenos, we love the flavor. Jeff made me a forever fan of the Hungarian Hot Wax peppers, though, when he roasted them and stuffed them with cheese. Those were crazy good.

What we do with the majority of the peppers we grow is ferment them. Sliced peppers fermented in a saltwater brine will last in the fridge throughout the year, and they make a delicious addition to all kinds of meals. This batch was especially beautiful with all the different colors. (For more fermentation inspiration, check out my posts on Fermenting Vegetables, and Making Sauerkraut.)

Besides growing peppers vertically for the first time last year, Jeff also discovered overwintering peppers. He kept some pepper plants going in the greenhouse throughout the winter, and this spring we were able to start the garden season off with some large pepper plants that started producing much earlier. How cool is that?

This fall my dad and stepmom helped us with some garden clean up, and my dad helped Jeff and I move our GreenStalk planter filled with peppers (one layer at a time) into the greenhouse for the winter. We will be overwintering peppers again, and see how it goes.

As always, I hope this post will bring you some garden inspiration!

We purchased our first GreenStalk planter in 2022, and have since added more. The GreenStalk planters have been such an incredible addition to our garden, making it possible for us to grow more food in less space!

If you would like to learn more about the GreenStalk vertical planters, I have written about them before in these posts:

Growing More Food With GreenStalk Planters!

Keys To Growing More Abundant Strawberry Harvests!

If you are interested in GreenStalk planters for your garden, you can get $10 off your first order when you use my link! When you use my affiliate link, you will receive a discount, and I will receive credit towards our next GreenStalk planter. Your support helps me devote more time to sharing inspiration in this space, thank you!

Okay, garden friends, tell us- Do you grow peppers in your garden? Have you ever grown peppers vertically? Have you gardened with a GreenStalk planter before? What are your favorite peppers?

I’ve been wanting to share this recipe with you. It’s simple to make, and has been a big hit with our friends when I bring it to potlucks. Quinoa, Veggies, Herbs… delicious!

I tend to make this recipe in the late summer or early fall when there is an abundance of fresh vegetables in the garden. The great thing about this recipe is that you can adapt it, and add whatever fresh veggies and herbs you happen to have on hand.

Start with quinoa.

I cook the quinoa differently with this recipe than I do when I make Quinoa Hot Cereal. When I make the hot cereal, I cook the quinoa on the stovetop and don’t mind if the quinoa gets overcooked and a bit mushy, because it’s going to taste amazing that way.

When making this recipe, I prefer to bake the quinoa. I mentioned in the post about Quinoa Hot Cereal that I usually soak grains before cooking them, but not with quinoa. No need to soak it first. But I do like to plan ahead and bake the quinoa for this recipe the day before so it can fully cool before adding all the other ingredients.

To prepare the quinoa, use two cups water for every cup of quinoa you plan to make. For this recipe, I’ve been doing two cups quinoa (for a nice, big batch) and 4 cups water in a baking dish with a lid, on 375 degrees for about 45 – 55 minutes. (I’m still experimenting on the timing to see what I like best.)

When the quinoa is done baking, let it cool. (I like to bake it in the evening and let it cool overnight, then add my ingredients the next morning.)

My favorite additions have been Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumbers, and Fresh Basil. Then I generously cover it with olive oil. I like to add salt, pepper, and a little apple cider vinegar. And that’s it! It’s so delicious.

Other additions that I think would be really tasty are fresh cilantro, parsley, and garlic. You could also make a Southwestern version with black beans and corn. Some pickled jalapenos would be mighty good in that too! So many possibilities!

One time, while I was making this recipe, Jeff wondered about adding oranges alongside the tomatoes and cucumbers. We had a really good batch of oranges at the time and though it seemed like a random combination to me at first, I decided to add some and it ended up being a wonderful addition!

Another time I made this recipe I was in a hurry to get out the door for a potluck, and didn’t feel like it was my best batch. I thought it needed more veggies, and more dressing… and you know, a bit more attention from me. However, even though it wasn’t my best batch, I had so many friends at the potluck rave about how good it was and ask me for the recipe. My point in sharing that is this recipe is pretty easy to please, even when you don’t have a huge amount of time to devote to preparing it.

What additions do you think would be really tasty in this Quinoa & Veggie Salad? I would love to hear your inspirations! If you make this recipe, please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

When I was little, I remember my aunt kindly teasing me because with every song that would come on the radio I would exclaim “Oh my gosh, I LOVE this song! This is my favorite song!” Or something along those lines.

She asked how many “favorite” songs I could possibly have?

With each song, I would feel the music in my body and be fully immersed in appreciating it. I would so fully be enjoying the music, that each song felt like my favorite in that moment. Or at least, in the midst of my joy, I would declare each one a favorite.

When it comes to flowers, I have a lot of favorites too. I love them all. With each new flower that emerges, I feel a love that brims over, and that is the flower that gets all my adoration in that moment.

Each flower is a favorite in a different way. I love the bright yellow of a daffodil on a rainy spring day. I love the glowing white trillium flowers on the forest floor. I love the gentle scent of roses, and how soft the petals are. I love the way daisies make you want to smile every time you see them.

Have I mentioned lilacs? The way they call to you whenever you are walking by… their fragrance is fleeting, and meant to be savored at every opportunity.

Have you ever admired a honeysuckle in the early morning light? I cannot even describe it’s scent other than to say it transports you somehow.

And the smell of sweet peas? My goodness.

And calendula? I can’t forget to mention the humble calendula. Hardy, dependable. Seeing calendula flowers blooming all around the garden just makes me feel good. I feel comforted by them.

And dahlias? And zinnias? And snapdragons? What about irises? There are so many flowers to appreciate!

And sunflowers! Sunflowers have a special place in my heart. I love the way sunflowers have their face to the sun. I love that they are bright… that they are filled with JOY. I especially love when they are covered in bees and butterflies, and “Sunflower Yellow” is one of my very favorite colors.

I appreciate how flowers bring us into the present moment.

To admire them, smell them, feel them… we must be pulled from our thoughts of other places and things… we must be fully in the here and now so we can drink up the color, and the fragrance they offer so freely.

Flowers mark the season, and bring such sweetness. Some bloom for such a brief time, deepening the appreciation for them and for that time of year.

My mom often planted flowers when I little, sharing my grandmother’s love for them. My mom told us stories about my grandmother doing field trips for children, showing them all the native wildflowers where she lived.

My grandma grew a lot of flowers in her garden too. I have favorite memories of getting out of the car, and starting our visit at my grandma’s house with a garden walk. During our garden walks, my grandma would show my mom, sister, and I all the flowers that were blooming, and hand us herbs to smell.

When I met Jeff, he had the most beautiful garden I had ever seen, and there were flowers everywhere. B has grown up surrounded by flowers, and now we are a family of flower lovers.

Jeff and B love to make vases of flowers, and you can often find me taking pictures of flowers in the garden. In the winter, you can find our family going through seed catalogs, picking out flowers for next year’s garden, wondering where we will fit them all.

Flowers inspire love in us, connecting humans with our bee friends who share our love of flowers.

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Tell us, what are all your favorite flowers?

P.S. After reading this post, Jeff and B had more flowers to mention. McKana Columbines, Russell Lupines, gladiolas, violets, geraniums, jasmine, narcissus, yarrow, marigolds and hyacinths. We could keep going and going!

I thought I would share a behind the scenes peek of some of the harvest pictures I took in the garden over the summer. You know what? Most days the harvests were gathered in all sorts of colanders and containers, then brought inside to process. Most days I did not take the time to arrange the harvests beautifully and take pictures first.

That’s the nice thing about having a blog though, it inspires me to slow down just a bit, and take the time to create a beautiful picture to share with you all.

The other side of that is people can easily get a skewed idea of what our life really looks like.

I tell people that blogs have a way of making things look glamorous sometimes. I tell them that our life is not glamorous. I mention shoveling out goat houses, hauling firewood out in the cold, and things of that nature, but still… when someone comes here to see this blog, they are seeing beauty.

Beautiful flowers… beautiful nature… beautiful garden harvests.

I share beautiful pictures with you, and words from my heart, because I want this space to be a blessing for those who visit here. I want to share inspiration. I want to share beauty.

That doesn’t mean that every part of every day is filled with beauty, though.

The thing with sharing online, is that people are often seeing a small part of the days being shared. I don’t show you pictures of the dirty dishes, or the messes in the house I didn’t get to while I was focusing on harvesting in the garden.

You don’t see the early morning hours to finish up extra work, or the days of physical labor it took to get to the end result of that one beautiful picture.

There’s nothing wrong with sharing pictures of the messes, it’s just not what I feel inspired to share here. I would rather show you a flower blooming in the garden than a sink full of dirty dishes.

Sometimes people read my blog and tell me my life seems so peaceful. I find that funny when I spent the week running from one place to another, feeling like I could barely get anywhere on time, or when days prior I was woken up by a shriek because a skunk was stuck underneath the house. (Yes, skunks can scream. Believe me when I say it’s a sound you will always remember.)

When I sit down to write here, it helps me process my thoughts. Writing does calm me and brings me peace. Depending on the day, if you met me in person though, I might come across as more flustered than peaceful at times.

I’ve said before that my life can be messy and chaotic, beautiful and blessed all at the same time… and it’s true.

In a single moment I can feel completely overwhelmed by all the many, many tasks that need doing… tired deep down in my bones… full of gratitude for the people I love… joy bubbling out of me while watching bees in the garden…

Every day is different, and while there are some parts that are more consistent, like animal chores, homeschool, and meals… there are other parts that change with the seasons or with what needs doing that day.

One day you might find me replacing some siding on the house alongside Jeff, working on orders for hours, or pounding t-posts to put up more fencing. When something needs fixing, we fix it. (Usually Jeff.) When something needs doing, we do it.

We don’t have employees, or hired hands around here… we do the work that needs doing, the physical labor, the growing of food, the cooking. It’s a life that we find fulfilling in a deep way, but it’s not a life that is easy. Not easy, and sometimes not comfortable, working in all different temperatures and weather.

When people act like they would like to swap places with me, I imagine that perspective would be quite different if they were following me around in real life rather than just seeing the beautiful pictures I’m sharing online. (Would they want to end the day exhausted and covered in dirt and straw? Perhaps yes. Perhaps no.)

In real life, we are balancing caring for our family, home, and little homestead, while also making a living from home. In real life, we are living in an old house that needs a lot of work. In real life, our family of three works together to make healthy meals on a budget during a time when prices have gone up a lot. In real life, we often wish we had ten of us, or another person living here to pitch in and help out with the load.

I’m telling you all this, not to complain, but to be honest. I know it’s easy to see people’s sparkling clean houses (that’s not me) and manicured everything online, and feel like you must not be doing something right because your life doesn’t look like that, or to think that things must be much easier for that person than for you.

I’m not a fan of all of the comparison. I believe each path is completely unique. We all have struggles, and they can vary in all kinds of ways. We are the only one who knows what doing our best looks like each day.

I’m writing this because I don’t want to create a space here where people visit and come away feeling less than. I don’t want someone to see a beautiful picture and feel inferior somehow, I want them to see a beautiful picture and feel inspired!

I know I cannot control the reaction of others when they see my pictures and read my words, but I can share what my intention is when I’m sharing in this space.

When it comes to writing and sharing here, I’ve never had the intention of: Look at this! Look what I can do! I’ve had the intention of: This is what our family is learning to do… We’d love for you to join us… Let’s inspire each other and learn new skills together.

In this space, I want to encourage one another and lift each other’s spirits. I’m not really interested in competition- who does what best or knows more about what, but rather learning from one another’s experiences, and helping each other for the good of all.

I want to create a supportive community here. I want to keep sharing beautiful pictures here. Just remember: behind every beautiful picture is a real life- full of plenty of mess, chaos, and blessings. We are all in this together, friends!

My mom had a milestone birthday this year, and the way she wanted to celebrate was with a family trip. My mom, sister, and grandma came to visit in September, and we savored our time together.

The thing about having family spread all over, and not living near one another, is that the time together feels so precious. Over the years, the gratitude I have felt for spending time with family has deepened. I am so grateful for that time we got in September.

On the last night of their visit, we sat around the fire at the rental my mom had booked. The moon was shining bright that night, and I decided to grab my camera and take a few pictures. I didn’t expect any to turn out clear, I just wanted to capture a memory of that night. It was a nice surprise when some of the pictures actually turned out really neat.

The days were full and we did a lot while they were here, yet it felt like it ended too quickly. I could have sat and listened to my grandma’s stories forever, I didn’t want that time to end. I am so grateful for every moment we had together.

All the people we hold dear… family and friends… what a gift our time together is.

Notes from the 2024 Garden:

June 30th- First Cucumber

July 16th- First Zucchini

July 29th- First Cherry Tomato

August 2nd- First Green Beans

I write garden notes on the calendar. It’s interesting to see the changes from year to year. The harvests were later to start this year, and then started slowing down with some colder weather in August, so there was a shorter harvest window overall. (I should also add that we are in the coastal range of Western Oregon.)

We got more rain throughout the summer than we normally do, and the weather went back and forth from hot to cold. We would have days with intense heat where the garden was wilting and Jeff spent lots of time watering (and protecting plants with remay), and then days with downpours and cold like we were in the middle of our rainy winter season. Nights got colder earlier, which brought issues with mold earlier.

This week (end of September) we had a day in the 90’s where we were sweating in t-shirts, and the next day was in the 60’s with downpours and cold rain, followed by a day with more sunshine and warmth. Lots of back and forth.

In 2021, I wrote down that we harvested our first green beans on July 20th, and then continued harvesting through the very beginning of October. This year we harvested our first green beans on August 2nd. Our green bean harvest window is shorter this year, but we planted a lot more.

The cucumbers did well this year, and Jeff made a record amount of pickles.

We grew extra zucchini so there was plenty for us, and some to share. The zucchini plants had issues with mold earlier in the season than usual, next year we plan on planting them farther apart for better air flow.

We also grew Patty Pan Squash (the yellow ones being held in the pictures above), not because we needed more summer squash to eat, but because it adds some fun variety.

It was our best year yet for strawberries in the garden, and we were all pleased about that. (You can read more about our strawberry growing in this post.)

We were grateful for the garlic harvests this year, which I shared with you in this post from August.

It was not a great year for tomatoes in our garden. We had a lot of blossom end rot on our paste tomatoes, despite the fact that Jeff gave them loads of calcium and used natural sprays that help with that issue. Luckily, last year was an amazing tomato year and extra sauce was made and stored away.

The cherry tomatoes were not quite as abundant, but still did okay. Cherry tomatoes are easier to grow, and we recommend those to friends who have a hard time growing larger tomatoes in their climate. They are also good for years when summers are not as warm.

The greens did well. Lettuce and kale are an essential part of the garden. Same with arugula. Basil did well in the greenhouse, and pesto was made. We also grew lots of herbs that we enjoyed in Sun Tea, and dried for the winter.

Jeff and B planted lots of flowers this year, as I shared with you in previous posts. They planted more flowers than ever before, and many vases of flowers were made and enjoyed.

I almost forgot to mention peppers! We did grow peppers again this year. Jeff overwintered some peppers for the first time, so we got an early crop this year that was bountiful. I will share more about peppers in another post.

[Edited to add: I keep thinking of more things we grew in the garden this year that I forgot to mention, like celery and winter squash. What I’ve mentioned in this post is not a full list, but some of the main things we grow. I also didn’t mention fruit other than strawberries, focusing on vegetables and herbs. It was a good year for grapes, not a good year for apples. I pruned the fig tree too late in the season, so it didn’t produce much this year, and it’s a low production year for the hardy kiwis as well.]

As I write this on September 27th, we are still harvesting cucumbers, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and green beans in the garden. We are starting to pull some plants up because they are done, or are molding too much from the rain and cold, and I’m not sure how much longer the harvests will be continuing.

The garden was a busy place this year, as always. Every year is different, and we’ve learned a lot of ways to work with the weather to create abundant harvests in different situations. In a future post, we will share some of our favorite tips with you.

Did you grow a garden in 2024? How did things go in your garden this year? What were your favorite things to grow?