Baby Garden!

The monsoons haven't hit yet...so we're still at baby garden stage.  As I type, I can smell rain, so it'll be soon!  Every time they hit, the garden goes crazy!  The setup and planting stage of gardening is so very time consuming...it's very exciting to be nearly done, so that the growing and picking can begin.

This year, we're trying out semi-permanent beds. The setup allows us to decide in advance which beds will house which crops, so that fertilization/layout/watering can all be looked at.  This year, we staked them out and added wood chips in the walkways to help define them.  The wooden stakes turned out to be really useful in keeping long hoses in the walkways and off of delicate plants.  As the hoses get pulled around, they catch on the stakes and it has helped direct them.

Here's the newly replanted (ahem) carrots and greens bed...I planted the darned thing three weeks ago...and I  got three whole chard plants to sprout.  UGH!  So, apparently, carrots don't appreciate light hand-watering...at least in my soil.  So, this time I've got soaker hoses down for slow watering that won't wash the seeds away.  Really hoping this works as well as the last two years.  I've got some Cosmic Purple carrots in there, along with Nantes and some Chantenay.  Yum! C'mon babies, sprout!

Here's the three types of corn we're growing.  You can see the woodchip walkways.  The watering for the corn and beans are soaker hoses coming off of pvc manifolds.  It allows one hose to water 8-25 ft rows at a time.  Very helpful when attempting to water AND manage three kids, ha!  The far back corn was planted three weeks before the corn in the foreground.  At the back is blue drying corn and popcorn, the front is sweet corn.  There is also some drying beans in the back of the picture.  The fifth wheel, sadly...is on the neighbor's property...

Here is the tomato/pepper bed.  The metal wall is to minimize the wind on the plants and increase the heat.  The wall-o-waters will help hold in heat too...let's hope this helps the plants set fruit!  I was completely caught off guard with how quickly the plants grew this season, and really missed the good window on adding tomato cages within the wall-o-waters.  I'll post pics later of the after, but squeezing the plants into the cages was something like wrestling an octopus into a sweater, yikes.

Very excited to see what happens when the rain arrives.  Lots of expectations for this garden!

Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies

YUM! I love chocolate chip cookies...but they and my current weight-loss plan don't play nicely together.  Also, I don't want to feed my kids a ton of sugar, thus- healthier chocolate chip cookies.  They don't taste the same as regular ones, and they're not exactly health food.  But they're sweet enough to kill my cravings for a treat and don't make me feel like an extra workout at the gym is necessary!

I based the recipe on the one in my Betty Crocker cookbook...then ad libbed until it looked right.  The original had a total of 2 cups of sugar (1 white, 1 brown- which is white+molasses), 1 cup of butter/margarine, white flour, no flaxseed, and 2 c of chocolate chips.   Here's what I came up with:

1/2 c melted raw honey
1/2 c packed organic brown sugar
1 c unsweetened applesauce
1 large egg
3 1/2 c whole wheat flour (I used soft winter wheat, for those of you grinding your own)
1/4 c organic ground flaxseed
1 tsp Rumford's Baking Powder (aluminum-free)
1/2 tsp Redmond's RealSalt
3/4 c chocolate chips

Mix the honey, brown sugar, applesauce and egg together.  If you're using melted honey that's still a little warm, wait to add it until after the flour is in, so you don't cook the egg.  Add flour, flaxseed, baking powder, and salt.  You may need less flour at lower elevations or if you've used regular honey...make sure the dough is stiff without being overly dry.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper (or spray oil would probably work too, but I used parchment paper today).  Scoop the dough out into the cookie size you desire and bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes until just starting to brown on top and cookies don't dent when pressed lightly with a fingertip.

Allow to cool, then place in a high location so your kids don't scarf them all in the next ten minutes! ;-)

Enjoy!