summer garden + a refreshment

Last Saturday the weather was sunny and 75 degrees, the birds were singing, and I walked out my front door to behold all the  men on our street working outside. 

Even my neighbor Trent was out mowing his lawn, but he prefers to work topless and since this is a family friendly blog, he shall remain anonymous.  

My windows hadn't been washed since the last big rainstorm, and although the filth was a good detourant from peeping Tom's, I decided to join in the ranks and accomplish some cleaning.  I got so caught up razoring fly poop off the panes, I almost overlooked the beautiful mint leaves that had popped up in my herb garden. 

I looked over at our lemon tree and decided the windows could wait.  I gathered handfuls of lemons and mint, and decided to treat these hard working men to an icy, lemon, refreshment. 
 

Matt's exact words.  "That was a little piece of heaven.  You should blog about it."

Summer's Day Lemon Cooler

Fill your blender jar with 1 1/4 C fresh lemon juice and 3/4 C sugar.  Add ice until it's almost to the top, then add water to the top of the ice.  Blend until ice is crushed.  Add 4 large strawberries and 3/4 C mint syrup (recipe below).  Pulse until incorporated. 

Fill a tall glass with slushy lemonade and pour a shot of heavy cream on top.  Garnish with mint leaves and a lemon wedge. 

Mint Syrup (also delicious in water, juice, ginger ale, etc)
2 C sugar
2 C water
bring to a boil for 1 minute and let it cool for 5.  Add a large handful (approx 1.5 cups) of coarsely chopped mint leaves and let steep for 20 min. Cool in the refrigerator.  Keeps for 2 weeks.

This time of year is one of my absolute favorites.  My plants are bouncing back from the winter, the garden is growing, the nights are crisp and cool, and it's the perfect weather to have dinner together on the veranda. 

Last year my man built this retaining wall so we could have a bigger garden.  It's complete with it's own drip system and weed barrier, and is also a handy step for the kids to get themselves over the wall to the neighbor's pool. 

Nothing brings more happiness than walking outside the back door and bringing in fresh produce for my family.  I always have a salsa and herb garden including several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, onion, basil, rosemary, oregano, and thyme.  My boys help us plant and take care of the garden so when it's time to harvest the strawberries and spinach, they eat it up. 

We planted our summer garden about 2 months ago and it's coming up nicely. 

There's only one problem, these ladies love our garden too, which is why they are not permitted to be out of their coop without supervision.

Last night el Nino requested spaghetti with broccoli for his 7th birthday dinner and I harvested it right from our garden.

If you want a garden and don't know where to start, may I suggest {square foot gardening}.  It's an easy NO FAIL way to grow produce.  It will show you exactly how and what to plant, including the ingredients to mix for the perfect soil.  You can get creative with the planter boxes and the best news is there are no weeds. 

Happy planting.

one amazing garden plus mia's lemon bars

Ahhh...sweet childhood memories of Spring and Summer. We had a garden. A big garden. We planted, watered, weeded, picked, washed, and canned until it was Fall. Now that I'm a big girl, I realize how much work it was for my parents to make all of this happen. And the garden was just the beginning! We had a pig farm, a milk cow, horses, rabbits, chickens, dogs, cats and a bird! We learned how to work, and I certainly appreciate it now. I have 5 siblings and we all honestly love to dig in and see a job well done. Thanks Mom and Dad for all the years you dedicated to teaching us!

back to the garden.....

Now that I live in the "country" and actually like vegetables, (my mother couldn't be prouder) I'm getting much more serious about planting a garden. When I saw Brooke Gianetti's garden from {Velvet and Linen} I was sold. As productive as it is beautiful, she and her family have done a marvelous job with their little bit of earth. If this doesn't make you want to go plant some tomatoes and eat organic, I can be of no more help!

There is little more satisfying than cutting fresh herbs for homemade flat bread, or whipping up fresh salsa without making a trip to the store. I love everything about a garden. From the way it looks, to the way it makes me feel...all earthy and close to nature. The memories I have of planting with my dad, weeding and picking alongside my four brothers little sister, and canning for hours on end with my mom in the kitchen are priceless to me. I plan on creating the same experiences for my own kids. I hope they are ready to work!

I'm not the only one who learned how to garden and bottle fresh produce. Mia reluctantly missed the first day of third grade because there were 50 lbs of peaches to be canned. This year her tree finally produced more than 1 lemon and she celebrated by making her signature lemon bars.

They're just the right amount of sweet and tangy and if you ask her, she'll tell you they're the best around. If you ask me I'll tell you I've never met a lemon bar I didn't fall in love with.



Mia's Lemon Bars

2 c flour
1/2 c powdered sugar
3/4 c butter, chilled, cut into pats
3 c sugar
6 eggs
1 c plus 2 T fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine 1 1/2 c of the flour and 1/2 c powdered sugar in a med mixing bowl. Cut in the butter until crumbly. Press over the bottom of a 9 x 13 dish. Bake for 20 minutes (do not over bake, it doesn't really brown). Reduce the oven temp to 300. Whisk the sugar and eggs in a med bowl until blended. Stir in the remaining 1/2 c flour and lemon juice. Spread evenly over the baked layer. Bake for 40 minutes longer or until set. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 30 min. Sprinkle the top with a generous amount of powdered sugar and enjoy!