Avocadoes & Strawberries

Dinner tonight : green peppers, red onions, tomatoes, avocado, goat cheese on a toasted roll = d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s!

and for dessert... my favorite: STRAWBERRIES!

Potatoes!

Started my day harvesting potatoes! It's an interesting procedure as the plant isn't visible with the potatoes growing underground. So it is literally hit or miss. I felt as though I were on a treasure hunt. I dug away for a couple hours this morning and another this evening. Altogether there is probably a total of 75 potatoes. But they are tiny... here is a picture of a small basket of potatoes from the garden. Some are washed, but then I was informed that it is a good idea to let them sit unwashed for a couple of days to allow the skin to harden, so the others are still covered in earth.

whitings neck cave

Over the weekend Tanner and I introduced Ricky to caving! We visited Whitings Neck Cave in Shepherdstown. Ricky did really well climbing and heeded Tanner's cautionary words. Here are some pictures from the trip...

comfrey salve

My current living arrangement is such that I care for two doggies and tend a garden in exchange for rent. The lady of the house is groovy and knows all kinds of stuff about plants and herbs... it's fun learning from her, although I have to say that I am terrified I will kill all of her plants with my black thumb. I accidentally weeded an actual plant one day... which has been my biggest fear since taking this job... but she was fairly understanding, I could tell she was sad but she kind of shrugged it off.

Last night we were up until 11:00 or so making liquid soap (no lye ... just a soap base, herbs, and fragrance) and comfrey salve. I had a lot of fun - reminded me of when I was a kid and my girlfriends and I used to mix various perfumes to make "new" perfumes. Or when BF and I used to make our own teas combining various spices from the kitchen.

The salve is pretty awesome. It was fairly simple to make. I had to first extract aloe from aloe plant shoots. Then, in a double boiler, heat olive oil and steep various herbs along with comfrey leaves, melt beeswax, mix ingredients together and VOILA: a natural remedy for just about anything.

(click on the picture for the recipe)

la france s'il vous plait

i would like very much to visit france.

i watched "an education" and while it wasn't the greatest movie, it reminded me how much i would like to visit france.

i am in love with la musique française, the words tickle your tongue and fill your cheeks - i'm terrible with language, but i do love the french language.