Have You Ever Seen an White Squirrel?

I'm not found of critters. Squirrels have chewed through one too many cable lines to our house and bunnies think that my backyard is an all-you-can-eat buffet.

But one critter caught my eye the other morning as I was running--a white squirrel

I couldn't get too close, because (1) I didn't want to get caught trespassing in someone's yard and

(2) he went scurrying away.

Apparently, there are white squirrels and albino squirrels and neither one is a very common sight. I wasn't close enough to determine if he was an albino squirrel with red eyes, but with all of the grayish brown squirrels that inhabit our neighborhood, it was a funny sight to see a white one.

Have you ever seen a white squirrel?

Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

A Tour of Our Backyard

During the summer months, we spend a lot of our time at home in our backyard. We grill dinner, roast marshmallows, entertain friends and neighbors, and catch fireflies all summer long.

This past weekend, my husband and I finally had some free time for yard work...about 2 months behind schedule. We like to have the yard cleaned up by early April, but April & May were extremely busy months for us this year with no time to hammer out yard work.

But it's done and I thought it would be fun to take you to the place where my family spends most of its time during the summer--our backyard.

My husband and I had a patio installed 5 years ago. The project was way beyond our skill level, so we hired a contractor to complete the project and we were really thrilled with the patio. It is almost 600 square feet and we use every inch of it.

We have a sitting area where we read the paper on Sunday mornings and relax in the evenings.

I have perennials planted all the way around the edge of the patio. It looks a little anemic in the middle because the bunnies and squirrels consider it fine dining. I'm hoping the new plant will be something that they hate this year.

I bought this peony on clearance about 5 years ago. Every year, it gets more beautiful. And it's one plant the bunnies don't touch.

The bees love it though!

We have a fire pit that gets a lot of use. My husband fires it up almost every weekend and s'mores are a favorite summer treat.

My gardening table, hose, and rain barrel are just over the wall from our grill/dining area and you can see my vegetable garden on the far right.

Unfortunately, this 30 foot pine tree has died and we are having it cut down this week. Bye bye squirrels' nest...your penthouse suite it coming down!

My herb & vegetable garden boxes are off to the side of the house and I have more new perennials planted right along the house.

I moved the herbs to their own box to make more room for the vegetables. This year, I planted pineapple sage, parsley, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and lemon verbena.

In my vegetable box, I planted 1 cantaloupe and 1 butternut squash on the vertical trellis, 3 tomato plants, 1 sweet pepper, green beans and for the first time, I planted sweet potatoes. Every year, I like to try something new and I've never planted potatoes before--I thought it would be fun for the girls.

And that's our little oasis in the world. We spend a lot of time as a family in our backyard. The only thing that is missing is some color. I didn't get time to plant any containers of annuals, but I will do that next weekend. Do you spend a lot of time relaxing in your yard? Tell us about your backyard oasis in the comments!

Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

How to Freeze Basil

I didn't bother growing basil in my garden this year, because we always receive such large quantities from our CSA. I froze the last batch that we received to use later in the fall and winter when I make a lot of soups and casseroles.

It is fairly easy process, but you can't just put the basil leaves in the freezer like I do when I freeze other herbs. The basil leaves will turn black in the freezer. Instead I made a basil puree and froze in 1 tablespoon portions.

How to Freeze Basil

1. Remove the long stems from the basil, leaving just the leaves. Rinse the basil and dry using a salad spinner or squeeze out the excess water with a clean towel.

2. Place the basil leaves in a food processor and start pureeing the leaves. Slowly drizzle extra virgin olive oil into the food processor while it is running. Use approximately 2-3 tablespoons of the evoo for every 2 cups of packed basil leaves.

3. Spoon the pureed basil into an ice cube tray, about 1 tablespoon per cube. Place int the freezer.

4. Once frozen, move the basil cubes into a freezer bag. Label the bag. Use the fresh basil into soups, stews and casseroles.

Related articles:

• Freezing herbs
• Walnut Basil Pesto

How do you preserve fresh basil? Let us know in the comments.


Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

Roasted Summer Vegetables

If you come upon a rather cool summer day (and you don't mind turning on the oven) and you have a lot of garden vegetables, this is a great recipe. Roasting the vegetables with the garlic and herbs creates a hearty flavor. Serve with some fruit and you have a lovely summer time dinner.

Roasted Summer Vegetables

Ingredients

• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 yellow squash, chopped
• 1 eggplant, peeled & chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, choppped
• ¼ - ½ of a cabbage, sliced into thin strips
• ½ onion, chopped
• 3-4 garlic cloves, sliced
• handful of fresh herbs, such as basil, oregano, thyme, chopped fine
• olive oil
• ½ teaspoon coarse salt
• ¼ teaspoonpepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. On a rimmed baking sheet or jelly roll pan, drizzle all of the vegetables, herbs, salt and pepper with olive and toss to coat.
3. Roast at 400 degrees for 1 hour.
4. Serve over rice, pasta, or a slice of thick, hearty bread.


Print recipe for Roasted Summer Vegetables.

Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

Refrigerator Garlic Dill Pickles

I received a bunch of cucumbers from our CSA--too many to eat in salads--so I made refrigerator garlic dill pickles. I found the recipe on the farm's website. They turned out very tasty and the longer they stay in the refrigerator the more garlicky the flavor!

Refrigerator Garlic Dill Pickles

recipe from Spiral Path Farm

Ingredients

• 6-8 large, firm cucumbers, cut into spears
• 2 quarts water
• 1 cup vinegar
• 2 tablespoons dried dill seed
• 1/2 cup coarse salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 6-8 whole garlic heads, peeled and papery skin removed
• 6-8 fresh grape leaves (optional - for crispness. I didn't use.)
• 6-8 clean glass jars, I reused spaghetti sauce jars.

Directions

1. Soak cucumber spears in an ice bath for 10 minutes. This will help improve crispness.

2. Prepare the brine: In a large sauce pot, bring the water, vinegar,  dill seed, salt, and sugar to a boil. Simmer 5 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature.

3. While the brine is simmering, place the following in each empty jar: 1 minced clove of garlic, whole cloves of 1 head of garlic, 1 fresh grape leaf. Next, stuff the cucumber spears into each jar.

4. After brine has cooled, pour brine over the cucumbers, covering by 1/2 inch. Place cap on jar and let sit at room temperature for 2 days. Move to the refrigerator for up to a year.

Note - If your cucumbers are not crisp before you pickle them, they will not be crisp afterwards. Some of my pickles are mushy, but the center of some of the cucumbers wasn't firm. Taste wise the pickles are still good, just a little mushy. Be sure to use FIRM cucumbers!

Do you make your own pickles? What's your method? Let us know in the comments.

Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

This post is linked to Real Food Wednesday @ Kelly the Kitchen Kop and Your Green Resource at The Greenbacks Gal.

My (almost) Square Foot Garden

The weather this past weekend was gorgeous, so I took advantage of it and finally planted my vegetable and herb garden.

I converted to a square foot garden in 2010 and it really changed the way that I garden. It is an efficient way of gardening. If you haven't read the book, Square Foot Gardening, I highly suggest you check out the book from your library. I ended up buying the book and I refer to it quite often.

I referred to my garden notes from 2011 to plan this year.

I made my list and headed to the nursery with a $10 off $30 purchase coupon in hand.

I planted 3 Roma tomatoes, 1 grape tomato, 1 sweet pepper, 1 jalapeno, carrots, green beans, and many herbs. I also bought butternut squash to plant on my vertical trellis along with a cantaloupe. That was a last minute decision inspired by the selection at the nursery.

From this picture, the garden looks a little anemic, but I assure you that there are plants and seeds in my box. The bigger plants in the lower right corner are perennial herbs that survived our mild winter. This is the first year that parsley, oregano, and thyme came back for me.

I also need to find Lemon Verbena, an herb that I love to plant. This nursery was out and it makes a great addition to homemade iced tea.

So why (almost) Square Foot Garden? I didn't do a grid this year and you are supposed to have a grid to make it an official SFG. I couldn't find my masking tape that I use to grid the box and I was not about to run to the store for masking tape. I eyeballed it this year and I'm sure everything will turn out fine.

Did you plant your vegetable garden yet? Did you plant anything new and interesting this year? Let us know in the comments.

For more information check out the book, All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew.

Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Associate, and if you make a purchase through my link, I earn a small percentage--at no cost to you! Thanks for supporting Family Balance Sheet.

Square Foot Gardening: Spring Clean Up

We spent Easter weekend sprucing up our front and back yard landscaping. We spent this past weekend, cleaning up my square foot garden.

As you can see, it needed some attention:

Some of the 'weeds' in the picuture is the mint that I naively planted 10 years ago when we built my garden box. Do yourself a favor and plant your mint in a container unless you want to spend your spare time yanking it from your garden. It is the most invasive plant known to man!

I converted the box to the square foot garden method until 2 years ago. By following sfg, I plant about twice as much as I did before switching.

Last spring, I replaced the original dirt with the square foot gardening soil mix. There was an initial investment, but those weeds in the above photo were a breeze to pull out. My old soil was hard, cakey, and extremely weedy. My plants benefited from the new soil too.

I filled the box up with more leaf compost, because the soil had settled  over the past year. Now, I'm ready to plant.

I was surprised to find that 3 herbs survived the mild winter: thyme, parsley, and oregano.

My blueberry bushes have lots of flowers that will hopefully turn to delicious berries soon. I need to get a net over these bushes before that happens though or the birds will be dishing on the berries before we get a chance to.

My garden is ready for May 15, the last day of frost for my region.

Have you opened up your garden yet? Let us kow in the comments.

To learn more about square foot gardening, check out Mel Bartholomew's book, All New Square Foot Gardening.

Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

Disclosure - This post contains affiliate links that help support this site at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Family Balance Sheet! You can read the site's full disclosure here.

This post is linked to Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage.

Front Yard Landscaping: Spring Clean Up!

We spent the past weekend yanking weeds, trimming the edges, spreading mulch, and sprucing up our front yard landscaping. We clean up the front yard every April and the project always seems so overwhelming when the mulch is delivered.

BUT. IT. NEEDED. DONE!

Weeds...

weeds...

and more WEEDS.

In place of wood chips, we buy leaf compost from our township. It is less expensive than the wood chips and that big pile in our driveway (above) only cost $35.

Doesn't mulching make a world of difference? Much more appealing.

Now we're just waiting for the perennials to grow. I'll fill in with some colorful annuals after Mother's Day.

I also need to figure out what we are going to plant under our bay window. It has been a problem area ever since we re-did our landscaping in 2007. We have planted several things there and they have not survived. While plants in other areas of the landscape have flourished. I guess I'll be taking a trip to the nursery for advice and ideas.

Doesn't it look pathetic?

We spent a lot of time and sweat equity re-landscaping our front yard and I have spent a lot of time writing about the process. Here are some of my top landscaping posts:

• Front Yard Landscaping: We Did It Ourselves
• Do It Yourself Landscaping: Take 2
• Front Yard Landscaping: 15 Tips to Help You Design Your Landscape and Save Money

Have you spruced up your front yard landscaping this spring?

Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower