Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Back to Class I go...

Today marks a big day for me. Today is the first day of my last semester as a college student. You know, unless I decided to go back for another degree that is :)

It should be a pretty light summer. I have four class, yes a full time load, but nothing compared to the 6! classes I took last semester with an internship!!! Sometimes life has to slap you around like that, lol.

Anyhoo, I'm off, hope the world is wonderful today...
Cheers
Jamie Girl

Monday, May 28, 2012

Garden Harvest May 28, 2012

Keeper of the Jalapenos
I have been traveling for two weeks and I am so glad  to be home. The first thing I did was run to the balcony to make sure my dear friend Jen had not let the plants die. She called me about half way through the trip and confessed a brown thumb. I love her, but timing is not her strong suit.
Cayenne pepper, yum

Would you believe what has popped up in my garden while I was gone. So far I have harvested about 3 of these little guys.

Keeper of the lettuce


Weeks Harvest : 0.00oz
Yearly Harvest : 1 oz

Be sure to hop on over to Daphne's Dandelions and check out other gardener's harvests for the week!

Monday, May 21, 2012

Garden Harvest Monday 21, 2012

Today is a slightly unusual garden harvest post. We have a condo in Nashville were I have some items in containers and that is what I usually post. Today I am posting from the garden from the big house in Chattanooga. It is there veggies and flowers get planted in huge raised beds that surround the pergola with our patio furniture. There is something so nice about sitting out there, eating dinner amongst the gardens that it came from.

peppers
Just like in Nashville we have 4 different types of peppers growing. Those are to keep the fella happy and make lots of salsa, our favorite summer snack!

Asparagus
I plucked this asparagus as soon as I saw it. I can't tell you how much better it tasted than what we buy at the store. It is the very first asparagus spear I have gotten from the garden. EVER!

broccoli
I have four little broccoli plants growing. they seem happy but the step-kid doesn't seem to happy about what might happen if the broccoli comes inside the kitchen, GASP.

cucumbers
I took this photo on Thursday. This morning I counted over twenty blooms between the two plants. They are boston pickling :)

onions and tomatoes
We put onions in this year for the first time. Beside them are the tomatoes, romas. It really feels like we plant juust enough to come away with good salsa. sigh, problems man, problems.

rosemary
This rosemary plant is not mine. I didn't plant it nor do I really take care of it, short of the occasional hair cut for pity sake.If i were standing next to it in the photo it would come up to my shoulders. In the back ground you can see  where we eat many a summer meal.

Weeks Harvest : 0.4oz (1 asparagus spear)
Yearly Harvest : 1 oz

Be sure to hop on over to Daphne's Dandelions and check out other gardener's harvests for the week!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Garden Harvest- Monday May 14, 2012

Today is one of those days. It is a day that has started off bad, continued bad, and then got a lot worse. And of course, its not even 9am here yet.
The Pepper want the sun to come out


I didn't have much happening on my Balcony Garden this week. We have had a lot of cooler, grey days. That being said the salad greens have been happy and producing. My friend came over and harvested a bunch while I was out of town, but failed to weigh it (my only stipulation for taking from the garden :(
Guardians of the lettuce bowl


What I manged to pull out before we left town was a measly .5 oz for a salad. Plus a handful of herbs for use throughout the week.
   
The Cilantro is finally looking good

I use lots of Thyme :)


I am so proud of three rosemary plants I have growing from seed!!!
Next week I will be reporting from Chattanooga where our family home is (ie, not the condo balcony). I have two large raised beds full of veggies, flowers, and herbs. Can't wait to see what is going on there!

Weekly Totals:  0.5oz
Yearly Total:     0.6oz

 Be sure to hop on over to Daphne's Dandelions and check out other gardener's harvests for the week!

Monday, May 7, 2012

My First Garden Harvest

I cannot believe I finally got something from my garden. Oh, it just made my Sunday!
Basil after harvest


I was having dinner at a friends house and she asked me to bring a drink. I made lemonade with strawberry puree and some fresh basil from the balcony. Oh course, it was made better because the basil was homegrown! Even the measly 0.1oz I harvested!
4 varieties of peppers

herbs and flowers I need to get planted this week


Weekly Totals:  0.1oz
Yearly Total:     0.1oz


 Be sure to hop on over to Daphne's Dandelions and check out other gardener's harvests for the week!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Birthdays and student Loans

My birthday was in late April. My sweet sister asked me over and over again what she could get me for the occasion. Finally she settled on taking me out to eat, anywhere I wanted. More and more I kept thinking about how much money we spend on birthday dinners in my family (we are some serious foodies) and what an impact that would make on my student loans or to the debt to the University of Tennessee. So she agreed to make one or two payments for me this summer.

I would encourage you to think about this option when gifting holidays come around for you. Yes, I would love to have some new kitchen toys to play with, and I am drooling to try the new Italian restaurant a few blocks away. Though, non of those wants can compare to my desire to pay off my debts and live with peace of mind.

In addition to that, my parents are paying my final semesters tuition and books. This means I am not longer adding to the principle of my student debts, but those damn interest balances keep creeping up.