A trip down the mightie Iowa River

Today Zac, John, and I took a canoe trip from the south side of Iowa City to the Hills access. About was about 8 miles of river and took about 2 1/2 hours. Here are some fun shots I took on the trip (as that was my job :) )

2nd year family pictures

As you many know I love my pictures. I carry a camera with me at all times and am ready to strike when ever the mood may hit. So after having all of our wedding pictures done 2 years ago John and I decided to do family pictures every year. So last year we started out and every May/Early spring we will do a new set of shots. At first I was a bit concerned about the cost of taking on such an adventure but quickly found out of my co-workers, Anna, loves to do pictures, and has a nice camera. She did our pictures last year and this year as well. She does a great job and we have a lot of fun. Here is a few of this year's favorite pictures:



Show me some love by please vote on your favorite by leaving me a comment.

the yard work must be done

The yard must be mowed! Not that I'm complaining at all because I love my yard! I love it a lot more when John mows it :)
Here is a snapshot of the first yard mow at the Saxton house:

our gardens are in

John worked on digging up the sod in garden 3 while I planted garden 2 on Tuesday.


Diggin'
Garden #2 all set out to plant
Garden 1 is still looking good!
Planting #2
look at my tomato! (this morning I went out to find blooms on it!!)
Planting garden #3 on Wednesday
Finished garden #2 on Wednesday


Finished garden #3 on Wednesday.
All we have left are some Roma tomato plants which are not big enough to go into the ground yet. Where are we going to put them you might ask? I haven't got a clue yet :)

Oscer meyer has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A

As promised the wiener mobile picture.
Orignally spotted May 6th 2009. Please refer to that blog for more information

finally some finished projects

Its been a long week so far however I'm proud to announce that all of our veggie gardens are planted!
Pictures will be coming later.
Also I'm proud to announce that our kitchen is 100% done put away and cleaned up! YEAH! I spent tonight getting that done and am happy to have a clean workable kitchen :)
Pictures to come of that later as well.
Have a great beautiful night!
K

What does a vegetairan eat

Today's recipe:

Fiesta Tamale Pie

This recipe is from John's Uncle Brent Taylor. Originally a 'meaty' recipe I have changed it to be veggie friendly. I do this with lots of recipes as most recipes are easy to change if you know what to sub.

Recipe

2TB cooking oil

1 medium sized onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced or pressed (or garlic seasoning to taste)

1 12 oz can black beans (also you can add tofu crumbels as an additional protein)

1 cup cheese (of any kind that you like)

1 can (28 oz) tomatoes

1 can (1 lb) whole kernal corn, drained

1 TB chili powder

½ teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon ground cumin

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup milk (regular or soy)

1 cup corn meal

1 ½ cups (6 oz) shredded cheddar cheese

1. Heat oil in a wide frying pan over medium heat.

2. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is soft.

3. Add in beans
   

4. Stir in tomatoes (break up with a spoon) and their liquid, corn, chili powder, oregano, cumin.

   

5. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in cheese.

6. Spread mixture in a shallow 3 pt. casserole or 9x13 baking dish.

7. In a bowl, combine eggs and milk. Stir in corn meal.

8. Sprinkle top with cheese.

9. Spoon evenly over bean mixture, making sure corn meal is well distributed.

10. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until top is set and lightly browned.

Makes six servings

companion gardening

Today I want to share the new philosophy we are doing this year for our garden. Its called companion gardening. The idea behind it is that plants have different properties that help or hurt each other. They make good ‘companions’ for growing. For example marigolds: The workhorse of pest deterrents; keeps soil free of nematodes; discourages many insects.

So we are inter-mixing our plants in the garden and applying this. Not only do I like how it looks but I think it will be better all the way around for the plants as they can ‘help’ each other. As we experiment with this plan this year I hope to learn more and figure out how to plan and inter-mix my veggies to make it look even better next year!

Here are some websites you can check out for more information:

http://www.seedsofchange.com/enewsletter/issue_55/companion_planting.aspx

http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html

One garden in the ground

Earlier last week...(before it rained for days on end)


John dug up our tomato/vines garden
Hopefully we can plant this garden this week

Today we worked in the 'grape' garden

John removed dead wood from the grapes as they have not been taken care of in a long time and really need some help.
Then we weeded and loosened the soil
Then we planted the peppers, flowers, herbs, and onions
Look at the roots on that baby!
Then we mulched with newspaper and wood chips on top
Tah-dah! Our garden is good to go. Now we just have to wait till it produces some food. (hopefully in another month or so as I saw the peppers have buds on them!)

weekend weekend weekend

I Love a good weekend and it seems like we've got one of those on our hands!
We started off on a date last night going to see Angel and Demons. A OK movie not great. I'd recommend it- but not till it comes out on DVD 3 stars.
This morning we headed off to the farmers market and got more herbs for the garden and some rhubarb so I can make one of my yummy treats! I love farmers markets! they are so much fun to walk around and see all the crafts and food. Iowa City has really great downtown one so I'm a bit spoiled.
For lunch we where are Darin's graduation party. He received his masters in Social Work. Best of luck to him as he searches for a job.
We are now working on unpacking and hoping for some nice warmer weather and dryness so we can plant our garden. We have a LOT of work to do in the next month!
Well, better get back to it!
K

two years of wedded bliss

John and I celebrated two years of marriage today. We had planned to keep it simple this year and just went out to eat at Vito's on the pedmall in Iowa city. However with the rain we are saving it till later this week so we can eat outside. In stead we hyvee picnicked on our deck and watched a movie.
Our 'gift' to each other this year was our new home which does have cotton. (we are following the yearly gift guidelines). We where surprised by john's parents by a gift left our our deck. A beautiful yellow rose bush and a certificate to get two more. The perfect gift especially with all the history behind it!

Silent Day