Building a Bean Fort

via pinterest

Have you seen all of the adorable bean tee-pees on pinterest lately? As soon as I saw this I knew I would just have to come up with something for my own little gardeners to play in during the warmer months. This perfect combination of  whimsy and organic gardening, I set to work figuring out just how we could fit our very own bean hut in our small back yard.

Because of our soggy North West climate we decided to use a sturdy oak pallet for the floor of our hut. We also decided to plant the beans in pots rather than directly in the ground. This will be handy at the end of the season since we can just disassemble the entire thing and store the pots until the next growing season. Also, in pots the plants will get warmer, and hopefully have more growth in our very cool climate.

A Bean Hut for the Kiddos

Rather than build a round tee-pee we opted to build a rectangular hut around the shape of the pallet. We are hoping this will make the interior of the fort bigger (so more monkeys can fit inside) without damaging the bean plants or taking up too much of the lawn. 

 With our location chosen we gathered our supplies- a pallet, 6 bamboo poles, twine, (4) 2 gallon pots, and 2 packs of seeds. We decided to plant both sugar snap peas and pole beans since we would have ample growing space for each.

First we leveled the pallet and made sure it was snug. The we leveled the ground under the pots to assure the finished hut would be sturdier and able to handle the kiddos knocking it around a little.

The best part about this project is that the little ones can help with every step. Here is my little helper mixing my soil and planting the seeds with me.

While Masie and I played in the dirt, Jess and Orion added the bamboo poles to the pots and lashed them together with twine. The boys also strung twine between the poles for the vines to climb up. we even got got some instant gratification by planting the little bean plant my son had been growing at school.

Be sure to tie your new little sprouts to the bamboo pole to show them where to climb then sit back and watch them go!

I cannot wait for the boys to enjoy their hard work. I can just see them now playing in their hut and snacking on fresh beans in the summer sun. 

What gardening fun have you been up to?

& peas

Spring Fever?

What a blustery day it is here! Nothing but rain, rain, rain in the forecast (and that's the 10 day forecast!) The kind of day where there's nothing much to do besides bake my favorite bread, snuggle, and think about all homegrown produce we'll enjoy in the warmer months to come.So today, rather than actually working in my yard, I'll  just be daydreaming about it.You know by searching through all those impossibly beautiful gardens on houzz and pinterest!

I'm hoping to at least get my radishes, spinach and lettuce in this week so we can start enjoying fresh salads asap!
Last week when I went out to weed my little raised beds I was surprised with these little 2nd generation goodies. My yummy lettuce mix that I inadvertently let go to seed has come back to feed our family for another year.

Hooray for non GMO seeds that re-seed themselves, yet another reason to buy organic!
I also picked up a bunch of beautiful Hosta bulbs I'm hoping to get in the ground soon. Hostas are just maybe my favorite plant ever. Did you know that I even had hostas in my wedding bouquet?
Anyhoo, I hope you are all enjoying nicer weather than we are. We've been on a medical roller coaster this past few weeks with Masie knocking his front teeth loose (3 is a little soon to lose your front chompers) and me having a new and uncharted health issues. We've been to so many appointments/labs I've scarcely had time to do anything else. I'm hoping that soon that annual spring fever bug will finally get me and I'll get going on the loads of projects we've been scheming!
& Fresh baked bread!

Spice Glazed Pecans

Today I finally got around to cleaning out the closet in the boy's room.  It was about a year ago when I first painted and switched their room with the guest room. It has seriously taken me the entire year to get all my junk out of their closet.  Today I got up, drank an entire pot of coffee, and tackled the closet. After it was all cleaned out I decided that it needed a fresh coat so I took out my roller and painted it a nice dusty tan. It feels good to finally be finishing the boys room, and I can't wait to share some pics with all of you...soon!

In the meantime I thought I'd share my favorite salad with you. I made a big bowl of this yesterday to take to the BBQ we went to and it was a hit. The combination of Feta, dried cranberries and pecans has to be one of my favorite flavors ever! All the greens in the salad are straight out of our garden and aside from a few strawberries this is the first harvest we had so far...Homegrown organic spring mix? Yes please!

Usually I just lightly toast the chopped pecans in a pan but this time I thought it would be fun to mix it up a bit so while the pecans were toasting I tossed in a few extra ingredients and came up with a simple and delicious recipe for spice glazed pecans. They are not completely candied but do have a lot of extra flavor!

Spice Glazed Pecans

1 1/2 -2 C. Chopped Pecans

1 tbsp butter

1 heaping Tbsp. brown sugar

1/4 tsp. Pumpkin pie spice

1-2 dashes Cayenne pepper

pinch salt

Add chopped pecans to heavy bottomed pan over medium heat. Add butter, brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice and cook until nuts are toasted and the sugar is bubbly and melted. Spread pecans out on a sheet of parchment and lightly sprinkle with salt and cayenne pepper, toss to coat evenly and allow to cool. Store in air tight container and enjoy on salads, in popcorn, or just by the handful.

This recipe seems pretty adaptable so if you want more sugar or less pepper feel free to play around with it. I think it would also be good if you added curry instead of pumpkin pie spice. Enjoy!

I like to enjoy this salad with a white balsamic vinaigrette but it is delicious with any dressing!

Peace pass the salad!