How My Garden Grows

Good Tuesday morning.  It looks cloudy again today, I am enduring but I prefer at least a bit of sunshine once in a while.  Yesterday it was dang cold and it snowed, sleeted and generally was miserable.

I was in and out to the studio finishing up a special order sign.  This one is super flowery and I enjoyed painting it. I tuned in to Pandora on my laptop and discoed out to 70’s music while painting and ignored the nasty weather outside.



While I was at it I painted on a couple more signs for my website.  I have yet to list them so you get a preview.  My Secret Garden signs are a popular item and I try to keep one or two in stock all the time. No two are ever exactly alike.



I am currently working on a different type Secret Garden sign. I hope it turns out, sometimes the design in my head does not translate well to my paint brushes but we shall see.

This one below is customizable.  The customer can add the top wording. 



It has been so cold that I have not wanted to get out into the greenhouse and work.  I need to pot up my tomato and basil seedlings and I am waiting for a halfway sunny day so the greenhouse will heat up for me.  I don’t do cold!

As you can see they are growing up into the grow lights. They are a little leggy, I need to rub my hand over them more to make them stockier, it releases an enzyme when you have a fan gently blow on them or you run your hand across them daily. 



My Basil is looking thick and healthy.  It smells like summer when I brush this one, it releases that oh so fragrant Basil smell.

I see a lot of Pesto in my future. Have you seen the price of pine nuts lately?? sheesh!  Break the bank!

  A friend suggested substituting walnuts.  I need to try a small batch that way and see if I like it as well.



And an update on my Christmas cactus’.  Remember how these just had little bitty tips popping out, look how big those tips are now. 



And then there is the downside….I lost one of my little chickies yesterday.  She was fine earlier in the day, I treated her for ‘pasty butt’ not uncommon with chicks not raised by a momma hen and she was fine once I had her cleaned up so I was surprised to find her dead by evening.  And another looks mighty weak and most likely I will lose her too. Sniff…

So I assuaged my grief by indulging in a fattening dinner!  I have been wanting to try a recipe I had seen online and of course I tweaked it for my own pleasure and it turned out FABULOUS!



The recipe was for pizza rolls but I did not think the extra work of individual rolls worth it.  The recipe called for a frozen bread dough but I decided my oh so delicious baguette recipe would be better suited. 

I whipped up a batch of baguette dough in my bread machine. (you can find them frequently in thrift stores, mine was a whopping $5)

I frequently make bread dough in my machine and I never bake in it, I much prefer the bread baked in the oven so basically I should call my bread machine a Dough machine. 

I rolled out the dough, laid out the pizza ingredients on it and rolled them up inside, then brushed the top with butter and garlic granules and tossed it in the oven to bake.  I used parchment paper on the cookie sheet as I figured the cheese would ooze out. 

This recipe actually made two baguettes filled with pizza goodness but we had already devoured the first.

If anyone really wants the recipe (warning! it could be dangerous to your waistline) I will add it in a later post.  I have to figure out the PDF downloadable thingy first.

Okay, enough of my rambling, I need to get busy and wrap that sign for shipping and work on the others.