First Strawberries
I picked our first batch of home-grown strawberries today. Hopefully there will be lots more to come. (I need to do a little research and find out how to grow BIGGER berries. Any thoughts on that?) 
Come Sit a Spell
This time of year there is so much to do! Last weekend my project was painting the front porch furniture. Now it’s bright white and inviting, and yet there’s too much gardening to do to just sit and enjoy the view from the front porch. I’ve been busy moving perennials and planting new ones, digging, organizing, putting in some new stepping stones, weeding, and more. Hopefully soon there will be fewer chores and more time to sit and smell the roses.
Delaware County Community Market
On the way home from work tonight, I stopped by to check out the new Delaware County Community Market, and wow! I predict a bright future for this new member of our community. The market is centrally located at 222 E. William Street (right next to the liquor store on the east side of town), which is nice since it’ll be easy to pop in there on the way home from work or on trips around town. Parking is easy and free. And, there’s a great selection of local products for sale, including lots of baked goods, salsa and dips, crafts, fresh produce, and more. I came home today with some tasty, homemade sweet cream biscuits made in Delaware, fresh strawberries (from California, I think), an absolutely delicious chunk of havarti cheese made over in Richwood, and a jar of some super tomatilla salsa made in Zanesville. The market itself is cute and appealing, and all its products are very tempting!
The really special thing about the DCCM, though, is its second “C,” which stands for community. The market exists to benefit our community in many ways: not only by providing access to local products, but also income for the local citizens who are its vendors and the nonprofit organizations which are its beneficiaries. Each customer of the market must register as a “member” (there’s no cost to join), and each member designates one of the market’s registered nonprofit organizations to receive a portion of each purchase. Organizations such as the Council for Older Adults and the Arts Castle can receive monetary donations with each sale! So the customer gets great products, creating income for local residents, and charities benefit as well – it’s a win-win-WIN situation. 
The DCCM’s grand opening is scheduled for this weekend. Make sure to check them out!
Digital Decorating
Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE Photoshop Elements? (Well, I love all things Photoshop. But while I have the Creative Suite at work, at home I have the more limited but extremely useful Elements.)
So anyway, art.com is having a great sale this week on their art prints (read: posters). I want two pieces for my dining room where I currently have these cool but way too small vintage French ads. So now I have a deadline… the thrifty (read: very cheap) shopper inside me wants to order before the sale ends this Friday. But quick decisions are not my forte. For 3+ years I have been toying with paint color choices for my living room. My friend Karen says that, when it comes to choosing a paint color, I have “paralysis by analysis.” Probably true.
PHOTOSHOP TO THE RESCUE!
Thank God for technology. Here are the new prints I selected, placed in my dining room via the wonders of digital decorating. (If you want to try this to satisfy your own sick obsession with decorating or gardening, simply bring in your background image, add a blank layer, place your new element and resize it accordingly, and add a drop shadow to make it look realistic.) Et voila! Decision accomplished. I’m buying the prints tonight!
Here’s my digital dining room…
Digital Dining Room 1
Digital Dining Room 2
Marching Backwards
Someone please tell Ms. March that she is supposed to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. Because it’s cold and foggy, windy and wet today, and it surely seems like she is moving backwards. Here’s a pansy from my front porch to bring you a little springtime on this very un-springlike day.
Tastes Like Summer
What beautiful weather we had today… truly a taste of summer on the way. It was 67 and sunny with blue skies. I left work thinking it was a great night for a cookout, so we grilled burgers and had them with a delicious Caprese salad. The only thing better would have been if the tomatoes were homegrown instead of from the grocery store. Summer’s coming!
The Dirty Dozen
According to the Environmental Working Group, these twelve non-organic fruits and veggies are the most contaminated by pesticides: peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce, and potatoes. You can check out the list of the twelve least contaminated and download a little list for your wallet here:
Thinking Green
Spring is on the way! I really love wintertime, but this has been a hard winter with really consistent snows, and even I am ready for spring. In fact, I am a little obsessed with gardening right now. This happens every March or so. When the snow melts and I can see the actual dirt in my garden, I’m ready to get some dirt under my nails.
Since I can’t really do much outside at this point, I’m doing some “virtual gardening…” trying to make plans for different areas of the beds. Here is a plan I came up with for the area on the north side of the house that I call my Irish garden.
I have always wanted a little spot in the garden to mark Tom’s Irish heritage. A couple of the plants in this garden have Irish names (like Bells of Ireland, the tall, green, spiky annual in the back, as well as some Irish moss in the right front corner). Others, like the snowdrop anemones, grow wild in Ireland. (I’d love to find a maidenhair fern at one of the local nurseries, since that also grows wild in Ireland.) I’ll include some shamrocks as well, though I’ll pot them as I think they can take over the lawn if not contained. Mainly I just wanted lots of lush green foliage and some blue and purple flowers to set it off.
There’s lots of work to do in this garden in springtime, but at least there’s a plan now! Right now this only exists in Photoshop, but I’ll post pictures when it becomes a reality.
How much energy does it take to wash your skivvies?
If you’re not sure, check out the Smart Energy House. It’s a virtual house on the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel web site. You enter a few easy details about your own house, and it gives you an interactive, clickable way to see how much energy is used by various parts of your home. There are lots of tips and tricks for saving energy here, too. For example, I clicked on the stove, and it gave me this interesting bit: “Use kitchen ventilation fans wisely. In just one hour, these fans can pull out a house full of warm air.” That could really keep the furnace running in the wintertime! Cool site!
Steph’s Super Easy Chicken & Bean Burritos
We had these for dinner tonight, and they’re the bomb! Enjoy!
Ingreeds:
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (frozen)
16-oz jar of your favorite salsa (I used medium heat)
15-oz can black beans, drained
cayenne pepper (to taste)
nonstick cooking spray
8-10 large flour tortillas
can of enchilada sauce (red or green – your favorite)
shredded cheese with taco seasoning
low fat sour cream, sliced scallions, other toppings as desired
Instrux:
In the morning before work, put the frozen chicken breasts and jar of salsa into the Crock Pot. Cook all day on low heat. When you come home, break up the chicken with a fork so it shreds. Stir in the drained black beans and season to taste with cayenne pepper.
Preheat oven to 400. Spray a 13×9 dish. Lay a flour tortilla in the dish and, using a slotted spoon, put two spoonfuls of the chicken and bean filling in a line down the center. Roll the tortilla as you push it to the end of the dish. Repeat with 7 more tortillas or until your dish is full. (You may have extra filling – it freezes great and is good on rice another night!) Pour the enchilada sauce over and sprinkle with taco cheese. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the dish is bubbly. Makes great leftovers!
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