The plant below is from a bulb that I planted last fall. I actually put three of them in my front bed. I just can not for the life of me remember what exactly they are. I usually hold onto the package tags so I can refer back, but I must have tossed them this time...when it blooms I'll be suprised I guess. Kind of fun in a way.
The new tulips in the front yard have opened up to show their beautiful colors, a light ballet pink (with purple rhody blossoms in the background) and a gorgeous magental purple.
The sunshine today meant the orchard has even more blossoms than before. The picture below is my nectarine tree - the branch pictured is being "trained" horizontal with twine attached to stakes - this is to encourage more buds and therefore fruit! 
The gorgeous blossoms below are on an Asian Pear tree. I can't get over how pretty they are!
I put together a temporary trellis today...I'm growing green beans and sweet peas on it this season. I started by pounding large stakes into the ground.
Then I fitted a net over and attached the ends of the net with smaller stakes. I also strung twine around the two larger stakes.
I think the next portion of this post is going to be gratuitously in honor of Figaro...he absolutely loves hanging out in the garden with me. One of my reasons for getting a cat originally was to have someone to hang out in the garden with me. Lately he has been taking naps in the greenhouse, the warm temperature in there is cozy, I wish I could curl up out there for a nap...
The asparagus went in...it has to be planted in a trench that is slowly filled as the tips grow...the first year I can't pick any of the spears - to do so would apparently inhibit root growth, but the longer investment will be worth it, I like asparagus.
The radishes have also been planted. My mother-in-law recommended diazanon(?) to keep worms out of the radishes - I had that issue last year...BUT apparently it is not sold anymore - too toxic. When I found this out I was at the local hardware store...the gentleman who was helping me told me that "old-timers" used salt to keep worms out of their radishes. So that's what I'm trying this year - I like the solution, salt is natural, I put it on my food all the time, it's hopefully a better solution - I guess no solution is better than a solution that is toxic!
The husband offered to put up some more rows for me to plant in...in May I will put corn, zucchini, butternut squash, cucumbers, and a few other items in those rows. Can I tell you how much faster it is to put the rows up with the tractor - I spent more hours than I want to remember last year doing the same thing that took him minutes to finish.
By the way, with all of the gardening I've been up to, I have not had the chance to do any sewing recently - and I miss it!! This weekend is going to be (mostly) devoted to spending time on some sewing projects and making up for lost time. I have several more jute coffee sacks that the husband has collected from a local coffee roaster (they are all fair trade sacks)...I am dying to start turning them into cool stuff!
The bed in the picture above has starts for two kinds of leaf lettuce, cauliflower, cabbage and spinach, and there are seeds for three varieties of carrots, head lettuce, and broccoli. In the picture below are about a hundred Walla-Walla onion starts - I spaced about half further apart so they'll mature to a full globe size - the other half above are spaced closer so I can pick them to use in salads. There is also one lone broccoli plant that randomly came with a set of herb starts I bought at a local nursery. The brown scrappy looking starts on the left are my asparagus plants - there are four or five of them. They will be placed permanently (they are a perrenial) at the top of this bed - hopefully soon!
I picked up some herb starts, I can't wait to start cooking with them! In the picture below from the top left are starts for cilantro, greek oregano, rosemary, parsley, majoram, and mint.
This is the same herb bed from al different angle...at the top of the picture are some garlic plants, at the bottom in the 2-liter bottle "hot-houses" are some basil seedlings.
I also picked up a roma tomato plant...I can practically taste the tomato sauces I'm going to make and can this summer and fall. My tomatoes are going to live in a plastic umbrella hot house...this will keep them warm and will also keep rainwater off of their leaves and therefore reduce the chance that they'll get fungus or disease. For my tomatoes I am going to use the 
The husband and I have been on a fruit salad kick lately...it started before we went to Brazil, then we went crazy while we were there and since then we've been trying to get as much fruit as possible. Kiwis have been one of our favorites in the salads...so much so that we decided we should take a shot at growing our own. It was suprising to find out that they grow here...they vine like grapes. So we are now the parents of two kiwi plants, a male and a female. You need one of each so that they can properly cross-pollinate.
Snow peas and beans are planted under the trellis - I have plans to put peas in another area as well, on a net that I picked up at a hardware store today.
Today it was gorgeous outside, other days it has been rainy...the greenhouse is a good place to hide out when it is wet and I still want to be outside. Everyday there is a little more progress, I'm really proud of how the garden is coming together.
Lately I have been drawn to the idea of self-sufficiency...becoming less reliant on typical sources for food. Funny, I almost used the word "tradional" instead of "typical" - but then I thought about what each means...aren't national chain grocery stores more typical than traditional? I have been buying eggs about a half-a-mile from my house for the past couple of months and the other day my next door neighbor gave me half-a-dozen eggs that came from her chickens. I let the husband know today that next year I am going to want to get chicks to raise for myself for eggs. He has a bit of an aversion to having chickens...as a kid his family had them and it wasn't his favorite thing. So we'll compromise somehow...he just doesn't want to get stuck with the work involved with caring for the chickens. But, I think that he is more open to the idea ever since we got to see Bambino's shepherding instinct kick in when we were hanging out with the neighbors and they wanted to round their chickens back into their coop. It was pretty amazing actually, he acted like he'd herded animals for years, it was pretty amazing to watch my puppy just know how to get those chickens to go where he wanted them to. He was gentle but firm with the chickens as he herded them. So...I think it would be pretty cool to have our own chickens and let him practice his herding instinct - plus we'd have fresh eggs to boot!
Summer has always been my most favorite season...but lately spring is in good competition. I guess it's because the last year or so is the first time in my life that I've been able to plant my own yard's garden with things that I chose and then watch what comes of my efforts. Everyday more and more of my tulips are blooming, it is amazing to come home to such beautiful color. We recently picked up some summer bulbs - irises, peonies and callalillies. The goal is to keep it going so that there's always a new wave of gorgeous color to enjoy.
The picture below was taken from the back of the house looking towards the front, this is the flower bed that I have literally sunk many many hours of labor into. On the trellis there will hopefully be a ton of sweet peas soon. I planted some perennial sweet peas last spring...they didn't get going too much last year, so I'm hoping that they just needed a year to establish themselves...That certainly has been the case with the cosmos than I put in a year ago. They hardly grew at all last year and now they are bigger and more colorful than I could have ever guessed. Back to the sweet peas though, I am still debating about whether I should also put in some annual sweet peas there...the problem with that is at the end of the season they will dry and brown, whereas the perennials don't brown as much (at least I don't think they do). I also don't want the annuals to choke out the perennials, especially if this is the summer when the perennials are going to really take off...so I am not sure what to do, but my instinct says to plant my annual sweet peas else where and be more patient with my perennials.
Here are a few of the starts we've picked up...Walla Walla Onions and Asparagus. They are not officially planted yet, that will happen this weekend, they are in the dirt so they can get acclimated and watered when it rains as it is supposed to soon.
A year ago when I first started a vegetable garden in this location I did not have a water faucet nearby. One of the projects that was done last summer by the husband was putting in a water line so a faucet would be closer to the garden. I am looking forward to not having to carry watering cans as far this summer and to not having to pull a heavy hose across the yard to the garden and then putting it away for the frequent mowing that has to happen during the summer. It is nice to have these improvements to the garden - it makes it easier to focus on the actual gardening when the chores involved are not so tedious.
Little by little it is getting easier to picture going out to the garden, orchard (or chicken coop!) to get food rather than to the grocery store. I like the idea of seeing where my food comes from, knowing that there weren't any strange chemicals added to it, and having the satisfaction of being able to provide nourishment for myself and those I love...I still say that the idea of self-sufficiency is probably more traditional then we give it credit for. I don't think we'll ever be completely "off the grid", but the conversations I've had with the husband about things like getting solar panels and a solar water heater to power our house seem more like future plans than dreams. We've also reached the point where we're seriously talking about raising a yearling for a spring and summer to provide our own grass-fed beef...These conversations are happening partially because of the current economy - we both want to find ways to simplify our lives and take care of our own needs. But it's more than that, there is something innately satisfying about providing for your own most basic needs...
The tulips in the front beds have started to bloom!
A close up of those white tulips in the front.
And the side yard is full of amazing color!
But before stopping at Casa Miro we ended up at a home decor fabric shop at a market in old town Rio. The gentlemen running the store were incredibly friendly...we patched together a conversation with them in a few different languages. This was how they packaged the fabric we purchased from them...love it!
Here are the three fabrics I bought from them...the bottom one is a yummy tuscan yellow textile that I am going to use in our living room...just not sure exactly how yet. The palm fabrics will be made into pillows to be used on the wood lounge chairs that we are going to [hopefully] get this summer for our deck. The gentleman that sold me the fabric told me that the palm fabrics "have teflon" for "no water"...perfect for my plan!
The fabrics below came from Casa Miro...all of these fabrics were made in Brazil...I made sure of that before buying them. There was lots to pick from, so I tried to go with the ones that struck a chord with what I was experiencing of Brazilian culture.
These two sweet florals also came from Casa Miro - very sweet, they just look like they'd taste like guava and kiwi!
And this amazing fabric was one that we chanced upon at a little store in Copa Cabanna. It is a "Rio de Janeiro" themed fabric...so fun! I haven't decided for sure what I'll do with it, but I have a few ideas.
On the train ride up Corcovado to see the Christ the Redeemer statue there were many beautiful trees and flowers - we also saw beautiful butterflies in some amazing bright colors - I'd never seen anything like it before! That inspired me to purchase the fabric below...notice the manufacturing notes in Portugese.
The next fabric is my favorite of all, it was also the most expensive fabric I bought...it caught my eye because it reminded me of the mosaic pattern that was on the sidewalks all along the beaches...it was things like this that made me fall in love with Rio. 
This stuff is gorgeous...I bought two yards. Some time (soon?) I am going to turn this into something fabulous to wear!
We had a day stop over in New York on our way back...the husband came up with the idea of exploring the garment district...put mildly it was overwhelming in an amazing way. I had never imagined the volume of choices...I could have spent weeks going into different stores and examining all the different choices.
We ended up in a store specializing in linen fabrics. They had so many beautiful options...I went with the two that jumped out at me the most.
Then we ended up at a store specializing in designer fabrics. The three I picked are Michael Miller designs...love them!
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