Hand sewn embroidered heart Lavender sachet

Dear Family & Friends

Our teenage girl wanted her Japanese friend to know that she is thought of, on her special day, from as far as Bulgaria! She decided to make a handmade lavender sachet which she worked on for a few days.

Handmade Lavender sachet

Using a pink satin material, a heart shape form was prepared.

Step 1: cut material to sew a heart shape pattern

Two pieces of materials...one for the front and the other for the back.

Step 2: Make two identical form for one heart sachet pocket

She embroidered a lavender flowers for the front, and her friend's name at the back

Step 3: Before stitching it together, embroider your design 

I have gathered a lot of our home grown Lavender flowers and she used this to fill up her sachet.

Step 4: Stitch them together and leave a small gap to fill it with lavender flowers

With her patience and dedication, she hand stitch everything as neat as she could....almost as if it was done by a sewing machine...thus, it took her a while to accomplish this.

Step 6: sew up the filler hole

To embroider a tiny kanji character on, is a challenge... but she did it!

Step 7: The heart sachet is all done

The flowers are made of bullion stitches to make it resemble like lavender...I think she did well.

A nice little project that my daughter enjoyed putting together:)

Best of all, this project was made full of love for a friend who has been so kind and supportive to her in her language learning journey...a very talented blogger friend who cooks wonderful food, till she took a break to enjoy more time with her grand-babies.

Well, I'm off to go and make some lavender sachets too...they're good to put in clothes cupboards and ideal little gifts to cheer family and friends too:)

Hope you have a nice cheerful day today.

Yours

The Cucamelon

Dear Family & Friends

From time to time, I get adventurous and would try growing food that I never grew or have eaten before. Cucamelon is one of them. A blogger at www.englishhomestead.com offered some seed, although I'm most timid to come forward, I summoned all courage because I've been fascinated about this plant but didn't know where I could buy them from locally. I'm ever so grateful for Kevin's kindness since and will always be.

The cucamelon has now settled happily in our garden:)

The first year with growing cucamelon wasn't a success. I only got about four tiny fruits. I was anxious but I managed to save all four fruits for seeds. Perhaps these seeds got acclimatized to our climate, because this year, the plants just took off with great enthusiasm! 

cucamelons are so cute...looks like a miniature watermelon, doesn't it?

I'm harvesting cucamelons every other day and it's producing many tiny fruit that taste lemony..my first time to taste this and we like it for snacking!

close up look of a cut cucamelon

Cucamelon or mouse melon is more a cucumber to me than a melon:) It's cute and perfect as snack food. It's very prolific in producing fruits! Cucamelon will just have to stay and join our happy garden onwards.

It's a climbing vine and they grow on a fast rate - by the minute!

When we garden, we don't just grow fruits and veggies...but we also grow knowledge. It's another good reason why we garden.

Be encouraged to garden and wishing you a happy gardening time:)

Yours

Wages paid in Bags of fruits

Dear Family & Friends

We teach our children to learn and love working, for mankind is made to work in life. Work puts meaning into living. Most of the time, we like to get compensation for the work we do. That's normal...because work brings reward. Some work gives big reward, while others, smaller reward. But even if it doesn't give the immediate reward that we expect...we work to the best of our ability because it brings satisfaction.

recycled bread bags now holding fruits

In our village, we do favours and help each other. This week, a shared property wall was made beautiful and the neighbor was so pleased because they shared the reward of our labor. A bag of sweet and very juicy peaches were passed on to us for that:)

freshly picked sweet and juicy peaches

30 kilos of sugar was the request of our other neighbour when we did our monthly grocery shopping. A lot of sugar but I think they use it to preserve their fruit harvest. At a promo price of 0.75 euros/kilo - our neighbor was happy! The following day he came back to request another 20 kilos of it when we next do our grocery shopping! When he knocks our door for request, he never fails to bring a bag of fruits for us. We know the payment is his joy and we receive them with grateful hands.

taking responsibility in keeping our road side clean

Every Saturday, my little girl gets a bag of very big tomatoes for teaching English to one little girl in our village. So, our Saturday meal menu always includes red juicy tomatoes. That family knows that tomato salad is part of our weekend meal.

we'll also do the neighbor's side of the road

See, all these gifts are our wages:) No, we don't expect payment for every little thing we do, but we always do get paid! There's always a reward for every work ...tangible or intangible....big or small....but most important of all, work gives us the character that we need to see us through life!

our yummy bags of wages

Sometimes I do get grumpy when I get tired from working...then, I have to remind myself again because I got the wrong perspective. Everyday I make a long list of work...I sometimes accomplish them, sometimes they get left for another day...but it is always my security to know that I have work everyday and I smile as I tick them off my list...Smiles are my bag of wages!

Hope you have a happy work day today too:)

Yours

The joy of collecting seeds

Dear Family & Friends

Summer is the time when you can take advantage of collecting seeds from your garden...either for kitchen use or for re-sowing back into the garden, without having to go and buy for more.

These are Lunaria flower seed heads

During the week, I have been busy and patiently collecting all of the Lunaria/Silver Dollar flower seed heads. The dried seed pods were peeled one by one so that I can use the empty flower seed pods on stem for flower arrangement. Some seeds were sown back into the ground directly so we can have some of the earliest spring flowers for the bees to feed on next year.

Inside each flat heads are flat seeds

Much earlier in the season, there were brassica plants, lettuces, radishes, chards, chives and onions that bolted as summer heat arrived...so after drying them....I managed to collect bottles of seeds and stored them. Most of them can be sown latter this summer for autumn and winter veggies. The cycle goes on in our garden. These work routines give me a lot of comfort.

The Lunaria seeds are attached to a papery case

More seed collecting will go on till autumn season... I always collect my summer flowering Zinnias seeds to spread them out in the garden for next year and to keep friends and families supplied too:)

After peeling off the seeds, I'm left with silver case still attached to it's stem

Oh the joy for collecting free seeds!! Whether you collect seeds or not at any season of the year, I wish you joy in whatever you are presently occupied in too!

Yours

Summer food in bulgaria

Dear Family & Friends

The abundance of summer is always something to look forward to. In Bulgaria, we notice that people tend to eat what is in season. So, when you go to restuarants...everyone serves the same cucumber and tomato salad in their menu. It is best to go for the seasonal salad too - for it's freshness.

A plate of summer meal

We don't normally get fresh summer salad varieties during the winter season...but comes summer, we eat nothing but these...day after day. Fresh cucumber and tomato salad, mixed with yogurt - which is an all season fare, along with the white salty feta like cheese called sirene.

A local fruit market with variety of seasonal fruits

When it comes to fresh fruits...there's also a great variety...but they mostly come in season. Every homes in the village got fruit trees in their garden....abundance and surplus are always going around...we just have to eat a lot more till we're so bloated with liquid. Not complaining at all...afterall, you must understand that we do get very hot summer's days and all these fruits and vegetables are but the best choice food to bring us comfort. Yes, eating in season is for a reason:)

Our neighbours know we also grow the typical local fruit & veggies in our garden...but now and again, bags of same fruits and veggies are passsed on to us via the garden wall/or through the gate! We just got to eat more fruits and veg...Yes! salad everyday for the moment! Wishing you a lovely and fruitful summer.

Yours

green sauce recipe - using cilantro

Dear Family & Friends


The cilantro and parsley plants that have overwintered are now big massive bush. They are preparing themselves to start their seed production. As we have so many of them, I will probably just let one or two plants to go into seed, which will be enough for the seed bank. The rest I turn into green sauce. A good and easy thing to do as it does not involve any cooking at all. 


Here's how: You just need a bunch of coriander or parsley - stalk and leaves, chopped up about 3 cups, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp red pepper flakes, 1/4 tsp salt, 3/4 cup of oil (olive oil or canola), 2 Tbsp of lime juice. Whizz them altogether into pulped up green sauce. Store in a jar. Refrigerate and wait for a few hours for it to work a magical flavor. Shake and stir again before serving. enjoy!







peel the coriander stem as the outer layer is fiberous but use as much of the stem for it has more flavor to it.






Set aside the leaves and chop them all into the blender together with all other ingredients. That's it!






After cleaning the coriander, I give all the scrap to the chickens or for my compost






I like to mix in some herbs too...such as mint. 





We use green sauce to eat with rice, pasta, salads, fish...anything that needs a nice sauce to go with...it is also nice as a dip just add plain yogurt and white soft cheese. I make a big batch because we eat a lot in this house and have a very good appetite for anything that says healthy.


Wishing you a good fun day in what ever you put your hands to work on:)


Yours,

Our Herbal Garden - Cottage Garden in May

Dear Family & Friends

It had been a tough week. The fire disaster in Fort McMurray in Alberta was a sad shocking news for me, as my brother's house was one of those that was burned down completely:(  but at least no one is injured. In our home, 2 out of 4 got food poisoning after enjoying a plate of yummy roast mutton and risotto rice from our neighbour. We were knocked out flat for two full days...at least. The two girls were spared because they are always skeptical about eating meat!

chamomille blooms 

So, it was time to indulge on more herbal tea to aid the mind and body. Chamomille is growing all over the garden. They are very good herbal tea to calm you down of stress...just a soothing thing for the mind and body.  It's also time to collect chamomille to dry them for future use when season is over.

chamomille tea

I must show you the state of my herbal garden since mid-april till this day. It is just so full that we really need to get our acts together...to gather and use them. They are also starting to bloom making the garden look so pretty in their chaotic stage.

my herb garden is packed

In our vegetable garden...it's more or less the same...everything is filled to the brim with veggies going into full bloom...sending all sorts of bees and butterflies in frenzy! Most of them are winter veggies bolting into seeds. I just love this sort of chaos. Soon, I will collect the seeds to store for future sowing and use.

the vegetable garden is chaotic and beautiful

This year, the granny bonnet plant decided to sow themselves everywhere too...so this spring, there's just so many flower heads that attract great big blue bees that sounds like hovering helicopter.

granny's bonnet - aquigelia are everywhere too

I know the garden is always calling my name...but, I feel like chilling out a bit with more cups of herbal tea. Life sometimes calls us to the slow lane too. Wishing you a much better week than what I had.

Yours

Herbs Benefits

Dear Family & Friends

Every morning I go and pick a handful of assorted herbs from the garden. They will all be used for the day's meal. Now that winter is over and the weather is warming up...our herbal plants are also rapidly growing everywhere. Herbs are natural flavours to enhance your meal. They are rich in vitamins and minerals that is beneficial to our health. 

Assortment of herbs from the garden

Today's herb harvest collection was used with our cooked meals and others as herbal tea drinks. Lemon Balm is wonderful as tea drinks...be it hot drink or cold drink...and very beneficial for good memory. Sage and Spear Mints were also mixed together for another version of our day's herbal tea. The thyme, on the other hand, was incorporated with my cooked tomato rice dish. Later, I also used the fresh tarragon and parsley to sprinkle as meal toppings ...as it's better eaten fresh. 

Thyme, parsley, Sage, Tarragon, Mint and Lemon Balm collection

The more we harvest and use the herbs in our garden...the more they will produce for us. Fresh herbs are much nicer than dried ones...and they are so easy to grow. It's really a win-win thing to have.

Wishing you a good and happy week.

Yours 

Winter veggies on the table

Dear Family & Friends

Although not vegetarians, our family are geared to eating more vegetables in our daily diet. As you know, I grow all our veggies in our garden, but comes winter, many plants either go into hibernation or they slow down a lot in their growth. 

This is a simple garlic prawn dish...but overkilled with lots of parsley:)

Yet, I can tell you that we still eat fresh greens from the garden such as parsley and coriander, (other herbs are now looking a bit sad and sorry). There's lots of brassica plants like: kale, sprouts, cabbage, broccoli...the leaves of these plants taste sweeter as they increase their sugar production within their system to withstand winter cold.  (Yes, you can eat the leaves/stems of brocoli & cauliflower...not just the flower part of the plant.)

Chopped up brassica plants leaves..quickly stir fried with garlic = YUM

I planted a lot of these winter hardy veggies but it seems it's never enough as my girls just love their fresh greens. I must remember to use the other frozen veggies in the freezer at this time too:) 

leafy greens sprouts sown from seeds

So, my mission to keep sowing - is a must. Ice cream tub comes very handy for sowing leafy greens. I use the lid to cover it at night to protect it from extreme cold. Once bigger, they will be transplanted out in the garden. Leafy greens like pak choi, mustard, argula, lettuces... prefer cooler climate...but on extreme winter cold, it needs some form of protection cover to survive.

Started to redesign the garden lawn early in the winter...more to be done in Spring. 

At the beginning of winter, we transplanted around fifteen lavender plants which I propagated early last year, and lined it up on the grass lawn to form as hedge for a new garden pathway. I'm not a fan of grass lawn. By spring, I'm hoping to turn the rest of the lawn into a mini fruit orchard. We'll see:)

For now, I exercise patience as I wait for the season when I can escape to the garden...It's getting colder as expected...but virtue is a goal to aim for the moment:) Hope you do the same in everything that comes your way. Happy a happy day for the rest of the week:)

Yours

Our biggest sweet potato harvest ever

Dear family & Friends

I still remember the earlier part of this year when I was so looking forward to grow sweet potato slips to plant out in our garden as soon as the weather warms up...

Harvesting sweet potato

Now...it's the harvest time...my third year of growing sweet potato. As I get confident...I also noticed more successful yield:)

Our sweet potato  harvest curing outside for a few days to get it sweeter

It's all worth the effort and space in our garden. Sweet potatoes are not common in this part of the world, perhaps not as easy to grow because it requires long hot season, but it's do-able. We persevere growing it because it's our family's most favourite root crop.

A whopper

This year we had the most successful harvest of sweet potato... even better than the normal potato harvest, which grows pretty well here. This goes to say that: We could grow things but we cannot really determine how things will turn out in the end.

We had a few sweet potato patches around the garden for this year

Garden has it's successes and failures as always...that's the fun of it. We are just grateful whatever comes up and we enjoy what is given to us. On the other hand, our lone walnut tree growing in another property plot only yielded us a total of a cereal bowl full. It could have been more...but I think other people went and harvested it before we realized that it's harvest time.

the total harvest of our walnut this year

Well there's always plenty to share...perhaps next year we will get our timing right. There's a lot of blessing that comes from the land. We are always very thankful.

Hoping and wishing you blessings too.

Yours

Snake Beans in a chaotic Garden

Dear Family & Friends

The chaos in this garden is unimaginable. There's everything growing everywhere. I believe that's the beauty I want in a garden...our garden is very productive with lots of food for human and all creatures that lives in the garden. Every year it is never the same. Most plants are planted annually, but there's also lots of perenials plants that goes on growing (some hibernate for the winter and comes back in Spring).

  

our chaotic garden is very productive

Many of the plants are also what we call 'volunteer plants'... they plant themselves in our garden. Usually we don't have the heart to pull them off...so they also grow to form the big chaos. But I must say, some of the plants are very special to the gardener of this garden...like the exotic Asian veggies that really struggle to grow, and needs more special care.

So happy with a handful of snake beans/yard long beans harvest

This snake beans or yard long beans is one of them. I know it is just a bean...but I'm attached to some memories of eating them as a child...and yes!! I rejoice greatly when they give me even just a handful of harvest...and I'll grow it again next year...who knows, the plant might get the strain of growing more strongly in this climate as we persist them to.

Persistence is a character...there are things in life that we have to work on harder...usually it pays off.

Here's wishing you a good day till my next post.

Yours

Figs and more figs

Dear Family & Friends

This is our third year since we planted our first fig tree...and this is the first year that we experienced the abundance of fig harvest. We harvested big figs in late spring time....and by late summer, we are getting another bigger harvest! the second cropping!

ripen fig fruit

I'm definitely not complaining...the harvest don't come in one big GO...Miss J or Miss L would go to the fig trees every morning to find half a dozen of ripen fruits to bring to the kitchen. We all get a fig each, at least each day...nice sweet treat!

fruitful fig trees

There's still a lot to ripen up but we must be patient...they like to supply us on a steady pace.

sweet treat

We have about 10 fig trees planted and I've rooted 6 more to plant in my 'orchard planning'...am I getting a bit carried away? Only two trees are bearing fruits this year...so far, but I think by next year, many of the others will start fruiting too...I'm brazing and preparing myself ^o^ ! I'm not claiming I'm good in growing things but figs are never fuzzy tree to grow in the garden!

Wishing you  a nice day:)

Yours

10 kilos of honey!

Dear Family & Friends

Excuse my excitement, but yes...it's another post on our homestead honey harvest! I still can't get over the fact that we got our very own honey from our garden bees without doing much work! Bees are the most amazing creatures that God created for us! Nothing is more wonderful than to have a free and pure honey...That's our greatest treat!

A bottle filled with pure sweet honey...with some hint of herb from our garden

We had our honey comb harvest extracted at our neighbour's home because we don't have an extractor equipment. Although it is possible to do without but it would take a while to drain all the honey out...anyway, they offered us to make use of their gadgets, and showed us how to:) 

Filling up bottles upon bottles of honey on our kitchen table 

We only have one beehive...and only harvested about 1/3 of the honey that is in there...the rest of the honey are left for the bees to enjoy ...after all, it's theirs and they really worked hard to produce litres and litres of honey. We are grateful that there are more than enough for them and for us too:) 

we bottled about 10 kilos of honey!

Honey is a very good food. We don't often buy them because they are a bit expensive... and a bottle of honey never last long on our table! So I am so excited with the extra bounty we received, it should keep us happy for a year before we go get another harvest:) Because we have lots of herbs growing like weeds in every corners of our garden...we noticed our honey got the herb flavours in it too...that's double benefit for us:)

If you ask me, it's all worth keeping honey bees in the garden.There's no big work involved. The bees are also my garden friends...I love them buzzing around me as I work in the garden...it is never true that they are out there to sting you for nothing. On the contrary, they are there to give you healthy food...their own honey, and maintain a very fruitful and beautiful garden for you too! Miss J got honey smirked on her face and the bees came to clean it all out for her...it feels just very ticklish till they finished their cleaning job! Isn't that amazing!

Yours