Retirement Shirts

I made these for our 4 staff members who retired this year. This year we have 17 staff members leaving us! Not sure what next year will look like, but it will be different! 

One of the teachers that retired was my 5th grade teammate. I'm looking forward to my new teammate and to have some young blood in 5th grade! 

Garden Update - June

Grafted Big Beef Tomato

Yellow Squash

Serrano Peppers 

Watermelon & Strawberries

Broccoli-- sadly the bunnies got to it. 

July 2nd pics

Herbs going crazy & loving the rain!

Tomato types for my notes!: 
Grafted Big Beef
Grafted Brandywine
San Marzano (Roma)
Sun Sugar (Orange Cherry Tomato)
Sweet Baby Girl (Cherry Tomato)
Julite (Grape tomato, holds onto the vine longer, resists drought & disease)
Red Grape (Grape tomato, small super sweet fruits with long clusters of 10 or more, heat tolerant)
Cupid (Grape tomato, sweet)

Not veggies, but pretty....

Strawberry Shortcake

When you go strawberry picking, you have lots of strawberries to use up before they go bad. I needed a dessert for a party adn whipped this up. 

Ingredients: 

Premade Angel Food Cake

1 box instant vanilla pudding

1 2/3 cups skim milk

1 16 oz container of lite cool whip

2 cups of strawberries, sliced sprinkled with sugar

Directions: 

Mix pudding and milk in mixer. Let sit for 5 minutes.  

Add cool whip to pudding and mix. 

Tear or cut up angel food cake into chunks (See picture)

In a 9x13 pan, cover the bottom of the pan with half of the angel food cake. 

Cover the cake with 1/2 of the pudding mixture. 

Cover with 1/2 of strawberry mixture. 

Repeat layers. 

Chill and serve! 

Perfect summer treat! Light and slightly sweet! 

Grilled Veggie & Feta Pitas

I love summer! I love grilling! I love these grilled veggies! 

This is a super easy recipe. 

Ingredients: 

1 zucchini 

1 red pepper

1 red onion

Italian dressing

1 T honey

feta

Veggie seasoning (optional)

Bread or Pita for serving

Directions: 

Chop veggies and place in bowl. 

Pour 1/2-1/3 cup of Italian dressing over the veggies. Sprinkle with veggie seasoning. 

Let sit for 10 minutes. 

Heat up grill to medium heat. 

Place veggies in a veggie grill pan. 

Cook to your liking, I like mine slighlty charred. 

When veggies are finished, place them back in the bowl and add 1/4 cup Italian dressing, feta, and honey. Stir. 

Serve with pita, bread, or plain! 

2014 Herb Garden with Wine Cork Markers

I whipped up these easy wine cork markers for my herbs last week. I used wine corks, a sharpie, and wood skewers. They were super easy and really pulled the herb garden together. 

Fast forward, to the next week... I received this gift from a student. Exact same markers, down to the 2 Buck Chuck corks! I'd say his mom nailed it! Even if he did think she was crazy for making him write on wine corks for his teacher! :)

2014 Garden

I used these cedar fence posts to make my raised bed. I followed the rough plan of Ana White's $10 Cedar Raised Garden Bed. 

 After a little screwing and gluing, my box was ready to put in the ground!

 I filled them with top soil, compost, and vermiculite. 

I put my fence up-- Terra Garden Fence. So easy and it keeps the bunnies out!