cold frames

We live where we can get snow as late as early May. These photos were taken on April 26. So, if we want to enjoy a green harvest of abundance, cold frames can be very helpful in getting an early start.

I love gardening. Nothing beats a fresh tomato (especially on a Tex Mex dish or on a BLT) and Zucchini Soup is delicious. Home grown cucumbers are always sweeter and my daughters love Chocolate Zucchini Cake.

I preserve everything I grow that we can't eat fresh in order to defray the cost of food throughout the other nine months of the year when I can't garden. One of my favorite ways to preserve tomatoes is to dehydrate them to use in soups, stews, and Sundried Tomato and Onion Chicken a super easy Crockpot recipe I came up with (which unfortunately does contain the more expensive ingredient (but oh so yummy) balsamic vinegar).

Every year I garden, I go greener. I currently vermicompost and I am anxiously awaiting my tumbling compost bin which will not only recycle grass-clippings and garden waste but which I also plan to use to compost untreated paper and other household waste that is suitable for compost thus diminishing the amount of trash we put on the curb.

I also kill my dandelions (which if it weren't for my husband, I wouldn't even bother killing) the green way.