Molting Gecko

I love living in the country :)  You just never know what you'll find out your back door.  A couple of days ago, I was sitting in my office and I saw Laci sniffing something on the ground, obviously very curious.  So of course I went to investigate.

It was a molting gecko!  

 

She didn't hurt him or anything.  She was just trying to figure out what this was :)  It made me giggle.  I picked up Mr. Molting Gecko and set him in the grass to finish the task at hand.

Garden Seedlings

My little seedlings are looking *so*good!  The weather has been very cooperative this spring.  It was sunny (bordering on hot!) right after I planted and they seemed to love the warm sunshine.  It has since cooled off somewhat (thank God!) and has been overcast and cool the past couple of days and they seem to like that too.  Anyway, whatever it is/was, my seedlings are doing well and that makes me very happy!
  

Baby Arugula

 Basil seedlings.  I always plant *a lot* of basil!

 Italian White Eggplant

 Little Gem Romaine

Lola Rossa Red Leaf Lettuce

 

Beautiful Tomatoes.  I've had to move the grow lamp higher three times already!  I don't like to brag, but my little tomato seedlings look *so* much better than those at the big box stores or even the nurseries.  I couldn't be happier with these babies.  These are by far the prettiest tomatoes I've ever grown from seed.  We'll just have to see how they do once I put them in the ground!

 

 Gold and Red Beets

 Little Gem Romaine and Golden Chard

Tiny carrots...red and orange!  Can't wait for these.

So...there you have it...the first seedlings of my spring garden!  I'm very happy so far...but we still have the hot summer to get through so I'm cautiously optimistic.  Wait till we begin the battle with the bugs!  But I'll worry about that if and when it happens.  Right?  Enjoy the moment because that's really all we've got :)

First Arugula!

I love this pungent leafy green!  It's peppery and crunchy and adds a wonderful element of flavor to most anything...salads, pasta dishes, soups.  Another reason I love it is because it's ready to pick about three weeks after sowing!  This green does best in cooler weather.  It's not suited to our hot Texas summers; but it does great in the spring and fall. 

 

So I'm thinking, what do I want to do with this first bunch?  Since having my vegetable garden, my method of deciding what to cook goes like this:  It's not what do I want, it's what do I have?  Using that mantra in deciding what to do with the arugula, I looked in my pantry, refrigerator and freezer and this is what I had:

A beautiful bunch of freshly picked arugula 

A pound of peeled, deveined shrimp

1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes

1/2 box of penne pasta

2 lemons from my tree which I zested and juiced

A couple of spring green onions from my garden...yay!

And basic pantry staples...fresh parsley, half and half, garlic and good extra virgin olive oil.

This is what I did with these simple ingredients:

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente, drain and reserve a cup of the pasta cooking liquid.  Toss the pasta with a little extra virgin olive oil and set aside.

Marinate the shrimp in a little extra virgin olive oil (about 1/4 cup), the lemon zest and juice, two cloves of minced garlic, a little kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper for no longer than 30 minutes.

Saute the green onion in a little extra virgin olive oil until soft, a couple of minutes.

Add the shrimp and saute just until pink, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the tomatoes and saute a couple of minutes.

Add about 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking liquid, a little half and half (about 1/4 cup), and simmer for about 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. 

 Add the shrimp and parsley and stir to combine. 

 

Add the cleaned, stemmed arugula and simmer until arugula is soft and shrimp has finished cooking, about 3-5 minutes...not very long.

Taste for seasoning, plate and serve!  This whole dish came together (excluding marinating time) in less than 30 minutes and I have to tell you...It.Was.Delicious! 

I simply love cooking this way...not what do I want, but what do I have...out of my little Texas garden!

Buon Appetito :)

New Fig Tree

I love fresh figs.  To me, they are right up there with summer tomatoes and baby beets!  Last year I planted a fig tree with very high hopes and expectations.  But this past winter shattered all those :/  It was just too cold for too long and I was not able to protect the tree from the extreme temperatures.

I wasn't sure if I was going to plant another fig tree (although I really wanted to), and as I was casually browsing through the nursery last week, this gorgeous Celeste fig tree practically leaped out and tackled me.  OK, I said, I'll take you home :)

Since I went through all the work last year of having the hole dug and filling it with bags and bags of compost and dirt, logic would dictate that I plant the tree in the same spot.  So I pulled up the dead fig tree, redug the hole, added 2 bags of compost and planted the tree.  It was about 1/10th of the work I put in last year!

But the tree is in the ground and it looks great.

I put a wire cage around it because some time the deer do still jump the big fence and my tender little fig tree would be a delicacy for them.  Not gonna happen if I can prevent it.   I put a little sprinkler around it and water it pretty regularly...about an hour every other day.  The temperatures have been pretty warm lately so I need to ensure the tree stays well watered.

Anyway, I'm super excited about this new addition to my Texas hill country garden.  I intend to take very good care of this tree throughout what looks to be a long hot summer.  The tree will likely not produce any figs this year, but if I can get it well established and protect it through the winter, I've got a good (fair?) chance of getting figs next year.  Maybe a little wishful thinking on my part, but I'm going to do my best to make it happen.  The rest is up to Mother Nature :)