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Gardening Puzzlements: this new weed will not break me . . .

But, by golly, it’s going to try its best to do so!

One really great thing about gardening is that you learn something new every season. Usually several somethings-new.

Probably there is a study someplace that shows that avid gardeners have lower incidences of brain decline, because we are always, always trying to solve problems! Really!! Just this spring, I’ve had to puzzle and sweat and…

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#hairy galinsoga #how to deal with quickweed #how to fight weed hairy galinsoga #taking care of weeds in the vegetable garden #what is hairy galinsoga

Essential Oils: when everything old is new again & a giveaway!

Photo by Amalia from secondbreakfast.us.

Essential oils are hot. Hot, hot, hot. Have you noticed?

And today is your lucky day, dear gentle reader, because my good friend Debora–who is building her business with doTerra–has offered to partner with me in giving away bottles of her three “go-to” oils: lemon, lavender, and peppermint.

I want very much to learn all I can about them, and I amlearning,…

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#doTerra essential oils #essential oil giveaway #favorite go-to essential oils for everyday use #how to use essential oils in my life #what essential oil companies are the best

Am I ending up in your SPAM folder?

Don’t let them take me awaaaay from you! *snif*

It happened again yesterday. A long-time reader that I had not heard from in ages sent me a note: “Are you still blogging? I haven’t seen anything from you for months, though I signed up for your blog posts to come to my email.” I’ve received several of these notes lately, and at first I thought it was just an email glitch.

Turns out there are more…

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#blogs to read #Facebook #Feedly RSS reader #Gmail&039;s policies #Google #homesteading blogs #how to get my blog posts #lifestyle blogs #Seth Godin #vomitingchicken.com blog

Cotton Day; reproduction of leeches; cooling of turkey vultures; Eris

Cotton Day and Goldberry

I’m mostly a mama at home with one little boy these days. Although, when I referred to Mack as a little boy the other day in the bike shop, the twenty-something guy with the snappy blue eyes who works there glanced at him and stated, “he’s not so little, you know.” Gosh. That guy was certainly cheeky. Of course my little boy is little.

Amalia has a job that she loves and…

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#balance in summertime for kids #Cotton Day #homeschooling boys #raising boys to be good men #raising healthy boys #teaching children how to garden #tying strings with your children

Jamie's Creamy Garlic, Parsley, & Bleu Cheese Dressing = elevated lunch

Jamie’s Creamy Garlic, Parsley, & Bleu Cheese Dressing = elevated lunch

A great salad dressing recipe, made ahead and kept in the ‘fridge at the ready, can transform your meals like nobody’s business. I’m going out on a limb here. Hear me out. (I’ll type fast, because it’s a bit shaky out here on this willowy extension.)

This is arugula, and it is snappy and delicious.

Here’s the deal: I have an entire lovely bed of salad greens, growing happily in my garden, enough…

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#bleu cheese salad dressing #great easy salad dressing recipes #how do I make a good creamy salad dressing recipe?#parsley salad dressing recipe #salad dressing with Greek yogurt

The Spring Miracle of Rhubarb, and Rhubarb-Walnut Muffin recipe . . .

. . . which is a miracle of another sort! :)

This photo (thank you, Wikipedia)–taken in a market in England–just makes me happy. Such abundance, and beautiful rhubarb stalks in the middle of it all!

How can any season compete with spring, for wreaking joy from the heart?

It has something sweet for every sort:

For lookers–fresh beauty to gave at, to photograph and enjoy.

For breathers–the air is…

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#brunch recipes special #good muffin recipes #how to grow rhubarb #make something out of rhubarb #rhubarb muffin recipes #what is rhubarb good in?#what should I do with my rhubarb?

My best recipe for Birthday Trifle, and why it requires a new name

Caught ‘cha!!

Everything about it is sweet; everything about it is creamy and delicious; everything about it is perfect, so why did they name it . . . “Trifle”?

Those Brits . . . ! (shaking my head) I won’t get into other dessert names that originated across the proverbial pond, although I will mention them. Here’s just a sampling: Banofee pie, Bedfordshire clanger, Bird’s custard, Eton mess,…

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#birthday trifle #different types of birthday cakes #how to make trifle #something special to make for birthdays #what ingredients go into trifle #why is trifle called trifle?

Semi-poached Eggs ala David: a 5-minute breakfast!

New Zealand eggs

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Uncommon Goods:Uncommonly Handy for Father's Day giftage

Uncommon Goods:Uncommonly Handy for Father’s Day giftage

What is it about choosing gifts for Father’s Day that brings out such unease in many of us? Such disquietude? For myself, at least, I feel faint and quivery even contemplating the day, because the issue of the gift–the gift!–*insert gentle weeping* is always such a puzzlement.

This should not be so!I have a perfectly lovely Dad, who is grateful for each one of us kids (I think) (there are five of…

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#Father&039;s Day at UnCommon Goods #gifts for Father&039;s Day #Uncommon Goods #Uncommon Goods Men&039;s Gifts #what to get for Dad

Wondrously tasty and surprisingly addicting: Amalia's Hot Salads!

Wondrously tasty and surprisingly addicting: Amalia’s Hot Salads!

See how pretty? And you know how much I like pretty. ;)

Consider the dilemma of my adorable daughter Amalia. Due to her confounding problem of chronic daily headaches, she agreed some months ago to go on a very restrictive diet —the Autoimmune Protocol Diet–which cuts out all grains, nuts, eggs, milk, sugars and more. Theoretically it’s supposed to heal the immune system and gut mucosa, so if you…

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#AIP Paleo recipes #AIP salads #Amalia&039;s Hot Salad official recipe #Autoimmune Protocol #great new salad recipes #Hot Salads recipes #how to make a Hot Salad #main dish salads recipes #salad recipes

Something I'll never get used to; and a few other things besides

Something I’ll never get used to; and a few other things besides

Gentle Readers. My emotions have been on my sleeve lately–right . . . there—see them?--next to my heart–so I am typing very carefully here, trying to not cross the line from being your cheery confidant and garden- and chicken-advisor (or whatever the heck I am?) to becoming a sloppy wet feedsack of a cathartic downer. (Now that’s a metaphor that only a farmer-type could coin!)

Here’s the thing:I…

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#Amalia #Amy&039;s Plant Sale #Bethany #mothering #parenting #springtime #springtime in Nebraska #Timothy

It's all about the garden: what's going on in April at our place

It’s all about the garden: what’s going on in April at our place

And yes, there is treasure at the end of that rainbow. More about that later, though.

I love, love, love this time of year. I want to hug spring. I’d marryspring, if I weren’t already a married woman. I might even posit that springtime is my favorite season, but one of you would undoubtedly remind me that I say that about autumn every year. Or even winter, at least during the first few,…

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#April in Nebraska #April showers #spring showers in the midwest #springtime in Nebraska #what is happening in Nebraska in April

Redneck Chicken Livers with Bacon & Herbs: a recipe anybody would love . . .

(. . . even your daughter who loathes liver.)

But first, before we get to this delicious new recipe (as we celebrate I LOVE LIVER! week): a story. Because, children, I know how you like stories.

To wit.

Once upon a time, in a fair land where it was so windy that the people no longer wore hats because every hat in the land (everyhat, Gentle Reader!) had blown away to neighboring states, lived a…

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#best liver recipes #can you eat chicken livers?#chicken livers recipes #chicken livers with bacon recipes #how to cook chicken livers so my family will eat them #offal #organ meat recipes

So Much to Love (and alas, to leave) in Ohio

Our granddaughter Anya loves to draw. Inside and out. With every medium and on every kind of surface.

Gentle Readers, as you know if you’ve been popping into my little corner of the internet now and then, the kids and I drove to Ohio this week to be with Andrew, Sonia, Anya, and to meet the new dewy-skinned princess Eleanor. If you remember, we drove out herein February with hopes of being of…

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#being a grandma #Eleanor #grandchildren #new baby in the family

Cowboy Coffee Cake recipe

Cowboy Coffeecake, in a word: Yum.

We have a long history at our house with Cowboy Coffeecake. This recipe–or a version of it–I originally found in the old red and white checkered Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, and I started making it for special occasions, when a little more posh was called for at breakfast time: holidays, when company was coming, the last day of school each spring, when…

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#brunch special recipes #company breakfast recipes #Cowboy Coffeecake recipe #old Cowboy Coffeecake recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

How to make your own rocket at home: complete instructions by Mack

. . . and how to survive the experience, unscathed.

First:

Assemble your audience. Because–as everybody knows–an audience makes every experience richer. Provide snacks. Because–as everybody also knows–it’s easier to retain an audience when there are good snacks.

Second:

Set up a Safe Zonefor your audience. This is a dangerous stunt. Eye protection and full-length pants and sleeves are a must.…

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#how to make a rocket out of a soda bottle #kids easy at home rocket #science experiments for kids #teaching science at home

Giveaway from Bossy's and me!

Giveaway from Bossy’s and me!

(pic)

Have you ever seen something so sweet and cute and unusual that you just had to share it with everybody? That’s how I felt when I found the Etsy shop, Bossy’s Feltworks, a year or two ago. There are plenty of nifty shops and really impressive handmade things on Etsy, but something about these cute little felted animals and vegetables and other things really captured me, and made me smile. :)

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