Sunday Garden Tour...a day, and a couple of months late...

Meazi and her daddy talked about all of the things they'd like to grow in the Habesha garden this year. We hit the Home Depot and got some plants, and some seeds.

I was overcome with emotion as Meazi scattered Tef, or 'Tef-fa' as she calls it. It was obvious that she had done this before in Ethiopia.

Melese mentioned that we already had asparagus. Not for long I fear. The neighborhood cats have been feasting on the asparagus plants every morning.

I can't show you the rest of the pictures from that first planting day. Meazi stripped down, stripped Melese, and chucked his diaper over the neighbor's fence. They played in the dirt, and then in the mud after we watered everything. They had a blast, but I am afraid we got so carried away that we washed away many of our new plants. It was worth it. Daddy retrieved the diaper.

We had a preliminary honey harvest a few weeks ago...

And a gigantic one yesterday...

Meazi harvested some Chamomile. She loves Chamomile tea.

Meazi and her Tef-fa...

Honey!

So sweet!

We could have planted weeds out there. It didn't matter. I was just so happy to have the two of them with us.

Sunday Garden Tour... A Day Late... End Of Season Wrap Up.

Finally, Habesha in our Habesha Garden.

Meazi likes the kale...

Meazi and her daddy harvested the barley...



Meazi expressed her disdain for the tomatoes until I told her that they were the main ingredient in ketchup. She is now giving them a second look. Moses took an opportunity to polish them off, and then hid in the bushes until he felt better...


Melese is just happy to be outside...


The last of the broccoli was picked...

And steamed...


As you can see, the Habesha Garden was a bit neglected while we were busy becoming a family of six...


Imagine my shock and dismay as I stepped outside one day and saw Meazi, sweat beating down her face, wielding this large garden tool...

Steven had purchased it for her at Home Depot. Uhm, excuse me, this is DANGEROUS. He said she had expressed a keen interest in gardening/farming and had obviously done some hard farm work before. He then reminded me that my Montessori teacher mom had encouraged us to let our children use real adult items. I am pretty sure she meant small, blunt, scissors.

Speaking of dangerous, we took the kidlets to visit our bees. Meazi loves honey, and has some almost everyday. She was not at all afraid...



Steven suffered his first sting, on the eyelid. The bees had been so docile up to now, that he thought he could forgo the head protection. The gentle Rooney Easter Bees, have been replaced by a new swarm that are unfortunately, not as friendly. They are also inundated with wax moth larvae, which I am told is a very bad thing. Please don't expect your Habesha Honey in the mail this Holiday season.

I am really looking forward to more gardening with the kids.

We've come a long way...

(Insert the over-the-top-what-once-was-barren- and-cold metaphor here.)

Countdown to Court: Ten

Sunday Garden Tour- A Day Late

We grilled the zucchini. The zucchini and squash blossoms were stuffed with cheese and cilantro, and then fried with onions and butter.

Habesha garden yummy-ness.

Please don't ask about the tef. We ran out of space, and it was relegated to a too small area. It is growing, but we will be planting more.

Still plenty of chard...

Sunday Garden Tour

Things are happening in the garden.

The beer is growing...

The berries too...



The bees are buzzing at their foster home...


The beans are bursting...

And the carrots made an appearance...


For some reason though, I could only concentrate on these two beauties...


Our first Meskel blooms of the season.



I wonder why I can't stop looking at those?

Meskel Daisy by Evan McBride.

Come little Habesha, your garden is waiting.

Sunday Garden Tour- A Day Late

The Habesha Garden is coming along. Steven has been working very long hours at his job, and it seemed like the Habesha Garden was not going to continue this year. Luckily, I nagged him he rallied, and things progressed.





Also, our Loquat tree had babies. Would you like your own tree? We have plenty of saplings. The fruit can be used in cheesecake. Hint. Hint.




On Sunday we got a call from The Rooney's. They had a hive of bees at their house that they needed to get rid of. They knew that Steven had an interest in bees and beekeeping.


Steven had never removed a hive before...


Luckily Abe helped.



As I mentioned before, Moses is highly allergic to bees so I found a family (through the earthy, crunchy, Waldorf-y school) who wanted to keep the hive in their yard. They live close to us, so Steven can visit the bees whenever he wants.

There was something so moving about getting these bees from Ted, Lori and Abe. The thought of Steven tending their bees, made it all of the sudden more interesting to me. Now three families are involved in keeping these bees.

To fully show the sweetness of my husband during this procedure, he arrived at the new family's house, and asked the two young boys who live there if they would like to carry the bees in. He made them part of the cycle from the very beginning. (A note about these two boys; I have subbed for both of them. One day at the school I said to the older one, "Oh, I subbed for your little brother in Kindergarten." He said, "I know. He said you are mean." Nice. Told you I was a surly sub.

So the bees are safely ensconced, and the garden is ready to go. We still have to put in the grain row. We will be planting tef again.

There will be a Habesha Garden again.