a pickled affair.

houston, it's cucumber season at the palmer farm and no matter how many we give away- they just keep popping up everywhere.

i mean everywhere.

we have made salads and infused drinks and eaten panzanellas and sandwiches but to no avail, 

there are way more than we can handle.

thus, we pickled.

bread-and-butter pickled goodness to be exact.

with onions from the garden too.

 i am officially converted to a pickle lover.

some recipes from here and there. 

really, you should do yourself a favor and make some homemade pickles.

they are so darn good.

garden snapshots.

on my weeks off, i spent a lot of time here.

i think you can see why.

major props to the garden expert bill palmer, my dad.

tastes even better than it looks.

thanks for the lessons dad,
can't wait to have my own garden someday!

sweetness.

now i'm not one for sweets. i'll take savory over sweet ninety-nine percent of the time but oh-hot-damn,

zucchini brownies are from the gods. 

you have got to try these. you will not be disappointed- so moist and just the right amount of sweetness.

::: zucchini brownie recipe :::

1/2 c. vegetable oil

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 c. flour

2 c. shredded zucchini

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased 13"x9" pan. cook for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees fahrenheit. 

enjoy!

summer salads.

headed home at the end of this week for a FEW WEEKS!

obviously excited (i mean, do i ever use capitals?)

looking forward to our overflowing backyard garden.

fruits, veggies, and herbs. 

oh my!

i seriously cannot wait.

do you think it would be overkill to have a themed garden backyard party every night that i am home?

i could switch it up and do some brunches too.

all are welcome.

a few summer salad inspirations that i am planning on making at home.

avocado + tangerine.

citrus salad.

quinoa + green bean.

chopped vegetable + watermelon.

i know you mouth is watering now.
any favorite summer salad recipes that i need to know about?
don't be shy, please share.

dads garden girl.

i've been trying to earn/inherit my dads green thumb.

someday i want a garden with a greenhouse, straight rows, raised beds, grafting, and year-round you-pick for all my family and friends just like his. 

in efforts to learn the tricks of the trade and earn my stripes, i spent a good amount of time with him.

i also planted a sweet rosemary and spearmint pot for my apartment deck

(to roast with my veggies and put in my water, respectively).

i seriously love nurseries, dirt, fresh veggies, and sunny garden days at home.

nothing better than rosemary smelling hands, dirt between your toes, fresh carrots in your belly, and hose water to freeze your dirty hands.

and this my friends... is as green as it gets.

hello there little guy.

p.s. if you are my instagram friend you would have seen #dirtygirl #gardennerd under a few of these pictures.

sorry i'm not sorry about it

fatherly shout out.

my second shout out of the week goes to mr. bill palmer.

he's now over here at slo gardener.

(20 bucks says that his followers list blows up cause everyone wants a garden like bill's garden)

check it out- it's gonna be awesome, informative, and fun to follow.
plus i helped get it up and going so i feel a little invested in it.

woo go dad!

(palmers taking over the blogsphere- embarrassing or cool?)

my portuguese plant.

meet my little galinha choca.

as its known in portuguese and

 a hen and chicks succulent in english.

she was born a little while ago but left her family (on my grandparents deck) and moved into another house (my pot) this last weekend. now she resides on my porch in san francisco.

jealous much?

notice the 'hen' sitting on her little 'chicks'.

if only i could get my hands on one of these little guys, then she would be happy, humidified, and toasty.

(ikea)

i may or may not have given this birthday hint to my little man friend that lives right next to ikea.

thanks vo (grandpa in portuguese) for my sweet plant!

fave find: sloat nursery

found a new little hole in the wall that reminds me of home.

visited sloat nursery today after studying in a coffee shop in the marina.

brings me back to slo in a way- pretty pots, organized little starter plants and seeds, and fun gardening gadgets.

no purchase today but i will once i get some supplies from father green thumb in a few weeks at home.

 

 

i highly suggest dropping by!

hope you're having a great monday!

delivery.

mom and dad came this weekend. 

and they delivered the goods.

(sorry-pics form the iphone)

bags, baskets, and flats of produce.

tomatoes, kale, carrots, beets, leeks, chillies, sweet peppers, apples, figs, bell peppers, jalapenos.

hannah and i love produce delivery week.

it's our favorite week of the month.

and a special shout out to vavie, who came down to la for her first time to see the sights and watch hannah's game. she brought loaves of homemade zucchini bread and we are forever indebted.

thanks country folks:)

succulents.

alright, so this is a little out of left field and i know that i am jumping on this wagon a little late,

but im loving succulents.

maybe its because they are everywhere in LA?

maybe its because i experienced my first vertical succulent wall art- and fell in love? 

maybe its because i got one and now all i see are succulents- everywhere?

so here is my first succulent,

her name is 'hermione' and she resides next to my bed.

love her.

got her because i was inspired by these hanging ones on a little LA adventure that i took.

then went on pinterest- obviously- and found the most incredible ones on there.

(my pinterest has some to the right- red button:)

so the saga continues because i live with botany/biology nerds,

 and of course we had to look at the root systems and see how they hang that way.

this continued on and now i've been doing some investigating and as always,

all roads lead to 'sunset magazine' (my fave) where i found this.

doing it.

mini garden.

mostly settled into la and thanks to dad's expert plant advice and garden supply, 

i planted a little porch garden today to make it feel a little more like home!

a variety of potted herbs.

basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley, and mint.

lots of good cooking to be done and a few mojitos to be made.

and two varieties of my favorite micro greens in their very own dome planters!

a spicy mix and a mild mix.

perfect for salads and sandwiches.

these will accompany the overflowing rubbermaid tub of veggies from the garden that mom and dad brought last weekend. as fresh as it gets. mmm good!

that's a rap.

finished up our last summer backyard dinner tonight.

might i add that it was delicious.

thanks for growing it all dad.

thanks for cooking it all mom.

thanks for enjoying it all friends and family.

thanks for the beautiful summer evenings slo.

goodbye summer.

hello fall.

flower power.

i think that i can have bragging rites when it comes to theses beauties.

even though dad planted, watered, grew, nurtured, fertilized, trimmed, etc.

i just took the pictures...?

but honestly, check out these flowers!

no big deal, they just grow all around our house.

varieties of sunflowers, dahlias, roses.

yousss a stud, dad!

diy: square foot garden

here is my favorite new project.

an herb and spice square foot garden.

it was simple and i am sooooo excited for the products in a few monthes!

heres how you do it...

1. obtain or make a raised bed. (my dad built the one i used and its 8'x4')

2. mark off every foot around the box and hammer in 1" nails every on all marks. tie off garden twine on the width and length to create 1'x1' squares.

3. hit the nursery and pic up a variety of herbs, spices, veggies, flowers, etc.- you can choose to have a specific variety for each square or have multiple squares of the same variety. just make sure to look and see how close your plants are supposed to be planted together and arrange them from shortest to tallest (i chose to only use spices and herbs and ended up with about 12 different varieties)

4. plant your plants in their appropriate squares and water as recommended.

along with the varieties of the common herbs and spices (basil, thyme, sage, oregano, dill, chives etc.), i picked up a few herbs used to make tea for common health issues which should be cool to grow and use.

but anyway, i am soo excited for them to grow and ill keep you updated!

until then, get out there and plant!

show-off

ive learned that sometimes its okay to brag...

like when you grow the most beautiful green, yellow, and rattlesnake beans...

or when your flowers look like the picture on the front of the seed packet...

maybe when you produce the best edamame you've ever had on your first try...

maybe when your peaches are so juicy, ripe, and pretty that three is absolutely not enough...

or when "sunset" magazine could come and take a picture of your ridiculously straight rows and garden patches...

and maybe when you have imagined and created a greenhouse with such precision that not a 1/4'' is off...

ive learned that its definitely bragging material when your dad did all of this.

great job dad.

i surely do love our garden and all of its goodies!

kudos for dad

like i said in past posts i am a daddys girl. always have been, always will be. well this weekend my parents went down to la for the weekend for a james taylor and carol king concert at the hollywood bowl (a christmas present from yours truly- almost kept the tickets if were being honest). so it was my duty to watch my brothers and sister. wait? you only have a sister? well kinda, you see i have some furry siblings that in the eyes of my dad are about equal to hannah and i (well maybe not totally, but kinda). so i stayed at my parents house to take care of the dogs. while i was there i took out my baby, tamara the camera (canon eos rebel xs), and fooled around with the setting, lighting, and such to get a hang of it.

with that said... last post was about how my mom is the best so now this post is about how my dad is the best. i mean just check out the start of this years massive garden. whose excited for 96 pepper plants, acres of corn, 50 plus tomato plants, enough cucumbers and artichokes for california, and butter lettuce that melts in your mouth? ME!

can you say green thumb?

p.s. nice picture ehh?