Garden soil and other stuff

It has taken me a while to find the soil I wanted for my new garden. Today I found it. And I ordered it. In budget. Whohoo!

I have more than half my budget left for the wood (non-treated 2X12s are my choice, but I will bend if I find salvage, or a good price), and the seeds (working on my seed list right now). Sigh...

Starting over is hard work. But there is some serious satisfaction in creating a garden from scratch. I honestly can't wait to get my hands in all that wonderfully fertile soil!

And with that... let me leave you with a mouth watering recipe for this chilly March day:

Crock Pot "get over your cold quick" Soup

• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 large onions, diced
• 3 celery ribs, diced
• 2 - 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 bunch kale, veined and diced
• 2 cans White Kidney Beans, rinsed
• 1 Tbs fresh parsley
• 1 Tbs fresh thyme
• 1 Tbs dried oregano (Crush it in your hand to let the flavors out a bit)
• 1 tea dried tarragon (same)
• 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 2 tea sea salt

Put in crock pot on high for 4 - 6 hours. Add salt and pepper to taste and top with parm cheese. Serve with toasted bread and/or a big fat salad.

I have also imagined this soup with a wonderful chicken sausage in it for a bit of added protien, but currently I can't find one that would work well for us.

My kids wanted to help, so while the dinner was in the crock pot yesterday, they made a vanilla bean cake with strawberry sorbet for dessert. All on their own. The cake was from an organic Trader Joe's mix... the sorbet though, was from scratch! From the organic strawberries I had put back way back in June. They read the recipe in the book, got everything together, and did it all by themselves. It feels good (and tastes good) to raise little cooks. :)

Happy Friday!