WELCOME! homegrown & hand pressed 🌿 The plants used in our work is grown in our little organic garden in Seattle, Washington. Each botanical treasure is carefully picked and hand pressed at its peak. To preserve their natural color, please keep them away from excessive humidity and sunlight.
Hello September! I can’t believe the summer is flying by and I have been very much missing in action on this space. I will definitely go into details about my summer in the upcoming posts, but in the meanwhile, I wanted to share a picture to show you what is growing in my garden.
All of these plants were grown from seeds I saved from last summer and I plan to save all of these seeds again for next year. Don’t worry, there will definitely a post on that too! :)
As you can see, I am promising a lot of upcoming posts, but is there anything in particular I should focus on?
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Save clear plastic bottles to make cloche to protect plants from frost bites.
Here are the steps:
Rinse the bottle out.
Fill it with hot water. This will make it very easy to peel off the labels. Why peel off the labels? It is because my garden is ads free zone! Just kidding, removing the labels allow more sunlight to shine on the seedlings.
Cut off the bottom with a pocket knife. The sharper the knife, the better.
Cover your seedlings! You can adjust the cap for ventilation.
I am starting this based on a suggestion from my friend. I will try to include a gardening tip every Tuesday until I run out of ideas. If you have a garden tip you want to share, I would love to hear it (and will share and attribute the good idea to you 😉 ).
Currently, three of my big window sills are covered with seedlings.
Two varieties of tomatoes: chocolate and pear tomatoes. These are the seeds I saved from last season.
Bottle gourds. Look at how weird these are! Don’t they look like frogs? This is my first year growing them. I looked at the label and it said it is good for crafty projects, like birdhouses. I like crafty projects so I am growing them :)
Sugar snap peas
Two varieties of peppers: italian carmen (saved seeds from last year) and sweet peppers (seeds I saved from some peppers I brought from Costco).
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George and Lennie's new home is equipped with an LED light. (The light is so cool in that I can create different weather with a touch of a button. I think George & Lennie is getting tripped out with the "storm with lighting" display 😆.) If I don't play with those cool effects, they seem to love it. The sea anemones are thriving! As you can see, George is in one corner with three anemones while Lennie is on the other side with the biggest sea anemone. It is a smaller tank (30 gallons) but I have less rocks in it so more rooms for the fishies.
My latest project was inspired by the blossoms around town, particularly the cherry blossom. I have also been inspired by the many talented people embroidering things on IG and thought I give it a shot, with yarn of course. This first attempt included many times trying to undo a stitch ... but I had to start somewhere. 😁 If I were to do this flower again, I would have rotated a bit to counterclockwise. Now, that I got one under my belt, I am dreaming of the possibilities for upcoming projects 😍.
Way before the dot-com and the housing bubble, there was a tulip bubble.
The tulip was introduced to the European in the 1550s from Turkey. It gained popularity because it grew well in the cold climate and it was different from other flowers in Europe at that time. Soon, tulip became a status symbol and people began paying higher and higher prices for the bulbs. At the height of the bubble (in 1637), some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman!
The tulip bubble is considered the first economic bubble.
This past weekend, we snowshoed at Franklin Falls. I learned of this trail through Instagram. The pictures were amazing looking and I had to find out myself. Let me tell you, it is way better in person!
The best part about this trail is that it is only 45 minutes from Seattle!
With this being said, the trail does get packed so get there early! We did and missed most of the crowds. Even though the trail itself is only 2 miles roundtrip, we actually had to park our car two miles away (just right off exit 47) and hiked into the trailhead.
Reasons why it was wise to park far away:
Our two wheel drive car doesn’t travel well in the snow and the road to the trail head was not plowed. Four cars were stuck in their futile attempts to get to the trail head- in fact, one of the cars were stuck there since 9pm the previous night.
No parking! (Luckily we didn’t have to deal with this due to #1). On the way back to our car, we noticed all of the parking spots near the trailhead were taken and lots of cars were parked along the narrow road.
Overall, it was an enjoyable time and I would definitely do it again! I especially like finding those cute little cottages along the way to the falls and oh yes, watching ice climbers scaling that icy cliff. Can you spot the tiny person half way up the wall? Hint: Upper-left corner...
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This past Christmas, we escaped the cold, wet weather of Seattle and visited Phoenix.
When I was imagining Phoenix in winter, I was thinking warm and sunny (short and sandal kind of deal). It was sunny alright, but it was still really cold!
During our time there, we ate a lot of food! Chris’ dad is a great chef and make so much delicious food.
We also visited Pueblo Grande Ruin and the Papago Park.
Pueblo Grande Ruin
The Pueblo Grande Ruin is a 1,500 year old archaeological site left by the Hohokam culture. It was interesting to walk around and imagine how people cultivated crops, gathered for sporting events, made things out of materials found around their land.
Papago Park
The Pagago Park is a 1500 acres desert park covering part of Phoenix and Tempe. We walked around and also climbed into the famous Hole in the Rock. An interesting fact about the Hole in the Rock is that the Hohokam (those people who lived in the Pueblo Grande Ruin, see above) used the openings and sunlight to track the solstices.
Two years ago, I decided to knit each of my close friend a hat. It took me two years to complete that goal. Last week, I was able to finally give Linda hers. This hat is made of my favorite stitch- seed stitch. It has a very nice texture, yet it is really simple and fun to knit!
Before it was fall or autumn, this time of the year is called harvest season. It is the time when people harvested their crops before the rain and snow set in. Unfortunately, there is not much to harvest in my garden right now. It looks pretty sad out there :(. So, instead of harvesting, I am reminiscing what I reaped from my garden this year:
green beans, chocolate cherry tomatoes, kale, thai basil, carmen italian peppers
green beans, yellow bell peppers, eggplants:
lettuce, fennel, peas, lemon cucumbers, french sorrel:
green beans, kale, eggplants, french sorrel, figs, thai basil, cilantro
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This year, our focus is visiting national parks. So, earlier this year, we visited Yosemite and recently, we went on a road trip to Yellowstone & Grand Teton.
We spent three nights & four days in Yellowstone and two nights & two days in Grand Tetons.
Here are some highlights:
road to yellowstone:
We woke up early and set out. It was an easy drive as we just drove on I-90 east from Seattle to Bozeman,ID. We stayed in Bozeman for the night and continued driving to Yellowstone.
It was drizzling, when we started, but it the weather and the scenery improved!
yellowstone national park
We enter the park through the North Entrance and checked out the Mammoth Hotspring before going to Norris Geyser Basin and checking out the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. That is pretty cool!
We then drove to our home base at Canyon Village and set up our tent and relaxed for the evening.
The next day, we drove through the Lamar Valley and saw lots of bison. I also saw some deers and a prong-horns (though I wasn’t able to grab my phone to snap a picture of them).
We also hiked up Mt Washburn. The route up was so pretty! There are so many wildflowers and the view is incredible. We were promised a 360view of far and wide. Though as we got closer to the top, the clouds rolled in...and the wind picked up. It was super cold and windy..and the view was ...grey.
We didn’t stay long at the top and headed down before the rain. Instead of raining, it snowed on the way down...Yes, snow in July! (It was really light though :))
The day after, we checked out the Old Faithful, the Grand Prismatic Spring and some other geysers (there were so many and I only remembered the cool ones).
I watched Old Faithful blasted off three times. It was amazing. It is like the fountain at the Bellagio, but way better since it is natural!
The Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest spring in the US and third largest in the world....but I am sure it has the prettiest colors!
The next day, we headed toward Lake Village, drove around Yellowstone Lake.
After a beautiful drive, we checked into the historic Lake Yellowstone Hotel and went on a hotel tour hosted by the park ranger. I learned some interesting facts about the hotel and it was great to see how people traveled to Yellowstone back in the days!
The best part of the hotel for me is a nice shower, a comfy bed, and a nice view with an amazing sunset....and of course a cute bear soap!
grand teton national park:
The next day, we headed south to Grand Teton National Park. Left Yellowstone really early, hoping to find a campsite at Jenny Lake. (We heard that it was very popular and the campsites would be full by 9am).
When we reached the North Entrance we saw that the campsite at Jenny Lake was full. We decided to stopped by Mt. Signal campsite. I am so glad we did this because it is just a few minutes walk to Lake Jackson and has a wonderful view of the Teton Range! Our particular site (site 83 ) is a little back from the road and just a few minutes walk to Lake Jackson. From Lake Jackson, we had a nice view of the Teton range...and it was so quiet! We only see a few people and feel like it is our own private beach. When I go back to visit Grand Teton, I am definitely staying at this campsite! (Maybe I shouldn’t write about this campsite as it might get popular and I won’t find a site next time....:/)
(The above picture was taken by Chris.)
After setting up camp, we drove down to Jenny Lake and hiked to the Hidden Fall. (It was a nice hike, but I am not impressed as I already saw Yosemite Falls and Yellowstone Falls.) The best part was the ferry back!
(The above picture was taken by Chris.)
The next day, we hiked to Bradley and Taggart Lakes. It was a nice loop and the lakes were so calm and quiet.
After the hike, we checked out Menors Ferry Historic District. It was interesting to hear the park ranger talked about Will Menor’s life, his demeanor and his ferry business. At the end of the talk, we got to ride a replica of Menor’s Ferry across the Snake River (operated by the park ranger, not Will Menor’s ghost).
Overall, it was an amazing trip and we loved Grand Teton National Park more than Yellowstone. It was overall a quieter, relaxing place. We definitely will be back!
This past weekend, we took an impromptu camping trip to Ozette National Park. We originally only planned to visit the Sequim Lavender Festival, but at the last minute we decided to camp out on the peninsula. We ended up at Ozette National Park. When we arrived, all the campsites at Lake Ozette were occupied so we camped at Lost Resort. (Chris called it “Last” Resort as that would be our last choice to stay for the night ;)). Camping at Lost Resort was okay, but next time we will see if we can camp at Ozette National Park. If you end up at Lost Resort, don’t forget bug spray!!!! Or else you will be miserable.
After setting our tent, we hiked to the beach. We took the Sand Point Trail. Hands down, it is the most well-maintained trail I have ever hiked! I saw a rabbit on the way too!
Once we reached the beach, it was so scenic and surprisingly not crowded. After exploring the beach and eating our snacks, we hiked back and headed to the lake. There wasn’t an easy way to see the whole lake without a boat as it was very swampy.
The next morning, we headed out early and stopped at scenic sights along the way.
We eventually stopped and got brunch at New Day Eatery. It was scrumptious! If I am ever in Port Angeles again, I will go there again. I liked their pork patties and pancake.
Afterward, we met our friends at the Sequim Lavender Festival and checked out the farms. It was pretty cool to see how they make lavender extract! Chris bought some lavender extract for soap making. I bought two lavender plants so hopefully one day, I will have my own lavender farm!!
And a trip to the Lavender Festival is not completed with out stopping at a U-Pick farm! It was really hot that day so we just some raspberries and lavender.
