What's happening?

So I dropped off the radar for a bit, and you better believe I was very busy during that time.  It's spring, and my kids and my garden are my life.  Here's what's happening:

The dwarf peach and pear trees (along the north side of the backyard) are doing quite well.  You can see in the background that Handy Freddy has been really busy making the vegetable garden border.

Along the south side of the yard, I added a Golden Delicious apple tree...

...and a Honeycrisp apple tree. Both are dwarf varieties from Stark Bros.

I planted those a few weeks ago, and they already have leaves. Awesome!

Between the start-of-the-season sale at Spring Bluff Nursery and the Conservation Foundation benefit, I acquired two new flowering shrubs and several native perennial flowers for the two butterfly gardens.  One is located in the NW corner of the yard under a honeylocust tree...

...while some others are in the SW corner of the yard.  I'm hoping the flowers will attract butterflies and bees, which will help with the pollination of my vegetable plants. I certainly don't want a repeat of last year's pumpkin sex incident. 

Next to the SW flower patch I installed two strawberry patches.  The variety on the left is the June-bearer Surecrop.  To the right (on the other side of the white trellis) is the Ever-bearer Ozark Beauty.  Strawberry beds are good for three years or so, and while they can take a year to get established I am really hoping for a few berries this season.

I put the broccoli seedlings in along the west side of the yard.  Hopefully these will do well and be ready for harvest in June or early July.  If so, I can start another round of broccoli seedlings in June, and plant them in mid-July for a fall crop.  Broccoli for everyone! 

Also in the ground are some carrots, beets and peas.  I hope to get the kale, sage and dill in the garden after work today, and I've set aside a large portion of this upcoming weekend to get some more things in the ground. 

What's been happening in your neck of the woods?

Broccoli chowder

Last week, I put making Martha's broccoli cream soup on my to-do list. Then, a friend (Hi, Cori!) suggested I might like Lulu the Baker's cheesy vegetable chowder.   Both soups looked delicious, and I just couldn't decide which one to make....so I created my own soup by combining the two recipes.

Everybody wins! Especially me, because the result was absolutely delicious. 

For the most part, I stuck with Martha's recipe (minus the onion), and added shredded carrots, diced potatoes, and 1.5 cups of cheddar cheese as suggested by Lulu the Baker.  And because calories don't exist in my world, I increased the amount of heavy cream from Martha's recipe from 1/2 cup to 1 whole cup.  Calories?  What are those?   

Technique-wise, I definitely deviated from Martha's recipe:  I didn't run the soup through the food processor after cooking. Instead, I ran the broccoli through the food processor before adding it to the pot, making sure that all pieces were small-to-medium size and not completely pulverized.  I wanted this soup to be a meal by itself with chunks of vegetables, and that's exactly what it is. 

Note: the soup stores wonderfully in the fridge, so don't be afraid to make a big batch and have leftovers.  This mash-up recipe is incredibly easy to make and quite a satisfying meal.  Enjoy!