Our Gilded Abode: Gardening

Showing posts with label Gardening. Show all posts

Hearty and Chunky Tomato Soup

With all the wonderful garden fresh veggies we've been gifted, we had a great supply of ripe tomatoes We've been enjoying them on salads and as a side with sandwiches, but today we used them all for a super hearty tomato soup.

We tend to make and eat dishes that sound appealing to us, regardless of the season, so hot soup isn't an unusual summer dish in our home.

To begin, I did my usual vinegar and water soak to remove any little critters that might be hiding out on the tomatoes and bell pepper, then rinsed thoroughly and removed the stems. The tomatoes varied in size and I cut the largest ones in half and left the smaller ones whole - they'll break down while simmering.

I chopped 1/2 a large red onion, 1 green bell pepper, and a couple of Spring onions/scallions that I had on hand and needed to use up.

In a large sauce pan I melted 3 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Added the red onion, bell pepper and scallions and sauteed. At this point I also added my seasonings and I vary them each time I make this. Today I added Tone's Spicy Spaghetti Seasoning, garlic powder, black pepper and bone broth powder.

Added the tomatoes and stirred well.

If you've not tried bone broth powder, it's awesome. Adds great flavor to dishes and the little packets are so convenient. Sourced from grass-fed, pasture-raised cattle, fresh vegetables, and herbs, spices, and seasonings I like that it contains about half the sodium of beef bouillon. Great for those of us who don't have homemade bone broth on hand. This is the one that I used:

Beef Bone Broth

Next I covered the saucepan with the lid and simmered, stirring frequently until the tomatoes were cooked through and the soup thickened. I used my wooden spoon to mash them for instant thickening.

After picking fresh basil, oregano and rosemary from our plants, I chopped them and added to the soup along with an 8 oz can of tomato sauce.

Here's where I'll admit that we love a nice warm slice of buttered homemade bread with our soup so I started a loaf in the bread machine. :)

This soup contains such simple and basic ingredients but honestly tastes so rich and hearty that you'd think it surely is complicated to make. The onions and bell pepper provide a nice chunky texture to the smoothness of the tomatoes. And the bone broth and fresh herbs are so flavorful! Our favorite kind of dish!

Your comments are greatly appreciated and I look forward to your thoughts and ideas!
I try to respond to comments via email as soon as I can.
If your email address isn't available, I will comment here.
Thanks so much for visiting ... God bless you and have a beautifully creative day!

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Eclectic Red Barn

Our Cozy Stone Cottage

It's been a while since we've updated our little blog but now is a great time to revive it! We've had an exciting lifestyle change in the works the past several months as we prepared to sell our country home to relocate to this sweet stone cottage in the "city" about 10 miles away. Well, not exactly a city - more like a small adorable country hamlet - population around 4,000.

We're told our little stone cottage was built in 1900. We've yet to discover the full history of our home and hope to research it soon. We do know that an addition was added and it contains the kitchen. And we've learned that the stone was not original to the home - originally it was typical wood sided farmhouse. The photo above is an older one from a few years ago we found online that shows our home in all its well maintained glory. Isn't it charming?

In a nutshell, a few of the features we immediately fell in love with are .... original wood floors throughout most of the downstairs, 12' ceilings, tons of storage, and an awesome partially covered back deck. Who can resist a large deck with a nice shade tree?

There's also a large front porch, good sized rooms, a huge kitchen island, built-in cabinetry throughout, a nice lawn with space to build a garage, and lots of stone ... have I mentioned the STONE?

The fireplace chimney is an interesting feature and is embellished with an octagonal stained glass window.

Where the front lawn meets the street and where there would typically be plain boring concrete curbing, there's a charming short stone wall.

The gently winding stone path from the street to the front door is also lined by a short stone border. Adorable!

The mailbox at the curb is set in stone as well and the structure is wired for electricity and ready for a pretty light fixture to be installed.

As wonderful as it appears in the above photos, it currently is in need of some TLC ... there are weeds in the lawn, the flower beds are overgrown with weeds, as well as weeds on the stone path between stones. The metal roof needs cleaning and the front porch floor and back deck need stain and sealing. And goodness - the front door needs a pop of color and those front windows are begging for shutters. The front porch also begs for a porch railing.

Fortunately, the interior is updated and move-in ready, although there are about a million things we'd like to add or change to enhance it's charm.

This is how it currently looks - needing love. It has great "bones" and all the wonderful features are still there - just a bit hidden and in need of a little sprucing up.

We know that in time we can revive the curb appeal once again. Fortunately, we love projects and this home provides us with fresh new ones that will be rewarding to accomplish. Our future project list is growing quickly as we see our cottage's potential. We'll try to share before, during and afters of projects as we tackle them and several are already in the works.

You're welcome to follow us on this journey as we polish up our diamond (stone) in the rough!

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Savvy Southern Style
Knick of Time
Oh My Heartsie Girl
A Stroll Thru Life
The Dedicated House
Nifty Thrifty Things

Monogram Mini Banner Revive

While doing yard work this weekend, I noticed that our fabric mini banner had seen better days ....

It started out fresh and new as a crisp black bordered banner surrounding an ivory panel containing a black monogram and decorative stitching.

After a few years in the sun and serving as a perch for our feathered friends, it was certainly overdue for replacement. The stitching had held up well, but the black border was totally faded.

While it's true that buying a replacement banner isn't exactly a budget buster - they can be found for $10 or less - I couldn't convince the frugal side of me to toss it when the center panel was in good condition.

One option would have been to replace the outer black border with new fabric. But, an even quicker option was to paint the faded black border using fabric paint - my kind of project!

The items used:

Black fabric paint
Small paint brush
Scotchgard Fabric Protector

This paint is awesome and in the past I used it on a bamboo typography mat border. You can read more about that HERE.

Only one coat of brushed on fabric paint was needed on both sides of the mini banner.

Even before the paint dried it looked much nicer!

Once dry, the color difference was evident ...

After letting it dry thoroughly, it received a liberal application of Scotchgard fabric protector.

The magic of a new coat of paint continues to amaze me! And, it's nice that this tired little banner once again looks fresh and new!

Do you have anything in your home that could be revived with a fresh coat of paint?

Your comments are greatly appreciated and I look forward to your thoughts and ideas! I try to respond to comments via email as soon as I can. If your email address isn't available, I will comment here. Thanks so much for visiting!

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Saving 4 Six

Freezing Fresh Basil

Thanks to the DIY Wood Planter Boxes we made for our oldest son's birthday earlier this year (and his major green thumb!), we now have a nice supply of frozen basil leaves ready for use.

We don't have a garden, but when we're fortunate to receive gifted fresh veggies, fruit and herbs, those that we aren't able to eat are frozen to be enjoyed later.

Fresh basil is a great herb to freeze and it takes just a few easy steps to take them from garden to the freezer.

Remove the basil leaves from the stems and drop them into boiling water for 2 seconds to blanch.

Transfer them immediately to an ice water bath.

Remove leaves from ice water bath and place them in a single layer on paper towels to drain. Gently pat dry completely using paper towel.

Place in freezer storage bag in single layers separated by parchment paper or wax paper and place in freezer.

It's nice to have basil leaves on hand to toss into recipes whenever we need them. And, fresh basil tastes soooo much better than store-bought dried basil leaves.

If you have an abundance of fresh garden items, consider freezing them - you'll love having them available when they're off season. Enjoy!

DIY Wood Planter Boxes

Have you noticed that plants and flowers look super vibrant in wood planters? Maybe it's the combination of natural elements working together - the green plants, warmth of the wood, and the texture of the compost/mulch, all highlighted by the burst of color from the flowering plants. And, planter boxes are surprisingly easy to make ....

For this project, we used salvaged pressure-treated fence boards from our stockpile. Along with being pressure-treated, they have been out in the elements for quite some time and are naturally weathered.

To begin, we bought black plastic rectangular planters (similar to the one below) to use as liners - two for each wood planter. We found them at Home Depot for $10 each and they are 24" long.

Assembling the wood planter boxes was super easy - they are basically a topless box with an open framed bottom.

We started with the two ends made with 2x4's as supports.

Then attached the long horizontal boards and 2x4's to the bottom to support the black liners, turning the planter upside down to determine the placement of the supports.

To serve as "feet," we attached 2x4's to the underside of the planter, allowing the 2x4 to extend beyond the bottom of the planter. Everything was secured with long decking screws.

A light dry brushing with Minwax Jacobean wood stain on the cut ends was all it took to make the fresh cuts look old and weathered.

These two planters are now on the patio of our oldest son's home. He has a major green thumb (it skipped a generation!) and the planters are filled with beautiful, thriving plants!

The finished dimensions are over 4' long and 18" wide (each planter).

Hubby and I really enjoyed making these with materials we already had on hand. Was a great way to spend a sunny Saturday in our "workshop" (a.k.a. garage)!

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The Interior Frugalista

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Nifty Thrifty Things
A Stroll Thru Life
Must Love Home
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A Delightsome Life
Weekend Craft
My Flagstaff Home
Mad In Crafts
Making it in the Mountains

Mystery Plant Hanger

We have a building next to Our Gilded Abode that serves many purposes. It houses our riding lawn mowers and lawn maintenance equipment, our lumber stash, hubby's tools that he uses infrequently, the big monstrous table saw, and basically anything else that we don't want cluttering up the garage attached to our house. It's also a catch-all for things that are no longer needed but are "too good" to toss.

As much as I don't necessarily like keeping things that aren't being used, I have to admit that having them has come in handy many times.

So when I decided I needed a bracket or hanger to hang my Boston fern from our back porch post, I knew just where to look for something to use.

My first thought was to find an old plant hanger that I was no longer using. And, within 10 minutes, I found just that.

It would have worked perfectly fine and would have been a quick and easy option - just paint it, attach it to the porch post, hang the plant, and move on to the next project.

But ........ you KNOW that wasn't going to happen! LOL It was a very boring option and not very creative at all.

So, I kept searching in the building and found this:

The perfect shape and very heavy duty. Was evident its original purpose wasn't to hang a lovely plant on a porch, but I didn't know what it was. My first guess was perhaps a squirrel feeder - the kind that you screw a whole ear of corn to the base.

Squirrel Feeder

Plausible, but the curved "arm" didn't seem to serve a purpose.

Even though I knew that in the end I'd use it as a plant hanger bracket, I wanted to know what it was. So, I contacted Betsy at My Salvaged Treasures. She has done some amazing repurposing projects using many types of items. If you've not seen her wonderful blog, please check it out here. If anyone would be able to help me identify this item, I knew it would be Betsy and her followers.

Sure enough, they didn't disappoint! Through Betsy I learned that this item is actually a vintage spool holder that was mounted on the countertop of general stores, bakeries and butcher shops to hold spools of string and twine. What a neat item!

Now with the mystery solved, I was ready to implement my new use for the spool holder. All it took was three long decking screws and the spool holder has a new and useful life as a plant hanger for my Boston fern.

How do you feel about repurposing antique and vintage items? I am personally all for it. Rather than having the spool holder gathering more dust and spider webs in our building, it now has a prominent place on our back porch and is serving a true purpose, albeit not its original purpose.

Some feel that old items should be maintained in their original condition. I agree with that to some extent - if the item has extreme monetary value, I wouldn't touch it. But, I feel that common everyday household items that are not needed for their original purpose should be repurposed and put to good use.

What are your thoughts on repurposing antique or vintage items? Please share!

Thank you to My Flagstaff Home for graciously featuring this post!

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My Flagstaff Home * Lou Lou Girls

Frugal Front Porch Refresh - the Reveal!

Well, our tiny front porch is finally presentable! It was basically a blank slate with only two chairs, red pillows and a black rubber door mat. Not exactly a cozy first impression.

But now ... it's a comfy little space to enjoy a tall glass of sweet iced tea on a hot summer day.

At this point I should probably warn you ... this is going to be a looooong post with tons of photos! You may want to grab that glass of sweet iced tea and find a comfy chair!

The backdrop for our porch is wall paint in Sherwin Williams Softer Tan and our front door is Rustoleum Regal Red. The existing black chairs received a good (although a bit late) Spring cleaning and a fresh coat of black spray paint.

My inspiration piece was this multicolored door mat - love the color combination.

Was happy to discover the door mat incorporated our existing deep red, along with dark aqua and bright green. This allowed me to exercise my frugality and keep the deep red pillows that were already on the porch chairs. A win-win!

Another frugal find was this ceramic garden stool! It was the last one at our nearest Costco ... and, would you believe it was only $19.99? Have been wanting one for quite a while, but just couldn't bring myself to pay the $50-80 for the ones I drooled over at Home Goods and Target. You better believe this one was in our shopping cart the moment I saw it - and, I guarded it all the way to our vehicle!

Next was to add a pop of color with the addition of patterned pillows for the chairs, to coordinate with the existing deep red pillows. After not finding any ready made pillows that I liked, I decided to try making them, even though I don't sew (well, I don't sew well).

I stumbled across these fabric placemats at Walmart (our only shopping source locally - all the fun stores are at least an hour away). Couldn't believe that they contained all the colors I was looking for and I recalled that pillows could be made out of placemats by ripping a small opening in one of the seams and filling with pillow stuffing. At less than $4 each, they were in keeping with my frugal porch mindset.

I didn't even have to buy the stuffing. So glad I kept two old pillows that had faded - had planned to recover them but instead, I used the stuffing in the new placemat pillows.

To seal the seam opening without sewing, I used Aleene's Fabric Fusion Quick Dry Adhesive:

This stuff is amazing - works quickly and was super easy to use. I applied the adhesive to the seam opening and pressed firmly to close. Just to be sure that the opening stayed shut while drying, I placed big binder clips on the seam to clamp it shut. Worked like a charm! I sprayed the pillows with Scotchguard Fabric Protector and they were good to go.

Next, I searched my stash of items for something to hang on the wall behind the chairs. So many things would work well, but I wanted to add a bit of texture, so chose a metal wall pocket and filled with natural elements, surrounded by a large empty frame.

The wall pocket was a dark brown but of course I couldn't leave it that way. I wanted it to be a distressed aqua. Mixed two craft paints that I had on hand - Fern Green and Turquoise - and applied the paint to the pocket with ... you guessed it! .... my fingers! Best paint applicators ever.

The picture frame would probably look best in black, but I love its gold distressed finish and don't want to paint it so will leave it as is.

We're almost finished - I promise! All that's left to do are plants and a rug!

The rug is from Lowe's and is an Allen + Roth patio area rug in natural. At 5 ft 3 x 7 ft 4 in, it was perfect for this small space.

Last but not least ... plants! I added a Boston fern on a stand, a small pot of white Vincas, an arrangement containing a Dracaena, red Vincas and Sweet Potato Vine, and potted white Pentas. I dressed the Pentas up a bit by wrapping with burlap and tying with jute string. Added a strip of red/natural jute upholstery webbing, and to give it a little bling, inserted brass brads through the webbing.

A small red metal lantern completed the décor. The absolute very last thing I did was paint the front door "wreath" frame. Used the same mixture of craft paints used on the metal wall pocket.

That wraps up our little front porch refresh! Hope you enjoyed this lengthy tour of our home's smallest space.

Will leave you with a few more pics ... And, if I ever learn how to use my really nice camera, photos should improve considerably. :)

Thanks for hanging in there!

Thank you to Must Love Home and A Delightsome Life for graciously featuring this post!

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