The Vegetable Garden at Frog Hollow Farm

Some of my blogger friends have asked to see photos of our vegetable garden. This is really FHFB's garden, he puts all of the blood, sweat and tears into it and I just pick the goodies, find delicious recipes for them and get to take photos of the beautiful harvest. 
This might be a little boring if you're not into vegetables and flowers. 

Let's take a walk!

Zinnias

Sunflowers - lots of different colors

Asparagus, resting and going to seed

Tomatoes - but they're turning red now!

Butternut Squash - first time we've grown it!

Cinderella Pumpkins - I just love these pumpkins!

Blackberries ripening - they take a while.

Rediculous zucchini - I mean totally rediculous!  I'm finding fantastic zucchini recipes in my Pasta Fresca cookbook.  There's also a grilled potato salad that includes grilled zucchini, radicchio (and goat cheese if you want to add it) with a mustard vinaigrette from and old issue of Bon Appetit that's absolutely delicious.

I can send you the recipe if you like! 

Red Onions - for FHFB's favorite tomato salad.

Basil and Green Peppers

FHFB dries a lot of basil and also makes fresh, delicious pesto for the freezer.

Italian Flat Green Beans - the best tasting green bean around!

Cucumbers and Beets 

Herbs - parsley, sage, oregano, thyme, dill and pineapple mint.

Thanks for touring with me - I hope you enjoyed our walk through the garden.

Ciao, bella!

Tomato Sandwiches

Okay, yesterday I was talking with another blogger about being in the moment, and yes, yesterday morning I was supposed to be focusing on my breath, my posture, keeping my shoulders down, tucking my tummy, tightening my butt, keeping my legs long, tightening my core (still haven't quite found that elusive thing they call the core) as well as focusing on my balance and my reach, and so many other things while at an exercise class on Monday morning. 

However, all I could think about was the tomato sandwich I was going to make with tomatoes from FHFB's garden as soon as I got home.

It was magnificent!! 
Aren't those two beautiful tomatoes??

Steamed Clams and Corn

Just had to post this very delicious dish from Martha Stewart's Living magazine August 2010 issue.

I made it for FHFB last night and he ate the entire bowl (with some help from me).  We also had a crusty loaf of semolina bread to help scoop up some of the delicious wine and garlic juices at the bottom of the bowl.  Along with a fresh tomato salad and a bottle of crisp white wine,  this dinner was easy and just perfect for a summer evening.

Lemonade and Lemon Cake for Friends and Summer Sunday

Today is kind of quiet here at Frog Hollow Farm, but we did have a short visit from some very good friends. They're married children are visiting from Colorado and Vermont, and everyone wanted to stop over to say hi and see the new back porch and bedroom additions to our home.  New Baby Rowan also came for a visit - he's 2 months old and is just the sweetest baby! 

I knew they group was planning on stopping by sometime over the weeked so yesterday I made
Ina Garten's Lemon Cake.

Lemonade seemed to be a good choice for a refreshing drink, so I had it chilling in the fridge since the early morning (I cheated and used frozen lemonade but it looks oh so homemade with thinly sliced lemons placed in the pitcher as well as some of my lemonade ice cubes with mint leaves. 

I pulled out some of my unmatched but very pretty antique cake plates along with some green glass tumblers for the lemonade and set it all on a little table on the porch. 

The dishes are a mix of Stangl and other odds and ends.  The short, green glasses have dragonflies on them and were a find at Home Goods last year.  The lemonade looked very refreshing in them!  The tablecloth is a vintage piece I found yesterday at a little antique shop in Belvidere, New Jersey called
Water Street Antiques.  FHFB and I were there to renew our passports!!  Nothing planned yet but we are hoping to travel to Ireland in June and then Sicily in the fall.

In the middle of the table I placed an April Cornell napkin.  I love the blue green and yellow hues in this napkin.  Wish I knew what the design is so I could tell you all. 

This lemon cake is easy to make and just screams summer!  I bet it freezes well too!!

Some lemony-yellow sunflowers and snapdragons from FHFB's gardens.  Aren't they lovely?  He is such a phenomenal gardener, and always plants flowers that are wonderful for cutting.

Hope you are enjoying your summer weekend!  Stop by Summer Sundays at The Tablescaper and at The Style Sisters for Centerpiece Wednesday.
Ciao, bella!

The Back Porch and Transformation Thursday

Our back porch is just a couple of years old.  We demolished an old deck and built a wrap around porch that connected our back door to an old side door on the conservatory.   For the past couple of years we've been working with various peices of furniture, trying to find the best way to use the space on the porch.  This past spring we moved our hammock and hammock stand to the corner of the porch. Although the hammock stand is way to big for the porch, we like having it here because the porch roof protects the hammock fabric from the rain and wind, making the hammock usable virtually all of the time. 

Yes, these are my size 9 feet stretched out on the canvas hammock.  I love laying here during the afternoon.  Right now I can only slow down for about 20 minutes, but I'm working on making it up to an hour on that hammock!

Here are the furnishings and set-up before my re-arranging on Monday afternoon.  I liked how the bench looked in front of the window, but the sitting area didn't seem to work when friends were over.  There was no place to put a drink or appetizer plate.  We were just too spread out over the porch for any type of coziness.  You can see a small round table with a checkered green tablecloth to the left - this table was placed against the porch railing, overlooking the pond. Two people could sit comfortably with this arrangement.  I wanted to create a space for four people to sit comfortably.

Here is the same window, with the small round table moved away from the porch railing and nearer to the window, allowing for four chairs to fit comfortably around it. 

Here's a view of the 'before' arrangement from the other side.  You can see more clearly where the table was set up. 

Here's the seating area now, set away from the table area, but still cozy enough for conversation and places to put down a glass or small plate of food, but separate from the small table area. 

Here are a few other additions I made to the porch:

A sign that FHFB painted for our fresh picked raspberries.

Phlox from the front garden.

Sunflowers and Zinnias from FHFB's gardens.

It's not a major transformation, but significant enough for me to feel happy and settled now whenever I walk outside onto the porch.  For me, the porch is more functional and also more clearly delineated, without being too structured. 

FHFB hasn't embraced this change - I'm hoping it will grow on him, like many of my furniture re-arrangement projects :). 

Thanks for visiting - I'm linked on to Transformation Thursday.  If you have a minute or two, stop by to see all of the wonderful blogger transformation postings!!

Ciao, bella!

Butterflies, a Monstrous Zucchini and a Delicious Pasta Recipe and Summer Sunday #8

We have been seeing so many beautiful yellow butterflies the last few weeks at Frog Hollow Farm.  Once the butterfly bush and phlox were in bloom there seemed to be an abundance of butterflies all over the gardens.  FHFB took these photos for me - take a look at the butterflies in the front garden at Frog Hollow Farm.

Here's a picture of the phlox and black-eyed susans in bloom, with a couple of butterflies resting on the phlox on the left side of the photo.

A close up of two beautiful golden butterflies - just look at those bright blue markings.  According to my research on Google and Wikipedia, these are Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies. The blue tail markings indicate that this is a female butterfly.

I love this photo because of the blurry movement of her top wings!

Weeding (or lack thereof) and Summer Sundays #7

I always start out the summer with the best of intentions, particularly when it comes to the design and upkeep of my little garden that is located right outside the front of our stone farmhouse.  In the spring we weed, turn the soil over, plant new perenniels, divide some perenniels and add lots of nutrients to the soil.  Over the next few weeks I check on the garden daily, always happy to see more bulbs and early spring flowers in bloom. 

Things looked pretty much under control back then. The flowers and plants all had room to breathe. 

Everyone was pretty happy way back then...

However, this is what the garden looks like today - I was going for that unkept, cottagy look but I think things have gone a bit to far in the unkept realm.   

If you look closely you'll see black-eyed susans, phlox, and impatiens.

I need to get out there and do something about this!!

Hope your day is going beautifully!

I'm linked in at The Tablescaper's Summer Sundays!  Please stop by and see all of the folks who have posted about what summer means to them. 

FHFB and I are heading down to Cape May for a few days, celebrating my birthday with my birthday sister Carol!

I hope to post about that beautiful little town in a week or two, with all of the interesting shops, spectacular beaches and absolutely wonderful restaurants.

Ciao, bella!

Flower Guide Book

This past spring FHFB and I went on a short road trip down to Red Bank, NJ.  I picked up some Hemmingsley china at the antique stores down there, and mentioned a little flower guide book that I found as well. 

Since it's summer and so many bloggers, me included, are posting wonderful photos of their beautiful gardens, I thought I'd revisit the little flower book and show some more pictures of the beautiful watercolor drawings that must have been inspired by exquisite gardens and gardeners such as the ones I've loved looking at on so many blogger's pages. 
The book is about 3" by 5" with paper pages that are a bit discolored around the edges, just as you would expect with an antique book.  The binding along the spine of the book is a bit worn and broken in one spot. 

Title Page and Front Cover

A.  Wintergreen:  Checkerberry

B.  Trailing Arbutus:  Mayflower

Bull Thistle

Black-Eyed Susan

Butterfly Weed - Orange Milk-Weed

Cardinal Flower - Lobelia Cardinalis

I could look at this little book forever.  Hope you enjoyed seeing these pages from the flower guide. 

Ciao, bella!

Dinner and Dessert Menu for the Weathermen on the Porch at Frog Hollow Farm

It's raining outside - and I'm supposed to be on my way to my yoga class but I've decided that I don't want to get wet, so I'm here posting Part 2 of the Weathermen's Barbeque menu.  Don't get me wrong, I love yoga and feel great whenever I practice either in a class or on my own, but today is just not a yoga class day for me. 

Okay, now for the dinner menu from our gathering on Saturday here at Frog Hollow Farm!!  Several of these recipes are from Ina Garten's collection.  I just love her style and everything about her!

Appetizer Menu for the Weathermen's Barbeque on the Porch at Frog Hollow Farm

On Saturday FHFB and I hosted a barbeque for FHFB's office staff - 9 meteorologists and their families.  Everything turned out wonderfully, however, it was absolutely pouring that morning - a real deluge - FHFB promised me that it would clear up by the afternoon and he was right - there wasn't a drop of rain the entire afternoon and evening. 

Sunflowers and Summer Sunday #6

Summer and sunflowers, the perfect combination.  I just love these magnificent flowers!  We have several varieties here at Frog Hollow Farm, with colors that range from lemony yellow to a russet burgundy.  The volunteers from last summer are flowering first, with the remainder of the flowers ready to blossom in the next week or so. 

I'm linked over to The Tablescaper's Summer Sunday - please take a minute to stop by and browse through all of the wonderful summer inspirations.

Ciao, bella!!