See how my Garden Grows

sage and parsley in containers on the deck

The weather here is just beginning to warm up. It's been an unusually cold Spring. It's hit the local nurseries hard. I went into The Barn a local place we like to purchase plants, and they had frost damage on some of the hydrangeas, due to the unexpected snow in April! It also seems that people weren't so ready to plant a vegetable garden this year.

Better late than never, I say. We've got rhubarb in the ground for the first time! I love that vegetable. I plan to use it for pies. Yum. We have a lot of potatoes, onions, carrots, radishes, lettuce, zucchini, and I know there's more I'm forgetting.

Cooking with fresh herbs is incredibly rewarding. The payoff you recieve in a simple dish like Rosemary Chicken, by using fresh rosemary (and fresh rosemary you've grown yourself is even better) is huge. Fresh basil in a Salad Caprese, crisp sage with a butternut squash ravioli, oh yeah! These are things the warm weather brings. Along with home grown tomatoes. Mmmmm

In the ground we have sage, dill, oregano, mint (2 varieties) lemon verbena, parsley (2 types) rosemary, thyme and more.

radishes

chives, lots of chives, and garlic

The Imagine Inn has two new wonderful additions!

Our new Greyhound, Romeo, (isn't he handsome!)

We have some great new additions to The Imagine Inn!

The first one, is our new beautiful greyhound dog. I have always wanted one of these dogs. When I was young, I'd see the Greyhound Rescue organizations, I'd get a brochure and I would vow that when I was older and owned a home I'd adopt one of these dogs. They are extremely kind and loving, dogs that make wonderful pets after their racing days are over. Romeo is a retired racer. He's exceptionally well trained, does not bark, (I'm not sure he knows he can) and very loving and welcoming to our guests! He falls in love with everyone he meets.

Our new generator

This is addition number 2, a new standby generator! Before we moved here we would have never thought we'd be so excited to get one of these. But after living here for about two years and having the power go out a few too many times, we decided it was time to buy one. This bad boy runs the entire house if the power goes out. It's a great feeling to know that in the event of a power failure, we (and our guests) won't be going without power.

On a side note, Spring is here, and the weather is awesome. We've been working on the vegetable garden. More to come on this soon!

An Important Film, "Water" opens March 21st

"Water is the driving force of all nature."Leonardo da Vinci

WATER Opens March 21st in the following Markets

Yelm Cinemas, Yelm Wa. March 21st
McMenamins Bagdad Theater – Portland, OR March 21st
Arbor 8 at Great Hills Austin, TX - March 21st
Regal Meridian 16 Seattle, WA - March 21st
Laemmle's Sunset 5 West Hollywood, CA - April 18th

A message from Cate Montana about the film Water. Made by one of the creators of "What The Bleep Do We Know?", Betsy Chasse.

Here's a brief summary of the movie-

We fill our coffee mugs, sports bottles, and swimming pools with it. We use it in manufacturing, rely on it for hydropower, and for cooling nuclear reactors. We wash the car, the house, the dog, and the dishes with it. Water is the most mysterious and vital substance on Earth. But it’s obvious from the way we treat it that we don’t really get the vital importance of this deeply exploited resource.

The film Water, however, just might shift our indifference. Through a series of interviews with leading water researchers from Russia, Kazakhstan, Switzerland, Israel, the USA, Britain, Austria, Japan, Argentina, China and Tibet, Water brings the extraordinary properties and life-enhancing qualities of H2O to life. It also provides cogent proof that water is a living substance. Kirlean photography and other spectrographic analyses reveal that water’s energy can be destroyed, not only through pollution, but also through the way we treat and deliver it. Forcing water through metal and plastic pipes curtails water’s natural eddying, spiraling flow and breaks down its life force. Distillation, ozonation, chlorine and other processes destroy its life-giving properties. The “purified” water that fills those plastic bottles we buy is essentially dead. Plants watered exclusively with processed bottled water eventually wither away and die.

Water examines research giving scientific credibility to such deeply criticized healing modalities as homeopathy. It also highlights the work of people like Aloise Gruber, Chzan Guohua, and Masaru Emoto, who have been researching water’s ability to absorb energetic impressions from a wide variety of sources, such as words, prayer, meditation, or electronic frequencies.Water challenges historical assumptions, and unveils applications of structured water in agriculture, and the use of impressed water in treatment for the most serious of human diseases. The film even cites research that suggests water has the ability to convey messages faster than light, perhaps linking water with the realms of the Absolute.

One of the most important documentaries of our time, Water is a must-see for anyone who is concerned about health and the future of life on planet Earth.
Cate Montana
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Happy St. Patricks Day Cupcakes, and Easter ones too!

Happy St. Patricks Day! I made these cupcakes today to celebrate St. Patricks Day. They are pistachio cupcakes with pistachio frosting and little four leaf clovers I made out of fondant.

These cupcakes I made for Frederick on his birthday a few weeks ago. They are carrot cake, (one of his favorites) with spiced cream cheese frosting.

And since it's St. Patricks Day, here's an Irish Blessing, A Wish For A Friend.

Wishing you a rainbow

For sunlight after showers—

Miles and miles of Irish smiles

For golden happy hours—

Shamrocks at your doorway

For luck and laughter too,

And a host of friends that never ends

Each day your whole life through

Lime Pie, Lemon Buttermilk Cookies and More!

Spring officially starts March 20Th this year, but it sure feels like it's here already. The weather here has been beautiful. The growing season has started and I'm excited to begin working on our garden. I adore having all kinds of fresh herbs on hand. And roses, how I love my roses! Being able to cut fresh flowers feels like such a luxury. My father has given me some dahlia bulbs, and I'm excited to get them planted and growing.

Here are some goodies I made during Blue College in February for our guests. An old fashioned Lime Pie . A very simple, easy and traditional recipe. Tart with a wonderful lime flavor topped with sweetened whipped cream to bring some sweetness to the equation. We had enchiladas for dinner so the lime pie for dessert was a nice finish.

These are Lemon Buttermilk Cookies. Adapted from this recipe. I also added some lemon juice to the frosting and increased the zest for a stronger lemon flavor. They are delicious and have a cake like texture. Perfect with afternoon tea!

A beautiful rainbow I saw recently nearby.

Eckhart Tolle's, "A New Earth" on Oprah's Book Club, And Live Web Event!

Best-selling author and spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle has been inspiring readers since he wrote the number one New York Times best-seller The Power of Now. His current book, A New Earth, is the current read for Oprah's book club and a new Live Web Event every Monday night for the next 10 weeks starting March 3rd.

Quoting Oprah.com "Get ready to be awakened! Oprah and author Eckhart Tolle will teach an exclusive online class about his best-selling book A New Earth. Join us every Monday night."

I invite you to join Oprah and myself in our weekly online sessions. We will be studying A New Earth, but not as an academic subject or in order to acquire new theories or beliefs. Our aim is to explore through the teachings of the book the most important question you can ask: What is the purpose of my life and how do I fulfill that purpose? It will be a course in self-exploration and awakening. It will help you see what the dysfunctional patterns are within yourself that create unnecessary conflict and suffering and prevent you from finding true fulfillment. Hopefully, it will also help you access a dimension within yourself that perhaps you didn't know existed or only caught glimpses of on rare occasions. Don't be trapped for the rest of your life within the narrow confines of your personal history and your conditioned personality and allow your life to be transformed from within, through the power of consciousness itself. —Eckhart Tolle

for more info go here

I think this is fantastic that this book and this wonderful author is becoming so mainstream. Conciousness is changing!

The Yelm Food Co-op, More than Meets the Eye

I don't know about you, but when I hear of a Co-op grocery store I think of healthy food, and that's about where it ends for me. I had no idea that this little gem of a store in a town like Yelm would carry gourmet and specialty items I normally would have to travel to the city to buy.

I first wandered into the Yelm Co-op maybe 6 months ago. I was surprised with what I found. They do have healthy food, in fact all of their produce is organic and priced reasonably. Most items in their store are local and organic. And they carry many items that aren't available anywhere else in Yelm. The raw Jersey milk from Dungeness Valley Creamery is very popular. I was told by volunteers that if you've never had raw milk you are in for a treat. The cream even forms to the top, I don't think you could get any fresher or purer unless you milked the cow yourself. (Please call first to make sure they have it, it goes fast!)

But to me it was items like culinary lavender that got me excited. Culinary lavender in Yelm! Geez, I couldn't believe my eyes! Organic crystallized ginger, (this is an ingredient I love for ginger cookies and gingerbread, and other baked goods) , organic cocoa, high quality extracts, and many other ingredients you would otherwise have to travel to Olympia to purchase.

The more I shopped there, the more I discovered how wonderful it really is. This is a store owned by it's members. Here are some facts from the Yelm Co-op's website , "Cooperatives are a specialized form of business with a legal structure that guarantees they will be governed democratically." So I felt not only do they have these great products, but I can feel good about supporting local businesses. Quoting Stay Local.org, "Your dollars spent in locally-owned businesses have three times the impact on your community as dollars spent at national chains. When shopping locally, you simultaneously create jobs, fund more city services through sales tax, invest in neighborhood improvement and promote community development."

Here's even more good news about the Yelm Co-op. You don't need to be a member. If you choose not to become a member, or you just want to check it out before committing, hey, no problem. You pay an extra 10 percent of the price on the shelf. But if you wish to become a member, the price is for full/regular membership, $135.00, or for Low income/senior, $75.00. That price is not per year, it's for a LIFETIME membership! Lifetime! And you don't even need to pay it at once. You can put $15.00 down and pay it within 12 months.

Another great thing for us with B&B's (and any student attending an event) is they stock up on ranch supplies when events are coming, with items like soup that you add hot water to. Also recently for Blue College shopping they charged foreign students member prices! I took my guests there and they loved it. They bought items like, fruit, soups, and trail mix.

So whether you are a local, or a student attending an event, do yourself a favor and check out the Yelm Food Co-op and see for yourself how wonderful it really is.

Yelm Food Co-op (it's across the street from JZ Rose)
404 1st St.
Yelm
360-400-2210
yelmcoop.com

Hours 10-7 Tues. through Sat.

**EDITED TO ADD- Tom, the manager of the Co-op notified me the payment for membership is now in full at time of application, or pay off in a maximum of 4 payments in a maximum of 6 months.

Jeanna, a wonderful volunteer

The famous Dungeness Valley Creamery Raw Jersey Milk

Unbleached Parchment Paper and waxed paper, and eco-friendly plastic bags!

Lots of Bob's Red Mill products
Organic produce
Beauty Products

These high quality Frontier extracts have a wonderful taste. (I've used the maple to make maple buttercream for pumpkin cupcakes in the fall.)
Culinary Lavender! You can't find this at Safeway. I plan on making Lavender Honey Ice Cream in the Spring.