The garden takes up most of my spare time at the moment. I find myself constantly thinking of plants.
This is also usually about the time of the year when I start thinking about resurrecting TheNoviceGardener.
My plan to merge it with Fiesta Friday never really came through. I did bring over a handful of recipes, but that was pretty much it.
Garden pictures don’t seem to meld well with a fiesta site. That’s my main issue. So there it is, still existing and standing, the old blog, but not really given life either.
I need to decide what to do with it! I do have lots of plant and weed pictures to share.
On the other hand, I barely have enough time to take good care of one blog as it is. Would I want to start (or restart) a second one?
Decisions, decisions… wish someone could tell me what to do. I’m not the best decisioner!
But I can’t think about it right now. Right now it’s time to fiesta!
From last week’s fiesta:
“I love these gorgeous cupcakes! If snickers aren’t already your favorite candy bar, they will be now! Chocolate and caramel get me every time!” — Mollie
“This sounds very refreshing, perfect for hot summer days. It doesn’t feel very summery where I am right now, but I know those hot and humid days will be here, and when they come, I’ll be ready with this drink in my hand!” — Angie
“Pao de Deus. Does that translate into get in my mouth now? Lizet says they’re soft inside with a crunchy coconut crust and each bite is a step toward heaven. I believe her!” — Mollie
“Petra’s proven that a handful of inspired ingredients and a few minutes of time can make a stunning gourmet treat. The flavors of the sausage, garlic and cranberry are a surprise but a kicked up nod to a more traditional (and now kind of boring sounding) Swedish meatball.” — Mollie
***
Now, let’s party! Join Fiesta Friday #224 by adding your link. Don’t forget to link your post to FiestaFriday.net and the co-hosts’ blogs, so we can feature you. Your solo cohost this week is Diann @ Of Goats and Greens.
If you’re new to Fiesta Friday, please read the guidelines.
If you’re interested in becoming a cohost, please leave me a message.
[inlinkz_linkup id=781135 mode=1]
Thanks for sharing my Pão de Deus recipe! Those cupcakes are making me drool 🙂
Your Pao de Deus looks and sounds amazing!
I think garden pictures are very appropriate for a food blog, especially a fiesta. They celebrate the freshness of the things I grow from herbs, edible flowers and veggies that I use in many of my recipes. Annuals, perennials become garnishes and a background for recipes as well as the rest of the landscape. Birds and the bees add charm to my garden and I would never think of not combining the two – cooking and gardening go hand in hand 🙂 For me anyways…
I actually personally feel that way, too. But I feel that whenever I posted plant pictures, they didn’t get as much excitement. Maybe I should put them in a different category and not mix them with the recipe posts. I have SO MANY pictures!!
I agree as there are more foodies than gardeners out there and I don’t get the activity either. But gardening excites me so much , but not as much as cooking 🙂 My blog is for me and not just others – only fun too! When you first started the novice gardener way back when and invited me to participate in Fiesta Friday #1 I was thrilled that you included gardening because I feel they go together. But things change after 4 years… 🙂 🙂
Yes, things do change after 4 years ?
I own a landscaping company so I am planting peoples plants and gardens like crazy right now!
Oh really?! That’s so exciting! Would love to see pictures!
Wow! I’m in a new home (the house itself is new…), and I have a landscaper that started last year here, and will be meeting with him again on Sunday. What I can do myself, I will, but he can handle rocks and walkways and larger trees and such. And I’ve discovered he really really knows how to lay stone borders! (I also would love pictures!)
I’m with Judith, gardening and food definitely go hand in hand so merging wouldn’t be bad at all in my opinion. 🙂 Thank you so much for featuring my cooler this week! Love the sound of all the other choices too and Kat’s cupcakes got my name all over them! 🙂
Thanks, Jo, for your feedback. And for that rhubarb cooler! I do have rhubarb in my garden ?
I don’t do as much gardening or planting as I would like to, but I do love looking at other people’s plants and flowers! Two blogs would be crazy hard to keep up with! Thanks for having another Fiesta for us 🙂
Thanks for weighing in, Abbey! I think you’ve confirmed my suspicion all along that having two blogs would be too much to handle.
I like the idea of gardening pics in a food blog… even if some of the garden isn’t going to be on the dinner table at some point! For myself, I plan to do some garden pics and posts, although I probably will try to have at least a plant or two under discussion in those posts, that are intended for the kitchen. (I did some last year, it was fun…)
Lovely food choices this week for this blog! The rhubarb and ginger cooler is especially enticing; I want to plant that perennial, and it would be great to have more ideas for what to do with it!
Speaking of food… my old house (which I still own since I’m still sorting through things, prior to doing some final fixing and placing it on the market), was hit by that CT “macroburst” earlier this week. Well, the house wasn’t but the electric sure was. I had a large ash that fell across my driveway, taking out power lines – both mine and apparently also the street in general (although it wasn’t just this tree for the street in general). I got down there this morning to see what I could salvage from the freezers – everything in the freezer above the kitchen fridge was toast… and not the type you’d butter. So… alas… I really really wanted to make Peruvian cuy for my blog, but that WILL have to wait. (I’ve never tried it, I wanted to experiment… Okay, I’m a little weird…) The upright freezer in the garage (coolest room in the house) fared much better. The top shelf stuff was too thawed, but most of the rest of that freezer was solid. Thumbs up! Power came back on while I was there (the crews showed up while I was hauling freezer trash to the trash can), so I brought a couple things back to MA that seemed really cold but were mostly soft-ish. They’ll be hard-cooked anyway, though I’m certain they’re safe… And they WON’T be re-frozen, but dealt with this weekend.
Oh geez, what a mess, Diann! Sorry to hear about it. But. Wait. Cuy? Is that guinea pig? Well I have to say you’re very brave to want to cook a cuy. I recently roasted a whole pork shoulder which was also very brave ? I think we both deserve an applause ? Thanks for cohosting! ??
Yep guinea pig. I guess I’ll have to see if I can source one again. I have a few friends who went to Peru who tried it there and liked it. Btw, pork shoulder is quite good! I like it better than the ham, actually.
What a shame! Wow! It sounds like you did a good job of saving what you could. I had to comment on Peruvian cuy, because I took a class on global impact of food systems a couple years ago at the U of Minnesota. My conclusion was far as sustainable foods, smaller mammals that grow quickly using very little resources are probably going to become more important in the future. My paper was “Can Thumper save the world?” but the cuy, which I know some of us shudder at, would fit right in that category.
Thanks, and I do agree that smaller animals which grow quickly are best on a resource level. A few years back, someone provided me with a couple of squirrels he had hunted. I roasted one, stewed the larger one. I wish I’d been more into doing my blog at that point, because both were just as tasty as conventional meat sources.
Thank you for sharing my meatballs! They are a super quick comfort food treat!
I love your blog, maybe mix it up with your gardening? I would love to see photos from your garden and follow it through the seasons! Just a thought 🙂 x
Thanks for your input, Petra. I do think it’s a good idea to mix it up a little. Maybe I’ll start doing that. And I wish I could find wild garlic. So I can make your meatballs!
I agree with Petra, Angie. Also, I love to see and read about plants and gardening. It’s just too bad that I didn’t get my Mom’s love for gardening. I give up easily when I see plant dying. Thanks for hosting us this week. Have a wonderful weekend!?
Thanks for adding your feedback, Jhuls. I appreciate it. Btw, can you cohost on June 1?
Angie, the biggest thing I’ve learned about blogging, sometimes the hard way (mostly from trying to follow other people’s well meaning advice that usually didn’t work out) is follow your joy! That’s going to be your happy place, that’s where you’ll find your true spirit shines out!
Mollie
You’re so right, of course, as always. You’re so smart! I think I’ll just do that, I’ll just do what feels right to me. Which doesn’t guarantee it won’t end up in a disaster ?
That’s a tough decision that only you can make. Follow your guts. Sorry, I’m not much of a help but having a blog that’s idle doesn’t help your SEO and keeping up with both seems dreadful to me, lol. Good luck with whatever you decide, Angie!
Yes, you’re right, Jas. It’s best to follow your gut feeling. Most of the time anyway ? Sometimes my guts are so wrong ? Thanks for your feedback! I do so appreciate it ?
Thank you so much for featruing my cupcakes!
Great party. Thanks for hosting!
No problem. Thanks, Helen!
Hey Angie! Just merge the two blogs! I always loved your Novice Gardener blog, and would love to see more of your garden, and your advice! Let’s face it, we wouldn’t have our food blogs if it weren’t for gardens!! 😀
Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. Thanks, Julianna! ?