Dandelion lemonade to cool you down on a hot summer day

In these dandelion times,when this royal flower is shining from any corner of the garden,what is more natural than asking it´s permission to pick a gallon or two to make some royal dandelion lemonade. He for sure will give you his permission,since he has more children than he can count.(The other day I was taking a little break to lay down on the grass and soak up some sunshine and to stare a little up into the great sky,the sky was full of dandelion seeds...all the way up to the sun. No wonder Mr Dandelion can be so generous with his children...) Dandelion lemonade: Fill a crock with dandelion flowers Fill up with water,room temp. Poor over some raw sugar or honey Squeeze a couple of organic lemons,and stir inn the juice. Leave it to cool down and do it´s magic work in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Enjoy and know that apart from the great taste, this is also making your liver very happy! This is a drink to cool you down both physically and emotionally...

pics by johanna

Pics by johanna Johanna,my second oldest daughter,keep taking beautiful pictures and putting them on my blog ,faster then I can follow her, and make any comments. But some times a picture says it all. Here from our tomato plants in the kitchen window that soon is no more window but one big tomato forest. This year I´m taking no risk in regard to the weather.( I remember only too well last summers cold weather) I just really want my own tomatoes to pick for my lunch salad . And then Johanna is making her little brother Daniel some lunch...very sweet of her. I really find the green salad on top of the cheese particularly sweet And Daniel also seem to appreciate the extra touch of attention.

Pics by Johanna

Pic by Johanna

The carrote flower

Pics by johanna Last spring I saved a few of the carrots that was still in the earth from previous fall to go to into bloom. I was surprised what a gracious and decorative flower it had. They were the giant stars of the vegetables that fall. I took it in and it kept its wonderful forms and structure all trough the winter,hanging in front of my inspiration wall. And now it´s seeds lay in the earth waiting to go into a new cycle and give birth to a whole new harvest of carrots.From my own,homegrown carrot seeds...

!7.mai...

It´s a sweet but unstable time this time of our national day. The day always seem to start out cold and wet and end in a warm and nearly balmy evening. I have spent ,it feels like, countless ice cold 17.of May mornings waiting for the parade that goes past Skaugun, where the Prins of Norway, Håkon Magnus and Mette Marit and their tree kids wait to greet the school children, in thin dresses,shivering together with the snowflakes in the air. But then, as the day progress, the sun nearly always manage to break through the clouds,and the people, as well as flowers, rise their faces towards the sun to soak up the promise of yet an other summer to sweep by.

Pics by Johanna

Magic spring

Some magic moments of spring... It´s the tulips unfolding, shining and then withering away in it´s own elegant way. The first seeds starting to sprout... The ferns spiraling its way out of the earth, like a wheel of life.

My mom gave me a wonderful gift for my birthday this year. Two old fashioned roses from my favorite rose nursery,Hesleberg nursery in Vollen, Asker. One of the big glasshouses are full of these old fashioned roses ,and when you come inn there ,you think that you have come to heaven. An ocean of blooming roses, bushes,hanging.climbing...in beautiful,soft tones. Not the screaming,hard and strong colors that you often find on the modern roses. But it is the smell of warm,humid earth blended with the sweet and euphoric rose fragrance that really brings you to the heavens. I immediately get the impulse that this is the one and only way to live... of course...in a rose nursery, and start thinking about how to realize this vision. Anyhow, in addition to all these wonders, are the old roses much less susceptible to diseases and is much stronger than our modern roses. And the owner( that says that he has never met a depressed gardener when I declare the effect of coming into his greenhouse) says that mostly some spraying of soap waters is what is needed if some unwanted animals or diseases should dear to attack the rose. Pics by Johanna.