Hello, and happy Father’s Day to all of the Dad’s out there, especially to my wonderful husband Brian!  I hope that you all have a wonderful day with your family, full of laughter, family and fun!

We will spend the afternoon relaxing with my brother in law Don who is working on building his and my sisters home nearby (she and his children aren’t here).  I will be making fresh sourdough bread and my amazing chicken, mushroom and potatoes, as Brian requested.  Some raspberry and blackberry crumble with ice cream for dessert.

Yesterday was a good day.  I cleaned mint out of my rose bed in front of my porch.  I love the smell, but as I should have known, good soil and water means mint will choke out everything else!  I am adding more mini roses to the bed along with a bunch of bare-root strawberry plants that I was given.

I pruned suckers and some dead wood off of my fruit trees and grapevines.  Planted some pots, and a few more tomato and pepper plants.  I wanted to get the drip irrigation installed, but it just got too hot outside in the sun, so that will have to be soon.

I also mixed the sourdough and folded it yesterday for today’s bread, and made a yummy throw together dinner with chunks of chuck steak, carrots, onions and potatoes baked in a dutch oven with a really tasty marinade/sauce!  It’s a variation of what we make when we go camping in foil pockets, but I am trying to get away from using foil, so I put it in my enameled cast iron dutch oven, lined it with parchment paper, and it worked beautifully!  On our next camping trip, I will do the same.  It took a little longer, but so much healthier than using foil.

Have a wonderful day, and a great start to the new week!