semi-urban sushi

One of the benefits to living within five miles of downtown Louisville is the ability to take advantage of a treasure of great, non-chain restaurants - and all within 10-15 minutes of drive time!  My father, who has lung cancer and severe dementia has been staying with Amy and me.  We were able to put him in respite care for the weekend so that we could attend a marriage retreat with our local church and spend a weekend getting rest.  We decided to use a Groupon we purchased to grab some sushi at a fantastic sushi joint off Bardstown Rd in Louisville called Wasabiya.  If you're ever in the mood for fantastic Asian eats and find yourself in central Kentucky or Southern Indiana, make your way there.  

Here are some pics:

Fantastic salad with a delicious ginger dressing!

Three rolls was more than enough for both of us.  They were HUGE!

Close-up of the Yum-Yum roll - one of Amy's all time favorite rolls.

Just...two...more...pieces...we...can...do...this...

mmm...pickled ginger...

Free e-book on Raised Bed Garden!

You read it right.  Free e-book at Amazon.

I haven't read this yet, so I don't know how good it is. Free makes even the most insignificant books look tantalizing, though.  I glanced through it after I "purchased" it and it looks good.  It's only 27 pages so it looks to be concise introduction to raised bed gardening.  I may try to read through it this weekend and post a review.

Amy's little kitchen helper!

Amy's little kitchen helper!, a photo by disciplerefuge.blogspot.com on Flickr.

Every kitchen needs a helper. We're blessed to have our own hamburger helper...named Daisy!

you stay you want to start a garden, well, you know...

Fantastic blog post from Urban Garden Casual with hints/tips on things to consider when starting your own garden in regards to how much to grow, etc.

Some highlights:

• Consider how many people your garden will feed.  To feed a person for a season, you need 16 plants (that's just for eating fresh - no freezing/canning).  With square-foot gardening, that's one 4' x 4' per person in your household.
• Make a list of vegetables you and your family like.  Divide them up between cool and warm crops and plant exactly what you need.
• Make a schedule of your gardening.  Just like Kenny Rogers said, "You gotta know when to sow 'em, know when to plant 'em, know when to fertilize, know when to pick."  (sorry...I'm famous for my bad jokes!)

Read the full post here.

interesting diy vertical gardening idea

The Cheap Vegetable Gardener recently did a post with an idea to increase growing area.  Vertical gardening (growing things up rather than out) isn't a new concept.  Most home gardeners do it with trellises, etc. for vining crops all the time.  This idea was unique, though.  Using recycled two liter bottles and plywood, they created a nifty vertical unit that can be placed on a fence.

The water drains from the top to the next highest "pot" helping to conserve a precious resource. While you couldn't grow huge crops in it, one could easily do lettuces, herbs, peas and beans (attach the pot directly to a trellis!), or other small veg with ease.  No need to waste any space, right?

Read the entire post here and get detailed instructions and a video how-to.