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Hi Reader,

Even though we were almost dry all last month (no April showers around here!), the vegetable garden is coming along nicely. Yes, I've had to water - almost daily for the carrot seeds to sprout! That may be a first for April. 😓

Here are some current shots of the garden before I share some menu ideas for May, including Cinco de Mayo.

This is the entry to the fenced garden where "deer resistant" things were planted 😂 like asparagus (they leave it alone only some of the time), rhubarb (they chomp it like it was deer candy), garlic (actually resistant!), and black currants (they eat the new growth so they are wrapped in fencing). (We have plans one day to make over that shed to coordinate more with our farmhouse and barn 😀)

The view of most of the main beds. They are all planted except for the peppers (in the bed with hoops and no cover) and the closest long beds where pole beans and cucumbers will go. I keep covers for protection against ground squirrels mostly, but the tall covers to the right are on the tomato bed to keep them slightly warmer at night (we're still in the low 40s).

This bed shows the new way I'm planting this year. I've decided to try and grow more and take advantage of bare earth more than I have in the past. In this bed I have lettuces sown at different times - I can start harvesting the leaves of the lettuce along the sides now! You can see some small lettuces interplanted with the onions that will be for later. The "empty" middle part actually holds carrot seedlings that I sowed a couple weeks ago. The back holds kale interplanted with more lettuce.

This is another bed with lettuce interplanted with broccoli and cabbage - I've already harvested the outer lettuce leaves! After this photo I clipped a couple of the biggest cabbage leaves to give the lettuce a bit more time to grow. I'll probably let these plants head up and cut them off rather than just harvest leaves since the cabbage will need that room (yes I've planted them close - they are a smaller variety). In the bottom left are Walla Wall plants I planted last fall to overwinter - they should be ready to harvest in June (newly planted Walla Wallas will be harvested in August-September). The other half of the bed is more onions and spinach. I have some bare earth I will plant more cabbage to give us heads longer.

So far I've been able to grow more spinach, lettuce, and onions than I have in the past by planting more in between plants that will grow bigger later, so it's been a win for sure!

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May Dinner Ideas

Cinco de Mayo ​Pulled/Shredded Pork (serve with tortillas) ​Tex-Mex Ranch Beans Salad (I love this for lunches!) or Cumin Lime Coleslaw​ ​The BEST Guacamole​ ​Essential Pico de Gallo​ ​ ​

​Greek Shrimp & Orzo​ Serve with a spinach salad with strawberry vinaigrette for a nice contrast. ​

​Spicy Noodles with Asparagus​ Serve with grilled pork chops or soy-sriracha marinated chicken and a yummy chutney ​

Like to see more? You can create an easy menu for a whole month of dinners with this list of May dinner ideas!

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A Favorite Kitchen Tool

When I started using an instant read thermometer is when we stopped eating undercooked chicken and overcooked pork. Really - it's made a complete difference in my cooking! I've even used it for bread when I wasn't sure if the center was fully cooked (it should be around 200 degrees).

​THIS is the best-reviewed instant read thermometer (13.5k reviews, 4.6 stars) for the best price. It is similar to one sold at fancy stores for 8x as much. 😳 I love it! (We have one for the kitchen and one next to the grill.)

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From The Blog

​Easy Slow Cooker Pork Sirloin Tips - Sliced or Shredded​ I created this recipe specifically to easily cook the pork sirloin tips you can get from Costco - they are such a deal in a pack of 4. Super versatile, too! ​ RECIPE HERE! ​

My most popular recipe: EASY Sourdough Artisan Bread​ I've updated this classic almost fool-proof loaf with even more tips and reader results (almost 5 stars with 1000+ reviews!!). A great, everyday loaf. ​ RECIPE HERE! ​

A Few More Things

My current audiobook is this historical drama/thriller about a midwife in 1790's New England that's gotten great reviews. We learn about women's rights (and lack thereof), daily life, childbearing experiences, and more all centered around a rape and then a suspect's murder during a hard winter. Learning about the law at that time is also very interesting. It's a gripping, well-told story that may well make my best of the year list!

Our nearest Ikea is 2 hours away, so I ordered this new pizza cutting board online (I got reduced shipping as a part of the Ikea family sign-up). It's only $15 and I love that it has lines on it to guide cutting a round pizza, always the challenge for me. The other side is a regular cutting board but has a groove for catching juices. Really looking forward to using it now that I've oiled the beech wood well (I used avocado oil) - it's a great size.

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Wishing you the BEST of weeks! Let me know how your garden grows or what you're making. 😀

PS- Remember to tag me on Instagram so I can see what you're making!

Remember it's easy to save recipes on An Oregon Cottage! Just click the heart when browsing to save your personal favorites! TIP: when you click on the link, it will take you to my site - click the heart like you see here to the left - it will be on the bottom right on the site. A pop up form will come up for you to create an account (or sign in if you already have). You need to create a password for this account (no info is kept besides your email) and then you can save all recipes and articles to this account and access it anytime to remember what you want and choose what to make!

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