Coral honeysuckle

We had an unusually cold spring, and I've been itching to transform our property to be more bird, bee, and butterfly friendly with native plants. There's also a ton of landscape rock that I need to remove before I can replace some invasives with natives. The first project: coral honeysuckle!

Dave took this pic. Jedi is checking out the plants.

Hummingbirds are amazing. We've seen them randomly a couple of times in the yard since we got the house last year, and they've come to the hummingbird feeder a few times. But not enough! Haha. This plant is supposed to be great at attracting them, plus other pollinators. I got the "Major Wheeler" variety, which is native and is supposed to have more blooms. It also has berries that other birds may eat in the fall.

Tada!

I removed the sod, put down a little bit of new soil and compost, and planted the vines. Whew. With our rocky soil, this took much longer than I was expecting. It was getting dark when I was done. I hope they grow!!

Brownies for two

I like to bake, but I usually don't want to make a big cake or batch of cookies for just the two of us. Enter the book Dessert for Two, by Christina Lane. Perfect!

I made these brownies quickly, in one bowl, mixed with a spoon. They were baked in a loaf pan.

YUM. Needless to say, we devoured them.