Lisa Ely Gardens
  • Home
  • Lisa's Gardens
    • Recipe for Fun >
      • Beverages
      • Desserts
      • Main Courses
      • Sides and Salads
      • Snacks and Appetizers
    • Kid Genius
    • Garden Spot
    • Tip of the Week >
      • Subscribe to Lisa Ely Gardens Tip of the Week
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • About
  • In The Media
  • LEARN, GIGGLE & GROW
  • Home
  • Lisa's Gardens
    • Recipe for Fun >
      • Beverages
      • Desserts
      • Main Courses
      • Sides and Salads
      • Snacks and Appetizers
    • Kid Genius
    • Garden Spot
    • Tip of the Week >
      • Subscribe to Lisa Ely Gardens Tip of the Week
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • About
  • In The Media
  • LEARN, GIGGLE & GROW

Rain Painting

1/12/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
​If it’s raining you have half of what you need to make these fun paintings.  Just sprinkle a few drops of food coloring onto a paper plate and grab a raincoat. 
 
Head outside and see what happens when the raindrops mix with the food coloring!
We’re getting the help of a rainy day in creating beautiful works of soggy colorful art in the garden. ​
What’s Needed:
  • Paper plate
  • Food Coloring
Picture
Picture
Picture
​It’s easy and fun and a good excuse to go play in the rain! Challenge yourself to see if you can make your rain art look like something you want to see in your spring garden!
 
(You know if you live somewhere where it happens to be hot you could do the same thing but throw on a bathing suit instead and ask a friend to spray a hose right above you!)
Picture
Picture
Looking for more fun ideas to get outdoors with your kids? Check us out on Pinterest and Facebook! 
1 Comment

My BIG FAT Pumpkins

10/22/2017

0 Comments

 
It’s bragging day! I’m bragging about our big fat pumpkins!  
PictureJust take a look…they’re huge!
And to think they started from one tiny seed just a few months ago.  When we first started our garden, I was told by a “garden guru” to be sure to include pumpkins.  He said, they’re easy to grow and boy was he right!
Pumpkins are like orange monsters that come in all types, colors and sizes. We planted seeds that were labeled Giant Pumpkins hoping they’d grow BIG! ​

If you want to do this next year, be sure to plan ahead.  I’ll remind you next Spring to get started.  Here’s how you do it though just so it’s in your mind and you can answer kids questions when they ask if they can plant one now.  ​
Share pictures of your pumpkins, big or small with us at lisaelygardens.com.
Start by clearing out a large area so the pumpkin vines have room to spread out.  The area also needs to get a lot of sun everyday!  It only took about 2 weeks for the first signs of the vine to pop out of the ground and then they grew like crazy.  
(We actually measured the vines growth and found a vine that grew six inches in one day! Woo! We knew big pumpkins were coming.)
Picture
Pumpkin vines love having tons of room to sprawl out. After 10 weeks, the first flowers start to bloom.  They’re usually yellow and big. The bees often cruise by and help pollinate the pumpkins.  And then you see it! The small pumpkin starts to form.
In late July and August the pumpkins start to pop up all over the place.  The orange balls start to grow at super speed. By the end of August, it’s like having our very own pumkin-mania!  Totally cool.
I feel very proud of our great big fat pumpkins.  The jumbo pumpkins are so big I can’t do anything with them but smile at them! 
I do know that people enter their giant pumpkins into contests and perhaps next year we’ll try to win a blue ribbon at the state fair but until then we’re just going to enjoy sitting around with our pumpkins! 

0 Comments

Fruit Cookie Pizza Pie

7/2/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
(Like how I incorporated everything yummy?)
There are so many tasty ways to celebrate America’s Independence Day!  Fresh fruit straight from the garden (or even market) is topping my family’s list.  It’s colorful, sweet, and always refreshing on a hot summer day! 
Throw the word “pizza” onto the dessert menu and you’ll have everyone running, including the cat, to get some! Can you blame Kitty?  This looks so good and is such a cute picture! Mmmmmmmm!
Here’s how you can make your own yummy bite!
What’s Needed:
  • 1 roll of refrigerated sugar cookie dough
  • Fresh strawberries (approx. 2 cups)
  • Fresh blackberries (approx. 2 cups)  
  • 1 package of light cream cheese (8 ounces)
  • 1/4 cup of powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons of grated lemon peel
  • Melted apricot jelly (peach works too)
Picture
​Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, or whatever is listed on the cookie dough package.  Then spray a 12-inch pizza pan with nonstick spray.
The first real step is a lot of fun. 
You get to play with dough.  Break the roll of cookie dough into small cookie sizes and place on the pizza sheet.  Once the pan is covered, press the dough out until the entire pizza pan is covered.  We’re using the already made sugar cookie dough because it doesn’t crumble as much as homemade dough. Of course, either way will work. It’s up to you.
 
Once the pan is completely covered with cookie dough, stick it in the oven to bake.  Be sure to watch the clock and don’t let it burn.  Pull it out of the oven when it’s a golden brown.  It took me about 20 minutes to bake this one.
 
Don’t eat the cookie yet.  It’s too hot and we still need to cover it with our fruit toppings.    
Picture
Picture
Picture
While it cools, mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and lemon peel.  Stir it until it’s nice and fluffy.  Probably about 2 minutes will do it. Now spread it on top of the baked cookie.  Cover the entire thing.
If your kids don’t know how to draw a star yet, give them a hand.  Err, I mean a finger.  Trace the star out into the dough. This is going to be your guideline for placing the fruit. 
We used fresh red strawberries to make the star.  You could use your blackberries if you want to make a blue star instead.  Just plop the strawberries on there until they’ve formed a star.
Now, use the other berries to cover the rest of the cookie. Raspberries with blueberries is a great option.  Our strawberries are fresh and sweet so I wanted to use them for this cookie pizza.
Once the fruit is placed, melt apricot jelly and pour it right on top.  This creates a yummy glaze.
Picture
Enjoy your Fourth of July with this amazing treat!
0 Comments

FRESH BERRY POPSICLES

6/29/2017

0 Comments

 
Vertical Divider
​​Frozen popsicles are a summer “must-eat” in our house.  (Honestly, we eat them every season but we're able to make them with fruit from our garden now!)

​So, while the BBQ is heating up, games are being played, and you’re waiting patiently for fireworks to fly, try making a batch of your own fruit frozen pops! ​
Picture
Picture
Ingredients:
​1 cup fresh berries from your garden, sliced
1 banana
​5 ice cubes
​1 cup yogurt (strawberry flavor is my favorite)
​1/2 cup of milk
​1/2 cup of berry juice
​Cup or fun freezer molds​
Directions: 
​To begin​, be sure that the fruit you use is washed and all the stems are cut off of the berries. Place all ingredients in to a blender and pulse to mix. We like to start with the banana, then added in milk and a cup of strawberry yogurt. Next, we added fresh cut strawberries and 1/2 cup of cranberry-grape juice. You can substitute blackberries or blueberries as a tasty choice if you don't have any strawberries. Add in a few pieces of ice get to a "smoothie" consistency and blend for about 30 seconds until mixture is smooth. Then, pour the mixture in to the pop molds. Try to leave about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of space at the top of the mold because the pops will expand as they freeze. Place the molds in the freezer and try to keep your hands off them for at least 4 hours (or until they're frozen enough to eat!​ I know! It’s extremely hard to do!
Picture
You may have to run the popsicle mold under warm water to loosen the sides before eating!
​For an extra bonus, pour a few mini-chocolate chips on top of the smoothie mixture before placing it in the freezer.  This is an extremely healthy snack so a couple morsels of chocolate are okay and they’re a really yummy surprise!
Picture
Picture
Vertical Divider
Picture
Picture
 Also, these rocket popsicle molds are made by Tovolo (www.tovolo.com).
​I love the variety of the mold shapes available and the ease of the popsicles release from the molds. Plus, who doesn't like a rocket pop?

Archives

June 2017
May 2017
April 2017

RSS Feed

0 Comments

CREATING MUDDY ART

5/30/2017

0 Comments

 
The goal of this project is to get dirty and have fun while waiting for your plants to grow! Every time you water your plants the soil they are growing in turns to mud! Woohoo! I LOVE MUD! There is so much you can do with it.  Grab a scoop of it in your hands and enjoy the feeling of it squishing through your fingers! I promise it'll make you giggle.  Once you're done with that grab the following items and ....drum roll please...prepare to become an amazing mud artist.  

Here's what you need:

​Bucket
Mud
Paper
Leaves & sticks
Fingers and hands
Picture
​Now, stir up the mud in the bucket to create your paint.  See what happens when you add more water to the soil?  What happens when you add more dirt?  This is a great time to learn a bit about consistency.
Picture
Once you have the mixture to where you like it, grab a leaf or stick and start to draw. Create pictures of whatever comes to mind.  Cover leaves in mud and press them onto the paper to make animal ears or try to write your name with different looking letters! The only rule is to have fun and get your hands dirty!​
Picture
Learn more about our philosophy "I Am Washable" and find other fun activities over at LisaElyGardens.com
0 Comments

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2019
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017

    Categories

    All
    Adventuring
    Art Projects
    Autumn
    Berries
    Beverages
    Brussel Sprouts
    Carrots
    Cilantro
    Cinco De Mayo
    Crafts
    Cucumber
    Desserts
    Dried Flowers
    Earth Day
    Entrepreneurs
    Experiment
    Fall
    Fiesta
    Finger Art
    Flowers
    Fresh
    Fresh Herbs
    Fruit
    FUN
    Fun Facts
    Games
    Garden
    Garden Decor
    Gardening
    Garden Markers
    Garden Spot
    Get Outside
    Growing Enthusiasm
    Halloween
    Harvest
    Healthy Eats
    Herbs
    HGTV
    Holidays
    Kid Fun
    Kids
    Kids Projects
    Landscape
    Lemonade
    Lemons
    Lettuce
    Lisa Ely Gardens
    Math
    Mint
    Mud
    Paint
    Parsley
    Pinterest
    Planting
    Plots
    Pumpkin
    Pumpkin Fries
    Pumpkins
    Rain
    Recipe
    Recipe For Fun
    Recipes
    Rock
    Rocks
    Salad
    Science
    Seasonal Activities
    Seedlings
    Seeds
    Sides
    Snacks
    Soil
    Spider
    Spring
    Squash
    Stones
    Strawberry
    Strawberry Lemonade
    Summer
    Summertime
    Sunflowers
    Superfoods
    Surveying
    Thanksgiving
    Tip Of The Week
    Today's Idea
    Tomato
    Vegetables
    Veggies
    Water
    Water Conservation
    Weeds
    When To Plant
    Yellow
    Zucchini

    RSS Feed

What families Are Saying

"OUR FAMILY loveS gardening together and we are always excited to see lisa when she visits our area.  her energy is endless and her ideas keep us playing in the garden all year!"
- TONY, SACRAMENTO, CA
​     

Contact Us

Picture

    Subscribe Today!

Submit