About Me & My Gardens

My Artsy Self

Hey, I'm D. I live in Kentucky where I spend my days enjoying my family, my friends, and my faith. I have a wonderful husband who is the consummate 'people person' (aka big talker) while I, on the other hand, have become a better listener.  I learned the art of homemaking at an early age due to my mom's RA and blindness, and those early experiences gave me confidence that I still use today to explore and experiment while enjoying all that she taught me.

 I love to cook! Sauté, Seer, Simmer...it's all fun, especially when doing it for others. It is simply delightful to serve good food to hungry folk. I also collect cookbooks and I am constantly trying my style of revisionist cooking on my family. It helps that they actually enjoy being my in-house taste testers.

I also love gardening. We have a large vegetable garden that helps plan my menu in growing season.  I have successfully surrounded my home with flowers, and it is an awesome color explosion when everything is in bloom. I cannot claim a green thumb YET, but I'm learning. Growing anything indoors is still iffy with me (survival rate is rather low), but I keep trying.

 My craftiness gravitates to whimsy! I love to create...crafting is my stress reliever. My projects range from practical to unconventional and I am always trying to literally turn trash to treasure. I do love to make things that make others laugh or smile; it is the fuel that motivates me!

My motto is "Try DIY before you buy"! I am a Do-It-Yourself pioneer when it comes to home decor. Since I grew up in a home that had serious medical bills, I learned to improvise and invent early on. Of course, it doesn't always pan out but it sure is fun and rewarding to try! 

So I thought...with my passion for cooking, crafting, DIY, and gardening, I might find others who love the same things and with whom I could share ideas, recipes, successes and flops. Join me on the Shady Porch?

"Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."  Hebrews 13:1-2

25 Things About Me...I love Jesus. I was born in Germany. I love Labradors. I've collected depression glass (Cobalt Blue Moderntone). I love to read. (5) The ocean is my favorite place. I would love to learn a foreign language. I've ridden in the first and last seat of a roller coaster. I once was a COBOL programmer. I've been deep sea fishing. (10) I love movies...love the Roku! I've been to Mexico. Some of my favorite TV shows-Project Runway, Design Star, Next Food Network Star, Burn Notice, and Billy the Exterminator. My hubby is a teacher. I am a coal miner's granddaughter. (15) I wish I could sing. I love Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 movie, The Ten Commandments. I have Irish and American Indian in my family tree. I love college sports and major league baseball. I travel 3 hours to get my hair done (my best friend that I've known since 8th grade does it). I've been to Key West, FL. (20)  I've visited Graceland too.  I am a gamer...Angry Birds, Zelda series and Wii games. I've read the Bible cover-to-cover. I have a bowling trophy for high game handicap.  I marvel at God's creation-for example...colors, insects, oceans, birds...(25) Well that was fun...hope you find we have something in common! 

Here are some of my garden pictures.

This is the garden as in July 2011. We're still waiting for tomatoes to ripen and the corn tassels to go black. We've harvested green beans, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, cabbage, and leaf lettuce.  We have a nightly battle with the deer...we've tried everything...soap on ropes, I even cut my hair so we could hang it from a tree, pie pans and fishing sinkers, and Liquid Fence to name a few.

Purple Bearded Iris

Yukon Gold Potatoes


This has been an

exceptional year for

both the

veggies & flowers!

Bless the Lord!

Bountiful Harvest!

A Squash flower

Roses

About D. Stepp
D. is the author of The Shady Porch blog, a neighborly place where she shares a host of recipes, night-owl crafts, thrifty DIY projects and gardening adventures from her home in Kentucky. Prior to blogging she worked as a programmer/analyst. Click here to add D. Stepp to your G+ circles!