garden update: 90% off

First, our local dollar store had some garden stuff 90% off! I got 9 (small) bags of this soil for 15 cents a bag.
Some seed starter trays for 40 cents each, the little trays on top for 30 cents each. Those on top include seeds and dirt.

Some herb garden kits for 60 cents each! One of them is planted and just sprouted by my window in the kitchen.

Some of my favorite flowers growing on my front porch.

Our two raised beds are doing just okay. The tomatoes are doing pretty well, and cucumbers, but the beans produced nothing. We are getting ready to pull everything out of the garden on the right to plant for the fall. We are planning to plant lettuces, spinach, carrots, and maybe cabbage.

Our corn grew really tall, but we got no edible corn. The chickens got a few ears and all the buckwheat that I harvested and raccoons got the rest. The buckwheat was so pretty we will definitely plant that again. We ate our first bell pepper last week and I canned 11 (almost 12) pints of crushed tomatoes last week. I don't know how much more I will get to can, but I hope to get at least that much more. I would love to do spaghetti sauce too, but the tomatoes are coming in sporadically, so we'll just see.

Our chickens started laying eggs about a a week and a half ago!!! I absolutely love having our own eggs again. They are still small, but hopefully we'll be getting them by the dozens soon enough. If each chicken lays one egg a day, we'll be getting a dozen a day!

If there was one thing we learned this year with our garden it was : PREPARE THE SOIL!! Even the raised beds could have used more compost or manure. Next year we'll know better. That is something I love about gardening, the learning and changing--how the mistakes are made okay with the knowledge gained from them.

Hope you guys have a happy Friday!

original artwork thursday

Finally picked up the paintbrush after a busy summer. I think I got a few good ones, and a few that are just okay. (I don't show you guys the bad ones!) There are more, but I'll save those for another week :) Let me know what you think!

2 years

As unbelievable as it was to me, my BABY turned 2 last month. We had birthday pancakes and a fun day at home on the day of, and then the weekend after we had a pool party at my sister-in-law's house. It was so much fun and so laid back.



The cake was really the only part of the party that involved any work, but it was so much fun! I had seen rainbow cakes on MckMama a while ago and wanted to give it a try. Then I had the idea to put a marshmallow rainbow on top. I think it turned out really cute!

The trick to a great tasting rainbow cake is putting vanilla pudding between the layers. I found that tip after a google search (can't remember where). It makes the cake really moist without so much icing between every layer.

Look how big she is! She loves to swim, ask questions, color, play with baby dolls, and wrestle and fight with her brothers and sister.

She wrinkles up her noses when she thinks something is funny. She wants to take baths all the time. She is so smart and funny! Her hair would forever hang in her face if I didn't put it up in a top-knot. She loves to make huge messes involving make-up, crayons and markers, and dumping out the first aid kit and emptying the medicine cabinet. (after first climbing up onto the bathroom counter, of course.) She can count to ten. Her favorite songs are twinkle, twinkle and happy birthday.

I sure do love this kid.

making some jam

Turning two of these bags of blackberries into jam today was exciting!

Crushing the berries

Sieving out some of the seeds

Boiling, ladeling, and processing turned farmer's market blackberries into this amazing jam.

Yum.

Blackberry is my favorite.

family camping fun

We went camping last week. As you can see, it rained! Every day. We had a good time (although it alternated between scorching hot and rain the whole time we were there.)

We had a little glow stick fun.

We pet a real live skunk, and got to watch it eat.

I highly recommend the Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery as a family destination. We probably spent close to an hour there looking at the different fish and turtles (plus the skunk!) and other displays. We also fed the fish that were outside. This is so much fun--if you even hold your hand over them they start jumping out of the water looking for the food.

Nathan and the kids went fishing several times and caught (and released) a bunch of small fish. They had a blast. (I spent most of that time reading Martha Stewart Living in the air conditioned van. Chloe stayed with me most of that time either napping or playing in the van. I just don't like fishing very much at all.)

It was nice to get away as a family for the first time in a long while. We had lots of fun, but I will say that camping in Kentucky is much more fun in the fall than in the middle of a blazing summer! Next time we'll have the good sense to go in September (or maybe even get a hotel!)

Besides camping we have been having a blast this summer, spending lots of time at Nathan's sister's house in their amazing backyard equipped with an amazing koi pond and stream, a huge flat screen t.v., a pool, a covered patio and bar and lots of fun people. Also have been spending time hanging out with my sister and her daughter, while they are out of school for the summer. This may be the best summer I've had in a really long time!

How's your summer going? Is it full of popsicles and pools, parties and people?

pictures, finally!

Welcome back sweet laptop!

A butterfly Nathan woke me up to come and see this morning. (He took this photo)


THE place to be at our house!

People kept giving us tomato plants, so we just dug up some ground and stuck them right in.

The sad raised bed. The onions are thriving, 2 tomato plants, and not much else.

The good raised bed. Beans and peas and spinach are doing well here.

The newest addition to our family of gardens. The tiller quit in the middle where the grass is, but it's a good walkway. Potatoes and tomatoes are planted here, though I'm not sure if they are going to do well or not. Wheat needs to be planted, but I'm not sure if that's going to happen or not.

The corn patch. To the right of the dirt walkway is our sweet corn. To the left is buckwheat in the back and popping corn up front.

These are some of the flowers given to me by my mother-in-law. The little orange flowers are my favorites, but I can't remember what they are.

This summer is going to be great. I've been doing a lot of sitting by (or in) the kiddie pool and sitting under the umbrella on the deck. I almost feel guilty that I'm not busy cleaning something, but it has just been too nice. I hope the kids continue to be entertained by 8 inches of water for months to come.

Garden Update

Reportedly, my laptop has been fixed and is being shipped back to me currently. I am so excited! Maybe I'll blog more regularly then. That laptop sure makes it easier. Plus it allows me to be entertained while doing dishes or cleaning the kitchen (or while Nathan is watching a show I abhor). Although come July, I'll probably be permanently hovered over a water bath canner for months and wonder what blogging is.

Our garden has become several gardens and there is much planted. I think something like 40 tomato plants, 50 potato starts, beans beans beans, corn and some peas. There's watermelon and pumpkins and acorn squash. There are also buckwheat, several herbs and flowers given to me by my grandmother and mother-in-law. Our lettuces are being attacked by some kind of flea, but our spinach is growing. And strange inedible mushrooms are popping up everywhere here! Along with crazy amounts of giant weeds.

How does your garden grow?


PS When the laptop returns, so shall the pictures!