Country Candy

This is my husbands favorite snack, a fresh onion dipped in salt.

He calls it "Country Candy".

Even my son has grown to love them. The best benefit of eating lots of raw onion over the summer? No mosquito bites. The smell of onion off the skin deters them. Anyone else eat them this way?

Carrots!

On a whim we decided to try carrots. We don't have good soil here, it's like planting in rocks. So my husband was convinced they would get stuck  and not grow. We also planted them late in the season when it was HOT, and them some. But as you can see they grew! Some are short and stubby, some are big and rather long, all are sweet and tasty. We will make sure to plant more next year, this experiment was a success and my children have all ready eaten them all.

Harvest

3 quarts green beans

3 pounds broccoli

12 quarts spaghetti sauce

1 pint dried jalapeño peppers

2 pounds yellow squash

And I thought I would not have any work to do yesterday! The season is winding down but there is still lots coming in and the shelves are filling up. I am looking forward to the end of the season and some rest.

Cantaloupe

Out of the garden this morning

It's War!

We have been living in a wonderful world denial. We thought the groundhogs were gone. After all last year we watched a red tailed hawk swoop down and eat one right in front of us. The old shed where they were living was removed and my boys piled their tunnels with rocks and dirt. We hadn't seen one in almost a year, until now...

Brazen little thief! He seems to be enjoying the green tomatoes. And if he thinks he's going to win, he's got a little surprise waiting for him. All ready my son is out looking for his holes. He better find a new home fast and preferably one far away from my tomatoes!

While I was gone...

My pumpkin grew and was harvested with perfect timing as I had just used up last years harvest. We still have about 10 more in various stages out there. This is a good year for pumpkins in our garden! My Fiona learned to ride her bike. My husband suggested that she should try to ride so she went out and got her bike and helmet and went over to the parking lot to wait for him. Apparently she got tired of waiting and just started riding without help. Then called out to him "Poppa I'm riding"! I snapped a few pictures today and you would never know she has only been riding for two days.

I managed to get quite a bit done while I was gone at the scrapbook convention. I took a stack of half-finished layouts with me to work on and did a couple of new pages. I hope to get some pictures of them tomorrow. First I needed to get some sleep and put the house back in order.

From the Garden and other things

This week we have been enjoying the new potatoes from the garden. It is so nice to go out and dig up our supper! I used some in potatoes with ham and peas, mashed some to go with baked chicken, and roasted some in Italian seasonings. We can’t get enough of their sweetness!

I have also been working in one of the flower beds in the front yard. We planted a new tree last month, and I finished up the mulching this week. Now to get some more plants and fill it in a bit more.  The plants in the pots are little peach trees my husband is growing.

This is currently what the front of the house looks like. I have little gardens on either side of the walkway. This one runs into the stone wall and raised bed we are starting. It’s currently full of composting grass so hold your nose if you come to visit. :)  When the soil is high enough and rich enough we will add some shrubs and flowers, and perhaps the window box for some extra curb appeal. This is to the right of the front door. We hung the bell right before we went on vacation. Now I don’t have to yell for the children to come inside. It will save my voice this summer. Pardon the rocking chair, she is a work in progress, even if she looks a bit tired, I assure you she is still quite comfortable, just kick the mud boots out of the way. Every garden needs some friends don’t you think?   Ignore the clover in the yard. Someday we might get grass to grow. It’s rather hard when most of the soil is full of gravel, one of the problems with new construction. I do hope to paint the front door this year. It was never painted right to begin with and is starting to peel. Overall it is starting to take shape and look like all those ideas in my head.   I went to the goodwill and picked up a few new treasures today too.It has been a good week with no school to teach, and no big plans. I finally packed away all the camping gear after washing it all and am ready for the weekend. I hope to tackle the herb garden next or perhaps one of the many projects I have going on. We shall see!

First pick of the season

Rain in the Garden

The Siberian Iris are about to bloom. I love the way the raindrops bead up on the leaves. I can’t remember the name of this plant. Anyone know?

Blueberries!

Our blueberry bushes came in the mail yesterday! We have been searching for just the right variety for a while now. Not everyone in my family likes big blueberries. But we all like  the small and wild ones, like the ones Betty Crocker puts in her muffin mixes.

We stopped buying prepackaged foods many years ago, but the children still want tiny blueberries in their muffins. So this year I found them!

They are heirloom highbush Rubel blueberries and were originally found in New Jersey in 1912 and are actually better for you than the bigger berry varieties as they have more antioxidants in them.  They  also don’t get all mushy in your muffins because they are half the size of a regular berry. I am looking forward to planting these this weekend and harvesting our first berries this fall if all goes well.

Garden Progress

It’s the middle of April , taxes are filed, the census is turned in, and the strawberries have flowers! Lots of flowers. I am hopeful we will have a good crop this year. I still have plenty of jam left from last year, so these are just for eating. The children can’t wait, they check them every day, even when I tell them it will be a couple of weeks yet. I just love their enthusiasm for all things homegrown. Fiona especially mention’s almost every day how she can’t wait to go eat beans out of the garden.

The peas and onions, we will plant two rotations of these this year, this is the first.  My husband plants them together because we eat the onions before the peas are ready. Then we will plant again to store them for the winter. As you can see we are still working with the soil, it is terrible here! More like rocks with a little bit of dirt.

The lettuce and spinach. We ate our first spinach out of the garden this week. Our tongues were green, it was that fresh and so tasty!  The potatoes and broccoli are also coming up and soon it will be time to plant the rest. I am so excited for this year, hoping to get much out of this small space we have planted. David has been hard at work on the soil and his composting to get it ready.

  We still have plans for another garden patch and a raised bed for the carrots. The herb garden is taking off that I started last year. I may even add a few more varieties if the Amish woman has some out on her wagon for sale. I love having a variety for the color and the taste.

I love this time of year! When everything is new and fresh again.

Apple Blossoms

Remember those apple trees we planted last year? Look at how well they are doing! A constant reminder to trust.

We added six more this year, bring our little orchard up to six apple trees and four peach trees. Hopefully in a few years we will be able to eat the fruit. Sadly, this year we have to pinch it all off to ensure healthy root growth. It always amazes me the relation ship of a tree to a person. God constantly does the same things in us, pruning, trimming, pinching, so that our faith will grow and be strong. I have the pleasure of seeing this visual reminder every morning right out my kitchen window.

God has been and is faithful, always.  We are finally seeing the fruit.

Spring Cleaning and random stuff

Today the weather was cool after a few days or 80 degree weather. I spent the day cleaning my house, well really re-organizing. One can’t clean unless it’s all put away. I really should only start one major project at a time. That way I wouldn’t have so much to fix! Nothing is completely finished yet, so I have no pictures. I will post some as soon as I get it done. Knowing me it will take a while with all the things happening this month, plus outside work.

Look what I finally have growing in my Yard!!! I bought these bulbs last fall, and then with everything getting all crazy with possible moving I never got them in the ground. Hubby kindly planted them for my around March first and most of them came up! Aren’t they beautiful? One of my favorite flowers.

And in other news, look who is riding without training wheels!!!

  

How does your garden grow?

This weekend it was so nice we put in our garden. Well, David tilled it in and prepared the soil, and then we helped him plant. We put in the cold weather crops; onions, potatoes, peas and the broccoli sprouts. It's so exciting to get this year started after not knowing if we were coming or going for so long. I weeded and pruned the herb garden, strawberry patch, and the flower beds in the front yard. So nice to see all the little green leaves coming up! 

The tomatoes, and lettuces are growing nicely in their containers, and we will plant the rest after the frost.   We still are working on where we are going to put the salad garden. We only have a 1/2 acre and it is not flat so we have to get creative!

Praying we have a good harvest this year. I have a lot of jars to fill!

Up to my eyeballs

This is the busy time of year. The time when everything is ready to can, freeze, and preserve. There is no rest for the weary and you just keep on working. Just when you think you might have a break, something is ripe amd ready for picking.

So tonight I will finish up the salsa, chop the green peppers, and snap beans until my eyes glass over, just to get a few hours sleep and start all over again.

It will all be worth it in the end. Thank goodness that end is now is sight. Fall here we come!

Garden Fresh

Our garden is doing very well this year for it being the first year in this soil. We have been getting lots of beans, onions, corn, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, and the tomatoes are just starting. Everyone loves to help pick whatever is out there each day. The corn was so good! It ended yesterday when we pulled the last ears off and had a corn feast. I think if we let them the boys would eat corn all day. Nothing tastes better than fresh from the garden. Fiona's favorite are the beans, she will even go to pick some for a snack. We did put up 15 quarts and froze about 4 pounds of beans. It's not nearly enough for the winter but it will help! We are all ready planning expansions to get more in next year. It has been so good to have a garden again.


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May 9th and 10th

We spent Saturday in the yard planting and then out to Outback for dinner for Mother's Day. I am realizing a pattern here for the weekend. I don't have many photos because I am working so hard! I need to take more of what we are doing as I go along. This is the tomato and bean garden, we have the beds all separate this year. Our goal is to just get them in and over time we will make them look pretty and more functional.

Can you believe this is the only picture I have from Mother's Day? Fiona wore a pair of my clip on earrings. She was so excited to try them. We had a nice relaxing Sunday and rested.