My garden is growing!

I am happy to start seeing some substantial growth in the garden. I am an extremely impatient person and add to that a worry-wart. When a seed hasn't germinated within a given amount of time, it sets off this whirlwind of worry in me. "What should I have done differently?" "What else could I have done?"

I have been blessed that gardening and mothering has built a lot of character in me. These two things are quite similar when you think about it. You have to plant the seeds you wish to cultivate. You have to be patient and easily adaptable because nature will improvise.

Anyway, I just wanted to share some updated pictures of the garden.


Lettuce


Lettuce


Cucumber Seedlings


Albion Strawberry


Zinnia


Corne de Belier Snow Pea


Dakota Black Popcorn



Purple Podded Pole Beans


Various Potatoes


Jacob's Cattle Bush Beans


Country Gentleman Sweet Corn

A little green to lift your spirits...

Hmmm... Where do I begin?
I have been busy with all sorts of things the past few weeks. I have planted our bare root strawberry plants and transplanted around 80 lettuce seedlings all into one bed. The strawberry plants were a sight to see! They went from being basically roots and a crown (minimal green/no leaves) to being beautiful little strawberry plants. The lettuce has also really taken off since I put it outside. I was a bit of a rebel and didn't harden them off first. I did take care to build a 'covered wagon' out of PVC and 4 mil plastic to protect them from direct sunlight and wind the first few days. It worked perfectly! I did make the mistake of lightly mulching with wheat straw around the strawberries. I now have wheatgrass popping up everywhere that I have to pull. It makes me sad to pull a plant up-even a weed. :(
I also planted our potatoes (I like to call them taters) in the deepest raised bed. This is my first time planting any taters and so far I am loving them. We let them 'chit' before we planted them to give them a good jump-start. I am SO excited to say that they are sprouting up out of the soil. They look so cute! I can't wait to see them get bigger!






In case you are wondering, I will share with you where I bought these seeds, plants and seed taters.

Organic Albion Bare-Root Strawberry Plants, Certified Organic Seed Potatoes (Caribe, Sangre, Yellow Finn, Yukon Gold & Red Gold), & Lettuce Seeds (Jericho Romaine & Tom Thumb)
~Purchased online from
http://www.naturalgardening.com
I highly recommend this family operation. They were very patient and thorough with me with my many questions.

Heirloom Lettuce Seeds ( Parris Island, Black-Seeded Simpson & Little Gem)
~Purchased from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (recommended by GardenGirl)
http://www.rareseeds.com
A gem of a company that strives to protect the true open-pollinated varieties of almost everything!

Spring is here!

Wow it has been a long time since I posted here... Things have changed quite drastically with my garden plans. No surprise there... We have since built 9 - 4'x8' boxes, arranged them in the garden, and mixed and filled them Mel's Mix (see Square Foot Gardening).

We have since built a chicken tractor (thanks Garden Girl) that fits perfectly on top of our raised beds. The chickens can till and work our soil and we can move them around to all of the beds in our garden so they always have fresh forage. We have also adopted 3 bunny rabbits and built a rabbit hutch modeled after the chicken tractor. So we will have 7 boxes to plant in and 2 boxes with animals on them. The chickens love their new home and the bunnies will be moving in today!

We have started lettuce, tomatoes, sage, basil, chamomile, dahlias, marigolds, oregano, flax, borage and lemongrass indoors! We will be planting organic bare root strawberries and organic seed potatoes today and tomorrow!

I am SO excited about Spring! It is a time for rejoicing! We have been blessed with many great wonders in this world. I encourage you to partake in the wonderful world of organic and sustainable gardening! It is God's gift to us!

Now, off to work on the garden...

Garden Planning...

So I have started planning our garden this year and boy let me tell you... It has taken quite a bit of research and time. Last year we did traditional rows in our garden. I LOVED our garden but it was a bit cumbersome and tiring at times. Weeds took over and watering was such a long process each day. (exaggeration may have been caused by pregnancy at the time)

This year, we decided that raised beds are definitely the way to go. Particularly, we are going to base our garden on square foot gardening. It seems to be a good use of space and conserves water. It also helps cut down on weeds because we are using a unique soil mix (no double digging!) and planting generously so weeds have no place to grow! We have most of the scrap lumber we need to build the beds. I can't wait to get started!

I have been looking at various seed companies trying to decide where to buy our seeds. I have found many great resources and my 'Garden' folder is packed with links. We are also planning on planting some organic strawberry crowns and organic seed potatoes.

Believe it or not, I have actually sketched out my garden layout in auto-cad. I am hoping we have the resources to do the following in our garden this year:
~ Build Raised Beds
2 - 4' x 16'
1 - 4' x 8'
1 - 4' x 12'
1 'wagon wheel' for various herbs

~Build compost bins from scrap lumber (hopefully at least 2 for rotation purposes)

~Build a 12' x 14' greenhouse from PVC pipe and 4 mil plastic

~Garden Shed - We planned to build one from scrap lumber... Luckily, we found a rubbermaid one on craigslist for a steal!

Anyway, I just wanted to share my garden plans so far. I will take some pictures as things start to take shape. Now I just have to get those seeds ordered so I can start them inside!

A Weekend of Making Goodies...

Well this weekend has been an exciting one. We finally (after over a year of wanting to) made some homemade lye soap! The kitchen is filled with the aroma of lavender essential oil and our soap is curing snugly wrapped in a towel. In a few weeks we will get to lather up with this wonderfully natural soap and I can't wait! I will post some pics when they come out of the molds...

We also picked out some fabric and lining so that I could sew some curtains for the french door in our bedroom. I have sewn one panel but still have to hem it. We decided this might help insulate our bedroom a little better. It is so cold in the mornings!

And lastly (I think), B and I are fixing to make some homemade play dough. He can't play with the store bought stuff because of the coloring. He has some reaction to artificial coloring that we still haven't figured out. We will be using natural coloring of beet juice, blueberry and turmeric. He LOVES to help Mama Bear make things so it should be fun for everyone. The added bonus? We know it is safe! (even if he eats some!)

Pics to follow...

History of Aprons

I ran across this today and thought it was very cute...

The History of 'APRONS'

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath. She only had a few and it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material. Also, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that ' old-time apron' that served so many purposes. Share this with those who would know (and love) the story about Grandma's aprons.

REMEMBER: Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool.Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron. I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron.
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I have been wanting to make myself an apron for the longest time. I have plenty of fabric. I just need to take the time and do it! I have been making biscuits almost every day and sure could use an apron to keep from getting flour all over everything...

Repairing Broken Toys...

I just wonder how much time I have spent so far repairing broken toys. How much time will I spend in my life repairing broken toys? B is SO rough with his toys so I have to repair some of his toys quite often. The majority of the ones he breaks are plastic and a little super glue usually does the trick. In fact, he has now learned that if something breaks (anything at all) that it needs glue or batteries. LOL. He is hilarious! So anyway... My latest repair job came last night. I have been telling him I would fix his 'Cowhoy' since before Christmas. 'Cowhoy' is a cloth cowboy doll that I bought him from a nice lady on etsy.com. He really didn't pay it much attention until about 6 months ago. Since then, we have literally carried this and his baby doll everywhere and slept with them too. With all that said, I have added a picture of Cowhoy's damages above. You may not be able to see all the holes where stuffing is coming out of his head but trust me - it is brutal!

I decided since his head was pretty much destroyed I had to recreate a new one. I am a beginning sewer at best but I am pretty impressed with my results. So here they are...

I used a reclaimed canvas curtain for his head. I hand stiched in his blue eyes and tan lips. I had to cut his hair out from the old Cowhoy and sew it in.

After three hours I finally finished! This is one satisfied little fellow. Unfortunately, I sewed his head on backwards! LOL. After all that work! I figured I will have to make another repair on him sometime. And when I do, I will fix that head of his...

My first blog...

Well this is my first blog - ever! I hope that you all enjoy my posts. Since it is impossible for me to decide to blog about just one thing, you will find that my posts will be of a plethora of topics. Anyway, we were lucky enough to receive a Cuisinart Stand Mixer and a Country Living Grain Mill for Christmas. Everyone in our family will benefit from us having these. I am sure these two topics will flood my blog the majority of the time since our garden is barren these days. (I do have a couple of herbs out there that nature is caring for...) Oh how I long for the spring when we can start cultivating. I have aspirations of growing tons of veggies this year. I also want to learn how to preserve our bounty by canning this year. Oh if we could only have more time...

My goals and aspirations for this new year are as follows (in no particular order):
I want to focus on living life more simply.
I want to become more self-sufficient by growing as much of our food as possible.
I want to learn how to preserve our extras so that we can enjoy them all year long.
I want to grow enough in our garden to be able to share with my friends and neighbors.
I want to enjoy nature and all of God's wonderful blessings more this year.
I want to continue to experiment with recipes to find dairy free alternatives to some of our favorite meals.
I want to be a better mother and wife.
I want to work on myself. Becoming more patient is a top priority.
I want to learn to take a little time for myself so that I can get back on track after a trying day.
I want to spend some time learning more about sewing and knitting.
I look forward to watching my boys grow and develop.
I want to continue to foster that learning and loving desire that they both have.
I want to spend more time with my husband.
I want to focus more on leading the life that God has planned for me.

I am sure this list is not complete. Newly inspired goals will surface but I am sure that none will slip away. I look forward to this year. I look forward to the surprises, blessings and even the tears...