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...

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...