I Love Autumn



Even Unripe Pumpkins are Pretty

 I know if you'd read here much at all you know I love Autumn.  It's like saying I love tea.
As winter seems to last more than half the year here, I try to squeeze every moment out of each golden day.
Yesterday we went for a walk after Cupcake's nap.  It was perfect.  Sweetheart even joined us.  He's been scurrying around prepping for the winter it was nice to see him just relax.  Of course, the fact that our walk ended with picking tons of tomatoes and grapes at the neighbor's may, or may not have felt like a break by the time it was done.
There is now another enormous basket of tomatoes on my counter.  Some are ripe, but most are not.  Little baskets of grapes and peppers sit next to the big basket waiting for me to do something with it all.  The front porch is filled with firewood, pumpkins and massive sunflower heads all curing and waiting for me to do something with it all.  And there are piles of books for school, dried herbs to be made into salts, shea butter, beeswax, gift baskets, and waiting for me to more do something with it all.  Notice a theme?
Guess I should get off this chair and get to work!
I was going to wax eloquent about Autumn, but I guess I'm outta time.  Maybe I'll take the camera on our walk this afternoon and share more tomorrow.  I also made an easy, but delicious pumpkin soup the other day that I'd like to share about.  In return, maybe you'll share your favorite pumpkin recipes to me!

Pumpkins

 

 So, I brought in the rest of the pumpkins yesterday.  Somehow, I managed to grow over 60 of them this year.  Thinking I'll be needing to hang out a Pumpkins for Sale sign!
They've survived crazy weather, deer, cows and bears to make for a bumper crop.
My.  Think of all the Pumpkin Spice Lattes this could mean......

Sunflower Seeds, Anyone?

 I thought I'd sell packets of seeds at the fairs and tuck them into the gift baskets.
 I thought I'd print out these pictures and have them on my sign for the seeds.
Wouldn't you buy something from these guys?  They pretty irresistible.

We've got lots of pumpkins, too! 

Breakfast Salads

We've got an abundance of wonderful lettuce right now.  We're having it at every meal, including breakfast.  Everyone just gobbles it up! 
The herbs are starting to take off as well.  We've had tarragon and chives for awhile now and they've gone into all sorts of dishes.  I add them to eggs in the morning and our salad dressings and sprinkle them all over chicken, or whatever else it sounds good on.  Now I am adding cilantro to the guacamole, or "yuckamole" as Dumpling christened it.  That's fine as it means more for Sweetheart and I. 
I am excited that I'll have fresh savory ready to go by the end of the week.  Basil keeps germinating and dying and I keep reseeding.  Maybe now that it's warmed up, it'll be okay.  I've got parsley and thyme, but I keep forgetting to use them because they are in the old garden areas.  I tried transplanting several times, but to no avail.  I'll give it one more go soon.
The mints are doing well.  We enjoy sprigs in our water bottles and I've even been adding sprigs of lavender to mine as well.  It's so refreshing on these sweltering days.
So, from breakfast through dinnertime, our garden is adding fresh flavors and extra goodness to our meals.  What a blessing.

Just Add Heat

So this is what the garden looked like through June.  Things started and just stopped.  It rained a lot and was deliciously cool.  Nice for me, but not for the plants.  Everything just stayed the same size.  Well, except the weeds.  They grew.
Then we got the first three days of this intense heat.  (We topped out at 112* yesterday evening for those who are curious.)
Here's what it looked like this morning early.

Amazing difference.

~believe in tomorrow~

I saw this quote on a pin a few days ago, so I grabbed a board from the demo pile on the back porch.  I think this was from the old window's exterior trim.  I grabbed a Sharpie and wrote it out quick.  I string some wire I had through the old nail holes and attached it to the old headboard I had already tucked in the garden.  It hung too low, so I just hung it on a broken branch on this tree.  I added some old ribbon and viola~garden art.  I can see it from where I am sitting at my Hoosier in the crazy kitchen. 
I cut some fresh lilacs and have them sitting next to me on the Hoosier counter as well.  There is a breeze through the windows coming in.  As much as I would prefer to keep all the old things on the house like the windows, I am near giddy at the fact I can have fresh air in my kitchen.  How nice it will be come canning season!  The Pride & Prejudice soundtrack is playing in the background on the computer.  It's a blissful moment.
Full reality check:  Every other thing in the kitchen is torn apart.  We have no water since Sweetheart shut it off yesterday morning.  I've got stacks of papers to get through on the Hoosier top, along side all the rest of the junk that's been dropped here because everything is topsy-turvy.  The kids are in the boys' room above me banging around and happily making quite a racket~louder than the P&P soundtrack for sure.  There is drywall dust on every surface of the house, even the ones I keep dusting.  It's still getting tracked in off the porch which I haven't been able to wipe up because their still working on it.  So the floors are simply a disaster.
"All" that's left is to finish plumbing, trim the windows, rewire the antique light fixtures, hook up the new dishwasher, get in the cabinets, level them and make the countertops, hang the upper cabinets and microwave and clean up. 
And we found out unexpectedly that Sweetheart's helper is gone for the rest of the week. He's a dear, sweet neighbor who has been helping Sweetheart and has taught him a lot, but we won't see him again until Monday.
And did I mention that I have company coming on Tuesday? Ah, yes.
So, I think I'd better get off my chair, and get cleaning what I can~without water, of course.

Little blessing treat this morning:  while I was washing off dishes this morning with the hose out back I looked over and saw a bright spot of pink behind the first fence.  When I was done being Ma Ingalls, I went over through the gate and found it.  It was a perfect pink tulip.  I never would have seen it if I hadn't been crouched down on the ground bending over the washtub.
I haven't decided if no water, but working pipes is better or worse than the three days we had this winter where the water worked, but we could not put anything down any of the pipes.  I think this is better, because at least I have the hose out back.  This way we can fill buckets with water to at least flush.
There are times I miss city life.
But they are short lived.

Planting Continues

I planted 15 types of squash, 4 types of potatoes, 3 kinds of beets, and a ton of herbs so far today.
Arugula and broomcorn are in there somewhere, too.
I have a pocket full of seeds to stuff back in the little packet.
This joins a variety of greens, flowers, herbs and the four sets of corn I already planted.
And I am only halfway done.
And I have the easy job!
Yeah!
Ahem.
Now it's time for a cold ale, baths for all our dusty farmkids and movie night with popcorn!
I *should* go back out after the kids are in bed as it is cooler, but...we'll see.
Thank goodness dinner is all ready to go.  I made tons of bbq chicken in the crockpot yesterday and coleslaw and rolls yesterday.  I heated up some corn (!) and we have plenty for tonight.
The meats heating up in the crockpot and I'll just toss the corn on the stove and dish everyone up.
It'll be crockpot dinners until the planting is done.
And we're on a break for school until then as well.
Happy June!!!

In Awe

This was the view from the front yard the other evening. 
Amazing. 
It was beautiful.

We have a break in the rains this week and have been out planting. 
It feels like we are behind, but I know we are not. 
We still had frost on the ground the other day!

All other projects have been placed on hold until all the seeds are in. 
I am in awe of the process.
There is dirt.  Lots of dirt.
Into this dirt I press the smallest of things. 
Just a little seed.
Some so small they are hard to place.
But inside each one of those tiny dots contains an entire plant just waiting to grow.
Water and sunshine are added and food and beauty will (hopefully!) appear.
And I press on.
And on.

And I wonder about how many more rows
I
can
bend
over
before
I
fall
over.

And I laugh at myself, stretch, and press on.

A New Year

It is hard to believe we have been here for almost a year.  Some days are so long and other seem to simply fly by. 

I have certainly learned a lot and experienced so many new things.  Too many lessons learned the hard way, for my tastes, but what can you do?  Guess it makes those lessons hard to forget.  I doubt I will ever really fit in here in the way of those born and raised, but that's okay.  (I am glad to have all my original teeth.  *ahem*) 

Most of the people have been kind to us, even if they laugh at us.  Glad we can supply such mirth for the neighbors.  Now, if we could not supplying their dogs with chickens, I will be happier.  Yes, another neighbor's dog came into our yard last week an injured another of our hens.  I finished her off and served her up for dinner the next night.  After the October Slaughterfest, it just is not such a big deal.  This is good.

We have so many projects we are in the middle of that my head fairly spins with all the things we need to do. It is hard to be in the house sometimes because they all seem to shout out to me and very few are things that I can actually be the one to take care of.  

And now we are looking at planning planting for the spring while still waiting for winter to arrive.  All the seed catalogs are filling the mailbox, but we have most of seeds we ordered last year since planting did not go according to our plans.  It is very cold here, but there simply is not any snow.  Not sure what that will be for irrigation this summer, but we do still have a lot of water available.

After seeing what is planted around the house through an entire growing season, I have big plans for what to do.  A lot of what is growing will be taken out and replaced with what I want.  Some of it has just been neglected for far too long and some of it just is not to my tastes.  The fruits and veggies will go in the fields east of the house and my flowers and herbs will be in the areas closer to the house on the south side.  The lilacs and other bushes and trees will all be seriously pruned back and some more just pulled completely.

I have been learning so much about herbs and all the wonderful things they can do besides just making our food taste yummy that I am looking forward to planting a bunch of new things that I can use.  It will be nice not to have to buy some of the things I use a lot like lavender and calendula and comfrey.  Hopefully, the weather will cooperate better this and the that the tractor will work because there is simply too much to manage by hand.

I will try to share some of these new things as I am able.  I have been blending my own herbal teas after buying some wonderful blends when I was in Portland.  It is so much fun!  Some of the herbs are ones I have grown and dried and some are ones I have bought. 

I gave someone here a jar of my favorite ones for her birthday.  She says it smells too good to drink and keeps the jar open by her chair to just sniff!  I must admit that it does smell amazing and it is awfully pretty.  It is a blend of mint from the grove, lemon balm, lavender, rose, chamomile, bachelor buttons and calendula.   I only hope I have enough to use until I get more growing!

I am hoping also to restart knitting lessons soon as I have completely forgotten what to do.  My sister knitted me the most beautiful scarf for Christmas, but I still have my first washcloth stuck on the needles.  Maybe I will be able to knit some gifts for next Christmas.  Maybe I will have the washcloth finished by then.

I am also hoping to get going on cheesemaking and soapmaking .  I have everything, but the time to get it all done.  I am not sure where the time goes as I rarely leave the house, but go it does.  We are doing more directed lessons three times a week again.  I think it will work well this way.  The other morning though, I just shooed the boys out back to play in the warmish sunshine.  They learn so much just being out there playing. 

Cupcake and I love to sit out on the back steps and just hang out with the chickens.  They love to come right up and will eat out of my hands.  It's all good-except the poop.  Keeping them in the backyard keeps them further from the neighbor dogs and I love to see them out my kitchen window.  They just leave dropping all over though.  Of course, versus Buttercup's droppings the chickens are nothing! 

I am amazed at how relaxing hanging out with the chickens can be.  They are such comical little creatures and oh so busy.  I have even gotten really good at talking like them and they answer me.  They should be old enough to be laying at any time.  I am looking forward to fresh eggs as I have been buying them since the big hens molted and stopped laying this fall. 

Hope you all having a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Planning & Canning

We're planning our garden this year while staring at a lot of snow.  We're going to start this year with an area for my flowers and herbs and a separate area for vegetables and fruits.  The herb and flower area will be designed for beauty and function.  Read:  no rows. 

I use fresh herbs as much as possible and dry tons for cooking through the rest of the year.  How glad I am that I dried so much two summers ago!  I am down to the last half pint of dried summer savory which is my favorite herb that I use in everything. 

I am planning in addition to my regular culinary herbs I usually grow to add in a variety of medicinal herbs as well.  In all my reading I've discovered that many of the herbs I've enjoyed for cooking also have medicinal properties as well.  It will be nice to have my own supply of things for the various body products I make.

There is another area close to the house that had been used for the family garden many years ago.  It will be perfect for growing our veggies as it is a perfect rectangle, which will make Sweetheart happy.  He likes straight lines and rows a lot. 

I am planning the food gardens with canning in mind.  I used a jar of home-canned tomatoes the other day for making some soup.  It's truly amazing the difference in taste.  I hope to have a lot of tomato plants this year.  We've still got some jars of jams, fruit butters and pickles.  Lots of pickles!  Can't seem to get through the pickled squash though.  It's beautiful, but it's not our favorite thing.  Knowing this will help with planning how much of some things to grow. 

We've got a small orchard of what we believe are apple trees and hope to put in some strawberry beds and plant other berry bushes.  We may add in some new fruit trees as well, but that may or may not happen this year.  We have lots of dreams and finally the space.  We'll see what happens!

I am also planning on making my own field of wildflowers a ways back near the grove of trees.  I want a place where they'll be free to just thrive and reseed and not have to worry about them being in the way of our farming plans as we expand in the next few years. 

Dreaming and making lists is a nice way to spend a bit of this otherwise dreary day.  We've had a week of grey days with more to come.  Some snow, some rain, and lots of clouds have filled our days.  I am more than ready for sunshine and spring!

What fun it was to come across this giveaway for free Tattler canning lids from Maple Valley Farm!  Are any of you using these lids?  I've seen great reviews.  The lids are the flat discs for canning.  What makes these lids special is that they are made in the USA, BPA-free and totally reusable a bunch of times.  You still use the regular rings that you can reuse each year, but now you don't have to constantly buy more of the discs. I want to try them, but would like even more to try before I buy.  :)  pick me! pick me!

Maple Valley Farm is home to a family of eight that bought a 40+ acres Amish farm and live completely off-grid.  That's quite an accomplishment!  I enjoy reading their various posts and have followed some of their adventures for years.  They are even running a Bed & Breakfast so you can join them in living an off-grid life for a bit if your travels take you to Michigan.  Then you can go back home and have electricity!

I know, our new life is a big change for us and may be a bit odd to others.  I couldn't have even imagined a life like theirs a few years ago.  Who knows where we'll end up?  I never thought I'd be living on a farm and making orders for chickens and roosters and geese and turkeys.  I never thought I'd be trying to buy some goats and even a pig.  I am proud of this family following their dreams.  That said, I like power and think we'll go awhile like this before thinking about pulling the plug!   ;)

Happy Friday!

After several wonderful days of sunshine and warmth we are expecting rain and fog today. That's okay as those few days have made me feel like I have absorbed the sunshine in my soul and can carry it with me through the cloudy days. I am glad that we spent as much time out as we could this week.

Today will be spent at home. I have some baking to catch up on. On the list for today are whole wheat tortillas, a variety of crackers, and a batch of meatballs. I'll make pitas if I have time and energy.

The picture above shows one of our little rituals around here. We are sharing a green smoothie. I usually make them with several (3) cups of spinach, frozen berries, and water. I just run it in the blender for awhile adding more water if needed to keep it all smooth. Depending on the day, I may add vanilla yogurt and bananas. I just load up whatever is on hand.

Then, I pour it in the glass and grab three straws. Yes, we each have our own color for the straws. Less arguing. It is a race to the bottom of the glass! Lots of kisses happen at the same time as well.

Yesterday I whipped up a blenderful and poured it into a quart-size canning jar. I tucked in our straws and put the lid on the jar and tossed it in my ever-present basket. We enjoyed it next to a fish pond at the gardening center we went to. I think next time I will wait to add the straws until we are ready to drink it as it did make it a bit messier!

It is an easy way to load up a few more servings of fruits and veggies and we all love it. Speaking of fruits and veggies, I picked up some seed packets for this year's garden. I ordered most of my seeds last year from catalogs, but found in mid summer the best gardening place in Denver. Paulino's is amazing. I got my batch of tomato plants there and planted them fourth of July weekend and still ended up with close to 100 lbs of tomatoes.

What else? Feel free to comment on the Jane Austen discussion from yesterday's post. Also, this list of substitutions in cooking from Aspiring Homemaker looks really helpful. I had no idea about some of these! Loved this post from Muthering Heights. I think we'd be friends in real life. Also, I am wishing one of my real friends-who I met through blogging, Janna, a very Happy birthday today!

Hope you all have a wonderful end to the week! Thank you to the other Company Girls for stopping by!

'Maters

We were forecast for a freeze last night so I picked and picked and picked. I pulled tomatoes (obviously), cantaloupes, cucumbers, watermelons, onions, beets, corn, peppers and my geraniums. I pulled all the potted plants in and covered all the beans. The kitchen is piled with produce. And-no freeze. Super.


(By the way, this is what about 80 pounds of tomatoes looks like. This isn't including all the tomatoes we have already enjoyed. Wow! The only other time I grew tomatoes I got two cherry-sized tomatoes total from two plants. This year I planted seven plants. In spite of the late start we are thrilled with the results.)

The Week

Good Morning! Here's a little sunshine for your day. Hope it's a lovely one.It's been a wonderful week with a lot of work that's kept me off the computer. I've been working out here. The Sunflowers are utterly insane and taking over the universe. I've been harvesting beans and cucumbers and now tomatoes. So exciting for this city girl!
We went to the farm twice. We picked raspberries and I made jam while the boys napped.

I brought some of those lovely flowers inside. Aren't they wonderful in the morning light?

In other big news, Dumpling turned this many:

Here he is opening presents and receiving birthday calls. It was a fun celebration with Grandma over and calls from the rest of the family. Chocolate cake and ice cream and presents helped, too.
Today I am in the kitchen making (more) pickles. The garden has really taken off and I've been collecting produce right and left. It's amazing. We had our first sweet pea bloom and the first morning glories. Better late than never!

We are hoping the good weather will hold as the watermelons, cantaloupe and other melons are trying so hard to ripen. Not to mention the ears of corn which have appeared. We had the first of the grapes the other evening. They are a small, first year crop, but wonderful! The herbs are everywhere and tucked into everything. It's truly a delight.

Look at what I collected yesterday afternoon! The beans are cleaned, cut, blanched and nestled into the freezer. My, that takes awhile to do! But I read while I worked which makes everything better. I also hauled in the biggest zucchinis yet. Fifteen inches long and four and a half pounders they are. More grating and freezing and bread coming up!

The pickles are just about done. This afternoon will be spent with my peaches. I love peaches. I'm planning on peaches slices and some peach jam. If I have enough peaches and time I'll tackle some peach butter. Everyone loved that last year.

In between, I've been sewing and pulling weeds and playing a lot. Besides our two trips to the farm, we spent a wonderful morning at the zoo. Our weather is quite fine out and so we all long to be out as much as possible.

My, but this is a random post! Maybe it's the time of year. The timer just went off. The six and a half quarts of pickles are ready now. Gotta go!

On another important note: PLEASE consider signing up for this. September 11th is this Friday and I know there are a lot of names left.

Bounty

Why do we call it canning when it's all in jars? Just wondering.

Yesterday's work: Strawberry Jam from strawberries we picked on Thursday at the farm. I think we'll go back on Tuesday for raspberries. The beans are from the farm as well and made into Dilly Beans. The Zucchini Pickles are from our garden as are the Beet Pickles.

I've gone through gallons of vinegar and bags of sugar this year.

The beets are interesting. We didn't eat beets growing up and I didn't even now what to do with them. But the seed packet was only 20 cents so I figured I had nothing to lose. They've grown so well. I threw some in potatoes packs on the grill, but didn't really notice a flavor. My mom like pickles beets so I did that. I found one small one in the bottom of the pan I missed during peeling the beets for pickling yesterday, so I just ate it plain. Again, not much flavor.

I've got more still growing and I only planted half the packet of seeds. The rest will either be made into chips, or beet wine. Not a bad haul for 10 cents, I'd say.

And the zucchini? Let's just say that twelve plants provide plenty for everyone. I hauled in a basketful and shared them with my friends the other night. Everyone who comes over leaves with some and I've baked, stuffed, fried, and dried them. I made up four loaves of zucchini bread the other day for the freezer as well. I've got a recipe for Zucchini Soup to try out as well.

Pumpkin and I went out before breakfast this morning so he could pick more beans. They are Italian Rose beans, a type to eat fresh (for breakfast if you desire) or you can just let them dry on the vine for winter. I'm planning to do both. I thought I'd planted regular green beans, but I haven't seen them.

I'm doing all I can to stay out of the kitchen today. Leftovers and baking from earlier in the week are keeping us fed. Two jars of the Dilly Beans didn't seal, so we'll have some of them for dinner tonight . Those are the only jars this year that didn't seal. Not bad for all the canning I've done.

What are you putting up for winter?

Morning Ritual

Garden Salad Fixings & Flowers

Pumpkin and I have a new morning ritual. While Dumpling is still sleeping we head out to the garden to see what is ready to pick. Yesterday we brought in quite a haul! We'd been out of town for four days and came home to quite a quantity of zucchini. They were giants, each able to make several loaves of zucchini bread. I took a bunch with me to Bunco last night to share.

We also gathered a basketful of pickling cucumbers. They were too little to pick on Thursday, but by Tuesday looked like small zucchinis. I've also got a boatload of beets. I'm hoping to pickle both the beets and the cucumbers today or tomorrow. We've been picking snow peas as well, but Pumpkin has those all eaten before we get inside.

My Italian Rose beans are looking great! I need to look up how to tell when they are ready to pick. I want to eat some fresh, but dry the rest for winter. Also, the edamame exploded. They aren't quite ready, but will be later this week I think. So far we've only had one tomato, but it was delicious and there are A LOT more coming.

It's so exciting to me to see all of these wonderful things growing were there had been nothing before! The melons are growing well, too. I just hope and pray the weather holds long enough to have everything ripen. Even the grapes are doing well though there aren't very many of them. For the first year-I'm thrilled.

This morning we picked more peas and a zucchini. We ate some beans to see how they're doing. I picked lettuce for today's salad and all sorts of herbs--mint, lemon balm, basil, dill, and savory as well as some nasturtiums for color and zip. I also pulled an onion and noticed the corn has tassels. We just might get a few ears yet. All in all, in spite of the late start and crazy weather we're doing really well.

Now it's time to make lunch for a neighbor who is coming over and plan the menu for the rest of the week. Yesterday was spent unpacking and doing laundry and basically getting everything back to normal. I also spent hours working on the body products to have ready for the the ladies at Bunco who wanted to buy them.

Today is a more relaxed day. I was planning on some Curry Chicken Salad for lunch with a regular salad from the garden. My neighbor just called and said she was steaming fish to bring over. This could be an interesting meal. :) I think I'll probably steam some rice and pick some Swiss Chard which I use in place of the Bok Choy I love, but couldn't seem to get to grow this year. Maybe I should use the chicken in a Thai Noodle Soup instead of the Curry Chicken Salad. Decisions, decisions...

I'm hoping later to make up some zucchini bread and see if I can get some of the canning done. I hope you all have a lovely day as well. I'm alos really wanting to do some sewing. Never thought I'd type that in my lifetime, but things change.

Some Pictures to Share

Even though we got a late start, things are really growing!

This picture was the beginning of July just after we laid the sod:
Here's what it looks like today:
Here are my zucchini plants. I picked a few today and made oven "fried" zucchini. Yum!

The sunflowers were only a few feet tall then, but my how they grown!
We've been enjoying beautiful salad filled with colorful greens and edible flowers.
I've been busy canning I was just blessed with over thirty boxes of canning jars. My friend's mother no longer cans and wanted them to go to a good home. Looks like I'll be busy!

I've got herbs growing everywhere and we add them to everything. I love all the flavors they add. Along the back are some of my tomato plants and my scarlet runner beans. We enjoyed our first tomato last night for dinner.


Nasturtiums are beautiful and delicious in salads and sandwiches. They have a nice peppery flavor. I ate a whole one once. Now I just scatter the petals. Too hot!


The pickling cucumbers I planted are really taking off! Looks like I'll be making more pickles in a few weeks! Good thing I've got plenty of jars now.

From the baby's garden~

Cosmos

Forget-Me-Nots

Beauty in the quiet places. It's a wonderful corner of life and color.

I just barely fit however between the abundance of sunflowers taking over. I'm enjoying their smiling faces, but I'll not plant so many there next year. I'm planning on making a scarecrow this weekend as the birds are threatening to take over. I made one years ago for someone else and loved it.

We're off to the farm this morning. It's a cloudy and cooler day. I'm hoping we'll have a good rain this afternoon. I've got some (!) weeds to pull and they're the type that need soft ground to remove. It feels more like a day in September than August. I'm longing for the cinnamon and spices and molasses days ahead.

**
I love the comments from yesterday's post on Elizabeth. It's one of those things you either just get, or don't! I finished reading Wives and Daughters yesterday and am working on North and South. Of course, I'm also reading Les Miserables so I've got a lot of amazing reading ahead! What are you reading?

Garden Goodness

So last evening I went outside to check on the plants. I realized I have 12 thriving zucchini plants. Think it'll be enough? The zucchinis are just starting to bloom and grow. This should be fun. Or at least funny.
We've been having so much fun with all the little froggies that have come to live in our new green yard. They are so cute and I'm hoping they'll keep eating those buggies.
Oh my! Just a moment ago I saw something moving in the old garden. I think it was a rabbit. Pumpkin and I just ran out there, but couldn't find it. I'm either seeing things or it 's hiding. Oh dear, I'm not sure I want a rabbit. Pumpkin loves Peter Rabbit, but I'm not sure after reading that story a 100 times that I want rabbits eating the garden. We'll see...
It's so exciting to see all the lush, greeness of everything. We got such a late start, but everything is doing well. We've got little green grapes, and little green tomatoes. The squashes and cukes and melons are blooming. The corn and onions look great and the sunflowers are so tall and lovely.
Reality though, I've got some serious weeding to do on the old garden side. It's really bad over there. I'm hoping for a nice rain to soften everything up.
We've had friends visiting and so many delightful things to do that I've not finished my nice long post on all the natural products I've been making. I am working on it, but it's going slow. I haven't forgotten it at all. Soon!!!!

Wonderful Weekend

We were finally able to get grass! It's been a really long process. We moved out all the rock edges and turned the space into gardens. We ripped out the old seeded grass/weeds/yuck and sodded. Sweetheart tore out all the old/never worked well sprinkler system and built and entirely new one that works great.

January:Pumpkin starts the excavating.

Dumpling surveys the yard.

Our biggest problem this year has simply been the weather. It's been too wet. We've had rain almost every single weekend since March. Even on the dry weekends, the ground has still needed to dry out from the rains during the week. I've never seen anything like it! We've spent a lot of time working in the rain and mud. We worked every night last week to so that it could all get done. I love digging by the light of a headlamp until ten p.m. Really.

Here's what it looked like after the rock was out and Rick made the holes for the fruit trees. Too bad the trees we pre-ordered arrived and had to be planted way before everything else was ready. It made it a lot hard to work around the trees.

Today:

These rows are seeded with all sorts of veggies. Looking forward to some yummy meals, if the rain doesn't wash everything away.

Here is the corner before the sandbox and Jimmy's Garden went in.

Here's what it looks like today. I think it's a bit much with all the sunflowers, but they needed to be moved and I didn't know they'd grow quite so big when I transplanted them. The sandbox is under the lattice panels. It's our way of keeping the neighborhood cats out. It's a nice big place for the boys to play. Eventually we'll put a little bench in there. It's been a nice spot to just be still. Hard to believe it's been exactly a year since we held him in our hands for the only time. Now that I've typed that, I think I'm out of stuff to say. Hope you all have a lovely day.