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You all thought I dropped off the face of the earth, didn’t you? Not exactly, but I have been busy and I haven’t stopped to think about blogging in several weeks. Since there have been some people asking if I’m still blogging…I guess I need to get on the ball!
So…what have we been doing? Well…
VBS – Loads of fun! What a blessing to our little church that we had 55 children with us for the week and 7 professions of faith! God is Good!!!
Gardening – Not exactly what I had planned, but it’s doing good! The fence was necessary to keep out the pesky groundhog and rabbits. I normally do rows, but with the fence I thought to do “patches”. Next year…rows.
Green Beans
Red Beets
Tomatoes – 8 Romas, 1 Pink German, 1 Tomatillos, 2 Beef Steak, 1 Cherry
Zucchini
Like I said…not exactly what I had in mind…but it’s doing well. Before we got the fence fixed the groundhog had a feast of my cucumbers & yellow squash.By the time we could replant, the greenhouse was out of all their plants! It’s much too late to start them from seeds, so we’ll have to settle for what we have. I’m going to plant more beets and beans where the cantaloupe and watermelon plants died off.
And a little bit of prettiness…
Kids, kids, kids – schools out, so we’re spending loads of time outside. We’re also working on some homemaking skills with the girls. Sammi is able to cook meals and baked good on her own and Chrissy is an awesome bread maker!
I can’t promise much more until we get back from Vacation next week…but there will be tons of pictures! If I get a chance I’ll post a few while we’re gone…my friend has one of those new mini laptops and I’m dying to play with it 
Happy Summer!
I don’t know what the weather is like where you are…but here it is a BEAUTIFUL Earth Day! Spring is definately in the air and as I marvel at all God has created this day (and every day!) I wanted to share some great ways to take care of the planet we all call home.
1. Recycle – that’s the obvious one! Some ways we recycle : Give away clothes we have outgrown, Pass along Magazine that we have read, Use empty cans and other containers for craft projects, buy eco-friendly refills for hand-soap (smaller packaging)…what are some ways you recycle?
- Good Rule to Remember: REUSE before you RECYCLE ; don’t just automatically take everything to the recycle bins…figure out what else you can do with recyclables first!
2. Reuseable Shopping Bags – I’ve taken to using these in the last several months and LOVE them! Not only do they help the environment; they also hold more and are more durable than plastic.
- Interesting Fact : Worldwide, an estimated 4 billion plastic bags end up as litter each year. Tied end to end that’s enough to circle the earth 63 times.
3. Buy live Christmas Trees – something we started 2 years ago. We bought a little baby everygreen tree with the root ball still intact, decorated it, kept the roots wet and set it outside the week after Christmas. In another week or so , my husband will plant it in the backyard! The kids love this idea and it is helping us make a hedgerow of sorts along the back of our property.
4. Grow your own food – it’s Spring and Spring means gardens! If it grows in the ground or on a tree and you eat it…grow it yourself! When it’s time to harvest, get the family involved in “putting up” your fruits and veggies for the winter! How is this Earth Friendly? Most likely, you won’t use pesticides and you won’t have cans because you will be using glass jars for almost everything! Have you thought about what to plant this year?
How about some other websites celebrating today:
Tiny Prints – lots of “green” ideas for the day
Deal Seeking Mom – freebies & a giveaway
Coupon Cravings – HUGE giveaway
If I come across any more, I’ll add them to the list! Have a Happy Earth Day!
Sandy’s comment here prompted me to share some thoughts on canning and healthy food options. Thanks Sandy for the great comment!
I know what you mean about what is in and on our food being scary! Over the last year, our family has been replacing our normal purchases with organic foods as much as possible. There are many great resources on the internet to help you discover healthier, “greener” choices.
Obviously, growing and canning your own foods is a great option. A wonderful resource that I turn to every year is a little website called PaulNoll.com . This site has photos along with step-by-step instructions on canning a variety of foods.
As far as knowing how much you will need…this takes a little forethought. My suggestion would be to keep track of the veggies you eat for the month, mostly the amount, and convert that to pints or quarts. I realized two years ago that our growing family would eat 2 pints of veggies at a meal, so last year I did quarts instead. To give you an idea of our current family size – 2 adults, 3 children (ages 12-10-5). I like to push the veggies so I try to make extras.
My suggestion for meats is to find a local organic farmer. We go together with 3 other families to purchase beef & pork for the year and there are farms nearby that sell free-range chicken. You can also check your local grocer or farm market for organic meats. As always, I’m a big fan of supporting local farmers, so when possible find someone in your community that you could help when you do need to purchase fresh veggies and eggs. You can check out Local Harvest to find farms in your area as well as local CSAs.
Have a wonderful gardening season everyone!
I am SO ready to start planting this year! I have my garden all planned out…including how we’re going to use some other spaces in our yard for veggies. Here is my list and also how many quarts of each I’m figuring I’ll need to last a year for our family of 5.
- Tomatoes – Romas ; 52 qts spaghetti sauce
- Tomatoes – Regular ; salsa (how ever many I can make)
- Bush Beans – 60 + qts
- Beets – pickled 52 qts
- Broccoli – whatever I can get
- Cauliflower – same as broccoli
- Pumpkins – 25 qt
I’ll also be growing zucchini & yellow squash, green peppers, onions, several varieties of hot peppers, cucumbers & cabbage. I might freeze some of the squash, but mostly we eat those as they are ready. The green peppers, onion, cucumbers & cabbage are for Green Tomato Relish and the Hot Peppers will be pickled and canned & Ben will be making some Hot Pepper Jelly.
I’ll be purchasing enough of the following to freeze since I can’t grow enough to last a year:
- Corn – 60+ qts
- Peas – 60 + qts
- Carrots – 50 qts
And then the fruit:
- Apples (applesauce & pie filling) – 3 bushels
- Peaches (canned & frozen for smoothies) – 2 bushels
- Pears (canned) – 2 bushels
- Cherries (jelly & pie filling)
- Strawberries (freeze & jelly)
- Blueberries (freeze)
WOW! Written out that sounds like a lot! Thankfully, my girls are old enough to help with most of it. Maybe I can talk our moms into coming down for a day or two to help. This is more than I’ve done in the past, but I really would like to have enough in stock to last a year. There is nothing like running out of canned & frozen veggies and fruits months before the next growing season even begins!
What’s on your list? I’d love to see what others have in mind.
I’m trying to make the entrance to our home a pleasant experience! We use the backdoor and enclosed porch as our main entrance…this is also doubles as a laundry room, so keeping it tidy isn’t always easy. It’s much easier to keep the outside steps and flower bed looking nice!
I love Spring! After a long, dreary winter…it’s wonderful to see God’s handiwork. I don’t know about you, but after seeing nothing but white and gray for 3 or 4 months…those little bits of color are so refreshing!
These first three flowers were found while I was taking a morning stroll during a recent Ladies Retreat. Just little bits of color sticking out here and there. I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures.
These are very special flowers. They are the blooms on our “Jerry” tree. It’s a white dogwood that we planted 2 years ago. My husband’s mother told us of a tradition about naming the trees you plant. You’re suppose to name them as a memorial to a loved one that has passed away. We’ll be planting a pink “Abbey” dogwood in the near future.
And finally, my beautiful lilac blooms. These are on of my favorite flowers of spring! I just love to stand and bury my face in the fragrant blooms!
Just a few reminders that Spring has Sprung
So here are the tomatoes that we DIDN’T plant. The tomatoes we planted were a flop, so to speak…but these beauties popped out all on their own all over the garden and beside the burn pile where we threw some of the old tomato plants to compost last year. Next year, we’ll let whatever decides grow…grow! I picked all the tomatoes…red and green…today. I’m going to make some green tomato relish and I might try to make a green tomato pie. We’ll also have some yummy Fried Green tomatoes. YUM!
