Lots of stuff

Well, after 3 days of intense work, we now have everything ready to go in the garden!









There was so much to do this past weekend that I have wiped myself out and need a little bit of rest. Let me give you a list of what got accomplished this weekend.

On Friday I weeded the strawberry beds, planted cucumbers, more carrots, and sunflowers, broke up the dirt around the other house's porch so I can plant echinacea flowers when the seed gets here, broke up the dirt around the tree where the swing is so I can plant trumpet vines, and transplanted a misc plant that is growing from last year (either pumpkin or watermellon).

On Saturday I went to Restore down the street and picked up some bricks to make a border for the flower bed I am putting around the porch at the house next door, planted Gladiola bulbs in the flower bed, mostly fenced in the new garden, went to TSC and got a large brim hat for me (since I don't like sunscreen), went to Gymboree since it decided to rain the rest of the day and got Tabitha a sun hat and a few misc things for both children, since I had the Gymbucks coupon and a gift card (which didn't cost me a cent!), got the window boxes we bought filled with dirt and planted them with my winter harvest of carrots so I can put them infront of the new window in the storage room (ie. new greenhouse), worked a little in my growing room, and worked some more on the modest swimwear I am making for us.

The tomato fence

On Sunday it was very nice (80's) outside, so we got even more done. I finished my homemade scarecrow, got the 8'x25' tomato trellis in the new garden, finished the fence, weeded the tomato bed from last year, transplanted some Borage that came up from last year, got the wood from the base of the tree next door in the fire pit, and worked some more on the swimwear.

I'm not sure that was EVERYTHING, but that is most of it. Of course I had to have time to still rest a little and nurse Grady while he napped, but otherwise, I tried to keep busy and the kids helped too. Grady got a tape measure at Home Depot the other night, so he helps every second he can when we needed something to be measured. Oterwise he goes around just measuring misc things around the house and yard.

My wonderful husband helped me with some of the big things above, but when he wasn't helping me, he was either doing some other misc things that needed done around here (dishes...), helped watch and play with the children, and made FABULOUS meals for us (as always). When Eric cooks, it usually isn't anything boring. For example; lunch on Sunday he made (from scratch) fettuccini alfredo with mushrooms and garlic bread sticks and for dinner we had hamburgers with rosemary potato and sweet potato fries in the oven.

Eric always amazes me at what he comes up with! Even in the garden, he created a metal hook out of left over fence clips, so that the tomato fence would have support at the top. The clips slipped easily into the top of the conduit and hold up the top of the poultry netting. Even for the "gate" to  the garden, he took the same hooks so it could be opened and closed and attached them... somehow. I'm not sure how he did it, I just know it works! God has definitely given him a special gift!

Eric's homemade post clip hook.

Eric's homemade gate for the garden fence.

April garden update

I wanted to share something exciting. I now have a 25'x25' inground garden!! This is in addition to the raised beds that I already have. This is such a blessing. My Brother-in-law owns the house next to ours and since no one ever uses the huge side yard next to it, he is allowing us to put a garden there.

As soon as Eric told me he said yes, that we could dig the garden, wheels started turning in my head. I knew we had to till the yard, and Eric wasn't thrilled that he would have to do it, so I went to Craigslist and I found a local fire fighter that had an ad that said he tills with his big tractor, so I contacted him. He came the next day and it literally took him 10 minutes to go over the area 5 times to get the dirt nice and light! AND it cost less than us renting a tiller.

An hour later I had the garden plotted/roped off and it is now ready to be fenced (to keep those dang squirrels away!) and planted.

I knew almost immediately what I wanted to plant there, were the things that did not grow well in my raised beds last year, since we have limited sun around our house. I will be planting organic Silver Queen corn, organic Delectable bi-color corn, DiCicco broccoli, Roma tomatoes, Black zucchini, and sunflowers. Thank God that more Roma tomatoes came up in my growing room than I had originally anticipated, so all I had to start this week was the broccoli and the zucchini. Also a few weeks ago on Facebook, the Frugal Farmers page posted a few helpful hints on planting corn, such as taping your shoe so you know how far to plant each seed and also use a 5' PVC pipe to put the seed down, so you don't have to keep bending over. There is a wealth of information out there and I feel so blessed to learn something new almost everyday.

On my garden graph there is still a 4'x20' space that I want to plant new and interesting things in. I am thinking I am going to go to the Simon Organic Farm Plant Sale in a month and hopefully get Copenhagen Market cabbage, Prize Choi bok choi, Butternut Brown Cotton, Sungold cherry tomato, and Jubilee tomato to grow.

On a side note, I have also listed on Craigslist that the trees on that piece of property need to be taken down. If someone wants to take them down, they get all the wood. I have already had 1 person contact me, so hopefully, they take all the trees, because I would like to start a few fruit trees, so we can be that much closer to not have to rely on food provided by the grocery stores. I have already selected what I would like to grow. These are all dwarf sized so I can have many varieties in the space we have. Harglow Apricot, Redhaven Peach, Empire Apple, Pink Lady Apple, Gala Apple, Bartlett Pear, and Moonglow Pear.  Eventually I'd like to have a variety of grapes, gooseberries, roses and blueberries also, but that will be a few years from now.

Phew! I think I have my work cut out for me this summer. What do you think?

Passover

If some of don't know, Passover begins at sundown tonight, which means that we are beginning a week of not eating any leaven. Leaven is yeast, baking soda, etc. Anything that makes something rise in baking or cooking.

I have spent all day baking. My children helped me and were actually fighting over who got to put the next ingredient in the various recipes next! We made UL fruit bread, UL pound cake, and UL shortbread cookies, so hopefully we are set for the week on a breakfast bread and desserts.

I cannot wait until tonight's Passover dinner. I have ground lamb with feta, garlic, salt and pepper marinating in the fridge, so I can make lamb/feta patties to put on top of parsley rice (remember no leaven in, so no burger buns!), then I have broccoli to steam, and I made the charoset this morning, which is also marinating in the fridge. For dessert, I am planning the pound cake topped with strawberries, vanilla ice cream on the side and whipped cream on top. So now you can see why I can't wait!

I am planning many casseroles for this week and also  pasta dishes. For breakfasts, there is always the normal eggs, sausage/bacon and orange juice, or I also have an UL baked oatmeal, that we actually eat periodically throughout the year. So you can see, it really isn't that hard to go without leavened products for 8 days.

Are any f my blog followers also celebrating Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits? If so please comment on what your Passover dinner consisted of.

YouTube

I thought I would really quick let everyone know that I am making videos on YouTube now, here. The first is an instructional series on how to set up a serger to sew modest swimwear.

On another note, Eric is making videos on YouTube also for J.R. Luxury Bath (where he works), here. He takes before and after video of the remodeling jobs he does.

I have also set up a Facebook page, here,  for them. So far we have 4 "likes"... I have quite a bit more work to do on the page, but what is up is a good start.  I am hoping that now that the business has internet workings that we will see something wonderful come to fruition.