Updating

Harvesting - the beginnings of beans, and grape tomatoes. The larger tomatoes are still very green. I keep trying to grab a strawberry, but the birds beat me to it.

Saying goodbye - to the lettuce - I'm trying to figure out this seed thing, and think they are beginning to show the pods, but have to read tonight about when to pick them (part of my seed to seed growing challenge). Also had to say goodbye to the broccoli that grew enough for a tiny piece to dip, and then bloomed. I've ripped them out, and the cauliflower too, I'll have to figure out the soil thing this fall and try again. Also, every single peach off of the tiny peach tree was eaten by something (probably deer) so I need to fence that in next year. Something also ate one of pepper plants, I don't think the geese would do that, so it might be a rabbit or deer.

I don't own these geese, they just flew in years ago and never left - and then have really cute babies, until they grow up and come in my yard.

Sowing - more bean seeds. They'll grow all summer, and we eat a lot. I'm also transplanting some more tomatoes into deck pots because we eat a lot of those too. I also purchased more basil to dry and eat (although I'm really enjoying it fresh right now), and more pepper plants because I found out I can freeze them VERY easily.

Blanched - ears of corn from the market. Locally grown and 12 ears for 3 dollars. I'm going to do this again too. I'm going to buy a bunch of beans from the market too, and set those aside, my garden will never produce enough unless I tear up the rest of my yard, and I"m only willing to move the butterfly garden at the moment.

Farmer's Market- thank goodness its every Tuesday by our house, and every Thursday by Blondie's physical therapy. This week I bought potatoes, beans, cantaloupe (1.50), watermelon (2 DOLLARS) and of course strawberries. I'm thinking that I want to go to one of those u-pick places for strawberries, but it's really starting to get hot AND I'm really not a fan of frozen strawberries (or jelly for that matter).

ADORING - a dear friend of mine who admits that she too reads Hobby Farm and Hobby Home, and spent hours on the computer looking for the perfect stainless steel water bottles for her children. Not all my friends "get it" but I appreciate being able to talk to those that do - even if I'm just starting with baby steps.

I still have not made anything because I'm wrapping up the school year, but I will get on it after I get rid of a lot of crap (I mean simplify) certain spaces around my house.

GUILTY NO MORE

Recycling is nothing new to my family - we lived in Seattle for 10 years - the Meca of environmentalism. BUT, when we moved to SC we found our curbside recycling seriously lacking. It only took 1 and 2 plastics, NO bottles, No waxy cardboard (food boxes), etc. In my effort to reduce and recycle things I've felt a lot of guilt about the amount of trash going into my container when it COULD be recycled if someone simply offered it. Well I am guilty no more. About a quarter of a mile from my house I found these lovely blue containers that will accept all of my less than desirable packaging. I am so excited. Next thing to do is set up a recycling box for these things and show my kids where they go. We were down to one large trash container a week (great for a family of 6), but now we can lower that even more.

Beans are ready

WOOHOO - I have bean ready to pick. I also have ONE grape tomato that is ready, I'm not making fun of that little tomato, because as soon as the rain stops I'm eating it. It is absolutely pouring down today, so I'm going to have to wait. Cheesie and I were trying to find a time when the rain slacked enough to go, but alas it is not meant to be at the moment. So my little beans, and my one tomato will have to be eaten tomorrow.

Lemons and Basil

Sorry for the serious lack of blogging, all 3 of my blogs have suffered this month. As a teacher, the last month of school brings a million extra things to do, and add into that all of the children's end of year activity parties, etc, and I am NOT living simply, I'm simply surviving.

Yesterday for Mother's Day, my husband and children gave me a lovely little lemon tree and a large potted coneflower. I haven't learned a lot about either one, but a month ago I was admiring the lemon tree because of the fruit on it, so I am looking forward to next year. The dilemma becomes.... where to plant it. I have an expensive goal of removing all of the tall pine trees in my yard (about 12 of them) and I know what that is going to cost.... so the lemon tree may have to enjoy it's pot for a little while longer.

The basil is growing nicely, and had quite a few large leaves (unfortunately I didn't photograph the plant until I picked off about 8 of the large ones). The tasted AMAZING however, when I made mozzarella caprese for dinner tonight. Brian and I enjoy it as an appetizer at restaurants, so I bought some "real" mozzarella and used my basil. Maybe by the middle of summer I will have figured out how to make my own (I hear it isn't too hard), and then use my own, basil, cheese, and tomatoes ......mmmmmmm..... So if you look carefully at our plate (the first one was polished off quickly) and ignore the sloppy tomato juice everywhere, you can see the green peaking through.... I grew that.... and then we ate it.

Also, getting ready to be eaten in a few weeks are all of the tiny grape tomatoes suddenly making their appearance. I haven't grown these before, but we eat so many of them I figured I would give it a shot.

I really enjoyed watching the girls last year discover that food from our garden tasted better than the food from the grocery store. They loved the taste of our cucumbers and peppers, and were very surprised at the actual taste of tomatoes. I've given Brian the ultimatum - this fall he MUST move the butterfly garden so we can expand. I CAN'T WAIT. Hopefully another update tomorrow - I'm starting to get control over the madness that is my schedule (4 more weeks until summer vacation.... and I can do ANYTHING for 4 weeks).

I am NOT a broccoli farmer

Update for the Growing Challenge - The beans I've started from seed are doing well and are about to be transplanted.... unfortunately they are probably going to have to take the place of the broccoli I planted. I was very excited about a week ago when these tiny little broccoli bunches showed up on a couple of plants.... SADLY they bloomed, and I went to look up what had gone wrong. According to my veggie book, these "bunches" were called buttons, and the book says to rip them out - probably not enough nitrate in my soil. Now, while I love gardening, and only know a small amount of information I know absolutely ZERO about the soil. I'm trying to be enthusiastic about learning, but I still find myself just planting things to try them out. On the other hand, my lettuce is doing very well, and we're going to eat some of it tonight. The tomato plants are going very well, and I'm going to transplant some more peppers into the garden too.

I totally stole this way of listing our simple living activities from Towards Sustainability - I am totally unoriginal - except for the first one.

Teaching the Next Generation - I finally have my students' "garden" up and running. I have 4 window boxes under grow lights where we're growing "already started" lettuce, onions, green beans and tomatoes. Then each child has two pots from seed of lettuce and green beans. THEY ARE LOVING IT. Today they were commenting on how the bean plant looked like it was unfolding in their peat cups. They find it absolutely cool that they are going to get to eat these - in previous years a seed was put in a cup, and then the cup came home and sat on a windowsill until it dried up from lack of tending. This year we are going to try to eat a salad before they leave for summer. - several have had their parents buy seed for them. One girl ran out and bought seeds, but doesn't have pots or soil. She is watching her yard to see where it is sunniest - I think I'll run by the garden shop to their recycle pots box and grab some big ones for her to use.... I'll try to post pictures of this soon.

Doing - Hanging on for the end of school, and trying to wrap up all of the suburban mom activities that make life anything but simple.

Making - I have a lot of projects to finish.... I need to pick one..... I also still need to make my little girls some more felt food. Maybe I'll do that tonight... hmmmm.... I've posted it, so I better get on it.

In the Garden - lettuce is getting larger and really starting to call to me to snip them. I have Romaine, and Red Leaf lettuce. The Romaine looks almost ready - I think - any suggestions? AND LOOK - I have 4 whole strawberries... better get those before the kids eat them.

Reading - The Omnivore's Dilemma - am I the last one to read this? I've just started, so no opinions yet.

New Growth

Growing: The azaleas are dropping their blooms, and the veggies are growing just fine. Tonight I was able to catch the beginnings of the possible peaches, and the first little broccoli sprouts. If all of these fuzzy things develop right, then we're going to have to prop up the peach tree - It's only about 3 feet tall this year, but looks to have over 20 peaches on it - last year there were only 6.

The broccoli is also shooting up. I haven't grown this before, so I'm sort of just feeling my way around this.... and trying to keep Blondie and Cheesie from picking it for their Ranch Dip. They aren't quite convinced that the broccoli gets larger.

Sewing - I'm secretly working on some more "play" food for Blondie and Cheesie - okay, it's only been cut out. They have been asking for a couple of the patterns I have, so I hope to get those done this weekend while waiting for soccer games to get started. I may have to postpone it though so I can catch up on school stuff.

Cooking - Nothing significant, but I'm very much working on this whole Menu idea. It does seem to help us eat healthier, and cuts way down on grocery runs. I'm looking forward to later this spring when I can eat some of these delicious veggies.