How does your garden grow.....

OK so maybe I am the only one gardening right now but I would love to hear about your plans for your garden once the mainland starts to thaw!

So far my tomatoes are about hip high and had to be staked, still no blooms but I am expecting them any day now :)

My cucumbers have about 4 leaves each and are about 3in high, can't wait for them to hit a growth spurt. I am not sure how they are going to do since they are in a corner of the yard that doesn't get much sun, but my yard is so small that there really wasn't much choice for the location.

My bell peppers are doing well and some of them have actually started to bloom, one seems to be doing better than the others and is double the size....not sure what is going on there maybe it is getting more sun than the others???

Onions are starting to sprout and are looking good :)

Carrots are sprouting and about an inch tall :)

Strawberries are about 4in high and one is blooming, these are a total pain since they will not really start producing till next year but I still have to keep them alive this year :)

My herb garden is still waiting to sprout, we shall see how it does once the little guys are up. There is dill, coriander, rosemary, creeping thyme, Italian parsley, and chives in there and I am looking forward to seeing them all start growing!

I still have more to do but I am having to work with just an hour or two on the weekends when Bry can take care of the twins. I am going to put in 2 more beds, one will have zucchini and squash in the back and cabbage and lettuce in the front and the other will be for potatoes.

I recently read a great book called The Backyard Homestead and it is a wonderful resource. The premise of the book is that you can grow all the food you need on a 1/2 an acre with sections of the book dedicated to smaller gardens. Now my backyard is WAY smaller than even the 1/8 an acre option in the book but it is still a good resource, although I skipped the sections on raising chickens, rabbits, and cattle....not quite ready for THAT! lol! It lists every fruit, vegetable, and edible/medicinal herb going into detail on how to grow it, how to preserve it, and then how to use it :) I learned quite a bit about things such as drying herbs (who knew you could do it in the microwave?!) and how to make flavored oils....seriously you should check it out!

I will get some pics up soon :)

Garden update

I really have been busy with tons of projects I just haven't had the time or the energy leftover afterwards to get pics loaded here....but today I seem to be at loose ends with nothing to do so here I am :)

The garden is doing well I guess...it is hard since everything has to be in pots thanks to the African Snail attacks. I don't know why they will not bother anything on the patio but if I put it in the ground they attack like you wouldn't believe!

Lets see...

These are my tomato seedlings...yeah they are small but hey they are growing! lol :) There are 5 that sprouted and I am sure that will be plenty of tomatoes for us so I am happy with that. The half of the egg carton to the front of the pics is the bell pepper seeds I planted....what you don't see anything?? Well that would be because they never came up, still got to try that one again and figure out what I did wrong on that one.

And over we have our watermelon plants...the three pots to the left on the ground are the watermelons. They look pretty pathetic in this pic but they are actually growing really well. They have already bloomed so it will be interesting to see if I can keep them alive long enough to get some watermelons from them. Now just in my defence I didn't mean to start so many watermelon plants...I mean you saw what happened with the bell peppers! But they all came up and then they all thrived so I couldn't kill them! Looks like I am going to have watermelon coming out of my ears if all those blooms turn in to actual melons! Over on the right you see our Basil and flat leaf parsley. They are both doing great and growing like crazy :) Oh and that little pot on the shelf is Thyme...it is doing pretty pathetically but then I don't really use much thyme so I am not worried about it.

And lastly here is my Cilantro. It was doing really well then I tried it in full sun.....yeah it REALLY didn't like that! Back in the full shade and it is growing really well again.

OK that is a tour of my entire patio garden. Other than the bell peppers everything is growing well and doing what I want at the present moment.

Would like to get some onions in there as well but as you can see from the pics it is pretty full out there at the moment and I have no idea where I would put them.

Giving the garden another try

I honestly don't know why I keep doing this to myself but I am on trial #3 with the garden. This time I have planted just tomatoes and green beans but the seeds were leftover from trial #1 so I won't be holding my breath! I just had all these seeds leftover so I thought what the heck I might as well plant them as throw them away....so we shall see! Like I said not to optimistic but at least that was the end of the veggie seeds so maybe if I try for a trial #4 at the new house I can start with some fresh seeds and maybe some different varieties. I will post some pics if anything makes it to start growing.....

Garden Update

Well I decided to plant a new garden again and try REALLY hard this time to water it! So far so good I actually have stuff sprouting! WOO HOO! I planted Spinach, Bell Peppers, Jalapenos, Green Beans, Tomatoes, Thyme, Parsley, Oregano, Chives, and Cilantro. I went out this morning to water everything and found that my spinach is actually sprouting already :) It helps that it has been overcast or raining here for the last week so I couldn't screw up to badly... we shall see how it goes over the next few weeks!

Homesteading

Who knew there was a name for my style of home management? Just by luck I stumbled upon a homesteading website and was shocked to see that it described my life!

"Currently the term 'homesteading applies to anyone who is a limb of the back-to-the-land movement and who chooses to live a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle. While land is no longer freely available in most areas of the world, homesteading remains as a way of life. A new movement, called 'urban homesteading', can be viewed as a simple living lifestyle, incorporating small-scale agriculture, sustainable and permaculture gardening, and home food production and storage into suburban or city living."

I also found that many of the people who practice homesteading also use fertility acceptance and home school their kiddos. While I would love to home school I am wise enough to know that it isn't going to work for my children. As I am typing this Hailey is standing beside me asking "Is it time to go to school yet.." it is all she can talk about these days it is going to be a very long summer before she can start kindergarten! As for the fertility acceptance we are currently practicing this lifestyle and are trusting that God will provide not only the children but the ability to provide for them. This is a HUGE step of faith and while I have my moments of doubt I do truly believe that He will provide.

All this reading about people who have successful gardens has made me want to start working on my garden again! LOL! I do have several seed packs still out in the garage so I am thinking about planting them and trying again....not like I don't have the beds out there just waiting!

Finally Taking on the Kitchen

I am a major procrastinator when it comes to my kitchen. Don't get me wrong I love to cook, but I am one of those people who will just go out and buy another jar of seasoning instead of searching my cupboards to see if I already have some. As you can guess I have cupboards that are way to full and tons of extras in there. Over the last few months we have been trying to "live off our pantry" so that we use some stuff up and save some money. This has been a really great thing for us and there were some weeks when I only spent $80 to feed all of us! Even though this has been going so well there was still one area of my kitchen that I was to scared to look at....the spice cabinet! AH! Well I finally went through it ALL the last few days and I worked up a written inventory of what I have.....OK no one needs 3 jars of coriander!!!!

So now that I have a written inventory of my pantry I need to do something with it right? Well I have been haunting the large family websites for ideas on how to feed a large family on a budget (yes I know I don't have a large family but if they can do it with 12 kids I can do it with 2!) and I have come up with some really good ideas. Not only do they have tons of recipes on there that are easy and nutritious they also have meal planning ideas and shopping tips. One of the ideas I have heard for a while now is to only shop once a month....yeah this is a little out there for me....I mean once a month???I am taking baby steps here people and I have worked up a menu for a month but only plan to shop every two weeks for a while to get the hang of it all.

Being that I have TONS of certain spices I took my inventory sheet out and then came up with recipes that will use them, as well as setting certain nights every week to the same dish (i.e. Mondays are spaghetti night). This in theory should save quite a bit of money since I can buy certain items in bulk and then actually use them (novel concept over here). Plus all the meals that I chose are simple to make with only a few ingredients.....no more buying 12 items for one dish! It will be interesting to see how this project works out. I know that at first I am either going to have way to much or way to little of certain items (milk, bread, etc) until I am able to gage the correct amounts per week so I know that I will be going to the store more than once every two weeks for a while but it shouldn't be that hard to figure out right? I will let you know.....

On another cooking related front by garden was a no go....I managed to get one cucumber plant to grow, one tomato plant, and 3 onions. My bell peppers are scrawny and not producing and my zucchini got ate by snails. I did manage to get some basil and flat leaf parsley to grow by bringing them into the kitchen where I can remember to water them. OK so world famous gardener I am not...but hey I tried! Not sure if I will try again....was a lot of money and work for nothing.

Garden Update

On another note my garden is doing really well and I am looking forward to cutting my grocery bill considerably when it is ready for a harvest. I have several cucumbers that are going to be ready really soon, and a TON of blooms. My parsley is actually growing and I have had it for a few weeks and have not managed to kill it yet so that is a good thing! Only one of the zucchini plants made it but it is blooming so that is something. I have 4 bell pepper plants that are still tiny but they are growing and 1 tomato plant that looks like it will start blooming soon. Only 4 onions came up but they are going strong and I am looking forward to harvesting them soon.

I want to replace the lost zucchini and onions but we are waiting till the end of March when we find out if Bry made OTS, if we are going to be moving it is just silly to plant stuff. As it is if he doesn't get the promotion we will be moving anyways to a bigger house since we are having a new baby but the timeframe on that one will depend on how packed the waiting list is.

What's new with us...

I have been sitting here trying to think of what I have done this week that is worthy of a post and I can't really think of anything! Lets see for my going green goal....well....hmm....I am continuing to make my own cleaning supplies and am going to be making a batch of laundry soap tomorrow. I guess you could say that on this front I am holding steady, not really sure where to take it from here but I am sure it will come to me.

Last week was a wonderful week for my budget and I only spent $74 on groceries for the week and we managed not to eat out the entire week. This week I have spent $163 and they way I have been eating I wouldn't be surprised if that doesn't last 3 days. The majority of this weeks grocery bill went to buying fresh veggies and fruit so I am going to have to look at that for next week. Not really sure at this point how to balance nutrition and money but I am going to work on it so we shall see what I spend next week.

I am happy to say that I am still pregnant and doing well. I am STARVING all day and while I am also very sleepy I am actually waking myself up because I am so hungry! I have made the appointment for my blood test and will be going in on Monday to get the official conformation. I am scared of actually doing it but I know that this is going to be a sticky baby and I am going to have to face my fears and get on with it.

My garden is doing really well. The snails came back and had done some major damage to my zucchini but I think I caught it in time and they are going to survive. The cucumbers are growing like wildfire and the tomatoes are actually starting to look like tomato plants. The onions are still small but getting there, and I think I have 2 bell pepper plants but we will have to wait and see as they get larger.

OK, I think that is it from here. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I will keep you updated on all the new gossip from my end!

I'm a busy little bee over here!

Well all the festivities are over and I have to say I am glad. I need a break from all the hub-bub and drama for a while!

I am happy to say that my garden is actually growing and looking pretty healthy if I do say so myself :D My zucchini are taking off like you would not believe, as are my cucumbers. My onions and tomatoes just sprouted and are tiny but growing well. I think that the only thing left is the bell peppers and they are taking their sweet time to sprout, I am starting to wonder if they are ever going to come up! My strawberry actually has about 4-5 white berries on it so we shall see if I get to them before the birds do.

I just made the best homemade french bread for dinner, it was so soft and light that I ate about 1/2 of it! LOL! I am happy to say that I won a bread maker on eBay for quite the bargain. Now I know that a "real" crunch mama would continue to make bread by hand but I am a tried mama! With 6 kids in the house under the age of 5 I really don't have the time to do all the kneading and transferring that is needed to make bread from scratch every day. After all you can only rely on the supervisory skills of a 4yr old so much before a catastrophe occurs. So this is my compromise with myself. I will continue to save money by making bread at home I will just be doing it using the bread machine. I am very excited for it to get here!

I also received the cloth napkins I ordered off eBay yesterday and have started cutting them down into smaller sizes for use on our table. I have about 5 done so I am happy to say we are now through using paper napkins!

Kitty litter wise I have to admit I am a complete failure at making my own litter. It was easy to do and the kitty did use it but it just took so darn long to do it! So in the interest of saving myself a little time and energy I have gone back to pre-packaged litter....gasp! My compromise towards being green was that I am not using the clay litter or the crystals anymore, instead I am using the recycled newspaper. For $2.11 a week I am happy to have all the work done for me!

My next project is going to be finding a natural household odor neutralizer. With 2 kids that still wet the bed and lose used Goodnights (YUCK) plus a kitty box just down the hall this house is starting to smell very unattractive! Bry says he can't smell it but I think he just says that so he can get out of helping clean. I use baking soda and EO on the carpets but I need something that I can leave out all the time to absorb the smells on a daily basis. We shall see what I find.

I think that is all my latest news and drama. Hope you guys are having a wonderful weekend!

Garden Update

A few weeks ago I managed to get all my new veggies planted and I am happy to say that they are sprouting! All of my zucchini are now up as well as my cucumbers, I think I have a bell pepper that just sprouted but it has been raining for days here and I have not been able to get out there to inspect. Still no tomatoes or onions but if I remember correctly they have the longest germination period. With all the tropical storms hitting us recently there is defiantly enough moisture out there! My last two attempts at growing a veggie garden failed so if this works I am going to be one happy camper. The first time we were in a drought and I didn't get them watered enough, the second time they needed more fertilizer and I didn't realize it till it was to late. This time I have both those fronts covered so we shall see..... I will get a pic up once it stops raining long enough to go out there!

Garden Discoveries

I was out working in my garden yesterday and I made a very interesting discovery. I have no idea what type of Caterpillar this is but I thought it was just to cool not to get a picture of. I started to show it to the girls but then I figured they would want to touch it and then well you see where this would have gone. I am going to do some research tonight to see what in the world it is....hopefully it is not the snails all over again!

I also found that my strawberry is FINALLY producing! I had completely given up and didn't think it was ever going to do anything. Well surprise surprise I have 2 strawberries on there.....quite the crop if I do say so myself ;P

I finally got everything planted. I just put in Tomatoes, Bell peppers, Cucumbers, Zucchini, and onions. The soil out there isn't the greatest quality so I raised the beds and put down a layer of peat moss and then topped it with organic potting soil. By back is killing me! But all the hard work is done and now I just have to sit back and wait for the plants to start growing. I will take some pics when things start to get going out there :D

Snails!

So I am working really hard on my organic garden. I got organic soil, organic fertilizer, even organic seeds. Then I find these snails have taken over my backyard. I at first thought that they were cute...I mean come on look at those shells...then I notice my plants are starting to die. So I come on here and I look them up and they are Giant African Snails. Not only are they known to eat over 500 different types of foliage including EVERYTHING I have in my garden, but they also carry meningitis! OK not cool! Apparently they have the junk in their mucus so EVERYTHING that they have crawled on is now contaminated! OMG! Everything in my backyard including all my veggies is now contaminated with meningitis?! Luckily I was about to rip out all the plants that are back there (they were dying anyways) and replace them with new but still! I have been EATING stuff out of there! Now Bryan has a headache and is convinced my tomatoes gave him meningitis! MEN! So my organic veggie garden is off to a WONDERFUL start :(