2010 Farm & Garden Report

Wow, I can't believe it's March already! Today I spent some time looking back over my 2009 Garden Log, remembering what worked & what didn't. I participated in the 2009 Growing Challenge: Seed to Seed and failed at it, because I ended up not saving any seeds from things I grew! I did, however, grow new things from seed that I'd never grown before, so all was not lost. And we're still eating salsa that I canned last summer with my abundant crop of tomatoes & peppers! Now on to this year... and this year's Growing Challenge!

We had a devastating start to the year and I didn't get seeds started indoors like I did last year. Back in January, I received an order garden tools - fertilizer makers! This is what they look like now:

Really, I wanted them for the eggs, but the droppings are already going into the compost bin, so I think they will be beneficial to the garden, too. And they look so pretty!

I got straight run, mixed lot, so I don't really know what all they are yet.

I do know that this one is an Easter Egger - she's gonna lay those pretty blue & green eggs:

We had some rain the other day that resulted in a magnificent rainbow!

Click to enlarge. And a pretty cool puddle, too.

Your husband may bring home flowers... but mine brought home plants! Yeah, baby!!!

He brought me jalapeno seedlings. Wow, that's gonna be a lot of peppers if they all survive!

And a strawberry plant!!! This is it before Blackie, the goat, ate it. It's coming back, though.

He brought some arugula. This is it before Blackie ate half of it.

And he brought me some broccoli! This is one of the plants before Blackie ate it. I hope they come back... Strawberries, arugula, and broccoli are new plants for me to try.

My fall planted garlic is coming up. This is after the goats ate the tops.

There's an overview of the garden area for this year. On March 9, I planted seeds for radishes, carrots, assorted lettuces, spinach, chives, Swiss chard, peppermint, and sunflowers. I have never grown radishes and never successfully grown carrots, spinach or chives.

My pretty little helper:
I also dug, lined, and mulched for a new bed beside the arbor. I think this will be where I put this year's cukes.

Dad rented a Ditch Witch to run the drain line from the water softening system across the garden. Here it is coming down from the garden:

Another trench for a another line that I'm not exactly sure what to call.

Dad did a little witchin' of his own to find a buried water line. It's amazing to me that this works!

Back to the garden today - radishes are sprouting already!!

My purple allium bulbs are coming up!!!

We got the pansies on clearance last week. They're a bit wind blown right now, but still pretty.

The cone flower I dig up from the ditch last summer has survived!

My grape hyacinths are just starting to bloom, but you should see Grandpa's! (hey, Grandpa, maybe you should blog!)

And this blows me away - This Swiss chard was planted from seed on February 2, 2009! I never pulled up the stalks after it "died" and now it's sprouted new leaves! Crazy!

My first iris bloom from my Grandmother's iris:

This is where Rebekah watches the gardening when it's too cool for her to be outside with me:

Well, that was a hodgepodge of information, but that catches me up on what's going on outside so far this year!

A Great New Book for Easter!

The Flowering Cross, by Beth Ryan, is a sweet story of how a child can make a difference in her world. A little girl and her family befriend a grumpy old man who lives next door. As they reach out to him, his heart softens. The little girl and her brother are instrumental in leading him to Christ. Many of the pages includes topics for further discussion and scriptures at the bottom.

I read this book to my children, ages 5, 3, and 11 months. We stuck to the story line without any other discussion, but I did read a few of the scripture references also. My "audience" didn't have the attention span for the discussion. I think it would be good for an 8-year-old and up.

I loved the illustrations in this book. They, and the entire storyline, are very heartwarming. The book in general reminds me of one of my favorites, Liz Curtis Higgs' Pumpkin Patch Parable, in both illustration and layout. I also love how the book ties scriptures in on every page. And if you're handy with woodworking, the book comes with instructions on how to make your own flowering cross centerpiece.

I do recommend this book, especially if your children are just a little bit older than mine. I am looking forward to reading it again in years to come and am excited about the possibility for discussion about how children can impact even grown-ups for the Lord.

The Flowering Cross is available at Amazon.com and Christian Book Distributors.

Disclosure: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Road Trip!

One thing that Dad & I have always loved doing together is taking road trips. It's been a while since we took one, so when the opportunity arose to go to a cousin's wedding and MawMaw offered to keep the kids for the weekend, we jumped on it!

I collect photos of Texas courthouses, so we added a few more to the collection on this trip.

When we were hungry, our choices were Don Antonio's Tortilleria or Dairy Queen. Don won that one! While stopped for lunch, Dad worked on the trip sheet, noting how long we had spent stopped...
Texas has some of the most beautiful courthouses. This was not one of them.

OK, none of the courthouses on this trip were one of them...


But this one had a lawyer handy across the street!

Finally made it & we got all prettied up for the wedding. Don't we look cute?! : )

The church was beautiful! After I caught my breath, I took pictures from all angles:

Just to show that we actually did attend a wedding, here's a photo of us with the bride & groom... ok, us and all of our side of the family that attended.

Their colors were red & black. The cake was very cute! Bottom layer was red velvet, the middle chocolate, the top was white. We had red velvet. Later that night, my body went into shock from that much artificial food coloring, since I have been off of it along with David on his diet. I won't be doing that again...

There was dancing at the reception and I actually had a dance with my sweet hubby! We really need to learn how to dance because there's another wedding later this summer and we may not be able to hide in the crowd next time!

I showed that picture to David of Aunt Jana singing with her arms up in the air, and some Tiny Talk ensued.
David: What is Aunt Jana singing?
Mom: I don't know.
David: I think she's singing a Star Wars song!
bwahahahahaha!!!!

It's really amazing how many windmills there are out there now-a-days! Of course, we followed the rails for as much of the trip as we could.

Now there's something you don't see every day! (it's an inside joke) hahaha!!!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

We're using Starfall.com for language arts. I highly recommend their program for learning to read. David has really been enjoying it. Elizabeth also enjoys their ABC pages... now if she could just figure out how to use the mouse!

Here is David singing last week's verse, 1 Thessalonians 5:19. Song from Sing the Word: From A to Z, part of our Kindergarten home school curriculum from Sonlight.

A few days ago, I was whistling the catchy cantina song from Star Wars. David didn't want me to sing "his song" and came up with his own version. I have to admit, I was impressed with his ability to write lyrics on the fly!


We had another death in the family this week, this time my husband's grandpa. I explained to David & Elizabeth that PaPa loved Jesus, so his soul had gone to heaven. Elizabeth replied, "With Grandma?" Yes, my love.

She has a notebook of coloring pages and a wipe-off book that's for practicing handwriting. She calls it "my school work." She's so cute working in her books. Sometimes she traces the letters, sometimes she draws smiley faces, sometimes she just scribbles.

Rebekah says: Da-did! and she is in the process of cutting tooth #3 this week!

Valentine Tuesday

Sorry to disappoint the Tiny Talk fans out there, but I haven't really noticed much cute tiny talk this week. Been having some problems with one wanting to be in charge and another not telling the truth to avoid trouble.

Speaking of Valentine's Day... with all the other stuff that was going on the last few weeks with Grandma's illness, I never posted our Valentine photos. Here are the heart people we made:

Elizabeth's was actually a ladybug. Of course. We also had heart shaped pancakes. David's turned out really huge - and the ate the whole thing!

Rebekah paid no attention to Valentine's Day this year, except to eat some of the paper valentines that were left within reach. She's just cute that way.

I think the jeans are cute, too!

In other news, I wanted to say thank you to everyone, whether they read this or not, who's been praying for our family and for the cards. And a huge thank you to my BFF who drove 5 hours with a baby to be there for me... and massage the stress out of my neck & shoulders!

Tiny Talk Tuesday in Memory

I haven't felt much like blogging lately. But I'll do this one in memory of Grandma, my Momma, who passed away February 11, 2010. She loved to read Tiny Talk Tuesday.

Grandma & David, 2007

Uncle Jimmy came to visit Grandma last week. My kids had never met him, so I asked: So what did you think of Uncle Jimmy?
David: He had girl hair.
Elizabeth: Yeah, it was white!
Uncle Jimmy has gray/white hair in a long pony tail.

Aunt Sissy was making David & Elizabeth peanut butter sandwiches last night and asked: Do you want squares or triangles?
Elizabeth: Triangles!
David: I want it like a man! (a whole sandwich, not cut)

Grandma & Elizabeth, 2009

We've had to talk about the subject of death. When I explained heaven, David replied: Now there are two people in heaven - Great and Grandma.

Dad did an excellent job when he talked to David. One night at supper, David said: Grandma's soul is in heaven.

We love you Grandma and miss you greatly.

Grandma holding Baby Rebekah, 2009

Momma's Snow

I never got the snow pictures on my blog, so here they are, finally! February 11, 2010 was a memorable day. The day I lost my Momma. The day the snow started falling. It was a peaceful, beautiful day. When I went to bed that night, I measured (with a ruler) 7 inches of snow in my yard. In Texas. I have never seen that much snow in this state! And it was still snowing!
David & Elizabeth loved the snow! Elizabeth kept saying, "It's gonna be Christmas again!"

Mother and son snow angels!

Father and son snowman construction...
turned out to be father snowman construction!

Snowballs!!!

The finished snowman with Dad's FD helmet & gloves.

Wow, it was really bright out there!

Dad's aerial photography
(from the signal mast in the front yard)
after all the snow slid off the roof of the house.
What a beautiful event!
I will forever remember this as
Momma's Snow.