She LIVES!

Well, December and January have come and gone without follow through on my part. I still haven’t written the article about homemade detergents (I continue to experiment with different recipes that I come across, so I still have hope that I’ll be able to write a nice comprehensive article in the future). Our yarden still looks a mess- with weeds and old pepper plants. It is in need of a good trimming all around – from roses to butterfly bush to grass to side yard.  We have yet to rake the leaves that fell in the Fall (oops) and get them into the front bed to solarize.  The carrots and beets that were planted in the Fall are slowly flourishing. The collard greens are looking beautiful despite being completely left to their own devices. The broccoli and Brussels sprouts have thankfully chosen to do the same.

I had hoped that I would have had my tomato seeds started the last week in December. Instead, I had a baby—an 8lbs 11 oz baby boy named Gideon to be exact. His sister has been thrilled with his addition to the family. His arrival has been a harbinger for change in our lives. Ardis has moved up from the Toddler classroom at school to the Primary classroom.  My husband and I are learning to live without sleep. I returned to work a couple of weeks ago. Our house is slowly moving through the chaos of adding another person and seems to be emerging on the other side of that particular tunnel no worse for the wear. So far my biggest challenge seems to be getting back into the routine of balancing home and work- especially now that the home end is well over 8 lbs heavier. Blogging has actually been hindered more by a lack of internet access than by our newest addition (I’ve had a hard time picking out an ISP since our last source via my husband’s cell phone had been free).

We’ve begun to delve into our hard work over the course of the past few weeks. Soups, chilies, and sauces have all been enriched by our homegrown produce. I definitely feel a huge chunk of satisfaction when I end up with two pots of chicken taco soup on the stove filled with homemade stock and homegrown tomatoes.

So at the moment my gardening to do list goes as follows (and, hopefully, yours looks very similar, though, you may have things checked off):

1) start tomato and pepper  seeds in peat pots. I am hoping to grow “Romas,” “San Marzano,” “Boxcar Willie,” “Early Girl,” “Abe Lincoln,” and “Queen of Hearts” tomatoes.  I still have seeds from all (except for the “Queen of Hearts,” which I will likely search for at the local Seed and Feed store).  I have a selection of miscellaneous pepper seeds for starting as well. These peat pots will live in my mudroom until the last frost has done its due diligence.

2) clear the garden beds of weeds and excess. Fill the two front beds with whatever can be composted. Close in with plastic to solarize the bed and speed up the composting process some.

3) plant yet another round of carrots in hope of getting a few more growing.

4) select plants seeds for the rest of the garden. Start pumpkins, watermelons, and cucumbers in peat pots in a week or so.

5) make  a plan for improving the herb garden as well as the back yard.

Why,oh, why won't the carrots grow?

It’s been a while since I’ve updated, especially in regards to our gardening endeavors.  When last I reported, we’d planted rather large sections in the yarden with carrots and beets.  Then, I missed posting for the entire month of November.  Oops.  I did get out during November and plant some broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and collard green seedlings in one of the side beds. Between work and attempting to prepare our household for the addition of a baby brother, the yarden is in a mild state of disarray. We still have yet to pull up all the pepper plants. Pepper plants that are now more than a little withered from frost and lack of care- hung with shriveled pepper lanterns and scraggly leaves.  Both the rose and the butterfly bushes are in desperate need of trimming. The side yard along the drive needs to be mowed so that we can rediscover the blueberries, lavender, and prep areas for the transplanting of the gigantic lilies that currently reside next to the gate. There are copious amounts of leaves everywhere.  I’m not even going to mention the backyard at this point.

Needless to say, Mother Nature continues with or without us.  The seedlings have flourished. The beets are sprouting up all over the place. We have rather busy little pea plants both in the beds as well as in the old grill I converted into a planter. Even the little lettuces I planted in vain along the front edge of the carrots/beet bed have been successful. Yet, the carrots have not sprouted.  I know that the carrots we planted in the spring took FOREVER to sprout. I know that instead of the weather warming, it is cooling.  I know that we planted two whole packets of seeds. I know all of these things and am still frustrated. I’d like for some of the seeds to actually produce.  I have been told by many of the local farmer’s that carrots grown in cooler weather are sweeter, but I can only assume they are sweeter if you can actually get them to GROW. While I am on Winter break and, eventually, on maternity leave, I am hoping that they will sprout along with my gardening willpower.

Looking Ahead:

What to do with all those leaves- Solarizing the raised beds.

What happened to November?

Wow! I missed a whole month's worth of posting. November was, needless to say, one big technological failure. The month started with my husband's phone dying- and taking our free wireless hot spot with it. It was followed in short order by the microwave, electric kettle, and toaster (all hand-me-downs). My phone decided to do a hard reset on the first of December, which resulted in it dumping many of the apps I had information stored in--most importantly (and mournfully), my pregnancy calendar that I'd been using to document all of my milestones during this pregnancy. So now that we are "roughing" it without a toaster or microwave, and all of the pictures on my phone have been successfully moved to a disc, we are moving on into December. I am blatantly ignoring the fact that Ardis's CD player died over the weekend and that she now is using my ancient one that is indicating it's desire to move along as well.

Miraculously, even without posts, the blog has had almost daily visits from friends far and wide. We are well over 1500 page views. So in my own personal determination to keep the visits going, I'm going to give a brief look at what's ahead in hopes of keeping myself accountable. As we look into the next few weeks, I am hoping to update about our fall planting we did during October (it will be entitled, "Why, oh, why won't the carrots grow?"), a fun update about our adventures in making our own laundry detergent (which will include recipes, links, and reviews), and, hopefully in the next couple of weeks, a post welcoming the newest member into our family.

Lessons Learned (and a *little* bit of soapbox standing)

On occasion, I find myself having light bulb moments, one right after the other. Those days are mildly exhausting. Today, those "aha!" moments have revolved around my child and Halloween.  Some moments dealt directly with her, while the remaining moments were more closely tied with the individuals we came into contact with today. Sometimes, the "aha!" moments were more of a moment when life came into crystal clear focus, and I couldn't figure out why others didn't seem to see the same things that I was seeing. I'm going to start with the outside and work my way in.

1) If you are taking your child trick-or-treating, and your child is obviously less than 6 months old, please note that the rest of us are not fooled. You are really getting candy for yourself and are a little pathetic. I totally get the desire to dress your kid up in the sickeningly cute insect costume (bumblebees and ladybugs seem to be the favorites- I'd love to see a praying mantis), but why are you pushing in front of age appropriate trick-or-treaters to get "your child's fair share"? Really?

2) It really shouldn't be shocking that my child's trick-or-treat bag is small. She's small. Her candy is not for me, unless she chooses to share it. So many people were surprised that she wasn't carrying around the ten gallon buckets that everyone else was. Well, there really wasn't a reason for her to have one that big. I could not even wrap my head around the idea of letting her attempt to eat that much junk food.

3) When the time comes to teach Ardis to sew on her child-sized sewing machine, we are totally starting with felt! While making the vest portion of her costume frustrated me, sewing the felt itself was super easy and way too much fun. I have tons of ideas for things to make and do now. The biggest hiccup was getting my brain to invert things in that weird way you have to in order to have the seams in the right places. I blame it all on pregnancy and exhaustion. ha.

4) The biggest lesson of the day is simply understanding that Ardis's wants are not always as complicated as I make them. It wasn't until we got the vest and wings on her that I realized- she was BEYOND excited to be an owl. It didn't matter that a few seams were sewn crooked (or at a slight diagonal). It didn't matter that she didn't have a mask. It didn't matter that her costume was homemade.  It did matter that I'd taken the time to listen to her and try to give her what she wanted--and what she wanted was owl wings.  Her imagination was more than capable of making up for anything I felt my skills lacked. I'm sure that some of this will change over time as she becomes more inundated by society- and its "expectations". Those expectations are where I kept getting trapped and frustrated and feeling disheartened. I do hope that if I continue to recognize the strings and restrictions that those expectations have placed on me that I will be able to continue to follow her lead and think outside of the proverbial box.

The Owlet

It's Friday, I'm in Love!

I probably shouldn't steal so blatantly with my title, but I did. For those of you that don't know, the title of this post is song by The Cure. It was simply the first phrase that came to mind. I had intended on spending the last hour or so writing an entry while Ham & Cheese (my child and husband, respectively) went to the grocery store for milk and pizza. Instead, I spent that time goofing off/tweaking the design template of the blog, tooling around on Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest, and trying to remember all of the things I need to do tonight. First, and foremost, after dinner and this blog, I'll be working on a set of owl wings for Ardis's Halloween costume. I thought that she was going to be a cowgirl or a pirate girl, until I heard her inform others that she was going to be an owl. Say hoo? (hahaha- that was just for my husband) We bought the material earlier this week, and I feel pretty confident about my idea and plan of attack. Additionally, we have a pumpkin that we will either need to carve or puree tonight. My dream of an at home movie night with my husband after Ardis goes to bed, may simply be that: a dream. We'll see.

Last weekend, we finally pulled up the rest of the tomatoes from the garden. I, now, have a window full of green tomatoes that will either be left to ripen (and, then, be frozen) or to become the last fried green tomatoes of the season. I planted a 4 foot section of the first bed with carrots (two varieties: Scarlet Nantes and Chantenay Red). The carrots we planted several weeks ago produced 2 sprouts that are now about 6 inches tall. I hope this second planting proves a little more successful. The rest of the bed I filled with rows and rows of beet seeds (Greentop Branching). Both the carrots and the beets were planted in larger portions of the beds in an effort to get to have more than one meal from them. I planted one long row of lettuce along the front of the bed in vain  hopes that the frost will continue to be light enough that we will actually be able to harvest some before winter. We have some broccoli and brussel sprout plants that are waiting to be transplanted into the second bed along with collard green seedlings. I have yet to find a moment to go to Burson's for turnip green seeds. Tomorrow, I will make it out into the yarden to plant my remaining pea.

My thoughts have already begun to turn to what tomatoes to start in January (Queen of Hearts, Early Girl, and Boxcar Willie are at the top of the list) as well as what to plant and where. My brain is ready to go from functional to something "a little more aesthetically pleasing while maintaining functionality/productivity." My poor husband is now being harassed as I throw random ideas at him about what I'd like to change next year. One of the bigger speed bumps will be how we deal with having a toddler, an infant, and a garden. I can only hope that our garden can continue to evolve as our family does.