Looking Back at April

Shannon started his first year of rec soccer. This was his first game. I apologize for the poor photo quality, I was playing with a new camera, but you can see him there ~ he's the one with the ball.
He also lost his first top front tooth this month. We've finally come to the stages of big, goofy gaps in grins.

Eggs! These were the eggs we actually colored for Easter, something we haven't done in several years since ours are naturally colored. It was a fun experiment.
Here are our current Egg Tallies:

March 2011 - 97 eggs
April 2011 - 82 eggs
Year to Date (as of the end of April) - 349 eggs!

This month has been good egg wise as it is the first month since we've EVER had chickens where ALL our gals laid an egg on the same day. That happened twice this month. Pretty cool.
The general vibe about chickens continues to be positive, and that's making life a lot nicer. We may even look into placing another order of the "What the Cluck" t-shirts as we've had some inquiries about them.

The gardens have begun blooming and we've tried something new this year: selling some home raised plants! Most of them are heirloom varieties and, of course, they're raised 'organically.' I suppose legally I can't use that word since they aren't certified organic, but we grow the all naturally, without chemicals, even using collected rainwater as often as we can to water them. We've sold a lot of our tomatoes, the peppers are still coming in & we have some spoken for already, and the feedback has been really good. It will definitely be something we do next year too.
The best part of this is that it makes me feel like a true urban homesteader now. Obviously we're not able to completely live off of what we grow, but what we grow helps sustain us greatly and now it is even providing us with a little bit of income. Plus, it is wonderful to be able to get to meet new people as we have when we've sold the plants. Absolutely fantastic!

Finally, there was the last day of April, and the 60th Annual Ernest "Pig" Robertson Fishing Rodeo. This is our third year and, like previous years it was full of calamities. Broken lines, a broken pole, and so on. However, unlike previous years, this year both Shannon and Tristan caught a trout. Shannon had actually caught a second one, but as we were reeling it in and trying to get it out of the water, the line broke. We fished for a while longer with no success. Justin's parents were there (also an annual tradition) and, just as we were beginning to get ready to leave, Bill noticed a trout just kinda hanging out where we had our caught ones on the hooks in the water. Justin deftly swooped it up in the net!! It turns out the one that got away didn't get very far, and so we went home with 3 trout.

April also went out with a bang. Justin turned 30 and his party was last night. Needless to say it was a very good one. Full of good food, good drinks, and, most importantly, good friends.

We certainly are looking forward with hope and happiness.

In my head .. again

No doom this time though. Whew.

I live in my head a lot. It makes the world much nicer. In my head our house is situated on at least 500 acres of land. The gardens are large and abundant. It's a step back in history to slightly before the time our house was actually built.

This morning I am in my head once again. Not on my 500 acres though. I am out roaming around the world. I am in my VW Westy, which someday I will actually own.

I am rolling out of it, foggy headed & with wild dreads, and I am ambling over to the campfire. Stirring the coals back around, starting back up a small fire so that I can cook breakfast. Hmm .. I think this morning's breakfast is definitely bacon & potato hash. Smoke from the burning wood drifts into the VW and swirls about inside like incense.

What will the day hold for me? Where will we wander about? We are free today to do as we please. Laugh, drink, sing, roam, explore ... imagining all the possibilities.


In reality, I hear beer bottles clinking outside. Today our Belgian Blonde Ale will get bottled. The beer is calling to me heavily already this morning. Some Sundays are perfect for sitting out on the deck and sipping on beers.

Yesterday was good. We moved the chickens back to the yard and cleaned out their Winter Chalet. We set up the new mini-greenhouse and started some seeds. We were outdoors most of the day and it was magnificent.
Justin has had a beef roast going in the crockpot since yesterday and the aroma of it is driving me out of my mind. I think I my drooling could compete with the Mastiff's.

The roast wasn't ready for dinner last night, so we picked up some fresh made North Carolina BBQ from a couple who has set up shop on Main Street. A small trailer with a impressive smoker rigged up next to it. How can you deny the allure of the smoker?

Today we will likely plant some more seeds. It is that time of year and since we missed out on it last year we are looking forward to it all the more now. The trees are blooming, going from bare branches to full blossoms overnight.

I am ok with my head and reality not quite syncing up right now. Both are fantastic worlds to be in.

A Quick Look Around

Just a quick look around at all the things growing & planted.

~This photo really does the scene NO justice! The cherry tree (in the foreground) is in bloom and spectacular. Daffodils are finishing their blooms along the front porch, with tulips springing up in between them. The tulips from Salem's 'Tulip Day' are giving the fence line mad color, and you can see irises growing wildly in the lower right-hand corner here. It is beautiful and breath taking, and not captured properly here.~

~The front 'Salad Bed' - I've labeled things as best I could, pardon technology if you can't read them. We have Romaine & Red Leaf lettuce, Kale, Chives, Plants that are supposedly Leeks but look like Chives (blame Lowe's if they're Chives), a little bit of Garlic, a Blueberry Bush, and some Strawberry Plants waiting to come up.~

~Looking inside one of the 'Tulip Day' tulips. When I was little and we lived in Abingdon, VA my mother planted tulips along the front walk. I loved to gaze down inside them and was amazed by the yellow & black center. They were my favorite flowers for the longest time because of that. I still love them and this year I got to show Shannon the inside of tulips.~

~These were some of the first daffodils we planted. We ordered them from one of those catalogues you get in the mail & are never quite sure about. They're double-blooming (obviously) and called 'Tahitian Sunrise'~

~The blossoms on the Nectarine tree were already starting to die away by the time I took this photo. We planted the tree last Summer, when we decided that the things we planted should do double-duty and be good for not just beauty or shade, but also provide us food. I've left the tag on there just in case it didn't live the 1st year (it did) as we could return it.~

~Red Leaf lettuce growing in a container hanging off the deck. There is a thistle seed filled bird feeder beside it that needs to be hung up .. somewhere~

~ Romaine and Red Leaf lettuce growing in a pot on the deck. Every year Kroger (a grocery store around here) has these clay pots for sale in the Spring and they're SUPER cheap .. at least comparatively speaking. They're good quality and look a lot nicer than using plastic containers. I've stocked up on several and use them for growing things on the deck & filling in "blank spaces" out in the front gardens.~

I took all the photos on April 3rd, which was 3 days ago. Since that time the Nectarine tree is mostly leaves now, the lilac bush (leftover from the days of my great-grandmother) is beginning to bloom, the big dogwood tree is now in bloom, and things seem to be changing by the minute.
We're also in the middle of an insane (albeit kinda short) heat wave, with temperatures today supposed to reach 91 degrees!!! I'm eager to see how this effects everything growing. I'm also tempted to take the boys down to the river and let them wade around, skip stones, and cool off some.

All The Things Flying Around Here ..

~Shannon, being an airplane outside after dinner at The Homeplace, in Catawba, VA~

Spring is always crazy. Or maybe life is just always crazy, I'm not quite sure. But now it is Summer, so I thought I would share a quick glimpse into our world, of the things that are buzzing about in our lives:
1) Thanks to recent rains, the garden is growing like crazy. Justin doesn't know it yet (he will within the hour though), but tonight's task it to get out and finish staking the tomatoes before the become a maze in the garden. The peppers aren't looking too hot (pardon the pun), I don't think they're too wild about the weather swings. We'll see how they go. A mysterious pumpkin plant has taken over the onion bed, so we're waiting to see what happens there. Of course, now we're several days into no rain & lots of heat, so we're seeing things wilt. Will have to water things this evening - thank you rain barrels!!! Must note though: the plants in the back garden, as well as the potatoes, have held up much better to lack of rain and high heat as opposed to areas where we didn't get deep mulch in. Ruth Stout was a wise woman!
2) The flowers are still blooming like crazy. I just looked out and noticed that we have orange daylilies blooming in the spot between the sidewalk and road. A friend has given us whatever she digs up and divides out of her daylily beds the last two years, which has enabled us to fill in some bare spots with fresh color.
3) Despite all concerns about Colony Collapse Disorder, we're again bursting with bees. They love our lavender bushes and, at any given time of day, you can find easily 20+ bees buzzing around. Now we're seeing them on more plants and flowers. If you plant them, they will come. --- For the record: since we've moved in here, we've yet to have anyone get stung, and our lavender bushes are on either side of the front walk!! You don't bother them, they don't bother you.
4) Learning to write - Shannon has been really practicing his handwriting lately. He's written his first letter to someone (a thank you letter) and has been signing cards, etc. Since he's so eager about writing, we're now looking into getting him a penpal. You remember ... before email, twittering (tweeting?), instant messages and so on. Real mail. Real letters. Handwritten.
5) Sports - Shannon has also taken part in his first taste of rec-league-esque sports. This spring he took something called "Great Beginnings" for both soccer and t-ball. The idea is that they teach the basics and fundamentals to the kids, as well as the parents; a parent must attend each "class" with the child and take part. The parents learn how to properly coach and teach, the kids get the basics without actually competing yet. It is for 4-6 year olds. Justin took Shannon, and I think they both had a blast. Tristan seems a little more into t-ball than Shannon, and Shannon still loves golf, so we'll let them see where they want to go with it all. Personally, I had a horrible experience growing up regarding sports and a parent who couldn't "properly" coach/teach. There are scars I'm still trying to deal with now that we're into sports for the boys. It has been trying, mostly because I'm determined to not let my traumas effect my children's experience in a negative way. It is all very weird trying to deal with.
6) NOI - Our first one! We've been getting helpful information and "tips", along with actual "samples" from lots of wonderful, wonderful people. We'll be submitting Shannon's first NOI here shortly. Though we know he could probably quite easily ace a kindergarten test now, there is still a lot of anxiety taking that first "official" step into homeschooling. We're certain in our decision, and in the reasons we've chosen this path, but it is still a new path in our lives so there is that natural anxiety.
7) Potty Training - Tristan is finally showing an interest! YAY!!! I wish we could still have him in cloth diapers, but with the heat and humidity he gets rashes too, too easily .. and that is in disposable ones. We learned about this the "hard way" the summer he turned 1. Wearing the cloth diapers the poor guy was covered in a horrible, constant rash. Red hair, sensitive skin, summer heat and humidity. It just didn't work for him. I only lament about the cloth diapers now because I know it would help him potty train sooner. But, he's getting there and has gone on the potty a couple of times now. Of course, it is when we're out and about (without a spare diaper) that, in the middle of a store, he'll decide to start screaming that he has to pee. Talk about Murphy's Law!
8) Removing Toxins - Ok, so that may be a little bit of a misnomer. I'm really bad about letting too many people get too close, letting them "too far in." I take things to heart, and then bruise pretty easily. So, I often have to go through periods of removing people who've become "toxic" from my life. I, ulitimately, probably have only myself to blame for it all. Right now I'm in the process of removing some of those toxins, and it especially heart-wrenching. Hopefully by next weekend things should start looking up, but until then, the days have been kinda long.
9) Fishing - I really didn't want to end this blog on a "negative" note, so here is a new family joy we've gotten into. For Father's Day this year we started a new family tradition of taking Daddy fishing. One day it will maybe be just a father-sons kind of thing, but for now Mommy has to go too in order to assure that everything remains harmonious. The boys have been given their own tackle-box (completely stocked!) by their Grandpa Barry, and have been very thrilled about it all. This is the first year we've taken them fishing. We took them to the Fishing Rodeo in May, went fishing while we were camping, and now down to the river on Father's Day. We didn't catch anything at the river this time, but we still had fun. Of course, one lesson we're still trying to teach the boys is: while you're fishing it isn't such a good idea to also attempt to skip stones &/or throw the largest rocks you can find into the river. They'll get it eventually, and until then hopefully they'll have fond memories of fishing.


~Shannon fishing along the Roanoke River in Salem, Va while Daddy watches and Tristan gathers rocks to throw into the water~


~Tristan fishing with Daddy along the Roanoke River in Salem, VA. Tristan had just been reeling in the line, but stopped and let Justin do it just before I snapped this photo~

Roller-Coaster Spring

It's been a little while, my apologies. Spring is a roller-coaster for everyone I think. When the rain stops we make mad dashes out the door to try and get everything done and accomplished: both things we WANT to do and things we really NEED to do.
On top of that, our neighbor has started back up complaining about us. It is really quite laughable (you know, the complaint because we had a hay bale), but it is also quite emotionally draining. I'm a "why can't we all just get along and if you don't like it piss off" type of mama, but when someone is hell-bent on making your life miserable .. ESPECIALLY when all you're trying to do is live the green life, well, it can drain you.
But, on to the fun stuff:

There's the potato garden, in the process of getting some more straw put on it. We were blessed to be given all the potato seedlings from friends who had extra. They're coming up like mad and will be very grateful for the forecasted rain.


This is a shot of the Cascade Hop vine, reaching up into the sky, as it has already out-grown it's post (which is about 10' tall). We had planned to do a full hop garden this year, but much was needed to dog-proof it - which was the fatal flaw in last year's garden. Time and $$ never quite lined up. But we do have the Cascade back, now in it's 2nd year. And, as I always say, it's better to start with one small thing than not to start at all.


Here's a close-up of one the Cascade Hop Cones. These are the babies that we'll harvest and then put into our beer. If you've seen our brew-blog (www.soulonebrewery.blogspot.com) you'll know that brewing is a passion, one we intend to turn into a business in the near future. Growing our own for that is as important to us as it is for growing our own for our pantry.


Here's the back, main garden. Justin put up the picket fence this past weekend - it's been something we've wanted to do since Day 1, but again .. funds. As usual though, we never let that stop us from having a garden, but getting the picket fence in is definitely a proud moment!! You can see the tomatoes in the foreground. They're heirloom breeds from Victory Seeds: Cherokee Chocoalte and Sausage. We have the cherry tomato plants up front since they'll cross pollinate. Behind the tomatoes are the pepper plants: mainly red and yellow bells for now. We have more that need transplanting, more varieties. Next, going back, you can see the poles for the bean trellises. We have five different varieties of beans going: Mitla Black Tepary Bean (from Seeds of Change ~ certified organic), Boston Favorite Bean (Seed Savers Exchange), Hidatsa Red Bean (Seed Savers Exchange), Charlevoix Dark Red Kidney Bean (Seed Savers Exchange), and some Roma II Garden Bush that we picked up locally. Finally, in the very back of the garden, we have two Black Beauty Zucchini plants, and one Charleston Gray watermelon (that's in the far left corner of the photo, but you can't see it yet). We're REALLY excited to be adopting the Ruth Stout Method of gardening, and will let you know how it goes - so far so good though (aside from the complaint about the hay bale). All the junk behind the fence is now gone too. Yay!




The above three photos I took on June 1st. It is our cherry tree in the front yard, and this was our first time ever harvesting anything from it. That evening we collected 1lb. 4oz. of cherries. Standing out in the front yard, harvesting cherries, waving to neighbors and passers by .. it truly is a wonderful feeling.


Blue Cornflower, growing at the corner of the front fence, meeting with the gate.


Calendula, growing along the front gate as well. I do intend to harvest some of the flowers from this to use in my next batch of soap. Since these flowers run parralel to the road though, I may harvest from some growing in another bed, further away from the road.

And finally, Harvest Tallies:
Egg Tally For May = 112
Egg Tally For the Year = 491!
Garden Harvest (including strawberries from Scott's Farm & spring onions from the Farmer's Market)= 18 lbs 2 oz produce! YAY!! ~ we know it doesn't begin to Path to Freedom, or even other urban homesteads, but we're still very proud.

May gets underway ..

This is a photo of the guys beginning to clear out the potato garden area. We were really blessed to have friends who shared extra organic seed potatoes with us, enough to fill the area!! WOW!! We put in 5 "long" rows and 3 "short" ones. While we aren't tilling at all this year, this particular area hadn't been touched by anything other than a lawnmower in a couple years, so it did need clearing out. We dug small trenches for the potatoes, put in a layer of compost, set in the cut up seed potatoes and then topped them with a nice layer of straw.
Though I had been beginning to worry about them not coming up, I just looked out and saw one row sprouting up nicely with more sprouts starting to peek through in other rows. Once the sprouts start really coming in we'll add more straw as mulch.

The front gardens are starting to do well, especially the greens. For some reason, our carrot seeds aren't wanting to sprout. Late last week I resowed some as I thought perhaps we set them out to early. Nothing really coming up yet, but we'll give it a little longer before we toss in the towel. The beds really need weeding thanks to all the rain, but I'm surely not going to complain about the rain! I have noticed that we have one strawberry that has turned red, so that is really exciting!!! The cherry tree looks to be full of berries too, so that is another very big excitement.
The onions we planted in the bed under the boys window seem to be doing well. Though since this is our first year growing I have to admit to not really knowing what is proper growth for them. We'll see. The Blue Hubbard squash plant's leaves are turning yellow. That's a head-scratcher. There is only one plant in there, it has gotten plenty of rain, and is in a nice mixture of aged compost and dirt so I have no idea what's up. Gonna go with the theory, for now anyway, about plants just following their own rules and guidelines, not ours!

Yesterday we worked on the back garden, which still doesn't yet have plants actually planted in it! A friend delivered us some old pallets which we used to temporarily patch the holes in the fence. We're planning on putting a picket fence in, but funds are an issue, so we're making due with pallets (which can then be re-used again to build another compost bin!). While Justin messed with that, I worked on emptying out the old compost bin. I have to admit that it hadn't fully composted. I think we need to turn it more often. Anyway, it took 5 or 6 wheelbarrow-fulls, but all the compost is now spread around the garden. I was then able to get one wheelbarrow-full (VERY FULL!) of wet, spoiled hay into the garden before we had to call it an evening.
Things we have learned: 1) When planning compost piles, make sure to take into account how you plan to empty them. Currently ours our too close, making emptying out the old one a true pain. Luckily, it is getting tossed since it didn't keep dogs out. But lesson was still learned!
2) We were lucky to get a big, round bale of spoiled hay delivered to us. Unfortunately, there was no way to drop it off in or near the garden. It went in the driveway. We tried getting it up over the fence (a seperate blog that I promise I will post soon!), which ... well I don't want to ruin the suprise, but it didn't work. ---- LESSON LEARNED: We're planning on putting in a new fence and gate at the end of the driveway anyway, but now we know to plan to make sure that the entry there is at least 6' wide. This way we can at least roll a hay bale through the gates.
While we haven't finished spreading mulch or hay, the garden IS ready for plants to be put in it. We plan to get out there and do that as soon as we have a good evening (or weekend day) where the weather is good and we aren't swamped with other "must-do's".

ALSO ~ APRIL'S EGG TALLY: 119 Eggs -- Year to Date (as of April 31st) 379 Eggs ~ YAY!!

Finally, this morning I wondered down to our Farmer's Market. I've been really excited about it since they've begun allowing meat & dairy to be sold! WOO HOO!!! I picked up some plants for the garden, since we've had bum-luck with some of the seeds. Got some Black Beauty Zucchini, some straight yellow summer squash, and then 8 red bell pepper plants. Let's REALLY keep our fingers crossed that these babies transplant well into the garden and take off. It will be our first year really attempting zucchini and summer squash too, so lots of excitement there.

How's your garden growin'??

Getting Seeds Planted & Started, the 2009 Egg Tally to date, and Tally Ho!

NOT a terribly impressive photo, I know. Sorry. When you're gearing up for things, the photos are always that impressive, what can I say? So, what the hell are you looking at there .. well, I'll tell ya! On the left, the green things shooting up are garlic bulbs coming up. I've been slack and still have yet to order my desired garlic, these are from store-bought garlic cloves that sprouted and I figured can't hurt to plant 'em. Obviously, there are some Black-eyed Susans planted next to them. To the right of the photo you can see some not-impressive looking strawberry plants. There are 6 of them there, though it is hard to see in the photo. We transplanted them for else-where in the yard to that spot, so we'll see how they do. Finally, in the front you can see some mustard greens (planted last year) coming up.
This past Sunday we took advantage of a pretty, and dry!, day and went to work in the front beds, planting seeds. We planted kale, buttercrunch lettuce (a really well-growing staple in our yard), rouge d'hiver lettuce (a red lettuce), and some more mustard greens. These were all planted in the same area, roughly speaking, as the photo above. It'll look good when they come up, so you'll just have to trust me until then.
We also planted some Chantennay Red Carrots and some Cosmic Charlie Purple Carrots. Ok, they aren't really called Cosmic Charlie, they're just called Cosmic Purple, but we're too ingrained with Grateful Dead songs .. so we've affectionately renamed them. We switched up the areas of planting just a little bit, rotating crops some so as to better preserve the soil. We've already planted some onion seeds, Newburg Onions, which are beginning to sprout up a little, but nothing picture worthy yet. This is our first year actually trying to grow onions, so we're really excited about this.
Indoors, we got a seed tray going. We started Romanesco Broccoli, Hungarian Sweet Banana Peppers, Tall Utah Celery, Anaheim (hot) peppers, and Red & Yellow Bell Peppers (seeds we had saved from previous growing seasons). As of today, the broccoli seeds have started to sprout!! YAY!! We also had a LONG and "very stern" lecture with the kids about NOT messing with the seed trays. They tend to enjoy digging in the plants that we have in the sunroom, so we explained that the seeds really needed to be left alone if we want to have a good garden this year. While out getting groceries yesterday I picked up another seed tray, this one will be all tomatoes. We're going to be doing mostly all Cherokee Chocolate tomatoes, but we'll also have some that will be good for sauces and ketchups. I can't decide yet where exactly to plant them though: their heirloom and open pollinated, meaning they will cross-pollinate with each other - something we learned about the hard way after our 1st year. We'll see about that though as the time comes closer.
This should get us well underway. Everything else can be directly sown into the ground once the time comes. We still need to put the new fence up around the garden, and then get some more straw down in there, but that will come. Oh yea, and we're growing hops for our beer again this year. The Cascade Hops from last year are coming back up, but we think all the other ones were destroyed by the dogs last year (the Cascades were the only ones that really grew last year). We'll be ordering the rhizomes in a couple weeks, and should have those in the ground by the end of the month.

As you may remember (or maybe not) our Egg Tally for last year was 72 eggs. Considering the chicks were born a year ago today (HAPPY BIRTHDAY LADYBIRD - who is pictured above, ANN BANCROFT, PATTI, and PATTI), and everything we went through, we were thrilled with this number. We've been keeping count of how many eggs we get a day, even which colors we get so that we can know who is laying. Here is the EGG TALLY for 2009:
January - 53 eggs
February - 98 eggs
March - 109 eggs
2009 EGG TALLY as of March 31st - 260 Eggs!!!
We've given away at least 10 dozen, though I think the number is higher than that (I think I gave away several 1/2 dozens without writing it down). It sounds like a lot of eggs, and to some degree it is, but as I type this, we have no eggs. There was one outside this morning when I went out, but I cooked 2 eggs for Justin for breakfast and the boys split 6 eggs, scrambled, for lunch - so unless there are more outside, we're currently sitting on empty. Still, it is a wonderful feeling to know that the eggs we eat are usually only a couple of days old, if that!
Finally, inspired by the Dervaes and they're Little Homestead in the City,
, we've realized the importance of keeping a tally of how much we're able to grow. We're also going to attempt to keep a tally of how much we're able to save. This helps us know and remember the impact we're able to make, and foster a positive attitude about it. The Dervaes call it "Tally Ho!" and for now we will too.
Look for some slight changes to the blog as I figure out the best way to share these tallies with everyone.

Readying the Garden

I just got done reading a wonderful blog post. Jenna at Cold Antler Farm wrote about "Graceful Decline" - a must read, check it out here: http://coldantlerfarm.blogspot.com/2008/10/last-night-was-killing-frost.html I likened that "ahh" moment to how a tree must feel when it starts allowing the leaves to turn and then fall off, before hardening itself back up for winter.
Our garden was a bust this year. We were busy with other things (chickens, ponds, patios) and didn't have the time/desire to devote to it. Plus, we realized that our gardening styles have changed. Justin used to find zen in going out and pulling weeds for a couple of hours, but now no longer likes it. I love the planning and planting, but hate the weeds as well.
Our compromise? We're going to try Ruth Stout's method of deep mulching with straw and compost. Rather than tilling up the Earth which disrupts all the life in the soil, creates noise pollution, creates pollution from running a gas-powered tiller, causes Justin stress (from having to go rent the tiller, get it home, till the garden, and get it back before they charge us more), and sends me running for the hills (hoping I don't get a migraine from the noise) - we're trying a quiet, peaceful process that builds soil quality, helps keep down weeds, and will help retain soil moisture during summer's dry spells.
I have to say, so far I am loving it. We let the chickens "till" up areas that we're already done for us for a while, which they loved. Now we're filling in with straw. I've found it is a Zen Moment for me, spreading out the straw. I pick apart the bales and shake the straw loose, watching it fall in golden clumps to the ground. I love seeing the older straw, matted down and gray. Soon, when we stock up on hay bales and have a good long afternoon to devote to it, we will spread the compost from the bin down, and then cover it with the straw (help keep the dogs uninterested).
And now I'd like to toast a "cheers" to everyone for a hard summer's work, and to toast to that wonderful "Ahhh" moment.

Another Busy Weekend

Today we worked around the yard: Justin clearing out the weeds that have taken over most of the garden, since we hadn't had a chance to plant everything yet, both boys helping him plant seeds, and then me planting things in the side garden as well as up front in the front beds. We made nice progress, though Justin got a really nice sunburn on his back again. OUCH!!! We plucked the apples that have been growing on the Gala Apple tree off, as they are too young to really reach maturity and are merely weighing down the branches. It was a sad thing to have to do, but needed. On a good note though, we've been able to harvest our first strawberries this year. Last year we had one or two grow, but something else got them before we did - this year we've gotten 3 (yes, only 3, but it is a start!) so far. Justin ate the first and Shannon has gotten the chance to pick the other two off of the vine and eat them immediately. The delight in watching him getting to do this, knowing we grew them is amazing. These photos are of Shannon getting to pick his first, homegrown strawberry, then eating it!!

To say he loved this was an understatement!