I'm only happy when it rains...

RAIN.

We finally got it.  I didn't think it would ever come, but it did.  Things are a little disheveled  from all the rain.  Many of the tomato cages are knocked over.  In a couple places in the summer garden the dirt washed.  I wish I would have covered all the rows with straw before this rain. Now I have to wait for a few days for the ground will be dry enough to walk in there.

Summer Garden

Compost around the onions to keep weeds down

Other than the rain, we have a strawberry problem.  One raised bed has produced quite a few delicious healthy strawberries.  the others seems to have some type of fruit rot.  It turns the fruit brownish color before it is even ripe.  I have been pulling all this fruit off so the plant won't waste resources on it. When I researched it online as to what could be the problem, it stated that fruit rot was causes by soil that is too wet.  That is defiantly not the case.  Raised beds drain well and we haven't had enough rain for things to be "wet."  Have you seen or heard of this problem before?  Any suggestions/solutions?

Lettuce patch :)

What's going on in your garden this week?

Moving Day

The chicks have well over stayed their welcome in my garage.  Last Wednesday, they turned 3 weeks old.  Naive and an educated, I thought that I would get my chicks and put them outside the day I got them.  Ha! 3 weeks later they were still in my garage stinky up my house.

Our chicken count is now to 23.  We lost one on the 2nd week, to unknown causes.  Earlier this week one got trapped under the chicken tractor in the process of moving it.  It was a little traumatic. 

They are so much easier to take care of outside.  I feed and water them morning and night,(instead of every couple hours.) This past week we have only moved them once a day.  I can see very soon, that they will need to be moved twice a day.    

Happy Chicks in the grass.

This is the view from the back deck.  It was a beautiful cloud day:)

In my Garden: May 26

Here's what the garden looked like this past week:

We have blooming sage, it's beautiful. Notice one sage plant is blooming, the other is new this season.  The blooming sage plant weathered the winter.  We covered it with straw and it came back full force this spring.

 Strawberries are in bloom and so are the weeds.  Like many of you we haven't received rain for several weeks.  At least not anything that has amounted to much.  Our first pick of the strawberries were flavorless.  The seeds were  compacted together.  I assume it is due to the lack of moisture.  The second picking was more palatable.

Lettuce patch

An entire row of lettuce, which means salad everyday.  For some of us that's wonderful.  For others it means scratching our head trying to come up with more homemade salad dressing recipes.  PLEASE, share your favorites!

Breakfast radishes from the raised bed.

Saturday we planted flowers around the perimeter that attract bees.  Brett planted buckwheat inbetween some of the rows. Between all the tomatoes we planted basil.   I can't wait to go snack on tomatoes and basil in the garden.

Spring Garden

The snap peas are blooming.   These are a favorite with the boys.  Especially, Roman, he loves anything green and crunchy.  Lil Brett even influenced the dog to try the peas.  Surprisingly she is enjoying them?

Spring Garden

Saturday it sprinkled all day, which left lil Brett covered in mud.  Most of it came from wrestling with the dog.

That was our garden this week.  What's happening in your garden?

Chicks in a peep

This week with the chicks have been successful. None of our feathered friends have died! Last Thursday, the chicks arrived in a box, all fluffy and yellow.  The boys were so excited to meet their 25 new friends, especially Brett.  He takes this job seriously.  He spends at least 30 minutes a day in garage singing and saying sweet things to them.  Occasionally, I'll find one who didn't make in back in the pool.  Or, there was the time when the held 3 of them hostage on top of the trash can.  Not to worry, he told me they were fine.  He told the chicks not to jump.  I just had to trust that they listened.

 Their first home I didn't get a picture of.  It was a cardboard box with a plastic trash bag taped to the inside with duck tape with newspaper on top.  FAIL.  The chicks pecked at the tape enough that it began to fall off, causing them to get their tiny feathers stuck to the tape.  OUCH! I had to pull a few too many off of the tape.  Next came the pool.  The pool setup evolved quickly.  The pool first had nothing coving the bottom.  I'm not sure how long I thought that was going to last.  It lasted a half day.  Chicks poop so much!  The bottom of the pool was covered.  Then I put down newspaper.  It didn't help much, they just pooped on top of that.  At this point the chicks were getting really dirty.  They needed a bath.  My mom in law suggested wood shavings.  So, until I was able to buy wood shaving, we used straw. 

Now, we have wood shavings, two watering containers, two food containers, and a whole lot of poop.    The wood shavings keep them clean and dry.  It also makes it for an easy clean up.  It has not even been two weeks and I'm ready for these "big" birds to move to the chicken tractor outside.  I have had enough of their fragrance. 

If you are wondering if they have any names...Roman has named one Dairy B.  Brett has casually thrown around the names like tree, house, roof, car, and motor cycle.  Interesting.

In the Garden May 14

Our garden has been in the making for a month or so now.  Much later, like many others, than usual.  I've decided to keep track of our garden weekly here now.  Some of you are not into the garden realm, understandably so.  If you have a garden of your own please leave comments and/or tips of your own.

Boys raised bed.  It is filled with transplanted lettuce, spinach, and kale. All the greens they like to stop by and eat.

Strawberry and asparagus 

Newly planted asparagus and strawberries

Raspberries

Volunteer sunflowers and green beans that haven't appeared yet.

On top of the hill we have sweet corn and hopefully green beans.

This is my favorite garden, today.  This is the "spring garden".   It is filled with raised beds full of onions, carrots and beets.

 In crooked rows you can find snap peas and cabbage.

This is also my favorite.  This row is full of onions and a mixture of beets, mustard greens, spinach, and lettuce.  It's where I venture to find a salad.  Yum!

The "summer garden" is full of pepper, tomatoes and cucumbers.

Lastly here is the radishes, more lettuce, arugula, and I can't remember...

Well, that's what we have so far.  Next, time I'll try to catch some cute children in the garden.  For many of you the pictures are probably dull with my kids in them.

Happy Gardening till next week:)

Happy Birthday!

Today is my first baby's birthday.  He turns three today.  I can still remembering holding him for the first time and being so overwhelmed with joy.  I couldn't understand how you could love something so much so fast.  God has blessed us with an intelligent, hilarious, and curious son.   I pray that he loves God and serves him.

On this special day we are going to watch my nephew play his first baseball game.  Hopefully the rain will hold off.  Then dinner at home with one of the birthday boy's favorite desserts, sliced strawberries and whipped cream.  Then present:)  Pictures to come.

Simplify my Life Week 3

This weeks challenge was to conquer counter tops, closets, or junk drawers.  I chose a little combo of the desk area (aka throw anything here that you don't know where it goes) and our entryway closet. 

Both scary areas of the house.  When guest come over I usually hide clutter in these areas. Of course, all the clutter stays when the guest depart.

First I began with the desk.  I first started at the top getting rid of anything that didn't belong there.  I put things in piles of where they belong in other parts of the house.  Then I began sorting everything in categories:

• things that need attention (bills)
• receipts to save and file
• greeting cards, stamps
• tax information

Each has it's own place in or on the desk.  Hopefully this will give us a new start to things.

As for the closet, the major problems were not enough hangers to hang up the coats, items that didn't belong, and the storage bins were not organized any more.  My goal for the closet was to be able to fit our vacuum cleaner in it.  I am tired of sharing a room with it. This closet didn't take much time to defeat.  My husband definitely noticed.

Sigh...

With all this rain I have been able to get a lot of spring organizing accomplished.

What spring cleaning projects have you attempted?

Sugar Detox

A couple weeks ago I read of a woman who went on a sugar detox for an entire month. She then blogged about her month long journey to sugar free. She talked in depth of the cravings she had. Now I feel that cravings are natural. They are sometimes our bodies way of letting us know that we are deficient in a certain area. When she began describing her craving it sounded very familiar. I staring thinking about what I was eating and the way I was feeling throughout the day. To be perfectly honest I haven't been eating very well. Work has been very busy and my two boys keep me on the move, all the time.
After I heard my best friend and my sister-in-law were going sugar free for the rest of March I thought there was no better than now. Thanks to Joy the Baker's cinnamon roll biscuits I could use a little less sugar.

Day 1: I feel confident that I can do this, who needs sugar? I don't need sugar. Soon my body will be happy with real food and natural favors. First temptation cinnamon roll biscuits. No problem I sent one with my son and I didn't take a bite. Coffee: normally i have creamer, i replaced it with raw milk and a splash of homemade vanilla extract. Surprisingly satisfying. Things were going well until after lunch. Normally I find a piece or three of sugar candy. Instead I had some granola( I know that has sugar in it.) I also ended up having some pretzels. Not bad overall. I can do better tomorrow'.

Day 2: no more cinnamon roll biscuits;the ants got. The ants got the rest. Thank you hungry ants. After I had bad sugar cravings again. I ate more pretzels. The evening went well until my mother-in-law announced that she had made homemade coconut and banana pudding. I politely declined but later I couldn't resist, i had a small taste it was good, but i was done. Before I went to bed I began to feel the need for something sweet. I opted for decaf tea. That worked pretty well.

Day 3: Sick baby: home from work all day. No bad cravings after lunch. After putting the boys to bed I needed something sweet. I found some dried dates and cherries. They tasted great.

Day 4: Short day a work. This is the first day I don't feel restricted. After lunch I had a few dates
and felt great. I just realized no Starbucks while on this detox, unless it's a latte. No biggie.

Day 5: Again after lunch I had a craving. This time I wasn't at home to find a good snack. So I decided I would go get some unsweetened tea from Quiktrip. It tasted good but didn't help the craving. I found a piece of gum. It help me until it was time to leave. In the evening I clean out my fridge, for simplifying my life, and found a specialty chocolate that I had forgot about. It was sweetened with honey. I ate it and it tasted great and wanted more. There was only one piece thank goodness. That was my first real dessert from the detox. Oh and after dinner mints, are made from sugar. Opps.

Day 6:  Busy day in the garden.  Things went well until dinner time.  I was feeling the need for dessert.  I decided to make a sugar-free, gluten sweet treat.  It was hard to stop once I had a bite.
Day 7: After last night I feel I need to run.  Morning run with the dog helped clear my mind.  New day, new opportunities.  Today started the week long birthday week.  Two parties today.  First party I did great.  It was easy to say no thank.  The second party was a cookout with smores, homemade cookies, and homemade pudding, I only had a small taste.  I didn't realize how much I taste test everything*.

One week and what can I say?
-It has been easier than I thought to say no to sweets that thought would be difficult.
-I taste test a lot more than I realize.  When cooking I try everything.
-I'm surprised that the cravings are still here and this intense.
-I feel like I am eating more especially at dinner.

One week down and feeling strong.  What tips or suggestions do you have from your experiences from a sugar free detox?

Birthday Bannner

This is one of the easiest crafts to create for a birthday party or celebration.  I have made a coulpe of these in the past.  My best friend is using her banner in photographs.  Kids can decorate their room with them.  There are endless possibilities.  So as I promised, here it is. 

Materials:

Fabric of your choice- I used burlap, I love the natural look to it.  I used old dress shirt of my husband and left over ligthening McQueen and Mater fabric from pajama pants
sewing machine
ribbon or something to sew your triangles to
pins to hold everything in place
contrasting thred

Cut 6-8 triangles from a pattern you have made.  Draw a triangle on a piece of paper, cut it out, then trace around it on the fabric and cut them all out at once.  Remember they don't need to be exact, imperfection is part of the banner.

If you want add triangles on top on triangles now is the time.  To make my triangles smaller I just cut my pattern off one side a bit.  About an inch of thick is what I cut off.  Pin the other triangles on using pins.  Add letters or characters or numbers to your triangles with more pins.  I just cut out McQueen and Mater out of the flannel print that I had.

ZigZag stitch the triangles together.

ZigZag stitch around character.

Pin the triangles to the ribbon and use the sewing machine to connect them. When sewing make sure to take out your pins before you are about to sew over them.  Some keep them in, but I have broken my needle before leaving them in.  Sew over extra triangle and additions.  I used  a zigzag stitch to sew my things together.  I think it gives them a fun look.

Now you are ready to party it up with your new birthday banner.

What fun craft things do you make for your child's birthday celebration?