Happy Long Weekend to All!

We had a lovely Memorial Day Weekend with some going to the beach and some staying home and lots of just being together doing things.  I hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend too.  The apple blossoms have hit full force! 

Thinking Spring

We had a snow day last week.  One day in which I did not go to work and the children and husband came home from school and work early.  And we spent that afternoon doing super fun snow day-type activities.  And one activity, I'm thinking the favorite of everyone involved, that was not a snow day-type activity.  We started some tomato seeds.
Fynn loved pouring the water over the peet pellets and watching them grow like "magic" and poking holes with his finger into each one.  We sprinkled the seeds together to help control the clumping that inevitably will happen and we gave the plants a little water.  And then we put the tray up on the fire mantel so it would stay nice and warm and get some morning sun and we waited.
We went about our life for the last week or so and ignored it.  And taking the tray down to check and water it this morning we got quite a nice little surprise.  Plants have started growing!

So, even after this mild winter, I guess the sign outside Clark's farm stand is right....there really are only 3 more days until spring! 
The lake is thawing out, and we went and bought our first grown up grill this last weekend.  The steak and chicken we cooked last night were to die for!  I see many, many grilled dinners each week to come as the clocks have turned and given us a bit more light to cook by after we get home every night.
Spring is definetly in the air at our house.  How about yours?

Squash!

So we pulled more then 100 lbs of squash and pumpkins out of the garden tonight. It is crazy down there, we didn't even get through half the garden and there are tons more that aren't quite ready to be picked.  We will have squash this winter!  Please excuse the darkness of these pictures.  It was pretty dark out when we got back from the pumpkin patch.  But check that out, pumpkins, acorns, butternut, hubbards, pie pumpkins, scallop, spaghetti and one mystery squash.

Fynn really likes to help with all the little squash, he was great at putting them in the cart for us.  

This gardening thing is very exciting to me.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them all, but they keep well in the cellar and I'm currently on the lookout for good recipes, so if you know of any please send them my way.  

Pumpkins For Sale!

What started as a whim has become a real whopper of a Pumpkin Patch.  We have Hubbards, Acorn Squash, Butternut Squash, Scallop Squash, Spaghetti Squash, and Pumpkins (LOTS OF PUMPKINS!!!!)

Like more pumpkins then we will ever use.  And we don't want to waste them, that would be sad.  So we decided we would set up a table next to the road and they could hang out there with a bucket for money.  So this weekend, that is what we have done.   We are asking $3 for the small ones and $5 for the BIG ones and we even have some of the other squash out there for various prices.
I figure the pumpkins in the store are starting at about $6 but who needs that, we are just selling our extra and if we sell one of the big ones that covers the cost of seeds for that garden.  Not trying to get rich or anything.
And what is the worse thing that could happen?  someone will come by and steal one.  Well, I guess that means they will need it more then I do.
I kind of like having a farm stand.  I like the fact that we were able to grow more then we needed.  Especially because my husband has even told me that he only helped me plant all those seeds to humor me, he never thought they would actually grow in that old manure patch.

Canning When it is Hot

Since we now live in the country we are working on getting gardens going so we can grow as much of our own food as possible.  And when all of this food is grown and ready to be picked some of will be canned one way or another. I have been looking through my cookbook and thinking about all of the different stuff I want to try to make this year. 

One problem...canning means heat, lots of heat.  And who wants all of that heat in their kitchen in the middle of summer?  So we decided we would try doing this over a fire outside in the fire pit.  We wanted to see if we could get the fire hot enough to sustain a boil.  And we did.  So Saturday Patrick built the fire and was in charge of the water and I bustled about and made Strawberry Rhubarb Jam, Rhubarb in Syrup, Rhubarb Barbeque sauce, sour pickled fiddleheads, and lilac jelly.  And we processed it all outside, in the breeze, and the sun.  And even with having to cart everything outside to fill the jars, it was so nice to be able to walk into my kitchen and not fall over from the heat of a boiling canner. 
This is going to be so great come pickle season once the beans and cucumbers are ready.  I have so many plans to make. 
In other garden news, I have green things in my bathtub gardens!!!! 

Gardening is my Life

Well that is how it feels sometimes right now.  We are busy getting gardens ready...without a rototiller at this point.  And that means a LOT of labor for my husband and a bit of labor for me.  But we are getting there.  And hopefully the sun will come out tomorrow and I will be able to take some pictures for you all.  I even have some bathtub gardens! 
And I just got home from an awesome talk on Winter sustainable gardening.  I learned a ton and can't wait to go buy some bush beans because frankly we eat soooo many green beans and it is ridiculous to buy them when they are so easy to grow. So we will be adding some beans and potatoes to the garden and I leaned some other great stuff that I think I will be saving for next year.  Like how to defend your plants from bugs without chemicals.  Fabric is great for more then just quilts and clothes. 
And the guy talked about storing your veggies and all sorts of good things. Did you know that Kale is the easiest to store veggie ever, you just leave it there and when you want to eat it you move the snow off of it and pick what you want to eat.  It is crazy.  And you can just mulch your root veggies and leave them right in the ground all winter long and just dig up what you want to eat.  I am getting really excited about this. 
In other news, I have a new nephew!  Ezekiel was born on the 19th at 12:17 am and he is beautiful.  And a BOY, they were expecting a girl, and that means I need to hurry up and finish a boy quilt so when we go up to see them in a few weeks I will have it done. 
And now lets hope it doesn't take me another month to post again.