Some summer shots..

FOURTH OF JULY!!

Little Mr. 4th of July!! haha! This little guy LOVED the fireworks!! Aubrey and Anna hated fireworks when they were little!









THE GARDEN
This is the first year that we have ever "gone all out" with our garden. We have grown a few things here and there over the years, but this is the first year that we really put a lot of planning ahead and worked really hard together as a family to make a huge garden. We have grown tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, banana peppers, cayenne and jalapeno peppers, strawberries, potatoes and gourds. (My husband wanted to grow gourds to build birdhouses with our two younger daughers.) Last winter we grew onions, lettuce, mustard greens, and broccoli but we only had success with the lettuce and greens. Let's just say that we have learned ALOT in our gardening experience this year!! Wow! First of all, it takes lots of determination, planning, and many sweat hours!:) We learned all about composting which is really the key to great soil. We gathered about two truckloads full of compost (free) from a nearby place to start with. We have also done some composting ourselves. My husband designed in the winter how he wanted the garden to look, and he and some friends of his built all the raised beds and posts that we have in the garden. He also added a cute touch by carving some of the names of the vegetables we grew on the top of the posts. Probably the most valuable lesson we learned this year was to pay VERYYY close attention to how much spacing each plant should have. Our squash plants are HUGE and are hanging out of their beds.. and the tomatoes are all over the place because we did not give them adequate space in their beds. Even despite these mistakes, we have still grown much squash and tomatoes. I have made several jars of tomato puree to use in pastas and we can eat squash anytime we want! My husband loves hot pepper rings and sauces so thanks to my mother in law and articles I have read on the internet, we have sauces and rings that will last us (him!) all year. I have also learned to can this year and I've learned what I can freeze. I am excited about what all we have learned and have taught our children. They don't always *like* working in the garden - especially now that it's so hot - , but they have learned so much and have been a big help to me and my husband.



My little model is sitting by one of our two cucumber beds. We planted the type of cucumbers that get huge!! And we have had tons grow this year. I think next year we will plant the kind that is smaller and more ideal for pickling.

In this bed, we grew tomatoes, cayenne peppers, jalapeno peppers and basil. This is the first time we have ever grown basil.. and I am so glad we did!! It is great in pasta dishes and is very healthy. Basil also deters bugs from tomatoes. Handy little herb!!:) All of this is still growing in the garden.. the tomatoes are doing okay but we grew them too close together, and they are also tall and much bigger than we expected. We finally gave up trying to pick up the plants, so they are all over the place! I can usually pick one to three tomatoes a day, and we have way more basil than we'll ever eat!!

This is squash beside the strawberry plants. The strawberries didn't do so well, but we are hoping they will do better next year! The squash was planted too close together and will have to be placed in larger beds next year. Once again, we learned our lesson with spacing!! (But I have made a lot of squash this year and even froze some of it for the winter.)

We still have tons of banana peppers growing, and they are not hot. I cook these in almost anything.. rice, potatoes, pastas, chop them up for salads, etc. Thankfully I have learned how to freeze them so we can eat them all year long!



MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND