The NEW Kitchen

Drum roll please.....  
(I took these pictures last night, during the crazy rain storm, really a flood.  The photos are a little dark, but the kitchen was clean.... so clean won out!  Normally there is a ton of natural light and I still have not had the curtains made.)

BEFORE... 

AFTER...

Summer Nights are a little different here.... 

Most nights here are cool and crisp with a slight breeze in the air.  

(Yes, MY kids are wearing jackets in June.)  

Some nights are muggy.. but nothing like what we are used to.

But, on the cool nights, we find a good reason to be outside....

The discovery of the GIANT Marshmallow.... in white AND PINK...

(And the giant mess that it makes!)

Even the dogs are hoping for just one to drop...

We were so excited to have Belle home and doing well after her surgery earlier in the week.  Each of "the girls" got a few marshmallows.  Belle's mass was removed off the back of her left foot and the removal was successful.  The biopsy came back benign.  The mass was determined to be a bloody growth of veins and arteries and should not return.  I am so grateful, Belle is my girl.... MY dog. 

Can you tell that Dixie is a Daddy's girl?

  

These are photos the kids took of each other....

We ended the night up in the tree house reading some books.  

Kate then decided to tell ghost stories and ended up only scaring herself! 

Carrots...

Kate's all time favorite veggie is the carrot, raw and then dipped in ranch.... 
(Artichokes are her other favorite.)  


Planting carrots in the garden was a given, but the wait has been a long one.....  
We planted carrot seeds in May and now mid-July, it's just like the book The Carrot Seed, 
"And one day the carrot came up, just as the little boy had known it would."  
(Occasionally I pulled up a carrot to check it's size and today I was excited to find out how much they have grown!)


Kate ate them and even some without the regular staple, ranch.... (WOW!)

And the even bigger surprise, Stephen ate a bunch!  

Stephen is a great veggie eater.  Broccoli is his every day favorite, but he also likes peas and green beans.  No matter how many times I have given him carrots, he takes a bite, chews it and then spits it out.  Today, he ate 5 or 6!  I am so excited!  

Stephen generously offered me a carrot and I was curious.  I was surprised, the flavor was milder, sweeter and the crunch was tender.  I can see why he liked these.  Luckily there are a ton more in the garden, but I need to plant more seeds!  

One of the other reasons I wanted to grow a garden was to expose my kids to new veggies.  I also wondered if the veggies we grew would they taste different than what we buy at the store.  And the answer is yes.    


And we are reaping the benefits of the yellow squash and zucchini.  They are so tender and delicious.... Building, filling, planting, watering, and maintaining a garden is a lot of work, but this makes it worth it.  

He is 100% Potty Trained 
.... and he thinks he is "Captain Underpants!"

OUR Garden

I have ALWAYS wanted to grow my own garden.

Each year we had a good reason not to do it, i.e. moving, new baby, moving (again)...
And now this year and in a state that is known for its farming.... We did it!
I was never particular about what I wanted to grow, I just wanted to grow my own food.

I some of my earliest memories as a child are in my Grandparent's backyard in upstate New York.  I can remember the yard was surrounded by flowers, and a garden next to the deck.  In particular I remember the raspberries.  I remember picking and eating them and thinking there was nothing sweeter or better than this.  I still think raspberries (even in season) from the store taste completely different than the ones you pick and eat immediately.  Currently we do not have any raspberries in our yard or garden, but our "green thumb" neighbor does and she has some for us.  In the meantime, we enjoy going to her yard and eating her raspberries.  She also has a very large Mulberry tree full of berries and the kids fingers and mouths are a dark purple after visiting.

At the end of March, our garden started.  Everyone in the family helped and played an integral part.  The kids and I began by planting seeds inside the house and keeping them in a warm place.  First cucumber seeds, then red peppers, followed by zucchini and yellow squash.  The rest of the seeds and plants were added once the garden was complete.

April 17th, about 2 weeks.

David cleared an area in our back yard and built "the box."  The box is '8 x 24' and as you can see there is room to grow, if we want to make it bigger in the future.

The kids helped, but this was one of David's BIG contributions.  

After the box was complete, we had to fill it.  First we added our own compost that we had collected since moving here last August.  I was amazed that it was just a drop in the bucket to fill the garden box. However, it was a great lesson for the kids how our food turns to dirt.  Kate and Stephen enjoyed breaking up the egg shells.

Did you know that every tomato plant needs calcium rich soil to grow a great tomato?  

One way to achieve that, is egg shells in your soil.   

How did we fill the rest of the box?  Our local dump has FREE compost.... and our "green thumb" neighbor confirmed it was really good.  3 truck loads later, we filled the box.  David would hall the dirt in the wheel barrow and the kids and I would spread it around in the garden.  It was black, rich and wet..... We had high hopes.

Then the kids and I planted our seedlings and more seeds.  (I did not document this part of our garden well, school ended, we started remodeling our kitchen and then the accident...)

This picture was taken the first night of our kitchen remodel.
It was a "Surviving Wednesday" night..... David was in class, Robyn's husband was working, and Jennifer's husband was playing golf..... even the dogs had a friend over.

(If you look to the left of the play equipment and past the fence you can see the black soil and tiny seedlings in front of the wood pile.)

I did some reading, research on the internet, inquiring with friends, neighbors and local farmers were I bought some of the plants....
This was what we based our designed on.

May 26, 2010

June 29, 2010

Left to Right... Yellow Squash, Zucchini, Red Peppers, Carrots & Radishes, open space....
Cucumbers in the back, Lettuce and Eggplant in front, mixed with random Red Peppers....
And lots of Tomatoes....

Zucchinni, Red Peppers, Carrots, Radishes...

Cucumbers climbing in back, Lettuce, random Red Peppers, Eggplant and Tomatoes... 

Our first yellow squash & zucchini... 

Outside of "the box" we planted green bean, potato, corn, pumpkin, and watermellon seeds.

Kate's green bean tee-pee

(The last corn survivors... we think the squirrels are to blame for the fate of the others.)

Little Pumpkins.... 

Beginning Tomatoes...

Honestly, I am a little shocked things actually grew!  We believe the good soil is a large part of the reason.  I am really proud of our family and we all played an integral part.  We have now started to enjoy the "vegetables" of our labor.  Lettuce and radishes were the first.  Then followed by the zucchini and yellow squash.  

(I think the kids have had the most fun pulling up radishes.)

Kate is really growing this summer, coming into her own.  And perfectly in HER own way...

(Kate, August 2009)

One night Stephen fell asleep early and it was just the 3 of us outside.

After a bike ride with David she wanted them OFF.... her training wheels.

We are still practicing and trying to ride without the training wheels.  The first night she stopped because she was pretty frustrated, but she got back on the next day... and she keeps trying. 

Stephen's favorite things to ask me right now are..... 


"Momma, what time is it?"  
... and then he repeats the time back to be just like he completely understands how to tell time too.  


"Momma, what do ____ eat?" 

...  fill in the blank with any animal, fish, tigers, giraffe, spiders.... it is fascinating to watch his little mind process these curious facts.

Remember the real baby bunnies?  We are really glad Nana sent these to us for easter... because to us these are the "real" bunnies.  We take them with us EVERYWHERE!

on a happier note....

Kate graduated 4/5 Kindergarten from Amy Montessori School!