Monday, July 19, 2010

Tour our Garden.

We decided to try a little different gardening plan in our backyard. I am loving all the advantages of it. Here is where I got the basics of my plan. According to him, I'm not really doing square foot gardening because I didn't section off my boxes into square feet. But, otherwise its the same idea.

I'm trying out a few new to me vegetables this year: kohlrabi, parsnips, fennel and several other herbs. I'm trying broccoli, brussel spouts, and turnips again, which I haven't had super success with before. We also have beans, carrots, peas, snap peas, lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, peppers, onions, garlic, and beets in the boxes. I also put in 5 different kinds of flowers into the boxes, which are starting to grace our table now. I told the kids that the nasturtium flowers are edible, so they ate them out of the vase which seemed fun at the time. Now, they want to eat all the flowers. Whoops, I guess that wasn't such a good idea after all.These were taken a couple of weeks ago, I can't believe how much everything has grown since then. The cucumbers and squash are up to the top of the verticals now. We've had our first 2 cucumber now! The zucchini are taking over the corner and the tomatoes are huge!This is my herb box. I am loving the basil and parsley and have discovered yummy pesto. The cilantro is not getting used as well, since the kids really don't eat anything I put it in. The marjoram is being used for the lamb that we've been eating lately. The dill made the best broccoli soup the other day. The lemon balm makes incredible tea. I haven't been using the fennel yet. I made the mistake of planting dill and fennel next to each other. I read last week that I may have dilly-fennel and fennely-dill since they are closely related. I have never had such good success with my herbs. I really think it's the light soil mix that we used in the boxes, plus it's very weed free. Other years it seems like weeds took over before the herb seeds ever germinated.The kids are a really fun age this year to enjoy gardening. Kellen is always wanting his own plants now. Here he is with the flower Grandma bought him at the farmer's market. They both like to help with watering. Lanelle especially will stay at it forever and I have to pay attention or things get overwatered. Here she's watering my mint, which I've enjoyed in meat and in tea.
I'll have to remember to take pictures again soon and document the progress.

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Beach Vacation

I am loving every minute of July, as I am not working one day! I've been asked a lot about what we're doing or where we are going. I'd like to not drive farther than the 20 minutes to our favorite beach. I think the perfect vacation is to stay at home. Here's some of our first day of beach vacation.
The house was really suffering, so we've taken a couple days break from the beach now. Besides there was fun to be had in the backyard, at the playground, berry picking up in the hills, and in the kitchen (um, yeah, homemade pasta is amazing!) The only thing I'm not enjoying lately is when the thought of August crosses my mind. Can July last forever?!

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Morning Adventuring

We ventured back to our favorite berry picking spot for the first time this year. Ian has been bringing home Saskatoons from the side of road lately, so we figured we should go check things out. We had to pick around unripe berries still, which slowed us down but did not spoil the fun!"Where are you guys?""We're in here, Lanelle!"At first Lanelle, was offering me some of hers. After awhile, she came with a purple mouth asking for some of mine.

"Look at all my berries, Mom!"Lanelle picked some.But, had none to bring home.I LOVE this one. Purple hands!Sheena invited us to come over for some Saskatoon pancakes, yummy!

Friday, May 28, 2010

My beauty

Have I mentioned how much I love this little girl?






Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Backyard fun

We are enjoying our backyard so much this year. The kids actually play well for a significant period of time so I can get some work done back there. (But if I sit on the swing, they hound me to play with them!) The half-hoed weed patch in the background is now filled with planted raised bed (yea!) Lanelle is old enough now that I trust her around the fire and the hot tub, so we are loving it all...





Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Cousins

I have great memories of fun with cousins when I was little. I love watching my kids make some of those same memories with their cousins. Lanelle and Ariana going for a walk with Grandpa.
Nolan and Kellen took a few moments to sit and play sidewalk chalk. But, seem to enjoy more of this type of activity...


Ayden and Kellen...


And the 2 new little guys that will some day be running around and shooting each other with water guns - Silas and Caleb.


Monday, May 24, 2010

Lovely

It was a lovely morning so we canoed over to visit friends instead of driving. Lanelle crouches in the canoe in front of me and enjoys every minute. I cannot believe how much the kids like canoeing. They really didn't complain or fuss on the almost hour long trip. Not easy to take pictures of ourselves in a canoe...
Kellen had so much fun playing with Isaiah - catching frogs, leeches... The kids also really enjoyed hanging out with their sheep, goats, miniature horse and donkey. Lanelle always amazes me with how comfortable she is around animals. She loved wandering in the pen, petting all the lambs and baby goats. She really fell in love with a friendly black lamb and wanted to take him home. I really enjoyed getting to visit with a very special family. It's been a beautiful and blessed long weekend and its not over yet. Off for supper with another special family...