Its a Wrap April 12, 2015

It was a VERY busy week here.  By Friday Steve & I were both ready to just take off on a long vacation. 

Yeah that didn't happen.  Some times I just sit down and look at my beach pictures.  Seems like a vacation that way.  Not a lot of pics from this week so I'll share some great ones. 

We jumped back into school on Monday with both feet.  I've looked at the numbers.  We have to crank out the school in April, May & June to make up for our VERY slow December & January.  In one way it is depressing to not be close to finishing but we all know why so their is no guilt or thoughts of being behind.  It is what it is. 

After lunch Elizabeth & I went to the lab to get more of her blood drawn.  She has an appointment in a couple of weeks with a rheumatologist and this got a jump on the blood work that will be needed.  No fainting so that was AWESOME!

On Tuesday, I had a special opportunity to visit with a friend who I hadn't seen in 8 years.  We caught up, talked about grace, forgiveness.  We cried and prayed.  So special.  After our errands in town Megan and I got to take a meal to a friend who had surgery coming up.  Fun to see their house--so beautiful.  Her surgery was a success and there was NO cancer so that gave us the opportunity to celebrate later in the week. 

Another BIG school day on Wednesday.  Seems like it's been raining all week.  Thank goodness for the driveway work we had done so there is no more moat.  I also found the first green little  asparagus in our garden!

The big event on Thursday was that Riley & I started puppy obedience school.  She's really smart but has gotten the idea that she's in charge around here.  That is due to my not being 100% during her first year.   Not good for a BIG dog.

So we are taking lessons.  Unfortunately for me the class was FULL.  Riley not being mild mannered tried to yank my arm off and didn't have the slightest interest in learning. 

I survived.  Barely. 

It was the most energy I had expended in 9 months.  She's doing great at home so we will see about this weeks class.

See isn't that more peaceful than a 90 pound obnoxious dog?

Friday I tackled some work I'd been putting off.  Due to all the junk in the past two years I'm later than I like in getting Megan's transcript started.  So I straightened out some messes in that area.  After 5 we met Steve for dinner & went clothes shopping.  If you haven't seen Joshua lately well he's growing like a weed. 

Last Bible Quiz practice before Nationals was on Saturday!  I'm so ready to get our Saturday's back.  We've been on the road every other Saturday since December.  It's time to put some time in our 2015 Garden!

Big Plans this week?

Begin planning for Nationals!

School!

Estimates on plumbing in the house

School!

Go see hand specialist for Megan

School!

(are you seeing a theme?)

2015 Garden Plans

2014 was the first year we planted a garden at our new place. 

Ready Made Garden

When we moved in in September of2013 there were cucumbers, tomato & pepper plants that the previous owner had planted.  We really benefited from the produce because the garden spot was very productive! 

You wouldn't expect to be unpacking boxes and canning tomatoes at the same time but that year some how we did both.

New ideas this year

In 2014, we decided to try something new and make Square Foot Garden's after reading the book by Mel Bartholomew. 

You might ask why we would do that if the garden spot was so productive.  We had our reasons.

Our Goals for using Square Foot Gardens

• Less weeding
• More plants in a small space
• Less squatting & kneeling for me.  My bum hip doesn't like doing those things at all
• Keep the garden closer to the house so we'd remember to water it

What did we plant?

SF Garden #1 had broccoli, cabbage & cauliflower & lettuce in it.  All did well except the cabbage.  I didn't keep it watered enough.  It was the first year we grew cabbage so I think this year it will be easier. *fingers crossed*

SF Garden #2 had acorn squash, spinach, green beans & peas in it.  Acorn squash were small but again it was a watering issue.

SF Garden #3 & 4 were identical.  Cherry tomatoes(which went crazy), carrots, beets, peppers & okra.  These beds were even farther away from the house so again water was an issue.  The carrots & tomatoes did fine.  The rest were not as fortunate.  The beets did nothing and the peppers never got any fruit.

Obstacles

In July we were gone on vacation for a whole week & had a friend watering.  My tomatoes got blight and never really recovered.  NEVER had to deal with that before.  Then my mom got a lot worse & passed away.  In August, I got a fungal infection in my eye(which led to a cornea transplant in December) and basically all gardening stopped.  So I'm expecting a much better garden in 2015.  But I wanted to list what we planted last year to show that you can get quite a variety of plants in a very small space. 

"Regular" Garden Space

We also planted pumpkins, watermelon, & cantaloupe in the "regular" garden space.  My main reason for doing this was to keep the weeds from taking over.  We planted our seeds and managed to much half of the garden with grass clippings.  You guessed it that half of the garden did great and the other half was a weed patch.  Even with just half of the garden doing well the pumpkin harvest was CRAZY!!!!  I think we ended up with close to 20 pumpkins--not bad for a $1.29 seed packet.  There were no cantaloupe and we only got two watermelon that weren't very big.

2015's plans

1. Relocate 2 of our SF Gardens.  They just are in the wrong spot so we emptied them and moved them.
2. Build 2 new bigger SF Gardens for a strawberry patch in the orchard.  (Next weeks garden post!)
3. Use SF Garden's for cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, beets , green beans & more.
4. Use our regular garden spot again for pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, peppers, squash, potatoes & sweet potatoes.
5. Put up a fence around the regular garden & berry patch to keep the dogs from tromping through and destroying things.
6. Implement a drip system for our watering. (More on that in a few weeks!)
7. And probably a dozen other things that will come up along the way!  Spring is so busy in the garden that it is hard to remember all of the to do's.

What are your 2015 garden plans?

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Garden Related Posts

Asparagus!

Maybe you can relate.  I want to be outside.  But the ground is soup. 

I braved the swamp and went out to dump stuff on the compost pile.  Guess what I found?

My asparagus is up!  So excited to see those pretty green stems.  First edible thing this spring!

Just enough for a snack. 

Then I can watch it rain some more. 

Where we were . . . April 2010

The Cute & Posed

The Real Stuff

Joshua the boy who loves to make faces when the camera comes out.  Michael quickly learning that we loved him for his muscles.  Then there is the sweet little girl reading on the deck.  I promise I didn't pose her to look so cute.

Group shots!  Wow we look so young.

Baby Bump Pictures

It's true.  We are going to be grandparents in June.  It still hits me every once in a while. 

Am I really old enough for that?  Well Michael is 23 so yes I guess that I am.

Here are some pictures I snapped over the weekend.  Rebekah's tiny & probably going to kill me for this post.  Love you dearie.  She has 9 weeks until her due date.  In those 9 weeks they will be moving in to their first house.  We are so excited for them!

After posing for the crazy grandma-to-be they were drawn to the sunshine (not that I blame them).

First sun bathing of the year.