So happy

Monday my landlady and I were talking about the economy and the hard times. She was telling me how her daughter had put up a bunch of food from her garden and was sharing with her. I mentioned how our little garden had provided good things for us this summer but not enough to put away for the winter. She commiserated with me and then I asked her if I could put in more boxes next year. She said YES!!! I am so happy and so very grateful. She said we could put in as many as we want.

Now my head is spinning with ideas........

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Putting the garden to bed

Yesterday morning I put the garden to bed. While I pulled out dead plants John and Jack raked up leaves.



These are our five 3x3 boxes. John and the boys built the trellises on the back.


Here is an up close picture of one of our boxes. We have one square of carrots left. I will pull them next time I make soup.



Last but not least, a picture of one of my little garden gnomes. I have one in each box!

Garden lessons of 2008

Lots of lessons learned this year!

-Next year I am going to triple my tomato plants. We had 5 and that was enough to eat but we did not have any to make into salsa or sauce to bottle for the winter.

-I am going to plant the pumpkins somewhere else, probably along the fence. They took up so many squares in our boxes and I need those to plant tomatoes. I baked tons of pumpkin seeds and they are already mostly gone.

-The watermelons just didn't work. They were all gushy and rotten inside.

-The zucchini did great! I planted 4 plants out by our mail box. We had lots! Plenty of zucchini bread and fried zucchini for dinner. I also have 24 cups of shredded zucchini in my freezer.

-We need more green beans. We had enough to eat while we played in the backyard and for dinner a couple of times a week but not enough to bottle for the winter.

-We need more radishes. They grew so well and we loved them!

-We need more carrots too.

-My spring crop didn't do so well. The radishes and carrots did great. The spinach, lettuce, chard and peas did not. I think it was just too cold at first so they did not grow well. Then it got too hot and they wilted. The peas finally started growing just when it was time to plant the tomatoes and I needed those squares. We had one good salad from the lettuce, spinach and chard.

-I want to more than double our garden space next year. We have five 3x3 boxes. I want to add four 4x4 boxes come spring time. I am not sure our landlady will approve that though.

-I also want to do a 4x4 herb garden. So I guess I need five 4x4 boxes.

It's about time!

I finished John's socks. Really, I did. I am so happy and relieved. Seriously, it is a very good thing. John is very happy and put them on right away. I can now knit other things and not feel guilty.

Pictures to come.

Slow start

It has been a pretty cold wet spring thus far. We have had some nice warm days lately but it is has been raining 4 of the last 5 days here. My little garden was very slow to start. Everything is growing now but soon it will be too hot for things like my peas and spinach. They are just getting started. As soon as it warms up later this week I will plant the tomatoes and peppers, beans and squash.

As far as knitting goes, well it's laughable! I have so many projects going at once that I never finish anything. I believe it is time for another UFO-a- thon. I need to get these finished.

I have been working on de-cluttering and I feel good about it. Right now I am in that horrible place where I have worked my tail off but there is still so much to do, *just keep working, just keep working* and, we will be debt free by the end of this summer. The end is in sight!

Peas are planted!

Monday we planted our peas, carrots, lettuce, spinach, beets, and chard. Oh, and Hannah's strawberries and Christy's pansy's. Our little garden boxes look so cute and I am really enjoying this gardening thing. :) Pictures will come..............

Knitting content

I actually have knitting to show you today. :)

I am working on a little sweater for my nephew. Here is all of the yarn for it:



And here is the beginning of the front:


It is going to be super cute! I also knit a Mason-Dixon Baby Kimono which I will post pictures of soon and I am almost done with John's socks!

Apricot Jam

So, a few years a go I tried my hand at canning for the fist time. I canned apricots and made apricot jam. The jam was fabulous but the fruit was a disaster. We don't like them and haven't eaten them. The jam was gone in a matter of months. I realized that the problem was I processed them far too long in the water bath. They are just a mushy mess. I decided to make them into apricot jam and I have been doing that today.

20 pints done, many more to do. It feels good!

Seeds are here!

A box of seeds arrived today! This is most of them, a few are backordered and will ship when they are in.


Aren't they pretty?

Baking bread is good for the soul

Jack, Hannah and I made banana bread this morning. Three beautiful loaves!


While we baked bread Toby laid in misery on the living room floor and Christy read to him. We are having banana bread, cheese and juice for lunch.

We have decided(starting this year)that we are going to focus on the Resurrection on Easter and not do secular Easter stuff. We are going to do "spring" baskets instead of Easter baskets. We will give the children these baskets on the first day of Spring. This way they still get the fun of Easter eggs and hunts and baskets and Easter Sunday will be about Christ.

I am planning on our Easter supper being broiled fish and honeycomb. I will probably add something to the meal as that seems not a lot to eat. I was thinking of serving cheese, and grapes, dates, flat bread...

We are also taking a few minutes each evening this week and talking about what Christ did on that day during His last week. So, Sunday we talked about His Triumphal Entry, yesterday about cleansing the Temple and tonight we will talk about some of His parables and teachings.

I have this great book called A Christ-Centered Easter that has a bunch of great ideas and has been very inspirational in our quest to truly have a Christ-Centered Easter. The authors are LDS. I picked it up at Walgreens a couple of years ago and am just now getting around to making the changes.

Nothing to say and too much to say

It seems that I have nothing to say, and too much to say all at the same time.

Life goes on and for that I am grateful. I have four beautiful children who are the light of my life. I have lost three little ones and I mourn them and the "could have beens".

I am about to the heal flap on John's second sock. I am trying to finish it before Friday(our anniversary). He loves these socks so much and I have been dragging my feet knitting them. Poor guy! What better way to show him I love him than give him squishy, wooly hand knit socks?

Little Tobias started throwing up last night. He was vomiting every two hours all night long and it has continued this morning. I had the pleasure of washing towels last night because there are never clean towels when the children are puking. This morning I washed bedding. Gah! I hope the other children do not get sick too!

We are spending the day camped out in front of the t.v. I do not have it in me to be creative today.

Another Loss

I lost another sweet baby last week.

I knew from the moment of conception that I was pregnant. I felt her spirit and energy so strongly around me and inside of me. We weren't trying to conceive but I absolutely fell in love with the baby and desperately wanted her. I knit two tiny baby items(the longies and the sleepy soaker sack that I posted here earlier)and had such hopes and dreams. I was pregnant and then I was not. Just like that.

My heart hurts.

Teeny, Tiny Longies

pattern: LTK Picky Pants
size: Preemie
yarn: Patons SWS
colorway: Natural Denim
needles: US 8

Aren't they just so very sweet?

Here is a shot to get the feel of just how little they are:



The sage green longies are ones I finished for Hannah a few weeks ago. She is 20 months old.

Dreaming of compost

The last couple of nights I have dreamed of compost. Kinda weird, I know. Because we rent here I wasn't going to compost. We plan on moving next spring and my plan was to build a beautiful compost pile then. I really want to compost now though. I am thinking about vermiculture(worm composting)and I might go ahead and do that now and then have an outside compost pile next year. I have also been thinking of getting one of those tumbling bins to put out in the back. Decisions, decisions. I just know that I need to compost this year. *grin*

I am really excited for our seeds to arrive. We live in zone 5b so it will be awhile before we can plant. Confession here: I have never really liked the look of Square Foot gardens. I don't like the look of the boxes and it just seems so controlled and man made. I LOVE traditional row gardens but we just do not have the space here. I started planning our garden a bit grudgingly this year because I didn't want to use this method. The excitement has taken hold though and I am happy to be able to garden at all. I have fallen in love with my little garden on paper and I think it will be spectacular. I do not want to think it is ugly.

I knit a tiny pair of longies last week and I will post pictures soon. They are just too adorable!

Seeds have been ordered

I ordered our seeds from Seeds of Change yesterday. I cannot wait for them to arrive!

Ordered:

PEA, SNAP, SUGAR
BEAN, BUSH, BOUNTIFUL STRINGLESS SNAP
BEAN, BUSH, GOLDEN LUMEN WAX
BEET, DETROIT DARK RED
CARROT, OXHEART
CHARD, RHUBARB
CUCUMBER, LEMON
LETTUCE, OSCARDE
LETTUCE, LOOSELEAF, SIMPSON BLACK-SEEDED
MELON, WATERMELON, MOON & STARS
RADISH, GARDEN, FRENCH BREAKFAST
SPINACH, AMERICA
SUMMER SQUASH, BLACK BEAUTY ZUCCHINI
PUMPKIN, SMALL SUGAR
BEAN, BUSH, ROYALTY PURPLE
CALENDULA, PACIFIC BEAUTY
BASIL, GENOVESE SWEET
CILANTRO, SLOW BOLT (SANTO CILANTRO)

Start Small

John brought home 4 boxes yesterday that will work great for our garden. I was so excited I revamped my plans to include all 4 boxes. Our land lady said we could use the backyard so I have plenty of room. In the book Square Foot Gardening the author suggests starting small. I struggle with that concept. I want it all, now! After much thought I have decided to just do two 4x4 boxes this year. This way the children and I can get used to caring for a small garden and expand next year. This will be our first year with a "real" garden. Last year we grew a few pumpkins in the front flower bed after the daffodils and tulips were done blooming. The year before we grew a handful of peas, about 20 radishes and lots of cherry tomatoes in the little spot of ground just south of the front flower bed. I have high hopes for this year!

I will be ordering our seeds within the next few days. We are firming up our choices. Each of the children will get one square for their own. Jack is still undecided, he is leaning towards cherry tomatoes. Christy is going to grow calendula. She likes that she will have beautiful flowers in her square that will also be used for making a salve(something she and I both want to learn to do this year). Toby is going to grow watermelons. It was an easy choice for him. I am going to put strawberries in Hannah's square. She loves to eat them and I believe she will be so happy to have her own square like the other children.

As soon as I place our order I will post here with what made the final cut. :)

I am off to hang diapers up out on the line again. I am planning on Potato Cheese Soup and fresh sourdough bread for dinner tonight!

Interesting

You Are An INFJ

The Protector You live your life with integrity, originality, vision, and creativity. Independent and stubborn, you rarely stray from your vision - no matter what it is. You are an excellent listener, with almost infinite patience. You have complex, deep feelings, and you take great care to express them. In love, you truly see relationships as an opportunity to connect and grow. You enjoy relationships as long as they are improving and changing. You can't stand stagnation. At work, you stay motivated and happy... as long as you are working toward a dream you support. You would make a great photographer, alternative medicine guru, or teacher. How you see yourself: Hardworking, ethical, and helpful When other people don't get you, they see you as: Manipulative, weak, and unstable

What's Your Personality Type?

Spring Fever

I have it, bad.

This winter has been very snowy and cold. I love winter but I am definitely ready for spring. I cannot wait to dig my hands into the earth and bring forth life. Yesterday it was a balmy 51 degrees! As I was walking out to go to church yesterday morning I saw this:

Isn't it beautiful? I love the sweetness of new little plants just poking their way up through the ground. The front flower bed will be a gorgeous showing of daffodils and tulips.

When I was in the backyard hanging up the cloth diapers on the line I saw this:

Our first daffodil of the year! This is out by our dryer vent and this spot gets a lot more sun than the front flower bed.

And, this was a glorious sight to behold:

The first time the diapers have been out on the line all year. I cannot describe the pure joy I feel when I look at the cloth diapers on the line. I kept looking out my kitchen window yesterday just so I could watch them blow in the wind.

To top it all off I show you this:

My amazing perfected sourdough bread!

I have spent the morning planning our garden. I think we are going to try making and planting two 4x4 square foot beds this year. We have room to put one right to the south of the front flower bed and then we could put one in the flower bed. I was thinking that after the daffodils and tulips are done blooming we can but a box in it. I do not really like that idea though, but I am not sure our land lady will let us put the boxes in the backyard. The front area is kind of "ours" but the back is kind of "hers". If she will let us use the backyard we would put in three boxes back there. There is room for more but we do not want to start too big. It doesn't hurt to ask, right? I am conflicted about it though. The boxes would be so much closer if we did them on the side and I think I would take better care of them if they are just outside the front door(we do not have a back door so we walk all the way around the house to get to the back yard). Really not a big deal, but it might be better to start close. I do not know. I waffle. *grin*

Jack is getting ready to pull the few weeds we have. He is very excited to do it. Christy is making chocolate chip cookies. Toby and Hannah have croup and are miserable sick babies. It is freezing cold again today. *sigh*

Some knitting finished projects to show you!

pattern: LTK Picky Pants
size: Medium
yarn: Peace Fleece
colorway: Kamchatka Sea Moss
needles: US 8
modifications: I knit the legs several inches longer

and


pattern: Dandelion Dreamers Sleepy Soaker Sack
size: Preemie
yarn: Patons SWS
colorway: Natural Green
needles: US 4 & 8
mosifications: I knit the ribbing with size 4 needles instead of the recommended size 6.

February Magic Ball of Yarn(MBOY)

I participated in a yarn swap this month. What you do is get some treasures and wrap them up in yarn and then send it to your person.

Let's just say that the lovely person that had my name has made us very happy knitters in this home! Thanks Theresa!

The ball on the left is mine and the one on the right is Rain's.

Christy was so surprised and happy to have a ball sent to her!


The yarn is Peaches and Cream cotton and inside were lots and adorable sheep stickers(which Christy shared with her brothers and sister)and the cutest little hair clips! She loves it all! Christy cast on for a dish cloth last night:


My ball in all its glory:


The yarn is 500 yards of Henry's Attic Carrera. It is a 50% wool/50% silk yarn and just heavenly! Theresa kettle dyed it a gorgeous cocoa for me! The yarn is so beautiful!


The brown shades vary slightly throughout:


Can you see it? You really cannot capture the soul of fiber on a camera.

I am waiting for it to whisper to me what it wants to become. Any suggestions? Something for me.

Also included: Cute whale buttons, lots of yummy tea and chocolate!, lavender wool wash, a cute dragonfly keychain, some pretty little stitch markers, a beautiful pink and brown ribbon!, a lovely candle.........I know I am forgetting some things.......OH! a cute little sticky pad that will be great for marking my patterns..........what else?

Thank you so much! *grin*