Gardening

Last year we took a year off from our vegetable garden.  It was nice to have one less thing to take care of, but I am ready to get our garden going this year.  The weather has been a little challenging so I feel a bit behind, but today Sierra and I got it in.  At the end of the year last fall, we cleaned out the garden, laid new dirt/compost, covered it with a layer of flattened cardboard boxes, then topped it off with mulch.  The idea is that the mulch and boxes will prevent weeds, and thus lessen the hours of weeding.  So, we cleared out spots for the seeds and planted away.  My bouncy dog likes to run through the garden and kills my plants when they are babies.  Once they are bigger he goes around, but I was trying to be creative today to find a way to keep him from running over my plants.  My garden looks a little messy, but we will see how it all works out.  

Anyway here is a picture of our garden.  I will try to keep you updated on how this experiment works.  

Here it is, let's see how it goes

an empty container in front of the cleared spot where the
seed has been planted, in hopes our dog won't go through it

I bought tomato plants

for my birthday a friend got me these cute stakes,
so I wrote the plants in the row.

Fall Planting and New Life

One of the best things about spring is all the beautiful flowers.  When we first moved to our home I planted about 90 tulips and several daffodils.  Later I planted some Mascara.  While my daffodils have been faithful to return year after year, my tulips slowly disappeared and eventually stopped coming up, and my Mascara only lasted a year.  What did I do wrong?  Well, I am determined to be more successful this year and here I go again.  I had done my Google research so hopefully next year I will post the most beautiful pictures of these lovely flowers. I think they either rotted from overwatering, or I didn't plant them deep enough.

pray for me, he, he, he

 A couple years ago I found this lovely lime plant, that I bought for my birthday.  I am so happy to announce it is actually growing a cute little lime.  (Please feel free to ooooh and awwww)  I have no idea when to harvest, but I shall have to research on Google once again and see what it has to say.

Isn't she precious

Speaking of new life, Latisha and baby Brinley are doing wonderful.  Latisha is now in her 29th week   and is starting to feel the signs of the third trimester (a little more tired and achy), but she is excited it and knows is all worth it.

Isn't she adorable!

I hope you are all having a great day, God Bless!
Alicia

Garden Update

It is getting hot here.  I really do not like the weather when it gets above 90 degrees.  I could just stay inside and hibernate, but I try not to.  For quite sometime I have avoided standing on the scale for fear of what it might say.  In January I broke my fear and because of what the scale said I became very inspired to exercise.  I do enjoy food but as I age I find myself having to cut back on what I eat.  So, I started getting up every morning before the family and exercising.  It took me two months to loose 10 pounds but I hit a plateau and have had trouble loosing the rest I would like to loose.  I admit I have gone back to eating normal yet watch what I eat, but I continue to exercise almost every morning.  This has kept me from gaining it back but still I am not at the weight I would like to be.  My quandary is should I just be happy with where I am or go to where I would like to be.  Regardless, back to the heat, once the weather got a bit nicer I started walking/jogging outside.  I enjoy being out in the morning and going for a nice jaunt.  When the path is uphill I walk and when it is down I jog.  I seriously have no desire to become one of those obsessed with jogging, so I just do it for fun, down the hill, to save time, and reach my distance goal.  My time is precious to me and I need to stay on schedule.  As it gets hotter though I have to get up earlier and I can only handle so much. :) Some days I just stay indoor and do my 1990 exercise tape.  Yes, we still have a VCR.  As the heat increases the more Kathy Smith (my exercise tape)  and I work out together.  We also have a tread mill and it is good for exercise in adverse weather.

The weather is good for my garden though.  My plants have taken off and I trim them to keep them from overtaking their neighbor.  It's all good.  We have been harvesting quite a bit of raspberries, sweet peas, Kale, zucchini, and rhubarb. Several of the other plants are getting there, also.  It is very fun to watch my garden grow and I feel healthy eating and feeding my family the fruit of my labor.

Well, I hope you are all enjoying this summer. Have a blessed day.

Alicia

our garden

Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Camping and Surprise

So much fun and good things going on.  Let's start with Rhubarb.  I like baking with rhubarb.  My husband loves eating it straight from the garden, not something I really care for but when it come to baking it I enjoy finding good recipes.  I thought I would pinterest and see if I could find a rhubarb muffin recipe.  I sure did, several.  The one I made had sour cream and cinnamon and was amazing.  While I was there, I saw a recipe for rhubarb coffee cake with nutmeg, why not, I gave it a try.  That was amazing!  We had some left, froze it,  and were able to take it on our camping trip with us.  Of course I had to make some strawberry/rhubarb jam and some strawberry rhubarb crisp.  We have been blessed with an abundance of rhubarb and I have really enjoyed making fun things with it.

Rhubarb is easy to transplant.  I had a very healthy plant but wanted more.  So, I took my shovel and dug into the middle of my rhubarb plant and split that in two and planted the two pieces.  They both made new plants and now I have an abundance of rhubarb.  Such fun, I just wanted to share.

As I mentioned above, we took a lovely camping trip, the first of the season for us.  Brent, Latisha and August decided to take a trip the same weekend.  They wanted to go on their first solo trip.   The weather outlook was not good, so we had a limited area we felt might be nice for the weekend.  We packed up, headed out, met my parents at the campground, signed in, and guess who happened to be there already set up, Brent, Latisha and August.  The first place they went to was already full so they headed down a little farther to where Brent's Bachelor party was held, and it just happened to be where we went.  It was so funny, they did try to have their own trip but it was fun to see them and we talked them into joining us for a sight seeing trip.  So surprise,  but that is not the surprise I am excited to share with you soon.  We have some very exciting news that I am looking forward to sharing, just a little teaser for now.  I will be posting more soon.  Have a great day and God bless.
Alicia

My parents getting a warm fire going

The kids enjoying the playground

ah, dinner

Aidric loved roasting hotdogs and marshmallows

How many kids can a swing hold

We went to a fish hatchery and saw pelicans

The kids enjoyed feeding the fish

Such f

Thousand springs park

lots of beautiful waterfalls, here, Cassandra and her cousin pose

At the park there was a neat old barn

from the top of the barn we had a great view of the some of the falls

Danika, Sierra and I went on the trail to even more falls

worth the short walk

The water literally comes right out of the mountain

the rhubarb muffins

rhubarb coffee cake

strawberry rhubarb jam

Good Samaritan

  Havesting, camping, schooling etc…. fall is in the air and things have been good here.  My garden did fairly well this year and I am enjoying the fruit of my labor.  There is such a thrill that fills my heart when most of our dinner comes from our garden.  So much so that I had to take a picture and share my joy.  Right now my poor garden looks ran over and quite sad.  Since we started school my time in the gardening has gone to almost nothing, but the garden is still faithfully producing good food.

Corn, cantaloupe, cucumbers, and tomatoes from our garden!

We enjoyed a lovely trip over Labor day camping with some friends.  The weather was lovely during the day and dumping buckets of rain at night.  One of the highlights for me was Huckleberries!!!  Yes, I really enjoy huckleberries and there were quite a few on the other side of the lake.  So, we could only pick enough for huckleberry pancakes but ohhhhh they were so yummy

a hike to a waterfall

part of the waterfall

more

Aidric and I 

Bellie, lovin Daddy

Aidric and I enjoying the creek.  

We hiked around the lake, Cassie was such a trooper and made it all around
without help, but at one point she said "my feet are getting heavy."

The other day I had several errands to run, and found myself driving down the road in my own little world.  Danika asked me about some guy back there.  I had no idea what guy she was talking about as I had been focused on other things and apparently oblivious to much going on around me.  She said, "you know the guy that was beeping at us and shaking a phone out the window that looked like your phone. "  I quickly glanced around the car and realized my phone was missing.  The guy had been pulled up in the turning lane next to us, trying to get me my phone, and I had been focused on the road in front of me and not paying attention to someone trying to help me right next to me.  We had traveled about a mile since that intersection when Danika had informed me of what I had missed.  I sat pulled over on the side of the road wondering what to do.  I turned around hoping that just maybe I could find this man.  Thankfully he was in a company truck and saw me in his rear view mirror, as he had given up on me and was continuing on his way.  How thankful I was to see this good samaritan turn around and pull over.  He ran across the busy street and returned my phone to me.  He told me he had seen my phone sliding off my bumper as I turned a corner.  He had gotten out of his car, picked up my phone and had been trying to return it to me.

There are a lot of lessons to learn from this story.  Number one, I had to ask myself if I would have done the same thing.  I might have told myself, "oh they will come back for it," and had driven on.  It is so hard to take time to help someone.

 The other lesson I learned was how important it is to pay attention to those around us, especially those who are trying to help us out.  As a homeschool mother I get focused on the road I am on and ignore people reaching out to me.  It took my lovely daughter to point out what was probably obvious to many around me that I had blocked out.

Finally, this good samaritan continued trying for several miles, apparently, picking up my phone, tracking me down, beeping, and turning around trying to help this woman (me) who didn't even notice his efforts or her need.  Dear friend, when your friend is in need of help don't give up, continue to be there for them, reach out and persevere, even if you don't receive any credit for your effort.  It is God who sees your efforts and will reward.

Well, God Bless you all, Have a great day and a big happy birthday to my baby sister and dress up pal, Tami!

Alicia

dress up for us wasn't frilly princess dresses from the store but
digging in our mom's closet for our favorite outfits.

Awards and Garden

No, my garden will not receive an award but I am really excited with it.  This morning I finally got to pick the reward of perseverance.  After planting raspberry plants 3 times I finally got them to stick around.  The last two times I planted, I planted in the heat of summer and I am pretty sure that is why they died.  Last spring we took a trip to my brother and sister in laws and my sister in law was showing me her great raspberry garden.  We left for the day and when we got back she had dug up 50 plants for me to take home.  I planted them the day we got home and prayed the little sticks would make it.  I have only lost a couple and all the rest are out there with beautiful leaves and lots of red raspberries.  Well, that was until I picked all the red ones this morning and we had them with our cereal.  It was so very exciting!!!!

Here it is off to an ok start. Back in the corner are the lovely raspberry plants.
Not sure what happened to my poor strawberry plants, may have to start over on them.

Aidric enjoyed his share of the raspberries

 As for the awards, our lovely daughters graduated their respective classes, earning honors in each.  Latisha receive her gold, Sierra her silver, Danika her bronze, and Cassandra earned her honors in Daisy's.  They have to honor in three clubs to get the bronze medal,which is what Danika did, when they honor in their fourth club they get their silver, which is what Sierra did, and when they honor in their fifth club they get a gold, which is what Latisha did.  To honor in a club you have to do extra work and memorization of scriptures.  So, I am very proud of their hard work and blessed to have them all honoring the same year.  It just so happened that Daisys club (what Cassandra just finished) is one year, Prims is two (we didn't have a girl in that club this year), Stars (Danika just completed) takes three years, Friends (Sierra just completed) 3 years, and Girls Only club (Latisha just completed) is four years and we just happened to have our daughters spaced so that they all graduated at the same time.  I don't know how often something like that happens but we feel very honored to have been blessed with girls to accomplish this and am thankful for Girls ministry and the leaders who minister to our girls.

On a side note my dear friend Ivy, is home from college and we are holding Bright Lights meeting with some lovely young ladies for the the summer, in our home.  She felt led to continue Bright Lights  with our girls for the summer and is doing Grace Malley's book "Will our Generation Speak?"  We have had a good turn out. Another friend of mine is doing a ladies Bible study at the same time in our home for the moms and other ladies.  It is working out good and I am thankful with the work God is doing in our home.

Also, more good news… Isabella's test all came back negative and after David's layoff at his job, he is still employed.   Thank you, thank you my Lord.  God is good!!! Have a great day and God bless.

Alicia

That Time of Year

My poor pantry is looking so sad.  We have almost depleted its resources.  Last year was a prosperous year and this year I have not had a great harvest.  I really have enjoyed the rain we have received the last few day, but other than that it has been a very hot summer.  I especially love the clean smell that comes with the rain.  Hail on the other hand I do not care for.  The other day we had an amazing hail storm that was very hard on my garden.  I'm not sure I have ever been in a hail storm with hail that big.  The hail was exciting and the kids danced around the house amazed by its force.  I was concerned for anyone caught out in the weather.  It was about that time of day when kids are walking home from school, and what about the motorcyclist or homeless.

As a child, my cousin Chris and I were at a family reunion.  We had been down playing at the water when it began raining.  Others had gone back to camp but we didn't mind the rain.  The sky darkened and I remember a sudden wind came up and then pelting hail began beating on us.  The hail really hurt and we were out in the open with nowhere to go.  We had been playing with a tiny raft when the hail came and we squeezed together behind our sad little raft for the shelter it provided.  We began to cry and to that point of my life, I was the most scared I had ever been.  I remember praying out loud trying to pray louder than the storm.  Suddenly we saw my Grandpa's station wagon coming to the rescue.  It drove down the hill and across the sand to us.  We jumped in and with tear stained faces received our answered prayer.  We sat in the car for quite a while waiting for the storm to pass.  It did pass and we are here to tell our story.  I find that effective in life as well.  Sometimes we just need to cry out louder than the storm, receive God's shelter, and wait for the storm to pass.  It will pass and God will be with us through the storm.

So now I must decide what to do about my pantry.  Should I buy some fruit to can or just buy from the store till next year.  My mothers garden has done quite well and she has provided me with cucumbers for pickles.  She actually started a batch of 10 day pickles and let me work on them.  Unfortunately we went camping on day 9 so my mom was so sweet to finish them and can them for me.  Thank you mom.  :)  Then someone at church was giving away the most amazing peaches, so we grabbed a couple bags and made some pies.  I kept a few seeds as a science experiment for my 10 year old to see if we could grow a new tree.  Here are a  couple recipes of them and some pictures.  Have a great day.

God Bless
Alicia

The hail bouncing down

so exciting when you inside

Danika trying it out on her feet

Cassandra collecting some

My poor flattened garden.  

10 day pickles 

 10 day pickles
1 gallon cucumbers-thick sliced or chunked
1 cup salt
  Mix with enough cold water to cover, place in cool place for 2 days (stir/shake each day)

Day 3 and 4
    drain each day and cover with clean water

Day 5
drain and mix with 1 Tbsp alumn, 1 cup apple cider vinegar.  Mix with pickles and add enough water to cover.  Heat and keep hot for 2 hours

Day 6
drain, rinse.  Mix syrup-1 qt vinegar, 5 c sugar, 1 tsp celery seed, 2 sticks cinnamon, 1 tsp whole cloves

Day 7,8,9
heat syrup from off pickles and put back on

Day 10
heat cucumbers and syrup together and put in clean jars and seal.

Peach pie
Combine 3/4 cup sugar, 3 tblsp flour, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, and dash salt.  Add 5 cups sliced peaches.  Mix.  Let sit till glossy.  Place in 9 inch pan, dot with 2 tbsp butter.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Seal with top crust.  Bake at 400 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes.