I've been bad.

Hello Mr. Bee. Thanks for finally showing up and helping out in the gardens!


The procrastination bug hit and it hit hard. Sorry bloggie friends. I've been taking pictures. I've been keeping an eye on my little garden. I just can't bring myself to sit down and do five minutes of writing. Bad Bee...bad.

Things have been pretty good around here. We are going on one full week with sun out. Finally. We have had so much rain and so many grey days that I began to wonder if we were turning into Seattle. Our weather is so much nicer now. It's still kind of cool out and I don't think we've had a day over 83 yet. Perfect, if you ask me.

The kids have been enjoying their summer vacation so far. We've taken in some movies. We've been on some long walks. We've done a lot of jam making. We've had some trips to the Farmer's Markets and they have been going through our board games one by one and they've been giving them a whirl.

We had a really nice 4th of July weekend in New York. We got to see fireworks over the Hudson River and it was so cool that we all had to have sweatshirts on. We are on a countdown to go to Florida to hang out with Nana and Papa. Tim and I are still trying to figure out what to do for our tenth wedding anniversary. I think we will celebrate while we are in Florida because Nana and Papa can keep the wee ones.

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So, what was I saying about procrastination? Here I am typing this up on the next day. I couldn't get it all done yesterday. Of course, it's hard to do anything when Tim is working from home. Don't get me wrong, I love having him around, but our routines get all out of whack.

Everything is growing nicely in our garden. I was fretting for no reason about my tomatoes. I am so glad that I didn't yank out all of the plants. They are all covered with tomatoes now. Whew. Experiment worked. I'm very happy. Now I need to figure out if these tomatoes are going to need to be preserved with a pressure canner or if I can do them in a water bath. Of course, if Tim makes his wonder pasta sauce, we'll be using the pressure canner.

On to the pictures:

My patch of beets. I need to plant some more this weekend so that I can have another bunch of them in the fall. I will be pickling these babies.

Tomato patch number one. There are a line of onions growing behind these too. I don't know if they are getting enough sun though.

A couple of the tomatoes on the first patch. Interestingly, we planted these a couple of weeks before the second patch, but found tomatoes first on the other patch.

Our pepper patch. I'm really happy that we have a whole bed for peppers this year. There are three tomato plants at the very end that one of our neighbors asked if he could plant. The pepper plants are all covered with peppers and/or blossoms.

Ancho peppers

California Wonders

Tomato patch number two. These plants are up to my shoulders...so big!

This is the very first tomato I found. I think the whole neighborhood heard my sigh of relief.

A friendly little bee helping pollinate. Thank you little bee.

Our two yellow squash plants.

Our three rows of potatoes. I need to go out and hill those bad boys up soon. You can also see a couple of brussel sprout plants that were dropped down...they are still waiting for a permanent home.

Our cucumber vines finally found the trellis, thanks to Tim. They have gotten huge in the last week.

Hello there Mr. Zuke. I wish I had more of you growing this year but we'll be happy with you. Next year we'll make sure we get it right.

Nancy's broccoli looks much better this year. I still don't really care for broccoli.

That is all I have for now. I would like to say I've had a busy summer, but honestly, it hasn't been too busy yet. I'm waiting to hear on some test results and that will hopefully clue me in to what is up with me and then I can work at fixing my extreme tiredness and general yucky feeling. Until then, I'm going to enjoy our abnormally cool July and watch my kids have fun. Who knows, I might actually finish knitting Tim's scarf too. It's only taken me three years.

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer and everyone's gardens are blooming!

Frustration

Frustration is growing over our tomato situation. I was out looking at them yesterday and came in the house disgusted and called Tim. I had decided that this weekend I was going to yank out every blessed plant and go get new plants, or at least hope to find a nursery that still had some tomato plants around. He calmed me down and talked me out of it (for now).

This is tomato patch number one. As you can see, the bushes are big, green, and beautiful. This plants are covered with blossoms but not one tomato. I don't get it. I have to go out and tie them up again but each time I'm out there tying them up I am wondering if I'm wasting my time.

This is tomato patch number two. Again, the plants look very healthy. They are getting really big. They too are covered with an enormous amount of blossoms. I thought I had seen the start of one tomato but it hasn't gotten any bigger.

Some blossoms. They start all nice and tight like the one at the bottom and then they open up and the top ones look like they are about to be done...but no signs of tomatoes.

Some more blossoms. Again, they are nice and tight and look like normal tomato blossoms...but look at the middle where the blossom petals have kind of turned brown, there is a stem looking thing sticking out. Is that normal? I don't know.

Another group of blossoms. Each and every one of our plants has groups of blossoms like this. If only they would start showing signs of actually growing a tomato. Another thing that concerns me is the stem that each blossom is attached to. If you look just above each flower there is a crook. Those crooks are very fragile and will sometimes break with hardly a touch and then I have a blossom in my hand.

So, I'm not sure what to do. It breaks my heart to yank these beautiful plants out of the garden. They appear to be insanely healthy...but not producing. Is it the weather? We've had two to three weeks of grey, rainy, chilly days. This is our first week where we've had two days of sun in a row. Maybe after a week or so of sun I'll start to see some progress. I'm running out of time where I'm going to be able to get replacement plants. When we went to the nursery a couple of weeks ago to replace them, their plants looked terrible. They were big and leggy and not many leaves. Their blossoms looked just like mine do. I guess for now I'm going to let them be and keep tying them up. If they don't produce, I'll be buying a lot of tomatoes at the Farmer's Market...which by the way opens tomorrow! I can't wait!!

Now, as far as the rest of the garden goes, it looks great!

The cucumbers are starting to get big and are reaching for the trellis. They also have quite a few blossoms on them.

A yellow squash blossom. It looks like I am going to end up with two yellow squash and hopefully a zucchini plant. It was supposed to be two zucchini and one yellow squash, but it's becoming apparent that I have two yellow squash. I'm not too sure what to do with yellow squash as far as preserving, but I do know they are pretty kick ass in stir fries.

A mutant yellow squash. Nancy called these the twins. Interesting.

At least the flowers are growing nicely and making the garden area look pretty.

The astilbe looks magical. I love these plants.

Zinnias. I think these are right on top with the gerber daisies as being favorites. I love the shading of this purple one.

And last but not least:

How cute is this? Aidan lost his other top tooth on an ice cream cone the other day. I have to take lots of pictures of him with his two teeth missing before his big boys grow in. I want to remember how cute this is. There will be no more lost front teeth in this family...well unless there is some accident but I'm going to hope that doesn't happen.

Drama!

I know, I know. I've been a bad blogger again. Last week was pretty much lost to me being sick so not much go done. I am feeling slightly better so I've been out in the gardens and getting more done around the house.

What's been going on? Well, Aidan officially graduated from Kindergarten. We spent the day at Knoebel's and had way to much fun. Grandma showed up and surprised Aidan and then spent the day tagging around with us. We will be planning another trip there soon with Brian hopefully. It's such a neat old fashioned park in the middle of the woods.

Aidan with his diploma.

After Knoebel's I got some sort of stomach flu and was pretty much out of it the week following. I was trying to keep up with things around the house and did alright, but then I was bummed out because it was like a week lost and not one of my goals was touched. I finally felt better this Sunday and was able to get a lot around the house.

Today I was able to get the grass cut and three loads of laundry done. Laundry. I am so very proud of myself. I have hung out all of our laundry for two months so far with only the very occasional dryer usage (like today when a surprise thunderstorm flew in right after I had hung a load of towels out). It saved us 24 dollars on our power bill last month. Our power bill is neat because it compares our power usage to other homes in our neighborhood and we were waaaaay over on the green side using a LOT less power than other homes around us. That made me smile. We are doing something right.

Ok, let's get to the gardens. Drama. Tomato drama. Let's recount our tomato story. Last year I purchased a couple of heirloom tomatoes to eat at the store. They were delish. I looked up online to see if we could save the seeds and then plant them this year. I did everything that it said to do. I planted the seeds early this year and I was delighted to see them sprout and grow. We planted them outside when the temps warmed up and we've been waiting. We have 26 plants growing between the two separate spots. We've given extra ones away because we had a lot left over and we couldn't let them just die. Here comes the drama part. There are no tomatoes yet. Most of the plants are covered with blossoms. But no tomatoes yet. Some of the blossoms have dropped off. Some of the stems that are holding the blossoms seem weak and kind of bend. Nancy and I were looking at them last week and she said that it didn't look like they were going to produce. Damn. We made a plan to go shopping for tomato plants to replace them and then when we got to the nursery, their tomato blossoms looked just like ours do. Huh...maybe ther's nothing wrong with ours. I spent yesterday online looking at what might be wrong. Pollination? I don't know. I read somewhere to shake the plant to help with the pollination. I must have looked like a fool out there, but at this point I will do anything to save these babies. Today I think I saw one teeny tiny little green ball on the side of a blossom. I will be watching it like a hawk over the next few days to see if it grows.

Tomato patch number 2.

Lots of these, but no tomatoes yet.

The rest of the garden is doing great. We harvested a bunch of Swiss chard last week and I sauteed them up and oh my...we were fighting over it, it was so tasty. We've also harvested a couple of heads of buttercrunch lettuce. Yum.

Bed number one. Red leaf lettuce, broccoli, kohlrabi, zucchini, lemon balm and marjoram.

The pepper patch. They are getting big and the California Wonder peppers have blossoms on them already. Something is eating the leaves on one of them though. Must research that.

We have two zucchini and one yellow squash growing. All are covered with blossoms and the starting of fruits.

Cucumbers. We are going to have a ton of cukes. I didn't think my seedlings were going to take and grow so I bought some more. Mine did take and are growing well, and now we have double what we planned on. I see pickles in the future.

I also have beets growing (which I think Patchy got into today because I found some pulled out today...bad dog) and I planted a bunch of onions today. I'll try and post some pics of those tomorrow.

I've been a maniac making jam lately. I took my canning class and have been cranking out strawberry jam like crazy. I hope to have enough to get us through the winter. I just need to get the boys to stop eating it all.

Patchy is waiting for his ball to be tossed to him. I don't know how I managed to get a shot of him while he was licking his lips. The kids were laughing pretty hard at this last night. The picture right after this was of him in the same position but his tongue wasn't out. So I was flipping between the pics really fast for a good giggle.

Connor sailed through third grade and is moving onto 4th. His final report card was all A's and his teacher said he is "very creative and enthusiastic". I don't know how she can nail him like that by just talking to him on the phone every two weeks and "seeing" him on live lessons. I guess his powerpoints and his stories must have left a good impression on her.

We've been doing a lot of this lately. Sadly, we are almost out of our grass fed beef. I have an email to our supplier and I'm hoping we can get some more soon.

Last, but not least, a friendly little helper on my lettuce. This little guy was very content crawling all over the leaves.

I hope everyone is doing great and enjoying their summer and their gardens. More to come soon!

Must see this!

One year blogiversary.

One year ago today I started this little online journal for my gardening notes.  As gardening season is starting to swing into full motion again I'm sure it will be busy through the summer.  Keeping up with this blogs has had it's ups and downs.  I love to post pictures and keep notes so that I can remember things down the road.  It's been a lot of work too though.  I honestly don't know how some of the bloggers that I love post daily.  Where do they find the time to put words into sentences and not make it boring?

This blog has been a mish mash of everything in my life with no real direction...kind of like my life.  It's more than just a gardening blog.  It's kept up so that my family can keep tabs on us and the kiddies.  It's here so that I can practice writing.  It's here to remind me of things.  I am not going to say that I'm going to nail down one direction that it's going to go with.  I am more than just a gardener.  I have a lot of interests.  I have a lot of things that I want to learn.  I'm a mom of two boys that continue to grow and amaze me daily.  I like to do crafts (again with the finding time issue), I like to read.  How do I pick one of those things to blog about?  I realize blogs that focus on one thing and go with it do better, but I can't just pick one thing like food and devote a blog to just that.  Eventually things just creep in that aren't related to food.  I can't run seven different blogs, each devoted to one topic...so I will continue to use this place to blog about everything in my life.

Today, being the first official day of summer vacation from home schooling, I am going to put out some goals for myself for this summer.  I know that I have a large list of things I would like to accomplish this summer and I'm not sure I will get to them all, but I might as well write them down and then I know what I'm working towards.  So, here goes:

Summer Vacation Goals:

1.  I want to learn how to build furniture.  I am going to start with a nice, sturdy bookcase.

2.  I want to finish knitting Tim's scarf.

3.  I want to keep our garden well and thriving...more weed control this year.

4.  I want to make summer fun for the kids.

5.  I want to sew.

6.  I want to make my first quilt.

7.  I want to organize/declutter every room in our home (basement included).

8.  I want to learn how to crochet a granny square.

9.  I want to eat locally, organic if possible.  I want to eat clean.

10.  I want to find a good book and lose myself in it.

11.  I want to continue making changes in our lives/home that are more earth friendly.

12.  I want to start researching farming seriously. 

13.  I want to use my pressure canner and not be afraid of it.

14.  I want to learn how to make soap.

15.  I want to find natural homemade alternatives for home cleansers that really work.

Hmmm, I think that is all for now.  That's enough, right?  I think I can achieve a lot of these things and it should keep me busy through the summer.  It's funny because I asked both Connor and Aidan to each pick one thing that they wanted to learn to do this summer.  Connor answered that he wanted to learn how to build a gun ship and Aidan (while he was walking through the kitchen) said he wanted to learn how to make an aerosol can of spray oil.  I guess I need to sit with them and help them each pick a skill to master.  Maybe a language?  Or a form of art? Knitting?  Cooking?  We'll figure something out for them and then help them on their way to learning some new skill that will help them out.

So, here I sit on my first day of Summer Vacation, chilled by the cool damp air and I'm pleased.  We have another year of schooling under out belt.  I'm not going to lie, it was harder this year and only because of one event.  That event is over and will not be allowed to happen again.  We will relax and have fun over the summer.  We will get our share of sun and fresh air and farmer's markets in.  We will travel to Florida and spend a week enjoying the fun in the sun and the family.   We will live each day like it's the last and do things that we want to do.  

I hope everyone else is gearing up for a fantastic summer.  I am hoping that I will be more regular around here, but make no promises.  I'm probably going to try and update the look of my little spot in the blog universe...but not today.  Now, I'm going to go dig out a blanket, curl up under it and read a magazine.

Current pictures of our garden and the kiddies.  Better pictures will follow now that I have a little more free time.

Visitor tonight.

Visitor tonight.
Originally uploaded by busybeebiz

Quick post to show Aidan's tooth finally coming out. It's been hanging on for a couple of weeks now and tonight's dinner finally coaxed it out. He was thrilled, and then scared that he had swallowed. Alas, he had not. If you look closely at the piece of chicken on his fork, you'll see the tooth stuck to it. It was so funny. Now it's on it's way to resting under his pillow. I just hope that the tooth fairy doesn't trip on the god-awful mess in their room. Of course, Aidan's answer is "she flies".

One day left of school. Kindergarten graduation on Friday at Knoebels and then I hope to be back to my regular posting of my bloggy blog.

Playing.

View On Black

Playing with pictures on Flickr. I have lots to blog about but I'm buried in finishing up school and preparing for a block party. I will post updates of garden soon, I promise!!