A nice walk around our yard...

Posted on Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 03:30

We had to get up early this morning so we finished school early Yeah! When we finished school I went out to put some bird seed and decided to take a nice walk around the yard. I love the winter monthes! We have finally put our garden to bed. We did have lettuce, brocolli and cabbages a few weeks ago, but now everything that is left is for the compost bin.

You are going to think I am strange but one reason that I enjoy the winter monthes is the leaves are now gone and I can actually see what is around me. I knew our one neighbor had chickens and a rooster and now I can finally see them. They have a small back yard but keep alot in it...a few chickens, a rooster or two, and  two miniture horses/ponies. I love it when people actually use their yards. You can tell they like their yard.

We are hoping to add to our gardenbeds this coming year. We might add to the greenhouse to? We have thought about moving to a few more acres but then we see we can barely manage what we have. We also don't want to add any debt at all and lots of times when you move you can add debt. Unless we come into some big money we will be in this home for a while:) We want to honor God. I am not sure it would be honoring God by adding more debt?

As I walked around our yard I could see us adding more garden space and maybe some animals someday. (a small hobbie farm?) We only have about an acre and I hope we are using it wisely. We are hoping to plant extra this coming year. I would like to be able to go to the farmersmarket a few times.

Now that it is cold outside it is time to work on a few home improvement projects. If we don't get them done soon spring will be here and then it will be planting season:)

We are working on a place to put our shoes in our kitchen. There was a set of drawers that we removed and we are going to wall that place in to make a cubbie of sorts. We also would like to paint this spring but we will have to wait and see about that. I would like to paint my kitchen cabinets but again that might be a mess so we are just putting that on our to do list:) We are also working in our garage we are adding some cabinets to put somethings away for storage. I would like to add some cabinets in there for some stock-piling:) We have been going to a new grocery store and they always have 10 for $10.00 If I had a place to store some can goods and such I wouldn't have to go to the store as often:)

Well I have written to much and my tea is about to get cold.

Many Blessings to you and yours,

Ma

Fall Gardening Continues!

Posted on Sunday, November 2, 2008 at 07:15

Fall gardening continues at Little House. This week the weather is going to be nice, but last week's low temperatures got down in the 20s. We have been keeping everything covered with row covers.

The hoops are there to put plastic over when it gets really cold. I still need to cut a piece of greenhouse plastic to go on them.

This is one of the beds that broccoli is growing in.

I did cover the hoops with a small piece of plastic and sheets on the coldest nights, but we have had frost several other nights with just the row cover as protection. The broccoli florettes still look good, but some of the leaves were damaged by the frost.

A few of the broccoli heads are large enough to pick now, but there are others that still need a week or so. Next weekend we will undoubtedly be eating fresh broccoli and broccoli casserole. Hopefully, there will still be plenty left at the end of the month as well for Thanksgiving. Yum!

First Fall Frosts; Gardening Continues!

Posted on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at 04:57

Our first Fall frost hit pretty much on schedule, and now three out of the last four nights has produced heavy frost.

For our friends and neighbors who have a vegetable garden, this marks the absolute end of the season as they peer out at their now dead tomato plants.

For us however, vegetable gardening continues. Frost simply marks the beginning of an exciting Fall garden. This weekend my family transplanted the last of our broccoli and cauliflower plants, planted garlic and potato onions and harvested lettuce and other greens. Mary enjoyed planting the garlic.

We have lots of cabbage and broccoli coming on, but full heads won't be ready for another week or so.

Our best Fall garden success so far has been with salad crops. In just a couple 4x4 square foot beds we have been picking all the salad we can eat for the past month, and hope to continue for at least another month.

Lettuce, greens and Brassicas all grow well when it is cool. Many gardeners raise them in the Spring but don't think of growing them in the Fall. Now that it is freezing at night though, the trick is to keep the plants from freezing. This week it is only getting down into the thirties, so covering them with row covers is enough protection.

Soon I will cover the beds with hoops and plastic or cold frames for added protection. The last of the lettuce transplants will be planted inside the insulated greenhouse beds to hopefully extend salad season into December.

Growing vegetables in the Fall and Winter is a little extra work, but we think it is worth it. It was pretty neat being out in the garden in the cool air recently as the Canadian Geese sang above me on their journey south.

The geese are getting ready for Winter, so we must ready the garden for it as well.

How about you? Do you continue growing or harvesting in the Fall and Winter? All tips and pointers are welcome.

Happy Fall Gardening,

-Pa

A few things about our weekend and my husbands blog.........

Posted on Monday, October 13, 2008 at 10:44

We had a busy but beautiful weekend. On Saturday we had to get our eyes checked and I just can't believe how expensive it is and we have insurance. I just don't know what people that don't have insurance do?

We both had to get new glasses and I am going to order contacts. I usually wear my contacts all the time but I am thinking I will have to wear my glasses more I am hoping it will save us a little money on contact maintance.

We stopped at the mall nearby and bought the girls a few shirts for the cooler monthes. No... we adults didn't get anything new we are going to have to either wear what we have or make a goodwill stop:) I just can't believe how high things have gotten. I looked at a very pretty sweater and they wanted $75.00 Yikes! No new sweater for me:)

We did have a nice meal out which is the first for this month:) Our goal is one nice meal out and two fast food meals out which is usually Subway.  By the way or nice meal out costed us $ 50.00 which isn't too bad :) Although add another  $25.00  and I could have had a new sweater.

We had a wonderful day yesterday we went to church then came home for a rest day.  We got few things done around the house and outside. We need to make our garden beds soon:)  I also need to put plastic on our bedroom windows which seems to help some on our electric bill. There are many other odd jobs we would like to get done and if the weather stays nice hopefully they will get done:)

Our garden is really growing great!  We will be getting brocolli soon and we are still getting lettuce Yum!  We also planted onions and garlic for next year. If you don't do this you should try it. It is great having something growing all through the winter monthes and the onions and garlic are wonderful!!  We haven't built the beds yet for the greenhouse. Don't worry we will:)

I almost forgot my husband is now a feature writer on another blog. I know you will enjoy it!  You can learn about it on his blog www.gardendesk.com  I know Marc would love for you to add a comment if you have time.

I hope you have a blessed day,

Ma  (aka Renee)

Where do you do most of your grocery shopping????

Posted on Thursday, October 9, 2008 at 10:43

We are moving kinda slow this morning. We stayed to late at church last night so we are a little tired this morning.  The girls are working on their school work and I was taking a look at our budget. I am now sitting here with a cup of herbal tea thinking about writing up our grocery list.

We have been doing a lot of our grocery shopping at our Walmart supercenter but I am now thinking of changing our grocery habits:) There is a Krogers next to us along with Food Lion. If we go further down the road there is an Aldi's which I have been to but they don't seem to carry everything we normally buy. So I am now asking where do you do most of your grocery shopping?

This weekend my husband and I have eye appointments and then we are going to get the girls a few long sleeve shirts. We are hoping to work on the greenhouse windows and the garden beds. I am so glad we are nearly finished with the greenhouse/polytunnel it was a hard weekend of work but well worth it.  It is suppose to be a beautiful weekend.... we are so blessed:)

Blessings,

~~Ma

Our New Greenhouse!!!

Posted on Monday, October 6, 2008 at 12:31

Ma and I worked all weekend to get our new greenhouse built.

It was much more involved than I thought it would be. There is still more work to do but we are very excited to have the plastic completely covering it now. I took off work on Friday and worked from sunrise to sunset. Ma helped after school and then we both worked on it all day Saturday and after Church on Sunday. The girls helped with the final plastic installation.

It is 14 feet by 12 feet. Next year we will expand it to 24 feet long. Instead of explaining the whole process, why don't I just show some pictures from the construction phase? Here goes:

First we had to make a spot to put the green house. Ma had this great idea to build a retaining wall to extend the space by the fence out another 6 feet. We had to move a lot of dirt to back fill the wall, but it worked well. Later we will finish the other half of the wall and fill it.

This wall created the perfect footprint for our new structure.

We had to drive metal stakes in the ground at each corner and every 4 feet in the middle and then cut them to the right height.

Is that straight?

1 and 1/2" PVC pipe, 20 feet long fit perfectly over the pipes and bend in a nice arch to make a 14 foot width.

After it was completely framed, Ma consulted the book again to see what the next step would be. We got this particular style greenhouse idea from a library book. It is a great book by Jeff Ashton, called The 12-Month Gardener: Simple Strategies for Extending Your Growing Season. I plan to buy a copy because it also has  lots of great cold frame and cloche ideas.

After the PVC pipes were secure, we had to frame up the ends with 2x4s and add pipe supports to the wood and the PVC hoops. In the above picture, I am putting tape over the wire used to tie everything together in order to protect the plastic sheeting.

Laura came out to check on the progress and decided to come on in.

After the walls were finished and everything secured, we put the plastic on the end walls.

Here Ma was hammering the staples that secured the plastic.

After the end walls were done, it was time to tackle the top plastic sheeting.

Ma and Laura lifted it up to me. Mary took the pictures.

We got it put in place, used about 1,000 staples connecting it to the framework, and trimmed off the excess.

We finished just before the sun went down. At this point, the outside temperature was about 65 degrees. Inside the greenhouse it rose to 100 degrees! I still need to install an exhaust fan and get vent windows put together to control the inside temperature but I am encouraged by the fast temperature rise. We plan to grow salad crops in there all Fall and Winter and then start many early plants in the Spring.

We have more to learn about how to care for plants inside a greenhouse, so its back to the library for us. We'll keep you updated on our progress. Does anyone reading this post have a greenhouse or poly tunnel? If so, we'd love some advice.

Happy Fall Gardening!

Blessings,

- Pa

Blessings.....

Posted on Thursday, October 2, 2008 at 10:05

There has been so much going on in the news and to be truthful I haven't watched any of it. I know who is incontrol!

I wanted to think of all the blessings I have today and not ponder about what is going to happen in Washington today.

I know so many people are losing money in their 401 K but I can give you hope there is a God that loves you and He will take care of you even through this:)

I wanted to think about how I have been so blessed. I am not saying things are not tough. They are but we don't have to think about the bad when there is so much good all around.

My Blessings.......

1. I have Jesus and He is wonderful!  If you don't know Him you are missing out on someone that will change your life.

2. My  husband : I can't even put into words how wonderful he is. He works so hard to be great  husband and father. I thank God for him each and everyday.

3. My daughters:  God has blessed me so much with them. They make life so fun! I love teaching them and they are willing  to learn.  I thank God for allowing me to be their mother:)

4. Family: We are blessed to live near most of our family but the ones we don't get to see often we miss so much. It is wonderful knowing when we do get together we enjoy each others company and not everyone can say that. We Love our family so very much!

5. Friends:  We have made so many good friends they have really blessed us with their friendship. Our friends help us see what area's in our life needs to change and what area's in our life need to grow. We really love our friends dearly.

6. My husband has a good job.  I didn't say wonderful but God has provided us with it and we are very grateful.

7. My home the longer we live here the more grateful I become. God has given me so much and I don't deserve any of it. He is so good to us.

Well I am sure I think of a few more but I am going to stop here. I want to encourage you to look at all that God has given you:)

Today: We are doing school and then some down time.  I am reading several books for church so I need to get started on them:) We are going to the grocery tonight so I need to make our grocery list. My husband is off tommorow so we can get ready to finish the greenhouse/polytunnel. We have to dig up our potatoes and pick more lettuce.  I am sure there will be a frost soon?

Many Blessings to you,

~Ma

A cool morning and some rain...

Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 10:42

Well.... we have finally gotten some rain over the night. It has been over two weeks since we have had any rain. What a blessing to hear a few drops hitting the window:)

We woke up to a nice cool morning and todays high is suppose to be in the low 60's. I love weather like this:) We are hoping to work and hopefully finish our greenhouse this weekend. It is suppose to be in the low 70's and sunny. I really hope we get it finished. We have few more garden beds we would like to get built before it gets too cold. We had to remove to long beds to make room for the  greenhouse.  I want to replace them as soon as possible. We will need to add a lot of compost to get those beds ready for next year.

We have now put off the chicken coop until next year. I am kind of glad I have heard that chicken feed is a little high right now. Maybe we can save up a little for next summer and get the chickens and afford the feed.

Our garden is still growing really well. I have been giving bags of lettuce away to friends at church. We have been eating plenty of fresh lettuce now and hopefully brocolli in a few weeks. It will be so nice when our greenhouse is done we hope to have veggies all year round:)

I have a nice hot cup of tea waiting for me in the kitchen and I smell a cherry pie in the oven:) The girls are doing their school work. I am so Blessed!

I hope you have a blessed day!!

~Ma~

A little bit of our weekend and....Ike

Posted on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 09:50

Well what a weekend we had..... we went to our churches Counseling and Discipleship Trainng they call it NANC ( National Association of Nouthetic Counselors). It was great! We have it the next three monthes one weekend a month. Paul Tripp was there but we didn't get to see him this time. Next month we will get to see Stuart Scott which should be really great.

While we were at church the girls spent the weekend with my mom and dad they had a great time. They decided to go to Friendship Indiana it was a hot day but they had fun. It is always fun to spend time with grandpa and grandma:)

On Sunday we went to church and then to the grocery. While we were there the electricity went off because of all the wind we were having.  We only bought a few things because end up closing Walmart.

We had no idea that it was suppose to be such a windy day?  We had winds of 65 mph? We came home and saw that a lot of people had their electricity off we were so blessed to have ours.  My husbands work was closed yesterday,  200 schools were closed yesterday and today. I heard the school around here will be closed all week. So many people out of electricity and water.

We decided to go out again of Sunday night to see if another store was open and it was crazy all they people eating out because they couldn't cook at home. We started thinkning what would these people do if they didn't have electricity for a month or longer? What would we do?

It really made us start thinking we live in a really soft world we are so spoiled. We did get to the store yesterday and  people were so upset  and grumpy because they couldn't  have a hot shower that morning?

This really open our eyes....we have alot to think about in the next few months.

My husband was home most of the day  yesterday so we worked outside. We are still cleaning up our garden beds and planting. Our lettuce and brocolli look great!  We will be eating lettuce this week :)

I cut back our strawberries a bit they were running wild. We are still clearing our land where we want our chickens and Maybe? dwart goat. My husband is hoping to buy materials for our greenhouse later this week:) Atleast I am hoping:) The weather has been wonderful!  It has been in the low 70's during the day and 50's at night. It is suppose to be in the 80's this weekend. We are  really hoping to get a few more things done outside before it starts to getting  cold. I keep reminding my husband that it has snowed in October.

Well we had some school yesterday and hopefully a full day today:) I love getting our school day done early:) There is always something to do:) I am going to start crocheting a scarf today I hope:) This is crochet weather:)

Blessings to all,

Ma

Gearing up for fall and one project, two project.......

Posted on Tuesday, September 2, 2008 at 10:04

I can't believe it is already September...where did the time go?  We are now on our 4th week of school and things are going great!

We are now gearing up for fall we have many projects we would like to do before winter sets in....One thing is we are going to build a greenhouse to start our  veggie plants in. It is going to be  big so it will be a lot of work but we are excited to get started......The second project is our chicken coop I am not sure if it will get done before spring but we are hoping:) If not I can wait until late spring:) We have most of the wood its just getting started:)

We have been pricing dwarf goats we found a male for $65.00 which we don't want but we are looking into maybe getting two females. That means we are also looking into electric fences. We are going to have to get educated on that:) The goats that we are looking at only weigh up to 25 pounds...I know really small almost the size of a small dog:) Although they will be small they still might try to get out so we will need to figure out what to do about that?  

We have had the best year of fruit ever! We have lots of great pears and the peaches are wonderful. We have lived in our house for 9 years and this is the first year that we have had real fruit! I will have to learn how to can fruit:) I hope next year will be as good.

Our garden is still doing well. We bought some brocolli over the weekend and hope to get it planted this week. Our lettuce is about ready to be picked:) I will miss the garden when it starts getting to cold. Hopeful next year we will have the greenhouse up and then we can look at all year gardening:)

Many blessings,

Ma

Picnic and good book..........

Posted on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 10:32

Yesterday we had some what of a rest day. The girls did school and I finished cleaning up from the weekend. Last week we had school each day but Friday to get ready for our small group picnic. This time the picnic was at our home. We were expecting around 25-30 and had 42 people come. I believe this was the biggest picnic for our small group.

I was a little afraid of what people would think of our small home and yard. We only own 1 acre and many in our group have much more land and way bigger homes than ours, but you know what I believe everyone had a better time because we didn't have a show-place house we had a comfortable home everyone  felt very relaxed and had a good time.  It was a hot day in the 90's. Some ate indoors and some out doors. We got to show everyone our garden:) The youth played volleyball against the adults and almost everyone went home with a bag of tomatoes.  One of my dear friends left with one of my best jars of bread-n-butter pickles:) The pickles were a great hit at the party. It is sad that people don't can much anymore.  We are hoping to make a few more jars of pickles this week maybe dill this time:)

Our garden is just about done for summer...but wait what about fall gardening glad you asked:) We are hoping to plant more garlic,onions and brocolli. We already have some lettuce and spinach in the ground. 

I almost forgot our neighbors behind us just got chickens and a rooster:) I love to hear the rooster crow:) We are getting excited about our chickens now:) We are still trying to find time to build our coop I will let you know how that goes:)

I haven't had to much time to stitch... but I am hoping to find some time:)  It won't be long before the cold weather hits and I love to curl up with a good stitching project or yes a good book. I am reading a good one right now about solar gardening. There is always something to learn:)

I better get back to some of my daily duties,

Much Love,

Ma

A Beautiful Day!

Posted on Friday, August 8, 2008 at 10:54

Today is a beautiful day. It is suppose to reach around 78 degrees the sky is blue and the sun is warm.  I love days like these. I have the windows open and the breeze feels good. We don't have to much planned today. The girls are finishing up projects they have been working on.  Laura is going to a sleep-over  tonight and Mary is going to hang out with dear old mom and dad:)

This weekend is the longest yard sale so we  might stop by a few. You never know what you might find:) I have never been a big yard sale shopper but with things so tight we might find something we have been looking for?

I heard on the news that groceries are suppose to rise another 5% in the next few weeks. Yuck! I have been trying to only buy what  we need. I did break down and bought us all ice cream. I have found some "milk free" ice cream and It feels wonderful to have a cold sweet treat:)

I have a bit of laundry left to do and then I am going to work on some of my stitching. It is a beautiful day to work on a nice Christmas gift:)  I am so blessed!!

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Ma

Just a quick hello!!!

Posted on Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 11:23

I just wanted to let everyone know we are doing great! Just been to busy to write. Our garden is doing wonderful! This is our first year to grow corn and the raccoons didn't get it all:) I am sure we will grow double next year and hope to keep a fence around it.

We have been eating so much out of our garden. We had tomatoes, peppers, zuchinni, onions, greenbeans last night for dinner. I sure will miss it this winter. I did freeze some zuchinni but we have eaten everything we have grown so far:) We are looking into building a greenhouse and our chicken coop:)   We are hoping to start planting some fall crops soon.

Laura and Mary start homeschool  next  Monday. We are really looking forward to the new year. Laura will be in the 9th grade and Mary will be in the 6th.  I think this will be our best year yet!!

I have started working on some Christmas presents already. I hope to make a few presents which will save a little money:) It is never to early to start thinking a head!

I hope you have a blessed day!!

Ma

Producing Prolific Produce!

Posted on Friday, July 25, 2008 at 11:16

July has gone by way too fast and we have been very busy! We have managed to have some great family times with the girls and we got to spend a wonderful few days visiting my brother and family at Purewater Hollow Homestead. We took lots of pictures and hope to have some ready to share soon.

When we got home, the garden was overflowing with veggies. We have been blessed with great weather and bountiful produce. Our new harvesting containers are these "Peach Baskets", and this time it took three baskets to bring in all that was ripe.

July has been the month of the tomatoes, cabbage, onions, garlic, green beans, potatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, and now peppers and okra.

Regardless of what else is in the basket, there are always tomatoes. The extra-early tomato plants have done very well - we are now at 400 ripe tomatoes picked! The main season tomatoes are beginning to come in and Ma says it is time to stop counting the number of tomatoes harvested. I'll probably still try to sneak a count though.

Every time we bring a basket in, our cats Macy and Maggie have to check out what is new.

We can't let them look for long because they soon begin to want to sample the veggies. See Maggie licking her lips?

We quickly put everything away in the kitchen and set the baskets down to be ready for the next harvest day. Sometimes the cats think they can get a head start on us by hanging out IN the baskets!

They are so much fun to have around.

Have a blessed weekend!

- Pa

Thinking of Autumn.......

Posted on Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 11:24

It is going to be 93  today way to hot to be outdoors. I think the girls and I will be inside most of the day. My husband wants to mow grass tonight hopefully it will start cooling off when the sun goes down.  We still have many tomatoes, zuchinni, and cucumbers to pick. We will need to fence in our corn soon. I hope to take pictures of this..... this weekend:) We grew our corn in raised beds which we have never done before.

On days like these I start thinking about Autumn. I really enjoy it when the air is cooler but the days are not too short yet. We have many things to get done before  Autumn comes:) We want to get started on our chicken coop, we have a few more garden beds to make, we still have alot to do in our garage. I have learned if I make a  list of things we would like to get done *sometimes* we do get  somethings done on the list:)

I haven't had much time to sew lately. I hope to start on another pillowcase soon. I have been buying  regular pillow cases and then I bought some iron ons to iron on them. I have been stitching around the iron marks. I also found a pen that I can use to make my own designs and then stitch around the pen marks. I am very excited to see how this will look.  I would like to crochet some more dish towels. I wish I could show you the ones I made last year and the dish towels that I bought around that time. The dish towels that I crochet still look new and it is almost time for me to throw away my old bought ones in the scrap bag. I have been amazed on how well my crochet dish towels held up to the laundry.

Well I guess I better get started on my day. God is so  Wonderful!! I hope to look back at this post and see how much we got done on our "to do" list.  It will be more fun to see all that we got done that wasn't on this list:)

Blessings to all,

Ma

A Quick Weekend....

Posted on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 10:36

This weekend just flew by but we got many things done:) It was a very hot weekend so we stayed inside and worked getting many things done around the house. Saturday we worked on getting our garage cleaned up for winter.  I have been trying to get  many things ready before school starts. We will be starting school at the end of August. I know it seems silly to worry about winter already but when we start school we only seem to have time for school and not much else.

We are trying to think a head about stockpiling food. We cleared off some shelves so I can put  up more can goods.  We moved our freezer so we can reach it easier. I have been buying a little extra each week.  We all should be thinking a head:) I will be looking for sales in the near future:)

Sunday: We went to church and then Sunday school. I wish I could write everything we are learning about money in our class. It is so great to hear others talk about their money. There are around 50 or more in the class we are in different seasons of our lives. It is very interesting hearing everyones questions about money. I am so glad God has put this class before us we have been truely blessed!

We then went to my moms to visit. My mom and dad just finished their chicken coop a while back and this weekend was their first weekend with their new chicks:) The new little ones were so happy to be in their new coop:) I can't wait until we get started on our new coop.

Today: I have been doing regular housework later today the girls and I hope to get outside. It is going to be a beautiful but hot week. I really need to dig around my plants but I am not sure it will be this week:) We also have many greenbeans to pick. We need to pick a few zuchinni plants too: (I am sure I spelled that wrong) I don't want to be wasteful with my time. I have been struggling with trying to relax but also be productive.

We are going to visit my brother-in-law this coming next week. We always get excited seeing them. My daugters love visiting their cousins. This year God blessed them with another child. It will be great seeing everyone including the new baby:) We also get to see their new pigglets:) We are really excited about the fun we will have:) We have been so blessed with wonderful family!

I hope you have a blessed week!

Ma

A Blessed Day.......

Posted on Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 05:13

Well I tried to get outside today but it was way too hot. I was hoping to spend most of my day out doors:) Instead I worked on our grocery list and price book. Does anyone else keep a price book? I have been watching my groceries go up so now I am going to try to keep a price book to keep track of my everyday groceries such as milk, bread ect... I also have been working on my budget spread sheet. In our Sunday school class they asked us to start keep tracking  of all our expenses and to look at the last three monthes bills. I am really learning alot about how to save and to watch what we are spending:)

My daughters and I are reading a book together by Jane Austen "Emma". We read the first four chapters today. I really enjoy spending time with Mary and Laura. I will miss our lazy summer time when school starts:)

I have our dinner cooking we are having ham, potatoes from our garden, tomatoes from our garden, and cucumbers from our garden. I also made corn bread which I love:) I love being able to make dinner from our garden:) My husband brought in 65 tomatoes last night and this isn't even tomato time yet:) He also brought me in atleast 25 new potatoes Yum!

My husband is hoping to get some plans together to work on our chicken coop this fall. We have been way to busy to even being our chickens but we are hoping to get started soon. There is always something to think about:)

I am so thankful for all that the Lord has provided us. I just don't think we think about that enough:) I am so glad we bought a home were I can look out to our back yard. (Believe it or not but this is the only home we looked at that had a window that looked out to the back yard.) I enjoy waking up and opening the curtains to see the garden and all the goodness the day will bring.  I love sitting out on our deck and just looking at the freshly mowed grass how Great is Our Lord! He makes such beautiful things!!

I wanted to thank all the ones that have been praying for me. I have been feeling much better. I sometimes get the mommy blues in some sort of way. My daughters are growing up so fast.  I miss  when they were little running through the grass:) Now they sit beside me and read books, make there own jewlery, make there own hand-made cards and can work on the computer better than me:) I am so truely blessed:) It is hard not to want to go back to when they were little.  I think we all want to keep our children small:)   God knows what is best and I will turn to Him for all things:) Thank you again for praying:)

Well dinner is ready.

I hope you have a Blessed day!!  I hope you get a chance to look out your back window and see some of God goodness:) He is Truely Wonderful!!!

Ma

Surpassing our 100th tomato harvested!

Posted on Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 09:24

Laura and Mary were excited to take a picture of this Orange Blossom tomato because it was the 100th tomato picked this season!

After picking the rest of the 4th of July, Early Girl and New Girl tomatoes the count elevated to 136!

Normally here in Northern Kentucky we wouldn't have any ripe tomatoes yet. This success is because we started some plants from seed on Valentine's Day and transplanted them in the garden in early April. We had to put black plastic down the heat up the soil and cover the plants with clear plastic at night. Our first ripe tomato was on June 5th. It worked out pretty well.

We know for sure that the count is 136 because our kitten Maggie counted them again for us!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

- Pa

Our Garden in Pictures............

Posted on Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 01:21

Here is a few pictures of our garden.....

Thank you for stopping by....

Blessings,

Ma

Up-date of our week.......

Posted on Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 08:29

What has been going on here?? Let me up-date you:) Sunday was so wonderful. Church was great! We had a Praise and Worship Sunday. You can never Praise or Worship our Lord enough! Afterward we had our small group picnic. The couple who hosted it has a really neat home. They bought a mobile home and then built their home around it debt-free! from the outside you really couldn't tell that it was ever a mobile home. The inside was so nice:)  and did I tell you they are completely debt free.....Wow!  We had a great time.

Monday we were so worn out we just hung out and rested most of the day. We did get a lot of house work done.

Tuesday my husband and daughter had a dentist appointment. My husband had to get a crown and my daughter a few fillings but the big news she gets her braces on next Monday. She had to get her spacers on yesterday which will do something? She is a little sore today but she is excited about her future smile:)  I also mowed the grass it was a beautiful day:) I started on a great book about Gods Grace. I hope to read a bit more of it today.  I love to sit outside and read about Gods word.  He is truely Wonderful!!

Today... I am hoping to work on our budget. We are taking a Sunday school class about money. We have learned that 1000 homes 3/4 of a mile around our church are in foreclosure. I have been adding a lot to our house payment. I am thinking I really should add more. I really would like to get our home paid off sooner. We also need to spend less on food... but how?  I have been reading another blog and she has her totals on how much she spend a week this includeds everything phone, electric ect....  this should be a fun project:)  I am glad we had our daughters braces in our budget or it could have been a problem.

I will let you know what happens........

Blessings,

Ma