Out in the Garden

A Snow Day Out In The Garden

After a week of planning this summer's garden on paper and ordering seeds and seed starting supplies, I was treated to a bit of reality today. We got our first snow of the winter, so this is what the garden currently looks like.

Since it was Sunday I got to enjoy the snow with my daughters. We had a lot of fun building a snowman and sledding.

Since there are no plants blooming outside, we have to get our natural color and energy from the birds.

So I guess it doesn't bother me that nothing is growing in the garden right now. For this season, all is as it should be. Besides, we are still making compost that will go into the garden this spring.

Late Season Apple Pickin'!

We have been blessed with two great weather weekends in a row. Last weekend we were at Pure Water Hollow Homestead and the weekend before that we picked apples at Evans Apple Orchard.

They have over 20 varieties, but most were finished for the season. They did still have 5 varieties to choose from and we picked 3 different kinds: Fuji, Stellar and Enterprise. We had great fun picking them and sampling all 5 varieties!

Evans Apple Orchard is in Georgetown, Kentucky which is about an hour drive for us. Believe me, it was worth the drive! The apples are delicious and we also had fun with the other activities they have there. We did spend an uncomfortable amount of time in the corn maze though!

Visiting a real orchard makes me want to do a better job with my apple trees next year!

A Great Time At Pure Water Hollow!

It has been a long time since I've posted here. Sorry, time just gets away. We have had some great times in the garden and in the outdoors in the past month. I have much to report, but for today, I want to tell you of our wonderful weekend at Pure Water Hollow Homestead!

Pure Water Hollow is actually my brother's homestead. They have around 100 acres of beautiful mountainous terrain.

My plan was to show some pictures here to surprise my brother, but I just checked his Homestead Blogger page and I was the one who got the surprise! He already found the pictures I posted for him, so I will show a few that he didn't.

Their place sure is beautiful! We had a super time. My daughters had great fun hanging out with their cousins, and as an added bonus, my Mom and Step Dad and Aunt and Uncle were there too. It was a mini family reunion at Pure Water! all of us out-of-towners stayed in a hotel both nights. The girls had fun playing cards with Grandma and Grandpa or swimming there after a hard day's play.

I owe a huge thank you to my mom for booking the rooms and paying for a large part of the trip. I also owe my brother and sister-in-law a huge thanks for buying our dinner and for being such great hosts and tour guides around their homestead. We have been there before, but we got to see much more of God's splendor this time. Here is Mr. Pure Water himself:

Beautiful woods, rocks, a pond and a river, animals, well behaved children and a God loving family; all things you can find at Pure Water Hollow Homestead. I hope we don't allow too much time to pass before we visit again!

Watch Out For The Giant!

There will be no gardening today. I'm afraid of the giant in the yard.
Look at how big he is!

Everyone have a great Saturday!

Let Your Kids Help in the Garden

It is a great idea to let your children help you in the garden. I used to be a perfectionist and resist the help of a little one because things would not be done exactly right. Now I see that it is worth losing a seedling or two to have your children by your side in the garden. Even if they only help in small ways, they begin to understand how plants grow. They get to be part of something bigger than themselves. They marval at God's workmanship in every step.

So far, my daughters have been able to enjoy watching broccoli, lettuce and peas grow from seed to harvest. As for the tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, beans and everything else, they now want to check on the progress almost daily and notice even small changes in growth. Because of my girls, we have planted more vegetables than I originally planned. Every time they want to plant something new, we find a little more space. They recently planted corn and green beans.

I know it is kind of late in the year to be sowing seeds, but as long as we don't have a very early frost, they will make it. This weekend they will be planting pumpkins and gourds. We don't really have enough room in the garden for such space hogs, but by being a little creative I think we can manage. I will save the details for a future post.

The bottom line is that gardening is a great family activity. Our family is having a great time and learning a lot together. If you have a garden of any kind, I encourage you to involve your children in the tasks needed. As long as you can get them to see it as fun as well as work, they will want to visit the garden again and again!