Garden Update!

"Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed‑bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good" Genesis 1: 11 ‑ 12

Our peach tree is doing great!

1 of the 5 lima bean plants.

Squash is coming along.

Zucchini is too.

I can't wait until these purple hull peas start producing. This is 1 of the 6 plants.

1 of 5 okra plants.

1 of 4 green bean plants.

We plant 5 cucumber plants.. only 1 survived. But it is doing great!

Another view of the cucumber.

1 of 6 tomato plants.

2 of 6 tomato plants.

Another view of the 2nd tomato plant.

3 of 6 tomato plants.

4 of 6 tomato plants.

Sorry for the delay in a post. I hope once football season is over and school is out I will be able to post a little more regular, but I'm not making any promises.

I am really enjoying our garden. I don't have much growing up, except tomatoes, but I am loving the new things Hubs and I are learning as we go. Next years garden will be bigger and hopefully produce even more. Now if we could just get some rain!

How is your garden growing? What did you plant? 

I am thinking this fall we should plant a cover crop in the new area we will use as a garden next year. Have you ever planted cover crops? Did it help the soil?

I declare war...

...on the bugs eating my vegetables leaves! I walked outside today and the 2 leaves on one of my lima bean plants are just about gone! They were there yesterday. I noticed some holes in my pea plants too. I am determined to get rid of these bugs THIS weekend. 

I am placing an order tomorrow for some ladybugs. If anyone knows of other natural/organic ways to get rid of these pests please let me know.

Here is one of my beautiful lima beans, before the bugs go it.

I need to take a picture of what they look like now. I am so upset. I'm hoping I don't lose all my lima beans. Maybe once I get the bugs under control I will plant more lima beans?

1st Bread Making Experience

That's one good looking english muffin, if I do say so myself.

I have been on a mission to make sure I know more about what exactly gets into/onto my families body. This is a slow going process as I am learning as I go. We are switching to real milk, local free range eggs (soon they will be eggs from our own chickens, local grass-fed beef and chicken, and I am trying to find local pork as well. 

I have been craving english muffins, whole wheat english muffins. I am NOT a fan of "white bread", it is gummy and tastes terrible. Of course I could have bought english muffins from the store, but after reading some of the ingredients I decided not to buy them. Over 1/3 were things that I could pronounce and I have no idea what exactly their purpose is. So I decided to make my own. The ingredients in mine are: whole wheat flour, sugar, oil, yeast, filtered water, salt.

I had to make two batches because the first batch didn't rise. BOO.

Those that know me know that I am very close to my grandma, Nonnie. And she is my go-to-gal for anything cooking. She has about EVERY cookbook known to man. And she has read them all cover to cover. RARELY does she ever cook from said cookbooks though. HA. But if I am ever in need of a recipe, or to know the best substitute spice, or to talk about the latest Paula Deen magazine, I call Nonnie. So when my bread wasn't rising I did what I always do, I called Nonnie. Well I learned my Nonnie does NOT cook bread from scratch! She also has a hard time getting the bread to rise. 

Instead of giving up, I tried again. And they turned out great. Next time I need to make them a little bigger though. And I do know that next time I need help with bread making or making anything from scratch that Nonnie won't be much help. HA! If I need a recipe, or some etiquette advice, or shopping advice she is still my #1 go-to-gal. I am just going to start calling Grandma Vie when I need help with more of the original way of doing things, bread making, gardening, raising chickens, canning, etc. It is amazing how God places people in your life that He knows are going to be able to teach you things. Grandma Vie, I hope your phone is charged for my next bread making attempt!

Cooking on the griddle. 

Just came out of the oven! See those holes? Next time it needs MORE! :-)