OK, so I haven't written in a while....

Life is so busy. I have been catching up on the other blogs I follow and realized how long it has been since I have written anything on my own. My goal was to use this blog as a means to make a habit of writing on a regular basis. So far I am failing miserably.

I have decided to write a list of random things going on in my life in an attempt to get the ball rolling again. Here we go!

1. School started and I purchased a new curriculum THIS week. How dumb is that!
2. I have boxes of books all over the house that I cannot seem to get rid of.
3. Yesterday, when my husband asked the kids if they would help him remember something, Taterman (my youngest son) said, "My brain isn't big enough too remember to remind people of things." Too funny!
   
4. I planted my garden according to the "Square Foot Gardening" Technique, but did not finish setting up the trellises so now my squash is running over my other veggies.
5. I think I have lost my yellow summer squash to a ugly "squash bug". :(
   
6. My tomato plants are now taller than me! Is that normal?
7. The Broccoli didn't produce anything edible.
8. I have 3 beautiful pumpkins! One for each kid!
   
9. I am going to go with my mom and sister to our regular hair appointment today. It is a girls day out! I love it!
10. I have been re-learning the art of photography and I LOVE IT! I studied photography in high school but it never really "clicked" till now.
11. My husband invited me and the kids along on a "business 'day' trip" this week so that I could take some pictures. He is so good to me. I completely wore him out because a 2 hour trip became a half day trip just so I could take photographs. He didn't complain. Not once.
    
12. We have started to attend a "family integrated" church. Well, we started in May. I have NEVER in my life been in a room full of children from infant to teen and not hear them! I am amazed every Sunday!
13. I haven't walked once this week and I am starting to feel like I might not return to it. That bothers me, a lot.
    
14. My husband will attend the last Bible study meeting tonight, then they will take a break from studies while us women start ours. He has learned a lot and has been blessed by it.
    
15. I love my husband so much!
    
16. I love my kids so much!
17. Now, I can't think of anything else to say besides all this mushy stuff about how much I love my family and how great they are so I will spare you from all that stuff and end this now.
    

Till next time,
Gruvinmom

Garden Update

I have been pondering what I should write about in order to catch you all up on the goings on around here. There are so MANY things to talk about! This post was named 3 times before I finally settled on the garden. First it was "Emmet Cherry Festival", then "Weiser Fiddle Festival", and finally "Cute, Fuzzy Rabbits!"

Ahh, the garden. Can I just say how much I love it! I have never really "gardened" before. Sure I grew a few things. A squash here and there, attempted tomatoes, let lettuce go to seed, but I have never planted a "GARDEN". I never knew how relaxing and peaceful it would be! I have to harvest spinach and lettuce almost every day and every time I go out and sit next to the garden bed to tend the vegetables, I marvel at the peace and quiet.
The sun warming my skin, the sweet breath of wind on my face, and here comes my little boy to join me. "Can I help you, mommy?" he asks with his sweet face beaming up at me.

"Sure, why don't you water the vegetables." I offer. He turns on the hose, starts to water the plants and asks, "When can we pick the vegetables?" and "I want my own garden when I grow up".
"Oh, look a butterfly!" He says with excitement. He drops the hose and runs after it, chasing it all over the garden. After a while he gets frustrated with the chase and pouts "I can't catch it, mom."
"Try sneaking up on it" I say. Then he tries his best imitation of a lion stalking his prey. Crouching down and peering over the vegetables, trying to make himself appear smaller. He succeeds in getting arms width from the fluttery thing but his breath gives him away and the butterfly flies up and over the fence.

Let me take a minute to reflect on the cuteness of that.

"Awww......."

O.K., Now for he rest of the story.

The boy stands up quick and stomps his foot. "Man!" he says. "It got away! It's not fair!"

"Oh, that's too bad", I say, "Maybe next time you'll be able to catch one."

He turns toward the garden gate to leave. "I'm going to the house! Stupid butterfly!" he complains, marching away and attempting to take my peace with him.
But no, the garden beckons me back into its tranquility. Nothing spoils the peace and quiet in the little corner of my yard. The strong scent left on my hands when I tend to the tomato plants, the sun nourishing me with its rays, the soft breeze cooling my face.


The sound of water trickling from the hose as I hear the wind rustle the corn leaves. Ahhhhh!

Now, go out side and feel the breeze, soak in the sun, smell a flower. Go. Now, I say!

Love,
Gruvinmom

Breaking Ground

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything. We have been pretty busy around here! This year we are attempting our first large garden. I usually spend each winter planning a garden but spring comes and goes each year without my plan coming to fruition. Thanks to the "economy", we are making the effort to get the garden started. I planned a pretty large area for the garden but I think we may only plant part of it this year. We shall see. Here are some pictures of Hubby and the boys rolling up sod.

Here is what it looked like when we were finished pulling up sod. Are you wondering where our daughter is? She was lucky and had a dance performance that day!
Can you believe we did all that with our own little hands? Well, if you know us AT ALL, you know we DID NOT attempt to do it all by hand. We had good intentions though! That counts for something, right? After moving two rows from the one bed, we realized we would be killing ourselves to remove it all so we rented a sod cutter. $30 for 2 hours. We enlisted Hubby's brother to come help us and after about an hour trying to figure out the machine, they had to really work fast and furious to get it finished before time was up. Boy were we glad to have the work done so quickly.

We are going to be using the "Square Foot Garden" Method. The bed on the left was meant for all our "viney" plants. It measures about 20 feet long and 4 feet wide. I haven't decided whether or not to place wooden boxes in that area. To the right of the long bed we have placed four 8' x 4' beds with sod between them. I would like to, eventually, place fabric weed barrier and bark down between the beds but it will have to wait. I figure mowing is better than walking through mud and allowing weeds to grow between the beds. We will be adding a garden mix of soil from our local nursery to all the beds.

Here is a picture taken from the back porch. In the foreground you can see some of the vegetables and flowers I bought the other day.

I also bought some herbs for my herb garden shown in the picture below with our old dog Molly. We can't keep her out of the herbs because her path to the gate goes right through it so we are going to try to get her to avoid it by installing a 3 ft decorative fence along the patio, but if she thinks its a great place to sleep, then I don't know what to do. We will have to fence off the big garden area, too.Last night we had to bring in all of the plants because we had a cold front with freezing temperatures. Yes, that is a pumpkin on the table. We saved it since Halloween last year. I keep threatening to cook it but... I am always amazed that a pumpkin can last that long.


The paper cups are vegetables and flowers my kids planted. Cute, huh!
I have some great heirloom vegetables this year. The tray with the Styrofoam cups were grown by a young girl who goes to my sisters church. Tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cabbage, watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkin, and butternut squash. I hope I don't kill them!

Well, that covers what we have been trying to accomplish over the last week or so. I will try to keep posting any new garden developments.