Our First Snow of the Season

Yup, the much awaited (by the children) snow came today. Last week I saw it was going to be on Christmas Day. However, as the week progresses, it went to Christmas night, then finally the day after. It did not start until one in the afternoon today.

I'm not really sure much we got yet, but our children are very excited about it. They can finally go down on our little hill in the backyard. I will be spending some time outside with them tomorrow.

The best part is, from now on, the day will get longer everyday. I can't wait for spring and planting time again.

Cold Frame

DH is thinking about making a cold frame in front of our house (well half of the front). I'm not really sure if he will be able to make one but he planning on it. Yes, it is only a plan right now.

However, already have four pieces of sliding glass doors for the front of it. I wish I can give him some of my enthusiasm when making things. I can only push just the right amount towards him. If I push too much, he will give up very easy. If I don't push at all, he will think I am not interested in making it, and he will drop the whole thing.

My father will try to do anything and never give up until he is done. I kept reminding DH to buy him a ticket and let him stay for a month to help him with things. However, the plane ticket is very expensive these days. Will DH able to do it? I guess we will see.

The Harvest

Here are what I harvested last week. Some of the carrots are being eaten by something. This ones are much better than last year. DH tilled the soil well this year and my carrots turned out good. I still have 1 or 2 that are oddly shaped. That is what happened when they touch some rocks.


Here are the squash/pumpkins that I was talking about. I know 2 or 3 pieces are acorn squash. I'm not sure what the others are.


And below is what I use some of the carrots above. Sweet and sour fish. I did not have any bell peppers in my garden this year, so, there is no pepper with this recipe. This picture can be also found in my cooking blog. This is it, for the 2010 season. I hope you all have a great winter and free from cold and flu.

My Vegetable Garden is Done

For the season that is. I will never stop planting vegetables. I wanted to plant all the vegetables we eat next season. Buying the veggies in our local farmers market is not safe anymore. Why do they need to compete with commercial farmers. I like my vegetables all natural. It's bad enough I have to buy fish from farm raise, vegetables too? I need a balance here and I will make it balance.

DD was bugging me too much today to pick the pumpkins/squash. Since we are off for a holiday, I tried to harvest everything I can. Saved the seeds of long beans, okra and pak choy. Our friend wanted some seeds and there are plenty to share.

I even removed the fence and put them dry and safe from rust in our garage. My min-van have to share it if I wanted to use them again next year. We are moving the garden where the sun can reach all parts of the garden next year. DH have to till again from a scratch but we both agree that the outcome will be abundance.

I still need to make a mix of garlic powder and some kind of oil if I will plant some lettuce next year. If I don't make it, I bet we will never harvest lettuce to eat. The bugs will be all over them, just like what they are doing with my pak choy, rabe broccoli and other leafy vegetables.

My next post will have the pictures of harvested carrots and pumpkins/squash.

Peaches

I only got 1 peach from the fruit tree this year. DD actually got 2 but it wasn't too ripe yet when she picked them. Three weeks ago DH told me that I should go out there and pick them but our weekend was too busy and I didn't have any time to pick them.

When I finally got out, we only have one still attached on the branch and nothing on the ground. I wasn't satisfy that everyone of the fruit was taken by someone or something. I looked carefully on the ground and found plenty of pits. I picked them all up and buried them in my garden. I am hoping they grow and I can move them when they are big enough.

I can't believe it, we had so much fruit but I got next to nothing. One of the reason that I didn't hurry picking them up, because DH was telling me that we are not allowed to eat the fruit until the tree is 5 years old. Well we asked around with some old and young people that knew more about the bible than us, and they came with the conclusion that those law only applies in the old days. Not really sure if it's true but we both think it make sense.

So, next year, I really have to watch the tree and make sure to harvest them before they fall on the ground.

Cantaloupe

Finally, I have two small cantaloupe. I was been talking about this things since the beginning and they all turned out to be squash... It happens when I don't know what I am planting. The seeds looks all the same, well except for the cantaloupe.

I think the one below is ripe. I have to go back there later when the dew are dried up and check on it.

I will post our ripe peaches next time. We have talk to some people and we decided that the fruit tree law in the bible was for the people in the past. So, we will be picking the peaches pretty soon. Maybe I will try making a pie or preserve, depending which one is better for human consumption.

My Collection of Squash(es)....:P

I apologize for not posting the squash/es (that just makes me smile) images sooner. But here they are now, I think each one came from different vines. I recognize the acorn squash but the others I don't have any idea what type of squash they are. Let me know if you recognize anything.

DH call all of them pumpkins...lol

You can click on anyone of them to see it bigger. I usually keep it this size but I made an exemption with them...today :))

I will try to take another picture before we pick them for Halloween.

Below is what I call Acorn Squash.

More of Vegetable Garden

DD holding the longest yard/string/asparagus beans I harvested for dinner. No fertilizer just plain dirt.

Asparagus beans where I harvested the ones above.


This is okra (lady finger), I am letting this mature for my next year seeds.

Some type of squash, I harvested it and taste just like squash with white meat.

My carrots are thriving inspite of weeds growing faster than I can pull it.

More squash picture coming soon...

Update 8/12/10

Pictures are taken 2 weeks ago.

Long/yard beans (sitaw), I actually harvested some today and thinking about making fresh bean adobo.

I thought this one was cantaloupes, it turned out they are pumpkins...:0..lol

Here are my sweet potatoes. I think deers are eating their leaves, there are hooves marks around it.

The okra/lady finger, I found 2 today that I can mix with my adobo. I can't wait for dinner...yummy!!!

I Can't Keep Up

The weeds in my garden is growing faster than I can take it out. Most days I can do it for a few hours, but when it rains or showers like they say, "they grow like weeds." I really don't mind weeding but this is ridiculous. My shoulder, hands, fingers are in pain after a few days doing it...whew!

My sweet potatoes, cantaloupes, beans, okra, bok choy, carrots, and rabe broccoli are growing nicely too. A lot of bugs are eating the leaves of my bok choy and caterpillars are enjoying the leaves of my rabe broccoli too. The broccoli, I can keep up, but those little black bugs on my bok choy are too many, too little and can fly, I can't get rid off.

Anyway, I will post some pictures soon.

Summer Rain & Cats/Kittens

I do love it because I don't have to water my garden. But I hated it because when finally the weeds are tall enough to pull, I can't because a sudden downpours poured when I wanted to weeds. Argh, very annoying...it feels like the cloud is watching me saying, "oh look she is out again weeding, let me rain on her." It is very nice to pull the weeds too because after a rain the ground is very soft. I don't need my trowel to help me pull them. And when I accidentally pulled one of my veggie, i just pack it down and good as new.

Sweet Potatoes

I went out the second time, and I can hear from the woods the rain drops. I waited until it's on top of me, just in case it will not come to my direction but no luck. Right smack on top of me, I had to ran back inside the house. My kitty (my 4 month old male cat, he was from the 1st litter of our 1st cat) was keeping me company weeding and joined me inside the house too...lol.

Cantaloupes

They are both people cat, if we are outside, they are outside and when we go for a walk, they come too. I love both of them. Anyway, his mother gave birth to her 2nd litter of the year yesterday. She have 3 kitten this time, the 1st time she had 4. This time the kittens are mostly black, compare to the last one with white/cream stripes, orange stripes, gray stripes and black stripes (we kept). The color this time are 2 black stripes and 1 black and white.

We listed the 1st one in Craigslist, and was gone the same day we listed the 3 kittens. We are planning on doing the same thing this time. I still wanted cream and orange stripes cats. Maybe next year when the mother is getting old, I can talk DH on keeping those colors. We didn't on the first time because the one we kept was the most playful one and still is until now. He is our stress reliever here at home, and he knows how not to use his claws when playing with us too. What I like the most is when he stand up and hug my leg, then run away...lol.

This part was weeded for a day, mostly pak choi/bok choy.

Ok, to others I may sound like a cat nut just about now. So, enjoy the pictures from my garden. Some part are weeded and the biggest part is not. I am working on it...lol.

Our Fruit Tree

I finally had a chance to take a picture of our fruit tree. I know I have mentioned before that we are getting more, but the good ones (organic not GMO) are hard to find. There are places that sell some but they are too far away from us and I wanted to go with DH to pick it up. Meaning we need to drive 2 vehicles because I can't leave the kids home alone and DH truck can only 2 comfortably. We are a family of 6, he used to have a big work truck, he sold it because it was a fuel hugger. One of this days, we will plant a new fruit tree. More likely in fall or spring.

Our Garden

Here is the picture, finally...lol. I already taken a picture a long time ago but I accidentally delete it from ODS camera. I thought I load them in my PC but I can't find them. Which means I deleted it before loading into my PC...:(

There are not much to see here yet but my melons (cantaloupes). However, when I went out there today, (watched the kids in the pool) I saw my beans coming out along with basil, carrots and sweet potatoes. Our first day of summer is tomorrow and I have nothing to show for it. I really need to bug DH next year to start early and I need to start my seeds inside the house. The way my is going now, there will be no saving for the winter and no seeds for the next season. This is not good. It does not help either during spring, because the kids are very busy with their meetings in March and April. Meaning I am busy too...:(

My Garden is Very Late

Yesterday, DH finally mixed the soil for the last time. I have some cantaloupe growing and I planted it when he finished. I did not planted any seeds because I am saving the job for today. And guess what happened, all day today? Yes, it rained all day. That is what I got for waiting. Plus, my parents remind me not to plant anything early in the week because it will not fruit as much when doing it later in the week.

I have not really proven it yet, but hey, I am applying the my parents old wives tale in my garden. I got nothing to loss but missing a day of planting. I will definitely take a picture of the garden before the weeds grows again. I will do it first thing in the morning, unless it's raining again.

I can't wait to see how my vegetables will turn out this year.

Spring Brought Me Down

Soon or later I know it was coming, and it did at the beginning of this month. Having no help around the house, it was hard trying to get some rest and trying to get better at the same time. I still have my daily duties to do even though I am not feeling very well.

I haven't taken a picture of my garden because I feel it does not look presentable at this point. DH only mixed it once and the weeds on it are starting to grow again. He got some things to do yesterday, and today he helped DD do some project outside. It wasn't even dry yet and they all ruined it. I would say probably 3 of our kids help messing it all up.

The good news, my peach/nectarine has so many buds this year. I think half of it will still fall, but it's about 90% more this year than last year. Everywhere I look, I can buds. Too bad we can't touch the fruits until it is 5 years bearing fruits (a bible thing). I went out there today without camera, and I did not feel like going back inside the house just for it. I take a shot the next time the kids are outside.

Anyway, how is your spring so far? My garden will be late again this year, and I'm not sure if I can freeze anything again, just like last year. The first frost of September is always a killer. I want to move to the tropic...who is with me...:)).

Finally an Update

Yes, I know exactly how you feel. I can't really update this blog until we finally do something in our garden. Well, yesterday it was dry enough to some mixing. Not very well mix, but it was a start.

DH tried very hard to mix it yesterday because last night we had a rain. We are not raising it this year, I think we will re-route the water away better this year. Even with a deeper trench will do for now.

I will post a picture as soon as I have time to take them. Hoping for a great harvest this year.

Welcome.

Fourth Bucket Full

Another addition to our garden. I wish we can do something with the garden right now however, we can't. It is way too wet out there, and I am sure that it will just turn into mud. Hopefully the nice temperature continues, and in no time it will dry up and we will be able to mix the soil. Crossing my fingers.

Active Droppers for February

Thank you so much everyone. It will not very long, this blog will be active again. As soon as the snow melts off the ground, I will starts the updates.

Third Time

This is the 3rd time we emptied our home made fertilizer since we started. Our garden is still frozen and I think this is the coldest month for winter so far. Anyway, the only thing we don't put in our food scraps are any kind of meat and milk products. I don't think what we collected this year will be not enough. However, if we keep on doing this, eventually we will have enough for the whole garden. Maybe by next winter our garden dirt will have enough.

Vegetable Garden Top EC Droppers

My apology for not posting much in this blog during winter months. There are only two more months and this blog will get updates often, please bear with until then. Thank you so much for the non-stop visits and drops. And as appreciation here are the top droppers images: