Gardening Time!

It's go time with the gardens.  I've been planning and waiting for this since I made my New Year's Resolution to expand my gardens this year. I made my basic plans to plant tomatoes and beans for canning late in the summer.  Plus I thought about the CSA that I was a part of last year and considered which veggies we ate right away (versus which veggies we gave away or fed to the chickies, which is why we're not doing a CSA again this year).  Then when I had my Garden Wish List written, I shopped online at Seed Savers Exchange to find the best heirloom organic seeds that were on my list.  Then I did the Seed Cooperative so that I could cut costs on buying these seeds and suggestions from my fellow participants expanded my seed selection.  Finally, I got my seeds and started my seeds indoors for some varieties. I have a heat lamp on my pepper seeds and basil seeds but everything else is growing slowly according to the light from the window. I'm lucky that my house is sort of shaded and we don't get much direct sunlight through the windows.  But that makes it tight when growing indoor seeds.

Over the past week I've been getting my garden beds ready and I'm excited to sow the flowers and veggies that can go into the ground in the spring!  I sketched out my gardens and mapped them through time so I could predict how they'd be harvesting at the end of the summer too.  I decided to add onions, carrots, and garlic to my other spring crops so I have to get them into the ground this week!  I am going to do a summer planting and a late summer planting so that I can get summer and fall crops too. 

I also planted some radishes, onions, carrots, and alfalfa sprouts indoors for indoor harvest. 

That's all that I could do bc of the chance of frost and then rain. But this weekend it's on!

I've been removing strawberry plants from the strawberry garden so that I can lay a path of stepping stones so that the girls can harvest easier.  I'm giving them away to friends, coworkers, and unsuspecting program participants.  Free to a good home!  The chickens have also picked up egg production as the days have gotten longer and the rain has brought them lots of snacks as they forage in the yard.  So I'm also seriously pushing eggs on any visitors to our house. Organic, All-Natural, Free-Range, Local Eggs! From hertiage breed chickens and ducks! Free to a good home!

We had a MOMS Club activity at our house today and we had an outdoor picnic after our Spring Walk.  It was so much fun to enjoy the outdoors and the sunshine without mosquitos! These are the best days of the year!

Best Moments Lately: It's been all good lately but one nice part was having a date lunch with Jeremiah in Annapolis yesterday. The kids were with the grandparents and Jeremiah was doing a trial in Annapolis.  My coworkers and I met at the DNR building down there for a garden tour and then I met Jeremiah during his lunch break. We had a quick sushi lunch and then he toured me through the Circuit Court building. Our names were on a sign as donors to the Court House Museum! That was a surprise for me from Jeremiah.  Thanks Babe!  You rock!

Worst Moments Lately: I am so sick of washing laundry. Between all the mud puddles and indoor paint projects, there have been a lot of dirty clothes lately.  Add to that how Cassie decorates her clothes with food at every meal.  But that's still pretty typical. What's pissing me off is how Jillian is too busy and excited to stop and use the potty until it's already a little bit too late!  I actually had to buy her more underwear after she'd run out of clean underwear twice this week.  And then her sheets have needed to be cleaned every morning all week.  Ugh. I really hate dealing with potty training for the past TWO YEARS!  I'm in absolutely no hurry for Cassie to move out of diapers. At the earliest I wouldn't start with her until this summer anyhow but I might really put it off bc I feel like I'm still dealing with Jillian. I get so frustrated with accidents. I can't even write about it anymore, I'm that frustrated.