How does your garden grow?

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Back when we were all doing resolutions in January. After posting mine I got to thinking about some of the talk of having a focus for the year.
This year's focus for me will be growth.

Mental-possibly going back to school
Spiritual-being more intentional about placing myself before God so that he can use me
Physical-growing a vegetable garden. This is the one I will focus on in today's post
Unexpected growth-TBA

After watching several bloggers and what they had done in their gardens I took a page from Manuela's book and decided to do raised beds. Our home is newly built and they scraped all of the top soil off of our land and only left clay. We have had a difficult time just getting grass to grow. My father (who happens to be a master craftsman) built me these beds.

First we laid down newspaper that I had been saving from my coupon clipping exploits. Next we added leaves, then some of the topsoil that we do have on hand, and finally some store bought soil and finally the rich miracle grow to get it really going. In the end mom and I decided to throw in the soaker hose. Not because it was necessary, but because it was free.

I am grateful for Hubbs for the brute strength, and Mom and Dad for their expertise. I am grateful to all of them for working along side me in this project as if it was their own. So far I planted:

Sugar Snap peas (see the little thingy that mom rigged for them to climb)

Romain Lettuce

Spinach (seeds)

Lettuce Mixture (seeds)

Broccoli

We also planted two blueberry bushes. Did you know you have to have two for cross polination?


I am working on a home organizing notebook

Monday, February 9, 2009

I am kinda type A. I have been saving lists and things forever and working up to have an entire notebook of organization. You know you have all of those stain charts, master gift buying lists, garden plans, shopping lists, and Sunday school class members phone numbers. I don't even have kids yet and I feel like I already let things slip through the cracks.

Does anyone already use one? Here are some helpful links I found.

  • How about a daily To-Do List from Penny Pinching Diva-Complete with space for a bible verse and checking off your 8 glasses of H2O a day.
  • Great printable for every ocasion. There are some very intriguing ones for the scrapbooker at Household Notebook.
  • Or there is this daily docket from Simple Mom who encourages you to swallow the frog first (do the thing you really don't want to do.)
  • Overwhelmed already. I really enjoy Home Sanctuary. This Company Girl encourages her readers to do one small thing each week day. I work full time and sometimes more than 10 hours a day. If I can do one small thing it makes me feel a little better as a wifey. You keep track of each small thing (they are all worth a different ammount of points) and at the end of the month she has a giveaway for the person with the most points. Don't worry though, there is also a random drawing for everyone else. She has a new song on her site each day to go along with the day's small thing.

I will post my notebook when it is finished. It will be about a week. Until then her is some click candy.

God Bless!

I have an obsession

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Allow me to confess one of them to you.

Enamel Pans!

Crazy, huh?

Let me tell yo why. You don't have to be fussy about what utensils you use when cooking them. You can get down and scrub them with steel wool or wire sponge when you goof and burn the rice on the bottom(I NEVER DO THAT!) Yeah Right, I do it all of the time. My DH does all of the dishes in our house. But when I burn something I always clean it. Enamel pans are the greatest for my somewhat forgetful way of cooking. And where do I get these little Jems? Why, at the local neighborhood goodwill.

This is my egg pan, not becase I cook eggs in it. I am sure you can see why. It is perfect for cooking dried beans, rice, and heating up a can of soup.And here is my latest acquisition. It doesn't have a name. It is highly useful in skillet meals and hamburger helper. It's durability has already been tested. I burned hamburger helper on the bottom of it this week when I walked away(always the multitasker), and it is just as pristene without a stain on it. I love my little forgiving pans. The hubs is getting tired of trying to fit them all in the drawers.