Tag Archives: gardening

October 3, 2011

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To tell the truth, we’ve not felt so well the last week.

I hate to see them not feeling well, but I think it’s just part of life this time of year. I’m always glad to see everyone on the mend, but this does give us a chance to pause and see them all back to health.

Please keep my family in your prayers over the next week as we’re recovering!

This last week has been an adventure.

We’re puppy-sitting for a dear friend.

The children have enjoyed our guests….I hope the puppies have enjoyed their time here as well.

I think the neighboring children have enjoyed playing too!!

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“Tidbit” is continuing to grow each and every day! She started rolling from her tummy to her back last week…and has suddenly taken an interest in her thumb!

She enjoys the exersaucer for little bits of time.

She and Emma are good friends these days…..

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Emma is still learning violin…we’re thankful for sweet friends that allow both she and Courtney to ride with them each Saturday! ;) Emma is learning, but also enjoys time with her friend.


Emma talking on the phone to this sweet little girl….

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I’m in the middle of several crafting projects. I think I stayed up too late on Saturday and this was the result:


Sorry it’s not a clear picture…

Courtney said on Saturday morning, when the children started noticing it, one of them said, “um…Courtney, I think there’s a problem here!”.
They thought it was a real mouse hole!!

We think it’s cute…I’m not sure how long it will stay, but for now, it’s been fun.

This, btw, was an idea I found while surfing Pinterest. If you haven’t visited that site, proceed with caution. It is FULL of ideas!

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Our garden, believe it or not, is actually producing something. It’s taken us a year but we’re seeing some okra and cucumbers.

This is one of Jacob’s Italian Sunflowers. They are simply beautiful!

That’s it for us today.

I hope you all are well and having a great week!!

With my love,

Updating

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It seems so long since I’ve updated this site.

Dial-up is another world when you are used to high-speed internet. I can’t tell you how difficult it is do accomplish simple tasks…things like banking, using the library or just checking store hours. Websites just aren’t being made to use dial-up anymore.

If you are trying to blog, or use fb, you must have a lot of patience. While you are online, also expect that no one can call your home, or if they do, after waiting 25 minutes for a page to load, you are quickly cut-off by the telephone ringing.

*Sigh*– It’s been a long, long year and a half.

Some of you may know, we’ve spent hours trying to get high-speed service in our rural town. First, the equipment was the main issue and then, when it was installed, we found out the local county government was holding up the installation process. My son, addressed the county and we’ve written letters and made perhaps hundreds of phone calls.

After all the work, I’m happy to say WE HAVE INTERNET again!! (Can you hear the choir as I type??)

I’m not sorry for the time without high-speed. It’s taught me to prioritize things a little better than I once did, and most importantly, allowed me to focus on my number one priority, my home.

I’ll admit, I missed this….but, I know it’s not the end all….

in any case, I’m glad to be back. <3

For today, I'm posting a few random pictures. Hopefully, in the days to come, I'll be here a little more often.

My precious little one, always growing….two days ago, she started sucking her thumb and rolling over by herself.

Miss Emma, is now taking violin lessons!! I’m so proud of her!

When Matthew is not falling off a horse :) , he’s building card houses.

Jacob, started the summer by planting a patch of sunflowers. He’s taken such care of them…these days, he’s drying out the heads (his brothers sneak out for a quick snack from time to time), and deciding what to plant next.

One of my latest thrifted finds….you can never have too many baby swings around this house.

Meredith has learned to paint her own toenails….(I really have no other words….)

Two of my favorite girls….I’m one *very* blessed momma!

Wishing you all a perfectly wonderful day!

With my love,

1st Potato

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This is our 1st “found” potato.

It wasn’t exactly meant to be pulled. We had sent the little boys to weed one of the garden beds. Their instructions didn’t exactly match their actions. Thankfully, we caught them before any more were dug up….

In any case, we’re proud. Hopefully, we’ll be pulling up many more soon!!

Gardening Projects

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Last year, when we were in the midst of our very first spring in this new home, I decided to plant our first garden boxes.

Between chickens, and really being too busy, things just didn’t click.

This year, Joshua has been busy building more garden boxes. We still have a few left to plant, but so far, so good. We’ve been eating lettuce for months and have a couple of additional veggies almost finished. The Lord willing, more plants will go in this week and we’ll be well on our way to fresh food for summer.

I recently came across a sweet idea for painting garden signs. We adapted it for our littles. Eveyone loved painting a sign, except Jon who was a little upset that I was placing his “art” project outside! :)


Joshua cut out these signs which Jessa and Jacob base painted.


The littles used Q-Tips to paint the veggie design that I had drawn in with a pencil.


When the paint was dry, I went back to outline each veggie with a Sharpie marker.


When they were finished and standing in the garden, Courtney went out and gave each one a top coat of clear acrylic spray to protect them from the weather.


The potatoes are all looking really great!! Ben and Timothy dug up a couple last week just to see how they were doing. We were amazed to see potatoes the size of a yo-yo under that dirt! It won’t be long and we’ll have lots to dig up!!


Yummy!!

April 7, 2011

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What a full day!

I’m so thankful to the Lord for days when we feel like we’ve accomplished our goals. More importantly, I’m thankful when we feel like we’ve accomplished HIS goals. I hope we have- I think He continually shows me places where I need to focus.

It has been an absolutely beautiful day at our home.

We’re expecting rain tomorrow so we set out today to make the most of the moments while there was some sunshine. I think everyone was glad to have some outside time. (Some probably more than others!)

As we continue to address some areas of our home before the summer really begins and the baby arrives, I think we made some real progress today!

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After a year of weekly cleaning, we have FINALLY removed all the trash that we found, shortly after we moved, buried in the side of our yard. I’ll spare you the details but it was weekly work for our family. I’m so glad it’s gone. I think I’ll honestly sleep better knowing the job is finally finished.

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Courtney repaired our bird feeder and filled it with seed just in time for the weather to warm up and invite lots of birds. I loved watching them from our family room last year.

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We planted Bee Balm this morning in a front planter. The Sweet Mint we’ve had growing has done great…this one seemed like it might be a nice addition to the front porch.


Mint


Bee Balm

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As I type, I can hear Joshua working on three additional square foot beds for the garden. We’ve REALLY enjoyed the lettuce and have had enough to share with friends.


Potatoes!!

Maybe before the end of the day, we’ll have those beds in place! We have some squash and tomato plants that would love a new home.

On that note, (I can’t remember if I shared this or not….), this year, rather than buying the expensive little plastic greenhouses, I decided to just buy the peat pellets and some plastic shoe boxes from the dollar store. They
are holding up so much better and we have some happy plants! It was easy to label what was planted in each row.

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Joshua also took the door down to my bedroom and to this little closet. I removed the shelving and we’re painting!

We loved the closets in this house (there are at least two in each bedroom!), but they sure were dark.

I think they are looking so much better in white.

….and, I’m really excited about the shelf paper we found at Michael’s! Isn’t it beautiful??

The simplest things can make you feel such joy!! It’s nice to work on your home and feel good about the changes you see.

A little paint, a little shelf paper, some weeding here and there….all things that are so easy, so simple, and yet make a big impact!

Have you worked on any new projects around your home this spring?

Prayer Requests

  • Please continue to pray as we reach the end of this pregnancy. I woke up with little contractions this morning. It’s a typical thing once I reach this stage, but uncomfortable nonetheless.

Today I’m Thankful For

  • A sweet note from Heidi!
  • Little girls who are feeling much better today
  • Happy smiles I see in the backyard this afternoon
  • Flowers all over the yard…it’s fun to see them pop up after such a cold winter!

  • Did I mention the REALLY big news?? It seems the phone company has decided to provide our area with high-speed internet!!! Woohoo! Now if they could just hurry—after a

On a Cold Day…

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It’s nice to remember we had a little taste of Spring!

We’ve been re-planting, and splitting plants, preparing garden beds, and thinking towards Spring (though we’re shivering on this March morning!).


Mint growing in a pot on the front porch


Preparing Pansies


Mom’s ferns (split from plants we had last year and planted in brand new baskets!


Ferns after being re-potted and split. They were a little puny when this photo was snapped a couple of weeks back…they’re finally beginning to look a little better, LOL!


New seeds arrive from Baker’s Creek!!


New garden gloves!!


Jiffy Pellets


Dollar Tree plastic boxes to make mini greenhouses

Compost and Gardening

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It’s that time of year!

We’re planning to expand our garden again this year. What are your plans for the coming season?

Compost bins Joshua made for our family last year. These were built from pallets given by family friends.

The new issue of Hobby Farm Home arrives!! Hurray!!

Do you think the chickens know they will be getting new housing soon??

Signs of warmer days coming….surely winter can’t last forever!!

Josie doesn’t care much for the colder weather. She is normally waiting by the door to go out in the morning. Now she waits for us to let her back inside.

Gardening catalogs are arriving almost daily and I finally made time to sit and watch my Homestead Blessings “Gardening” DVD.

August Thoughts

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Our 1st Cucumber-

Butternut Squash just picked from the yard-

Courtney studies for the last leg of highschool-

Joshua doing the same-

Can you believe we have TWO children graduating this year? Where did the time go? It only feels like a dream when I remember holding Joshua in my arms each morning. His little eyes would look so sleepy and he would rest against me as he woke up for the day.

*sweet memories.*

A quilt. Complete with the exception of a tag, that I still can’t figure out how I want to create.

Spaghetti sauce canned earlier this week with my very dear friends, and next door neighbors- the Johnson ladies. It’s amazing how friends become family, but I believe that is just what is happening.

As the summer draws to a close, we have much in which to be thankful.

4 Moms, 35 Kids

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When Kimberly, over at Life in a Shoe mentioned that they were hosting a linky today to show how big families live, I thought “this would be fun!”….and I was hoping that some of you ladies might have some suggestions on decorating/organizing things here.

We’re a family of twelve (my husband Paul and I have six sons and four daughters).

We’ve actually just moved from here (want to buy a mobile home?):


Being a family of twelve in a single-wide mobile home was another story by itself!

to here:

We live in a small, rural town in Alabama.

My favorite spot at this house:

The front porch is 80 ft long. I’ve placed some of our existing furniture on the porch, but honestly, it looks odd because the porch is so long. Anyone have any ideas for pulling it together??

I do love our ferns, and I love that porch swing…it’s the other places where I’m needing assistance.

The story of how we bought this house is actually amazing, but, I’ll save that for another time. For now, just know that we thought we would never find a house that could hold all of us, much less afford one. God is so much bigger than we expect, you know?


This is a swing frame that was left in the front yard…I’m going to place some swings for our younger children here.

In any case, we still have A LOT of work to do here. We’ve been here about six months.

These are remnants of a recent craft project (I still want to try coloring onesies for the baby….but again, another post for another time!):

This is a lake house, but for now, the lake has been drained to make it deeper.

When we moved here, there were beautiful bulbs, pear trees, and this lovely fig tree:

Chickens, chickens and more chickens!! (Mental note to self, DON’T wear flip-flops while taking pics of the chickens!! They will NOT leave my toes alone!) :


Our baby rooster!

Sunflowers in the garden:

Another square foot box:

I’m sparing you the in-ground garden. It’s a shame. Hopefully, we can show it some much needed attention this week.

We have about five acres. When we purchased this house, it was left FULL of more random stuff that I can even describe. In June alone, we LITERALLY removed 2 tons of trash from the basement alone.

Back yard swing that I hope to paint and restore. It would be nice to have a larger seating area here!

We are thankful for God’s wonderful provision. Each day, we find something new about this house that we love!

That said, this house is a work in progress, and probably will be for months to come!

If you have ideas, I would love to hear them!!