Happy Harvest!

When my 16 year old was younger we would take him trick-or-treating every Halloween. We had a great time and have many wonderful, and of course silly, memories. However, with my now 2 1/2 year old I'm finding myself wanting to do things a bit differently. I'm no longer wanting to celebrate the spooky holiday I looked forward to every year. Along with all of the changes I've been making to our lifestyle and diet, I'm all to happy to change the way we celebrate October 31st. So, this year we are not celebrating Halloween, we are celebrating Harvest.

Farmers would celebrate the fruits of their labor by getting together with friends and family for a social. There would be music, dancing and plenty of wonderful food and drink. It was a great way to give thanks to the Lord for all he has given.

Here are some changes we have made thus far.

Instead of carving pumpkins, we painted them. The toddler loved all the different colors. The best part was pouring on glue for the glitter.


Instead of a scary costume or a fantasy costume, the toddler will be dressing up as a cowboy/sheriff. In the future, I'm hoping I can get everyone to dress up like cowboys. :)

The cutest sheriff in town...picking a pumpkin to take to the town social.

For the sake of education, we did an art craft with felt, glue and crayons. I used a sharpie to outline Happy Harvest! The toddler LOVED doing this craft. He was really excited about using the glue and scissors.

My toddlers arts and crafts project.

Instead of trick-or-treating, we went to a local farm that has a corn maze, cherry tomato maze, hayrides and petting zoo. It was fantastic fun! We can't wait to go again next year.

The toddler in the cherry tomato maze.

Not bad for our first year celebrating Harvest. The change was non-stressful, a factor every holiday should be. Otherwise, it's just not worth celebrating. HAPPY HARVEST EVERYONE! I hope the next year brings you plentiful, beautiful and deliciously ripe crops!!

The Happy Harvest Wife,
Monica ;0)

Strawberry Forte

I came across these already sprouted strawberry plants at Wal-Mart. They were affordable and cute. I couldn't help myself. Since I'm feeling pressued for time I decided to purchase 6 (already grown) plants. I planted them in 2 of my buckets I had purchased for $5 each. I think they look adorable. Living a self-sufficient lifestyle doesn't mean you have to sacrafice on looks.

"My first white flower blossomed."

"Is that cute or what!"

"I didn't realize the flowers turned into strawberry's...I'm lame. lol"

"Can't wait to eat them!"

"Red and Turquoise are the future colors of my new kitchen."

I found a canning recipe for Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate. So simple.

6 c. hulled strawberries

4 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice

6 c. granulated sugar

The only bummer is the granulated sugar. I'm trying to cut it out of our diets. It's so hard because it's in everything. I would LOVE a canning book that had recipes that didn't need any sugar. That's a thought, what if you could make all of the jellies and jams without sugar...when you opened a can to use (unsweetened) you then added something like Agave Nectar. Hmmm.

Sincerely Sour Strawberries,

Monica ;0)

I've Graduated

"My infestation was nothing close to how awful this one is!"

It use to be that if any bug came along I would'nt touch it with a 10' pole. Today, with some slight effort, I squashed a few aphids between my fingers. And...I wasn't wearing gloves! Sounds gross, but when you start to spend as much time outside as I have, you start to get use to the bugs. I'm a bit proud of myself for being so brave. I can't pat myself on the back yet though. The grasshoppers scare me to death and I still run from things that buzz. Oh well, at least I can take some pride in the fact that my thumb just may be turning green indeed! Graduated? I think yes...from "bug terrors" to "bug squasher." When I'm finished mixing some all natural pesticides I will have graduated from "bug terrors" to "bug terrorist." lol

Squashing Bugs,

Monica ;0)

Ants!

"Red Ants...ugh!"

"They've taken over the backyard!"

Since it's time (pass time) to plant my experimental garden, I decided since I'm not expecting too much from it (it was a long winter, lol) that I would plant it into the ground. Especially since I'm not wanting to waste good soil on plants that are, well...not so healthy. lol So, I started to dig a hole, then two...then I was standing in a swarm of ants. Not just any ants, red fire ants! Ugh! Ouch! :( I thought, how could I of missed them when I started digging. Well, days later, I realized that it wasn't that they were already swarming, they started swarming because I dug right into their home. This prompted me to take a good hard look at the ant holes in my back yard. I knew I had some but I didn't realize there were so many!!!! My husband said to me yesterday that we needed to do something about the ants in the backyard before they get into the house again. He suggested pesticides. ugh Now I'm looking for a natural way to get rid of these ants. Any suggestions?

Ants bite! Monica ;)

Ode to the Dirt

Oh where, oh where is my dirt? I wish I could plant directly into the ground. But, since we don't own this house and we are not planning on buying it, we made our garden portable. I purchased 27 - 18 gallon tubs and 4 - plastic buckets. I've planted the strawberries into the buckets and 1 plant (blackberry) into an 18 gallon round tub. I'm chomping at the bit waiting to get my dirt. My husband said he needed to fix the truck first. As of today it's been in the shop for 2 days. I have ... wait for it ... wait for it ... ANTS IN MY PANTS!!! lol


Until the truck is ready, I've written a poem to express my excitement...

Oh dirt, oh dirt, how I long for you
your a balance of the lovely earth, without cides

Oh dirt, oh dirt, how we long for you
your bringing fourth daydreams of mouths open wide

Ode to the Dirt,
Monica ;0)

Spring is here!

It's finally here. Spring!...and all it's...coldness. I never realized how long it remains cold when you want the weather, i.e. sunshine, to reign in all it's glory. I've never looked forward to heat or summer for that matter. But, since I've taken such an interest in gardening...I can't wait. Yesterday we had a major rain. I'm a bit in shock since about a couple of weeks ago it seemed like summer wanted to take over. Today, it's overcast with a few bouts of sun. I can't wait to check in on my new plants. Speaking of plants,

I've purchased many new varieties to add to my garden.

*Orange Tree

*Avocado Tree

*Lemon Tree (I have a mini lemon tree.)

*Another Blackberry plant

*2 Blueberry plants (they say to plant 2 different varieties for better production.)

*2 Grape vine plants

*6 Strawberry plants

*1 Habanero plant

*1 Spearmint plant

*1 Peppermint plant

"My latest additions. Avacado tree, Blueberry plant, Lemon tree and Orange tree."

"My Avacado tree upclose. So pretty!"

"Eureka Lemon tree! Dare I say Lemonade!"

"I'm so excited this Orange tree has new leafage already!"

"Blueberry pie anyone?"

I'm not proud of the fact that I didn't grow these plants from seed, but when it comes to trees and vines, I'm ok making an exception. It takes SO long for them to grow. And, maybe they haven't been treated organically during their beginning life stages...but they will be now. lol

Welcoming in the Spring,

Monica ;0)

Blackberry Delights!

Having big dreams of growing blueberries, rasberries, stawberries and any other kind of delicious berry in my backyard has been a realization in far reach. Berries were the first plants I looked for when gathering purchases of seed varietys. (mostly vegetables) To my dismay, I was unable to find any berry seeds. Experienced gardners are probably chuckling about now since they probably know that these berries are not sold in the same fashion as say vegetable seeds. And, they are not sold all year long.

I was SO excited to find blackberry and 2 kinds of raspberry plants on sale at Orchard Hardware Supply! I also found strawberries for sale...10 plants in a bag of soil for $4.50ish. I was dissapointed to see how expensive stawberries were, yet at the same time I was excited to see how they were sold. The blackberry plants and raspberry plants were $6.49 each. I grabbed a blackberry plant and plan on going back for the raspberry plants later.

I was also excited to find that OHS carried watermelon radish seeds. Until today, these were seeds that seemed non exsistant. So, I grabbed a bag of the dainty seeds, with much enthusiasm, for planting this summer.

My garden find for the month!

"This plant is already 2 years old!"

"I have a recipe for these already!"

Berry Wishes,
Monica ;0)

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Since my youngest child was diagnosed with Eczema, I've made a complete change in our lifestyle diet. We now eat mostly raw/vegan and gluten free. Since I've made this change I've seen a complete change in my sons Eczema. It's been wonderful! Tonight I made gluten free chocolate chip cookies. I was going to take a photo of the dozen plus cookies, but after my teenager got ahold of them, well, this was all that was left. LOL

"Someone please finish me!"

Gluten Freely,
Monica ;0)