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)

October Garlic

With halloween right around the corner, having some garlic on hand for those pesky vampires is a good idea. Not to mention, garlic goes wonderfully into a lot of dishes. So, I started some garlic sprouts inside of my home in a little cup. I'm excited to say that I have several cloves that have grown roots and a couple that have began to sprout.

Observe...

Here you can see the roots popping out. (top)

Green shoots popping out.

Within 3 - 4 days the green shoots appeared. I was not expecting such progress so quickly. I can't wait to see what happens next. That would be because I have no idea. lol Yes, I'm a first timer garlic grower. Question is, when do I plant them into the ground. Well, I guess it's back to research.

Vampires Beware,
Monica ;0)