Every time I go outside, I head straight for my planting beds.  I assess the backyard first, then venture on the the main “op”.  It’s chronic, sometimes ten times a day, I look at the same pumpkin, the same chard, the same beans.  Any new growth?  Mostly no, but sometimes yes.  I don’t know what I’m looking for exactly.  I guess I want my plants to show me their eyes and mouths and tell me what’s up, that it will be a great season.

This is a pie pumpkin that I am compulsive about checking.  I’m happy with its progress.  I constructed tee-pee for it to trellis on.  So far so good. I have counted up to seven fruit on it, however, each time I count I find one more or one less.

I check this bad boy ten times a day, expecting it to be doubled in size.

Babies, babies and more babies!

I love this plant.

We do a lot of “skillet meals” in this house.  That means whatever we have, throw it in the pan and see what sort of magic comes out on the other end.

Potatoes, carrots, beets, basil and zucchini.

Uhmmmm, shred the beets and carrots?  Sure!

There it all is, along with a fresh onion from the garden who was too shy to be in the first picture.

I made some pesto with the basil and threw it all on top of some polenta.  Believe it or not, my kids loved it!  Fresh and yummy, still has a pulse, the way it should be.

I tried to make my own egg noodles the other day and what a mess I made. I used a vague recipe from a baby cookbook, yikes! They didn’t dry completely and turned out chewy and weird. If anyone out there has a recipe for egg noodles that is spectacular, let me know.

A complete failure.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-kimbrell/the-obama-organic-family_b_224398.html
Excellent! Must read.

I talked the talk and whinnied about making my own laundry detergent, I wasted no time in trying it.  I can’t believe how fresh my clothes smell!  I’m totally sold and I hereby tell you to try it for yourself…where’s Billy Mayes when you need him?

This much closer to what?  I’m not sure, maybe you can tell me.  I did hoof all over creation today, lugging my two patient children  all in the name of “washing soda”.  Right here is where I should talk about natural cleaners and why you should make your own, I won’t, but it’s coming.  I am going to say that I made my own laundry detergent today!

A special shout out here to friends, Roy and Becki, GREAT IDEA!

You only need a few ingredients to make your own laundry detergent, which saves the Earth and saves you money.  All it takes, is a bar of soap, borax, washing soda and water.  I have to say that I went on a wild goose chase searching for washing soda.  It was at the 9th store we checked, not very Earth-friendly, and it was the store closest to my house….lessons learned.  When I went to the natural food store, store #7, they looked surprised that I asked for such a thing.  One man asked “to make your own laundry detergent?”

“yeah.” I say.

“Yeah, I don’t know if we sell that….can I recommend any of the ones we have for you?”

“No,” I say, “I’m trying to make my own, I just need washing soda.”

Guy number two says, “I haven’t seen that in years, you should try looking…”

Well, the next place didn’t have it, but the place after that DID”!  Listen up, washing soda is not baking soda!  They are different, it is supposed to be found in a box in the laundry isle along with borax.

The recipe that I used is:

1. Shred one bar of soap (about 2 cups)

2. Put that into 1 qt. of water until all is dissolved

3. Add to that 1 cup borax and 1 cup washing soda

4. stir that all up and then pour it all into two gallons of water.

5. If you put it in jugs or old laundry containers, it’s easy to shake before you use it.  It will gel together somewhat.

6.  Use 1/4 cup per load.

I used 1/2 bar of white laundry soap (bar) which cost $1.  The washing soda was $2.90 and the borax $3.90.  Just factoring in the cost of the material, it cost me $1.23 to make two gallons of product.

You should totally give it a try.

visit http://www.harmonygardens.blogspot.com, and make an effort to go and see Dr. Calvin Bey’s garden tours this weekend.  Even if you don’t garden or don’t have any desire to garden, you should see it anyway, it’s a work of art.

Meet David Perreault.

He is a neighbor of mine who lives up the hill in the Wedington Woods area.  This year he started a garden in his front yard after coming down a few times with his family and asking some questions.  David said that he has tried two years in a row to grow vegetables in his yard with no luck at all.  Being intrigued by the raised beds, he ordered his own dirt and with a little help of some ice storm debris, he constructed his own.  He also amended his soil with compost and added some mulch.  

David has installed a U-shaped bed and added some drainage ports at the lower sloped areas of the bed.  He started all of his plants from seed in his garage.  He mentioned that a lot of his transplants sat in the ground for a bit, doing nothing, until the heat set in here in Northwest Arkansas.  In this region we experienced rain for a month which caused everyone’s plants to suffer and delay their growth.  

In his family’s garden they are growing:

Snap peas           Cucumbers

Corn                     Watermelon

Pole beans          Pumpkins

Bush beans         Summer squash

Carrots                 Potatoes

Bell peppers        Jalapeno peppers

Broccoli               Tomatoes

Lettuce/Kale       Onions

Sunflowers

Bell peppers/Jalapeno peppers

Tomatoes

Yellow crook-neck squash

Watermelon

His girls picking snap peas

It looks easy doesn’t it?

Potatoes

Carrots

Onions

Broccoli

This is Henry their garden mascot.

Bush beans

This is Corinne, sorry if I misspelled your name.  She was very proud to show me the flowers her and her sister planted for their mom for Mother’s Day.

You see, you don’t need that much space to grow a fantastic garden full of fresh produce.  The best part is, it only has to travel a few feet to get from your garden to your plate!  Thank you David and family for setting an example for  us all.

I believe this to be an isolated incident, I don’t believe all were affected by this the other night, but in my neck of the woods, Hwy 16 west, we received 15 minutes of hail followed by a torrent of rain.  It didn’t make sense to me, because it was 90 degrees that day.  The rain and hail came at about a quarter of two in the morning.  I forget that things like hail develop thousands of feet up, where it’s colder, go figure.  It was an experience though.  The only hail I have ever experienced in my life has been small pea-sized hail, the kind you see and go “Oh, it’s hailing!”.  This hail was quite large and it was as if it were being shot out of a gun at the ground.  Paul ran outside when it let up a little and grabbed a few pieces of it and took a picture.  All I could think was “PLEASE don’t break a window!” wether it be car or house.  Ahhh the midwest and it’s whack weather phenomenon’s!

Our babies, not so much anymore, received their first taste of the outside the other day while I cleaned out their temporary living quarters.  Oliver was really excited because he was able to hold onto one of them.

This photo looks a little strange, that’s not te chicken’s eye, it’s a little mohawk it’s getting on top of its head.

A temporary home for them.  They loved being outside!  We are working on making a temporary home for them in the existing chicken yard, it’s in the works.