Vampire Proofing the House

I have a confession to make. 

I don’t trust my kids...at least in my garden. 

I’m supposed to have surgery in four days and the garden is in full swing. Harvesting ripened tomatoes and peppers is pretty easy, right?  

Just wait for the pretty color changes and pick them. My kids understand this concept. 

But underground crops are a whole other learning curve. 

Garlic is ready in our area some time in July and I really don’t think I’ll be in any state of mind to care what the garlic is doing by then. So to prevent them from rotting in the ground, I pulled up all of my garlic and planted melons in the bed they occupied. 

I debated on drying it for garlic powder or pickling it for burgers. In the end, I decided on something purely decorative. I wanted to make a garlic braid for my kitchen.  

The garlic that was harvested is a hard neck variety but you are only supposed to braid the soft neck varieties (simply because it’s easier). 

I found this awesome YouTube video on braiding hard neck garlic and set to work. 

In about 15 minutes I had finished the "braid"

 and even decorated it with flowers from the garden.  

Now I have a sweet little reminder of the garden 

while I’m not able to work outside for a while. 

Plus, Mary Grace is super excited now that our house is "Vampire Proof!"

I Have Become The Crazy Tomato Lady!

Just call me, "The Crazy Tomato Lady."

I guess I could have worse names.

I am currently obsessed with the hierloom tomatoes growing in the garden right now. 

 If truth be told, I take care of them better than I take care of my children...

I check on them multiple times a day.

Feed and water them religiously.

I play Spotify for them while I'm weeding.  

They LOVE 'Panic at the Disco.'

I lay awake at night worrying if they're being attacked by horn worms.

And I have more pictures of my prized heirloom tomatoes 

than I have of my children on my Instagram account.

So tell me, what would YOU rather look at?

Glorious vine ripened tomatoes lovingly grown from heirloom seed...

Or this motley crew?

It's a tough call.

If It Weren’t For Bad Luck, I’d Have No Luck At All!

So last time I was in this space I was getting ready (for the THIRD time) to have revision surgery on my foot. Well, two days before my surgery I decided to spend the day in the gardens getting them ready for weeks of neglect.

 It turned out to be a really nice day, until....

I dropped a very heavy metal sprinkler on my foot. 

The same foot I was supposed to have surgery on. 

And that damn sprinkler cut my foot on my old scar line. 

Long story short, my physician CANCELLED my surgery. 

I was gutted. 

There was crying.

I may have invented whole new cuss words. 

That all happened a little over a week ago, and now that my physician is sure there is no infection present and my wound is healing well, we have rescheduled the surgery for June 2nd. 

I’m not holding my breath.

There’s no telling what plague will befall me between now and then.

Apocalypse, maybe?

Waste Not...

The weather is getting warmer and the garden is starting to crank out its goodness.  Daily we are harvesting food, and I have to admit, it's never tasted better!  So thankful to be able to grow food in times such as these.  For so many years, we've just had too much to handle in the garden.  We give much of it away, but we also end up throwing a lot of it in the compost bin because I simply didn't make the time to preserve it.  

This year is different,

 I will not be wasteful with this abundant blessing.

I'm about to have a LOT of time on my hands.

And I have a lot of kids to tend my garden while I'm out of commission.

So I think this season is the perfect time to teach my family (and learn a lesson myself!) on not being wasteful and preserving our harvests to enjoy all year long.

 

Time Marches On...

Well, April has come and gone and I STILL 

didn't get the surgery done to correct my foot.  

The hospital called FOUR DAYS before my scheduled date 

(and AFTER I had just paid them a couple thousand dollars!) 

to cancel yet again!  

They said they were working on 
"processes to keep staff and patients safe." 
 I really shouldn't be mad at that but...

UGHHHHH!

Now I'm scheduled for May 21st, 

but I'm not holding my breath!

We'll see if it happens.

Stay tuned...

On the other hand, the cancellation has given me more time to garden and that's always a win-win!