Transitions

The Minnesotan in me is transitioning into Fall.

Thinking about harvesting and root vegetables, apple orchards and pumpkin candles.  I'm ready to switch out closets and purge all things Summer.  But just like every September since I moved 13 years ago, Georgia isn't cooperating.

After a strangely wet and cloudy Summer, we are just now starting to get some hot, sunny days around these parts.  I went out last weekend to pull up the garden in order to prep it for my first Fall Garden, when, low and behold, that sucker isn't done producing yet.

Okra, that self planted, is going strong right in the middle of the green beans.

Green beans 

Peppers coming out of my ears!  Seriously picking about 15 a week!

Andrew found about 8 watermelons hiding in the weeds.

Figs.  The birds are enjoying these more than we are so far.

Pomegranates are looking good.  Still not sure when to pick them though. 

Not all of the garden is feeling as peppy.  

The tomato plants are looking ultra sad and I've got some crazy, coiled cucumbers going on out there.  But after a good weeding and watering, even those are seeming a bit perked up today.  I have given up on the bug war though.  Eat away little buggers.  Next year we rematch.

Andrew performed a very scientific watermelon ripeness experiment (slapping them until one sounds hollow) and deemed this beauty ready.

We were still a little premature, but it has been awesome to have fresh, homegrown fruit in the fridge.

I'm feeling transitions in a lot of other parts of life too.

It's been a draining week of sorting through emotions, for sure not my favorite way to spend time.  But through it all, I'm catching glimpses of how great life is.  I have a lot to be thankful for.

I like to smack these three humans right at the top of that list.

Gabe thinks his new hat that matches Andrew's is about the greatest thing ever.  He wears it from the moment he wakes up until he goes to bed at night and is pretty demanding about Andrew wearing his too.

His current aspirations for life include, "wi-ding me motorcycle for two minutes to me Waffle House."

Gabe's dream night, helping Dad with drawer change and counting the commissary.

He also started preschool this week.

In his undies.  On the table.

Josie has decided that Andrew is going to build her an American Girl bunkbed, complete with a trundle bed for when her doll's friends spend the night.  We tease and call her our Camp Director.  Girlfriend can orchestrate some activities.  And I have a feeling Andrew is going to be busy following her 17 page blueprints for the bed.

Seriously.  I couldn't fit it all in the picture.

Is that enough rambling for a Friday Morning?

I think so.  Don't forget, Sunday is First Day and I'd love to have you link up with us!  I'll be running from church to a Sip and See back to church and hoping to get home in time for Breaking Bad.

See you all on Monday, have a happy weekend!

Garden Woes

It happens every year so I'm not sure why I'm so disappointed.

I starts with a few missed (forgotten) waterings and then the bugs and then weeds.  Before I know it, the garden is looking sad.

Withery, dry, holey.  Sad.

The missed waterings weren't entirely my fault.

The area surrounding our house has been hit with nearly daily rain showers.  Big, fat drops for hours.  But we seem to live in a vortex and missed over half of the wet stuff.  I kept assuming it was about to rain and then it didn't.

I am also placing partial blame on the pool leak.  We shocked the pool and found out the leak was putting water pretty close to the garden.  So much for a chemical free farm.

And then there's these guys:

You're cute little bugger, but come on.  If you're going to eat a hole in my zucchini, could you at least pick ONE and eat the whole thing?!  Tiny holes in all of them just isn't fair.

I'm not throwing in the towel just yet.

The garden is still producing.  I just picked another colander of cherry tomatoes and 5 green peppers.  I'm getting a cucumber every day that goes straight into my juicer.  And there is the promise of watermelon in a couple of months too.

I even found a little surprise out there this week.  

Last year's okra took it upon itself to replant.  Maybe this year we will actually eat some of it.

But the whole thing is ugly.  Which bums me out.

Dang.  Dang.  Dang.

Round These Parts

Let me start by telling y'all what we haven't been up to around these parts, and that would be swimming in our pool.

In fact, it's looking pretty dang sad lately.

We discovered a leak at the end of last Summer, but it was small so we ignored it.

This year it was pretty big and was flooding the yard.  So we drained the pool and tried to fix it, three times.  Last week, we finally had a real pool guy come check it out and, surprise, surprise, Mr. Terry didn't build it right.  We have tried a few different fixes and none have worked.  We have one more Hail Mary attempt before we have to give it up.

But that depresses me, so let's move on to what we have been enjoying round here:

Our garden is booming.

My zucchini plants are monsters, shading out one of my pepper plants and a few green bean stalks.  I'm winning the war on the squash bugs, but it's been a daily job.  I count it as meditation since I get a slightly alarming joy out of drowning the buggers.

We have harvested about 15 zucchinis, 2 cherry tomatoes, and 4 green peppers.  Plus and handful of blueberries that got gobbled up on the thirty steps from the garden to the kitchen.  Let's take a peek at what's growing:

blueberries galore!

green beans on the left, bell peppers on the right

monster zucchini plants

bucket loads of zucchini!

mystery squash turned out to be a cucumber plant!

approximately 2 billion cherry tomatoes

big ole tomatoes

josie's massive poppy plant and our watermelon patch

awesome fig production this year

pear on the left, wild blackberries on the right

beautiful pomegranates coming in!

Can't forget about my homegrown babies!

I'm babysitting a couple days a week this Summer and it's been awesome.  Christian is so patient with Gabe and they've been playing for hours outside together.  Josie and Audrey are two peas in a pod too. I am loving having one day a week that I know we will just be home.  It's been the perfect day to get some major gardening and housework done in between pool hopping.

That's about all we are up to around here!

What's happening in your neck of the woods?

Farm Life

We built our house about 500 feet from the house Andrew's grandparents raised his Mom in.

It's a perfectly quaint little house that lives up the the storybook vision I have of what a Farm House should be.  Red shutters, tin roof.  Original wood floors and fireplaces in the two small bedrooms.  Flower gardens all around and a clothesline where I can honestly see Maw Maw hanging out Darlene's tiny baby clothes.

We lived there for a couple of years.  

At the time, I was a young college girl with dreams of a big fancy home.  Half wanting to live in the city, half dreaming of moving back to Minnesota.  I wanted little to no part in renovating the Farm House that was starting to show it's age.

Through an almost unbelievable string of events, we were able to build a dream home on the family land.  We moved in a short 5 weeks before Josie showed up on our doorsteps.  

Since then, we've been renting out the Farm House.

First to the sweetest family of girls and, for the last 5 years, to Mr. Terry.  Mr. Terry is a single guy and the no heating or central air conditioning, somewhat questionable electrical work, and sinking kitchen floor didn't bother him a bit.

But now Mr. Terry is moving out and I'm feeling nostalgic.  Wondering what that little Farm House could be with some TLC and elbow grease.

That little Farm House is yelling at me across the yard.

It wants chickens in the barn and a big garden out the back window.  It's ready for a fresh coat of paint and open windows.

My Pinterest account has gone from homeschool ideas to farm house renovation ideas and it's getting hard to resist.  We won't be moving into the Farm House, I'm a stickler for my AC come August, but we do have plans for it.

Andrew wants a Man Cave Office, I want a pretty crafting room and maybe even a bonafide school room for when the kids are a little older.  We can't wait to host family holidays there.  We want to make it what it was back when Maw Maw and Paw Paw spent their days working the land and cooking for the family every Sunday.

It needs a lot of work.  Like, a lot a lot.

And Andrew and I aren't what you'd call handy.  This could get interesting.  And it could be an adventure in real farm life.

I've come a long way from that antsy college girl.

I never thought of myself as a girl that would enjoy living in the country, but somewhere over the last ten years, I became one.  I love it here.  I love sending my kids out to play, knowing they are free to roam without having to worry about modern day worries.  I love growing food and walking the driveway, visiting the neighbors cows and horses.

I can't think of a better place to raise our family.

Time for a garden check!

The wild blackberries are coming in great.  There were even a few ripe already.  However, these early achievers met their end on our walk.  The kids like them straight off the vine.  

Me?  I like them blanketing some fresh vanilla ice cream.

Figs:

Pears:

Pomegranates (Anyone know when to pick these babies?  I miss it every year):

Green Beans:

Blueberries:

The zucchini plants are HUGE!  I'm proud to say the squash bugs are not winning.  I have a daily appointment with them before bed.  I turn every. single. leaf. to find the buggers and then drop them in a bucket of soapy water.  It's tedious, but I'm not using chemicals and it's working.  Plus, a nightly garden session is awesome for my soul.

Zucchini:

Bell Peppers (ate our first one this week!):

Tomatoes and Watermelon: