Potato Time!

I have my first homegrown potatoes! While we were gone for a long weekend, I neglected to have a neighbor water my potato pots, and one of them succumbed to lack of water and kicked the bucket.  So I kicked the pot (over) and got almost 3 lbs of potatoes out of it!  YAY!  I am really looking forward to homemade baked potato salad this weekend for a BBQ with friends.  Yum.  The other two pots are sketchy at this point as to whether they'll recover - I'm going to give them a week or so and see if they recover.  If not, I might harvest and restart with them also.

I haven't posted in a while as things have been pretty busy - here's a few pictures of the girls from the past few weeks...

Kate at the Fort Wayne, IN Children's Zoo, nose-to-nose with a sea lion.  It stayed right by her for about 2 minutes - it was very cool! This was the highlight of the trip to Grandma & Grandpa's for the 4th of July!

Claire in the dishwasher - what is it with toddlers and dishwashers?!?

Claire in the box some fabric came in - who needs toys when you've got a good box to play in?

Strawberries, Roses and Mud puddles

Wow, this past week snuck away from me!  We got quite a bit of rain over the past week or so, and I haven't been in the garden too much.  I spent a lot of time sewing orders, which I really needed to do.  On Friday, I stopped at Varnau's, my favorite local nursery, and all their plants were 50% off (they're only open from mid-April to mid-July, so they're starting to clearance things already).  They had a few strawberry plants left that were only $1.50 each, and I couldn't resist.  I have wanted strawberries ever since we moved into the house 4 years ago.  They mostly had Junebearing, but I did find one everbearing (literally one plant).  I bought the June bearing "AllStar" and the everbearing "Ozark beauty".  Hopefully next year I will have a handful of yummy strawberries to eat.  I am not sure where I am going to put the AllStar, since I believe they send out a lot of runners being a junebearning.  The Ozark Beauty I am going to put in a pot - I just have to get a pot to put it in.  I also got a beautiful scented leaf geranium for $2 - I have a different variety in a container on the patio, and I love them.  Their foliage is always so interesting.

These are the strawberries, obviously...

The cool scented leaf geranium leaves.  I'll have to post a picture of the leaves of my other plant later - they're very different.

I also am excited to see the knockout rose that I transplanted earlier this year finally having new growth.  It was by our front stoop, and it tended to take over the flower bed and part of the front walk if not regularly pruned.  It's a red one and it was growing gangbusters.  This year, I dug it out and moved it to the other side of the driveway in front of the rain barrel.  I also pruned it back to about 12"-18" from the ground when I did so, so that it was more manageable to move.  It's been a big group of sticks for a month since I did this, while it tried to recover from the shock.  It finally is.  I was not really worried about it, as this is the hardiest plant I've had.  People say roses are tricky and need special care.  Not this one!  My hope is that it will grow and next year camouflage the rain barrel somewhat in the summer.  The barrel is functional, but it's not pretty.  However, I have had about 4-5 people in the neighborhood ask me about where I got it, how I made it, etc over the past year, so I'm kind of glad it's visible from the street.  I know of one other house in the development that made one of their own after asking me about mine.

I also have to share some photos from Sunday.  We had a torrential downpour (which of course started while I was driving home from Costco - it's about 3-4 miles away and it took me about 15 minutes to get home - roads were like rivers).  My rain gauge is broken I discovered, but the news said rain was falling at the rate of 5 inches an hour, and that doesn't surprise me.  I can't remember when I'd seen rain that hard last longer than about 10 minutes - my guess is it was about 30-45 minutes of serious downpour. Our backyard slopes to the middle slightly, and we had a river running through our backyard.  When the rain let up, Kate really wanted to go splash in the puddles, and of course Claire had to join her.  Who needs a pool?!?!

What I do when I'm not gardening....

It rained today, which is great for 2 reasons.  First, everything needed the rain, and I now have full rain barrels again.  Secondly, I needed to NOT be in the garden for a day (actually, for a couple of days).  I have my own business making items for moms & children predominantly, called The Daisy Chain Boutique (that's kind of garden related), and I am getting behind on some orders because I am spending too much time in the garden.  Seeing as how the garden doesn't really bring in income in the same sense the business does, I need a day (or two) of some poor gardening weather to help me refocus.  I just thought I'd show some photos of what I do when I'm not gardening, for those who are interested.  If you absolutely love what you see and want to check out my Etsy site (which sorely needs to be updated) you can do so here- www.atthedaisychain.etsy.com

I am rather addicted to crafting - I rubber stamp, scrapbook, make candles, sew, make hair bows, and I know I'm forgetting some things.  I also really want to learn to quilt, knit and make baskets, but I've kind of forbidden myself from picking up and new crafting hobbies.  Though I do have a friend who crochets cool animals (amigurumis) and we keep saying we're going to get together... I might not be able to resist learning crochet.  Just don't tell my husband. :)

This is a display of hair bows I did for a craft fair last fall.  The problem with craft shows is inventory - I still have a bunch of these bows left, especially the single color ones.

Some of the "pillowcase dresses" - they are originally designed to be made from a pillowcase.  They're fun and fairly easy to make. The purple Tinkerbell one in the bottom right corner is probably my top seller.

This is a fun large purse/diaper bag I made.  I've made a couple of them.  They're not so quick, but they're cute.  Debating if I should sell these, as they're rather labor intensive and I'm not sure people would be willing to pay as much as I'd need to charge to make a profit (probably in the $40-$50 range)  I also have a yellow daisy/flower one and a 4th of July one.

A nursing/breastfeeding cover.  This is one of the best inventions ever.  And really easy to make with very basic sewing skills.  Buy why sew - buy one of my reasonably priced, hand made covers instead.  They make great shower gifts!  Yes, this is a shameless plug.  :)

Kate modeling on of the aforementioned pillowcase dresses (as a tunic top) at the Van Wert Co Fair last year.

Cute ladybug hair clips.  I also do bumblebees.

Another great bow, best for preschoolers and up as it's a large bow and overwhelms smaller heads.  All 6 major Disney Princesses and Tinkerbell available (as are other themes).

A "pouch-style" baby sling.  This is me and Claire last fall when she was about 8 months.  This is another absolutely brilliant invention.  I do coordinating slings and covers.  

Cauliflower, compost and water fights

After dinner most nights our family heads out to the backyard.  The girls play and we work on things in the backyard.  Tonight I needed to water everything, especially the rest of the new raised bed that I finally planted on Sunday, and the potatoes.  It seems like I always have to water the potatoes. As I was watering, I noticed that the cauliflower is forming heads on 3 of the 4 plants.  I'm really glad that it seems to be doing well, as last year my cauliflower left a lot to be desired. Actually, it was downright pathetic.  Of course I failed to save the plant tag or write down the information about what cauliflower I planted this year, and it's doing really well.  Go figure.  The leaves definitely have some damage - not sure what from as I've never actually seen anything on them, but the heads are looking good.  No spindly, tiny, oddly purple-streaked heads this year.  The one problem is that it is taking so long for the cauliflower to form heads, and the eggplants I put relatively close to them are having to compete quite hard for sun and water.  I thought the cauliflower would be out by now.  I was wrong. Thankfully I am used to being wrong (see the crazy pea trellis picture in my last post for further proof).

The aforementioned mystery variety of cauliflower.

The garden area, complete with the new raised bed and wood chips (chipped Japanese honeysuckle - yay!)  And Claire (heading over to play in the hose also).

I also worked until dark last night hauling compost.  I emptied the compost bin, or so I thought, earlier this year, about April or so.  I am really lazy with compost.  I don't analyze it, I just dump stuff in the bin (it's mostly "greens"- kitchen and yard scraps). I turn it infrequently and begrudgingly.  I have 2 large bins made of wire fencing that are about 4-5 ft in diameter.  One of these is new and one I've had for about 4 years.  The older one is around the south side yard near the air conditioner, and since we finally have a gate in the back fence, I want to move it back there - closer to the garden and not visible from the front yard.  So I am gradually starting to move the stuff out of it into the back bin.  In digging through things, I found an entire trug tub worth of mostly finished stuff in the bottom.  I was thrilled, as I still have a small area of the new raised bed to fill, and I want to put a bunch around the eggplant in front, as it is lagging significantly behind those in the garden.  My ribcage and stomach muscles are extremely sore today, and I think it's from pulling the stupid tub all the way around the house and into the backyard.

The compost I pulled out of the bin last night, minus what I already put around the onions which were peaking out of the dirt too much.  My stupid ribcage is sore just looking at this picture.  That tub holds a lot.  Why oh why did I not use the wheelbarrow??

Finally, I have to show some pictures of the fun we had this evening. When I was done watering, before I put the hose away, Kate was thirsty from playing soccer in the backyard with Daddy, and wanted a drink from the hose.  I was pulling weeds in the garden, and somehow missed the next few minutes, but a drink from the hose somehow degenerated rather quickly into Kate chasing Daddy around the yard trying to spray him with the hose and giggling so hard she could hardly catch her breath.  Then she decided to spray me, which was no big deal except for the small detail that I had the camera around my neck which is not cheap and not waterproof.  It came out unscathed, we all came out wet (Claire from playing in the water in the baby pool) and throughly happy. 

Another Trip to the Discovery Garden

I know I've posted before about the Highfield Discovery Garden at the Glenwood Gardens Metropark.  We went again today.  In the rain. Again.  I love going on rainy or almost rainy days because there is hardly anyone there.  I thought I'd post some pictures for those of you not familiar with the Discovery Garden so you can see why I love it so much (almost more than the kids).

This is their garden area - it's all square ft gardening in raised beds that are near "eye-height" for young children.  It's awesome.  They are made into these funky shapes so you can walk on paths in between the beds.  They grow all kinds of things from carrots and lettuce and tomatoes to things most kids have never seen before like kohlrabi.  They give all the harvest away to visitors to the garden (which are often urban kids who don't garden).  To the right, just out of the picture, is a cottage house that houses their bunny, Lulu.  Kate ADORES Lulu.

This is Kate checking out some marigolds growing underneath the cabbage leaves. This week's "lesson" was on planting and kids that visit get to plant marigold seeds in peat pellets in a dixie cup.  Kate was happy to plant Claire's.  Claire kept trying to eat the peat out of her cup. 

Claire checking out the ambient music speaker in the middle of the raised garden beds.  That's garlic growing behind her head. To the right may be collard greens, I can't remember for sure.

The "Cottage House" that houses the lesson area, and Lulu.  They teach kids about composting (I want their bins, they're so much nicer than mine).  You can see the garden beds in the back.

The fun whimsical "tea party house" as Kate calls it.  

Inside the tea party house, getting ready to have a tea party. Or play restaurant.

Their pump and rain barrel.  The dark area under the rain barrel is covered in rubber mulch, and I think there is a large drain under it, as the pump and the "rain feature" use recycled water for the most part.  Though the kids like to water the plants with water from the pump.  A lot of watering the plants.  The plants in this area need to be tolerant of overly wet conditions, I'm sure.  The rain feature is cool because kids can push a button and the fake cloud over the roof area "rains" and then the rain goes down the gutter and into the rain barrel.

The train area - they have about 3-4 electric trains that run around multiple tracks in this area, and a little walk-through path just for kids (the overhead bridges at either end of the path make it extremely hard for adults to walk in to the middle of the trains).  There is also a station house with buttons the kids can push to make train sounds.

One of the frogs we saw in the pond today - it was a cool overcast day and they were all over the banks.  On 90 degree days they are almost impossible to find.

The new feature for this year, the Fairy Garden.  Kate loves to stare at the garden and try to find every little fairy in it.

Apart from this, I haven't done much in the garden the past couple of days.  The second planting of beans is beginning to sprout, and I got the rest of the new raised bed filled.  Now I just need to get the peppers and tomatoes in it.  And I desperately need to get out and weed.  However, I have been spending so much time in the garden recently I am in danger of falling behind on the orders I have to sew for my business.  So since it's drizzly today, I will be in the basement with Kate (who is watching Barbie Princess & the Pauper - ugh) sewing up a storm.  Hopefully I will emerge at the end of Claire's nap with two almost totally finished pillowcase dresses.

Organic Gardening meets Industrial Farming

I almost forgot to post about this.  This weekend we went to my in-laws for the long weekend.  My father-in-law is a farmer, of the industrial type.  He has farmed and worked in a factory since graduating from high school (which was pushing 40 years ago).  I have a lot of respect for him, despite the fact our agricultural views are often opposing.  It is interesting knowing someone who is so involved in the industrial farming system.  For many farmers, like my father-in-law, it is the only thing they know; the only thing anyone they know knows.  To him, the idea of "Round-Up Ready" beans is simply a way to get more yield and therefore more income.  "An Omnivore's Dilemma" had an interesting section on how backwards the economics of industrial farming are... prices drop, so the only thing farmers can do is produce more, which simply drives prices down more, etc.  The system is so messed up, and the farmers know it too, but are pretty much helpless to do anything about it. 

He farms about 500 acres or less, his neighbors farm almost 2,000 - hence the reason he also works in the factory and they don't. My maternal grandfather was also a farmer, and he farmed 240 acres, and supported his family on it.  That is completely laughable in industrial farming in this day in age, even with the fact that my grandfather owned the land.

Kate loves riding the little yard tractor with Grandpa when we visit, and since he was still planting this weekend due to all the rain earlier in the month, she actually got to go in the big field tractor with him.  They were both in heaven.  It is really hard to tell who was more excited about it, Kate or Grandpa!  He loves it that Kate thinks it is fun to do farming things with him.

Almost Gardening

I had an "almost gardening" day today, and it was almost perfect.  We had a beautiful low 80 degree day today, and this morning I took the girls to the Highfield Discovery Garden at Glenwood Gardens which is part of the Hamilton County Park system.  We have a membership to the Discovery Garden and it's such an awesome place for kids.  The program today was about vegetables, and Kate, my 4 and half year old, did me proud and could identify all the vegetables the staff member held up, including cauliflower, eggplant and a radish.  I was impressed.  They have awesome raised beds there that they do square foot gardening in, and Kate was even willing to take a bite of spinach (which she spit out and said yuck, but it she was willing!)

After nap this afternoon, the girls had fun playing in water in the backyard.  I filled up some buckets that they played in on the patio, and then we busted out the Dora sprinkler, which we put next to the garden in the hopes of some of the water hitting a few of the plants.  They had an absolute blast, and Kate taught Claire, my 15 month old, how to drink from the sprinkler once she turned the water pressure down.  Precious, precious photo op!  

Then at dinner Kate said she was willing to try a piece of lettuce "with dip" (ranch dressing).  She ate the whole piece, then she ate a small salad, heavy on the dressing, with croutons which are a favorite  of hers.  Plus, she tried a bite of my cheeseburger, which is also a first.  We finished the evening off with a trip to the "ice cream store".  What an absolutely wonderful day of "almost gardening".