A Day on the Farm

Today began a bit overcast but soon the sky cleared and the sun warmed up quite nicely. The boys and I headed about 45 minutes outside town to spend the day with my friend Rachel and her children on their 40 acre farm. What an adventure we had. I can't decide what was more fun, so I will not even try. Instead I'll tell you all about it and let you decide.

We arrived later than planned after making an unexpected detour to the dentist this morning. I won't bore you with the details, but luckily the visit didn't last too long. As we headed south and east of the city we watched as city streets gave way to lush green fields. Our first view of the nearly 200 year old farm house and the surrounding beauty brought whispered "wow's" from both IJ and JJ. I had barely stopped the van when we were greeted by the two oldest boys and their dog Patty. The boys had not seen oneanother for quite awhile, nearly a year, and all four were thrilled to be together again. The moms were quickly forgotten as my boys were whisked away to explore the grounds of this haven our dear friends are blessed to call home. Take a look at some of the cool things they saw and did.

Picking muscadine grapes

Checking out the chickens
Riding the zip line

I really thought I didn't have a favorite, but every time I look at this picture I feel joy from head to toe. My boys were having an absolutely awesome time swimming in the pond with the dog and all of the catfish, bass and brim. They were able to catch a couple too.
Earlier in the day they went hunting, bow and arrows in hand, for wild dogs and whatever variety of snake they could find. Luckily they didn't find any dogs and only one snake that they all swore was a copperhead. Yikes! Whatever it was no one was injured, so I was quite happy about that. On the downside, IJ and Rachel's oldest son found themselves on a fire ant hill and came running inside to soak their feet in soothing baking soda water.

My tour of the farm included a garden chock full of wonderful produce. Rachel is such a lovely person and generous beyond belief. We walked through the garden picking tomatoes, squash, banana peppers and muscadines.

After depositing those goodies we grabbed another basket and headed to the orchard to pick apples and pears. The branches of the pear tree were so full they hung to the ground.

The result: I came home with bags of freshly picked produce untouched by pesticides and memories of a day with a great friend.

Garden Update

A couple of weeks ago I shared the beginnings of our patio garden. My mom, the green thumb of the family, has made this a project for the boys. Because we live in an apartment, everything is planted in pots and an upside down patio garden. This is just a quick update to show how things are going.

The organic salad greens are beautiful. I love these because they grow quickly and require nothing more than water and sunshine. It has been 3 weeks since the seeds were planted and I'm expecting 1-2 more until we have our first homegrown salad of the season.
The tomato plants are growing nicely. Aside from the slugs who keep eating the leaves, the plants seem to be quite healthy and strong.
I missed getting a picture of the basil and rosemary, but they are growing well also. I used the basil in my roasted vegetable pasta salad a few days ago. The leaves were large, beautiful and full of flavor. The slugs seem to agree, as they are dining on this plant as well. As for the squash, well it's not going to happen this year. One of the boys (I won't say who) thought it was dead, so he pulled the plant out. We will have to try that one again next year.

To the right are the green bean plants. The picture does not capture it, but I love how the vines are wrapping themselves around the stands. Seems they know how to stabilize themselves without any help from us. The lemon balm is growing like a weed. I need to pick some for a nice cup of tea. So far it has not attracted the bees like I expected and I am so glad for that. I'll share more when we pick the salad greens.

Patio Gardening

Upon retiring, nearly 3 years ago, my mom became interested in gardening. She has helped some friends who purchased a 20 acre farm, is working at a local gardening co-op and is also working diligently on a



church charity garden. I have said for several years that I would love to have a garden, however since we live in an apartment I didn't really think it was possible. Not enough space or light were the general reasons. Well, mom proved me wrong. Last year during her visit she and the boys planted vegetables in pots and my little men grew tomatoes (red and yellow), red and yellow bell peppers, and organic salad greens. This was so much easier than I ever imagined. So during this years trip she bought an upside down patio garden for the boys to grow their vegetables as well as planting more items in the pots. I am so excited to see the bounty.



So, what have we planted this year? In the upside down planter we have beefsteak tomatoes, homestead tomatoes, yellow bell peppers, green bell peppers and yellow straight neck squash. On top are the herbs, basil and rosemary. I plan to add at least 2 more herbs. This planter is great because it allows you to plant a variety of vegetables in a small space and it looks really pretty. Mom purchased it from Sam's Club.


In the first pot is lemon balm, which I chose because it smells absolutely wonderful. I didn't know at the time that it shouldn't be planted with anything else because it spreads alot. I'm looking forward to using it for tea. The next 2 pots contain green bean plants. Each pot has 3 plants, so I'm hoping we have a great yield. The last two are organic salad greens. These seeds were donated by a friend of my mom's who runs a gardening co-op back home. I will keep you posted on how our patio garden is going. If you have some tips for me please let me know. I'm just developing my green thumb and learning in the process.