Harvest & Landscape

Yard work, attempting to garden, and completing our front landscape has required us to spend more time outdoors than we have any summer previously!  I am not a fan of the sun beating down on me, mostly because I burn so easily.  I've tried to do the majority of my work early in the morning or in the afternoon when the sun is behind our trees. 

We planted a raised garden bed this year and didn't have much success with most of what we planted - but we did have great success with two zucchini plants!  So far we've gotten 24 zucchini and I'm sure it's not done yet!  I've made chocolate zucchini bread, zoodles, and I plan to try a new recipe for zucchini cake.  :)

Another plant I had a little success with was my mammoth sunflower.  I say "a little success" because I planted seeds in 6 areas, but only 1 survived the chickens and dogs.  It's in full bloom now and makes me smile every time I look at it!

And after almost 8 years of owning our home, we've finally completed the front landscape!  I can hear the angels singing now.  I mentioned a couple months ago that I laid the block wall.  It took many weeks to get our schedules to match our neighbors (who owns a back hoe).  He moved all the dirt into the landscape for us.  What would have taken us weeks, took him about 20 minutes.  I picked out and planted plants the day after the dirt was moved in (Kevin helped with the planting!)  Kevin and I also moved boulders out of our backyard and into the landscape, with the exception of one gigantic boulder our neighbor lifted with his back hoe.  A couple days later, the landscape was filled with river rock (with the help of Kevin and my dad - and they did more work than me, but I made a good effort!). 

I took this picture a little prematurely - we still needed to put rock in the back left corner - but it's 100% done now!

And my storks....... my mom purchased a blue one in Florida that I thought was so pretty.  A couple weeks ago, Kevin saw these at an online estate auction in Madisonville, Kentucky.  I knew I wanted them, and we paid what they probably cost new today, but they are the perfect addition to my landscape!  I had actually bought plants and arranged my landscape around them before even winning them from the auction.  Kevin made sure I won them - he's the best!!!

I should also mention we cut down the rusted basketball goal that was in the driveway.  And the dirt mound that was next to our house for the last year, was the dirt we used to fill the landscape with.  It's made a nice improvement to the curb appeal.  We are moving on to more outdoor projects - rebuilding porch columns, repainting (maybe replacing) shutters, cleaning out the barn... I love how productive this summer has been!!!

Our 1st Harvest

Big news...  We harvested our first vegetable from our first garden this past Sunday.  I've been watching this yellow squash grow for quite some time and I was so proud of it!  I let Kevin cut it from the plant so I could snap a picture.

We waited a day before we cooked it.  Kevin wanted it battered in cornmeal and fried like his parents use to make it.  His parents have done this many many times, unlike me, so we let them take over and cook it for us.

We have several more growing right now and I can't wait to try a few new recipes with them! :)

Garden?

The last two summers I've really wanted to have my own vegetable garden.  The idea of "living off the land" sounds so cool to me (the secret Amish woman in me is coming out)!  The problem isn't the desire to have a garden, it's rather, I have no idea where to start on such a huge project.  It seems like every other house in the summer has a garden, so I keep thinking it can't be that hard.... but when I start to research where to begin I just give up and feel overwhelmed. The second biggest problem is it's going to require a lot of man hours to get the beds built.  Since I'm pretty much relying on Kevin to do 100% of the manual building work, I've got to get him  motivated to have this garden too!

I know I like the look of a raised garden bed the best.  Actually our backyard has zero landscape and I think it would be pretty to have something like this!  (I really like the painted ones best but I don't see the husband agreeing). 

I want to start out easy.... I thought about growing cucumbers, zucchini, and possibly tomatoes (for homemade pizza/spaghetti sauce and salsa!).  Maybe in year #2, I'd try some peppers, corn, and strawberries!  I'd also really like to grow our own pumpkins for the fall too!  Not sure where I'll get with these gardening plans this summer, but I'd love to start the process soon!  Any tips or suggestions you have - pass my way, please!