Monday at the Neaton Ranch - 06/11/12

Around the Neaton Ranch...We managed the field trip to the Children's Musuem last week, but not to the Oliver Kelley Farm. The kids had a blast at the musuem. We were there for 4+ hours. They seemed to enjoy it all, but I think their favorite part was the water and bubbles.

Kids had fun at grandpa and grandma's on Friday night. She must have really wore them out. They all (even Charlie) took 3+ hour naps on Saturday afternoon.

To add to the guinea that showed up recently, Joe came home with a rooster Wednesday night. He seems to be getting along just fine with the other fowl around here.

Listening to...rain and the dishwasher running (Sunday night) and the washer and dryer running now (Monday morning).

Moments of Gratitude...adult time with my dear hubby, Saturday afternoon naps, a break in the heat, a little needed rain (but not too much), producing garden and my ability to prepare a yummy meal for my family from it, little garden helpers, garden friends that can help me out (I forgot to plant my dill, so it is way behind the cukes that are coming), evidence of sweetness on the vine

06/09/12 - watermelon

Reading...Just read through The Vegetable Gardener's Bible and got some great ideas on how I want to change some garden beds and rows around.

On Our Plates...the photo below was pretty much Sunday supper. We had a tossed salad with lettuce, spinach, carrots and cukes from the garden. I also added hard boiled eggs (from our own chickens). I sauted up the potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic, green beans in some bacon grease. We also grilled steaks (from the steer we raised and butchered last year). It's quite rewarding to be able to prepare a meal that is 90% food you raised and/or grew yourself.

I have no idea what we are eating tonight yet, so the rest of the week is up in the air as well.

  Ahead This Week...I'm thinking I will be making a small batch of dill pickles tomorrow and I need to get some jam made too - strawberry rhubarb and peach jelly. I have all the fruit in the freezer just waiting for me to make the time to do it. We are down to 1 jar of jam, so it needs to happen this week. We actually have really nothing on the schedule for this week. We will get together with Joe's family over next weekend for Father's Day and there is also a tractor pull to attend next Sunday.


Linking with Ann-A Holy Experience.


Have a blessed week!

Monday at the Neaton Ranch - 06/04/12

Around the Neaton Ranch...We have been busy around here...same as everyone else.

On the garden front, the back garden is finally drying up some. I may have Joe till up a little more of it. I have squash plants started in some pots and realy have nowhere else to stick them. I need to do some massive weeding back there around my onions too and am planning on mulching them so I won't have to weed again. I also still have grape vines to plant, strawberry bushes to mulch and raspberry bushes to prune and thin.

We had a guinea fowl show up in our yard last week. Turns out that he (I think it's a 'he') did belong to our neighbors and they were unable to catch him when they recentyl moved out. Pretty sure he has adopted us. They are so loud, but are suppose to be really good at keeping ticks and bugs cleaned up...maybe even snakes, mice and rats.

We enjoyed a couple of graduation parties over the weekend...very fun to get together with everyone.

I even managed to get most of the lawn mowed over the weekend.

Listening to...washer and dryer running and smelling coffee brewing.


Moments of Gratitude...Wonderful blessings of greenhouse gardening, a dryer week, family gatherings, getting to see grandma so soon again and her doing remarkably well, little ones helping, busy fun weekends, getting to meet a 'blogging friend', the first Friday on the Farm, compliments from my dear auntie on my homemaking/mothering, smell of freshly mowed grass, unexpected rainbows

Reading...Still slowly reading through Don't Make Me Count To Three and Heaven in Her Arms. I also just picked up Be Your Own Doctor and want to get back to reading some of Educating the Whole-Hearted Child and Four Season Harvest.


Praying...Other's new beginnings - new marriages, new babies, graduates and new schooling. Parenting on the same page - children minding much better. Homeschooling plans for fall.


Home Learning...I spent a bunch of time last week looking at curriculum options for fall and still haven't decided, but the plan is to decide by the end of this week what we are going to do. In the last week or so, Joe taught Charlie how to drive the gator. Yesterday morning, all the children helped me dig up some potatoes...so much fun. It's like finding buried treasures. All the children are also learning to obey dad and mom better. The new rule of 'yes dad' and 'yes mom' is working wonderfully and the bickering and backtalking has been a lot less in the last few weeks.


On Our Plates...There will be homegrown salads at most of our lunches and suppers this week. I'm thinking grilled burgers and french fries for supper tonight. The rest of this week is up in the air...probably chicken on the grill, chicken stirfry, maybe tator tot hotdish.

Ahead This Week...We are planning 2 field trips this week - Minnesota Children's Museum and Oliver H. Kelley Farm. I'm sure there will be plenty of gardening happening - weed pulling for sure. The children are all staying over night at grandma and grandpa's on Friday night and Joe and I will have some free time with no little ones.

Linking with Ann.

God bless!

Garden & Greenhouse Update - 05/30/12

We are feeling extremely blessed that we have a greenhouse up with lots of yummy produce growing in it. The last week has brought about 9 inches of rain and if I would have needed to plant everything outside in my normal garden, nothing would be in the ground at this point.

I have garlic and a lot of onions planted outside in my normal garden, but that is about it. I'm not planning on planting anything else right now and by looking at what is already growing in the greenhouse, I'm going to have my hands full the way it is.

I do plan on filling in with other crops as we harvest what is already up and growing. As of now, we have garlic, onions, broccoli, strawberries, raspberries, and dill planted outside. I also just started some squash seeds in pots and will transplant them later on when they start coming up.....where yet I don't know.

In the greenhouse, we have planted.....

*91 hills of potatoes, some reds and a lot of yukon golds (I've actually dug up a couple of hills already and we had them for supper the other night.....yummy!)

*9 hills of watermelons

*6 hills of muskmelons

*10 hills of slicing cukes

*10 hills of pickling cukes

*about 60 tomato plants, variety of sauce and slicing/fresh eating ones

*about 60 pepper plants, variety of hot and sweet ones

*10 sweet potato plants

*4 rows of green beans

*16 rows of sweet corn

*1 row of carrots (I will reseed these as we pick them, there are some about ready)

*10 red cabbage plants

*1 row of lettuce

*1/2 row of spinach

*1/2 row of green onions

*1/2 row of dill

*1/2 row of celery

*1 row of broccoli

*4 brussel sprout plants

*4 cauliflower plants

We have eaten some potatoes and a few carrots already and we have been eating lettuce forever already. The first section of sweet corn is tasseling and ears are starting to form and the other section is about 2 weeks behind that. I will probably dig up some more potatoes later this week.....to give the watermelon plants some more room to grow.

05/30/12 - Slicing cukes

We will eat these fresh, make bread-n-butter pickles, relish and probably give a bunch away.

05/30/12 - Pickling cukes

These will be pickled. And thanks to my dear friend Lisa, I have a kick-butt recipe for dill pickles. Everyone gets pickles for Christmas.

05/30/12 - Pepper and tomato plants

05/30/12 - More tomato plants

05/30/12 - Carrots, cabbage, spinach, onions, and lettuce

My friendly garden snake.....hanging out in my potato plants

It's all my fault that the little guy is hanging out inside the greenhouse. He was outside the greenhouse a couple of days ago and when I saw him, I screamed.....he got scared and went crawling the other way right into the greenhouse. I haven't been able to catch him yet to remove him.

I have a feeling it is going to be an extremely busy summer, but I love it. 

The kids have been really good helpers with watering and weeding. Both the girls understand what a weed is and isn't and are willing to help pull weeds most of the time. Joseph is not a good weed puller, but does a pretty good job watering. 

God bless!

Miss Charlie

Miss Charlie turned 5 last week. 

We had decided we were not going to do a big party this year. Instead we are going to go and spend a day next week at the Children's Museum with a couple of her little friends.

The Friday before we had been invited over to grandma and grandpa Neaton's for supper. Dave, Kelly and Silas were in town and we were all getting together to visit. 

Grandma made pizzas and we brought birthday cake and homemade ice cream. It was nice to just have a relaxed evening together...and only a few presents...and I didn't need to clean my own house.

She picked Elmo again.

I was able to use some natural food coloring, 

so there was none of that nasty yellow5 or red40 chemicals involved.

It was a little windy...

Our newest cousin, Silas.

My silly girl!

God bless!

Greenhouse - 05/23/12

Here are a few greenhouse photos from the last few days. Things have really taken off in the last week or two. I have a ton of tomatoes and peppers coming up too, but forgot to take photos of those.

05/20/12

In a week's time, the corn went from Charlie height to mama height.

Cukes - 05/20/12

05/22/12

05/22/12.

God bless!

Greenhouse - 05/13/12

These photos were taken on May 13, 2012 in the greenhouse. 

Corn as tall as Miss Charlie.

Carrots, Cabbage, Onions and Lettuce

Joseph and Cori and their favorite thing to do in the greenhouse...

...making mud!

God bless!