Greenhouse Photos - 06/18/12

More greenhouse photos...

First of the tomatoes - 06/18/12

Pickling cucumbers and slicing cucumbers - 06/18/12

06/18/12 - Sweet corn, tomatoes, green peppers

We picked sweet corn on 06/13/12 for the first time...enough for a meal.

06/18/12 - Muskmelons and watermelons

06/18/12 - Sweet potatoes, carrots and green beans

06/18/12 - Zucchini

06/18/12 - Little pumpkins, buttercup and butternut squash (the ones I started in a pot), and honeydew melons

These were all transplanted starts that were moved outside 06/18/12.

06/18/12 - Garlic (fall planted) and onions

The garlic was planted late October 2011 and was harvested 07/03/12

God bless!

Greenhouse Photos - 06/06/12

I realize it's way past June, but I wanted to get these photos posted.

It's amazing looking back at these from a couple of months ago, how much a garden grows in a short amount of time and you don't even really notice it on a daily basis.

 06/06/12 - Celery

 06/06/12 - Dill

 06/06/12 - Tomatoes

 06/06/12 - Cucumbers

 06/06/12 - Sweet corn - almost ready to pick

06/06/12 - Sweet potatoes

 06/06/12 - Butternut squash and buttercup squash started and almost ready to transplant outside

06/06/12

Left - green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, potatoes

Right - dill, broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, lettuce, sweet corn, sweet potatoes, green beans

God bless!

Joseph - 19 Months Old

What a blessing it is to have a little boy around here...and so different then our 2 girls.

He has a love for all things with daddy...tractor rides, bobcat operating, feeding cattle and the likes.

Loves to swing just like his sisters and would much rather use the 'big kid' swing than the 'baby' swing. He does manage to fall off, but loves to get right back on.

He does great at the chiropractor. When it is his turn, he crawls right up on the table and lays down. It probably helps that the end reward is a mint all his own.

Mud...what kid doesn't love mud and getting dirty.

I asked him if he would share a bite of tomato with me...he said NO and ran away with it.

He loves tomatoes and cucumbers right from the garden and is a great all-around eater in general.

He may just talk before Cori. They seem to imitate each other a lot. Cori has called Charlie - da - for as long as I can remember and now Joseph calls both his sisters - da. It's quite funny to hear him walking around the house yelling for them...da, da, da, da...

...mouth full of teeth....

...still nursing a few times per day...

...sleeps through the night most of the time...

...comes and grabs your hand when he wants your attention and to show you something...

...is the first to pray at most meals...

He grabs hands of whoever is closest to him, says daddy and them claps.

God bless!

Book Review - Heaven in Her Arms

I received Heaven in Her Arms by Catherine Hickem through BookSneeze's blogger review program. I received the book for free and the following opinions are my own.

To start with, I actually never finished reading this book. I wanted to like this book, but had a hard time getting through it. I requested the book thinking I would get more of a biography / inside look at Mary. The book is more the author's attempt to relate Mary's life to the modern mom.

Each chapter starts with a scripture reference in regards to Mary and then goes on to relate the scripture to today and real mom experiences. I felt like the author really tried to stretch the conection. I would have liked a lot more scripture and less of the author's thoughts. I had a hard time following the flow of each chapter. They seems to wander off the actual scripture reference at the beginning of the chapter.

God bless!

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!