Beauty at the Art Museum

Tall girl standing in Grand Basin
Beauty!

Aphids, oh why.

this is a lovely close up

um, YUK

Harder to see,
it was a fairly small beginning
that I hope we put an end to.

this is the new improved use for recycled ziplocs...
who knew they could be effective in pest control
they held the leaves and aphids quite well.

Well. We seem to have some aphids attempting to populate the deck.

We put a very nice stop to it Sunday. I got out there and picked several leaves (covered with larvae and a few full size) off two eggplants and my Helga. Then I proceeded to use organic insecticidal soap on ALL the plants on the deck. I really only saw one or two more full grown aphids and a couple more larvae. I found it funny that they were on the tops of the eggplant leaves and the bottoms of the tomato leaves. Very different. I will need to spray again when the rain has finished this week, then we will move onto another type of organic control. Beetles... specifically Ladybug beetles.

I will have darling husband stop and get Ladybugs on his way home from work Wednesday...that should put an end to that.

speaking of lettuce...

Let us pray...
Medium created his own prayer of praise this morning.
His is the prayer on the left side. Yeah, that would be your right side. what can i say.


He spelled it all out on his own.

Too Cute!

Lettuce Update

It's May 20th.
On the left Amish Deer tongue and on the right Black seeded-simpson.
We have been pulling larger leaves and eating them on chicken salad sandwiches too.
Absolutely Delicious!

The Forellenschluss
(yes, I started harvesting a salad before I remembered to get a pic!)

Now both tubs of lettuce are substantially smaller and our salad last night was Fabulous.
I have already thrown seed once (see the small seedlings growing) and I will re-seed again this weekend.

I decided I NEED grow lights or a small greenhouse.
I don't ever want to eat store bought lettuce again, really.
It just doesn't compare. I want to grow this stuff year round.

I should also mention that the spinach is possibly the only tub not doing very well. The Tom thumb lettuce did not do well the first seeding, but it is really starting to grow little bitty heads now. I look forward to it, the tom thumb is the sweetest butter lettuce I have ever tasted.

I do want to experiment with some different seeds for butter lettuces in the fall, since it is my new favorite.

The video version...

He is really trying to say cheese at the beginning ... I had just taken his picture several times. He is having waaaay too much fun trying to feed himself.

He is talking so much now, even when we cannot understand the words he is saying. Quite the little jabber jaw. He stacked 3 blocks the other day, intentionally to knock them down by blowing on them... a trick he learned from medium. Then just yesterday he learned how to use the lever on the see n say... so now he sits with it and listens to all the animal sounds. Very clever little 15 month old. We are enjoying him so very much.

His very favorite activity is to open the screen door and head out onto the deck and run up to any one of the plants and say "bite" and grab a leaf for eating... thus far, he has only done that with one of our 4 lettuce boxes. And he actually eats the lettuce... excellent move for a toddler to be enjoying his greens so early. Medium loves veggies but has only recently agreed to eat lettuce and enjoy it. Tall has eaten every vegetable since the beginning.

A good meal

Really wears well!

mmmmm.

can you see the happy on that small boy!

This is a self feeding moment. Small now has one of his first molars 3/4 of the way in. (His lower left) He has been working on cutting the lower right. He is such a happy little guy... even as he is cutting teeth. You can see the tooth in the smile. Pretty stinkin cute!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

Defining who a Mom is :

See to it that no one takes you captive
through philosophy and empty deception,
according to the tradition of men,
according to the elementary principles of the world,
rather than according to Christ.
~ Colossians 2:8


Defining what I strive for:

From childhood you have know the sacred
writings which are able to give you the wisdom
that leads to salvation through faith
which is in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:15


Lord, let my children be part of the generation
of those who seek your face
oh God of Jacob.

For my children to understand their individual destinies... I want them to know who they are in Christ and walk in the anointings they are gifted with.

I want them to have the understanding of Abba (even as small children) that I didn't have until so much later in my life.

~ My desire is for their hearts to be captivated by King Jesus... everything else will be in place after that.

what can occur in two seconds (+ time to grab the camera...)

Small boy has decided that this is okay while Mommy is busy at the stove cooking his dinner...

let's play put in and take out...

and perhaps a taste.... Bleah.

:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Cinco de Mayo Man

Birthday Man

A Very Happy Man!

with a very Happy Family who LOVES him!

Happy Happy Birthday!

of course...

Purple Iris showed their faces today... beautiful~

Medium and elephant peeking at me ...

Tall showing her face too - Beautiful!

So while we were out planting...

We moved a few things around in the yard...


Spirea bush
with 4 Red Nasturiums encircling

All my daylilies were moved
into our very wet "dip"
hopefully, they will flourish here and help
keep the area from being soggy all summer long.

The flower stone pattern will move;
once this purple bareroot daylily gets it's bearings.

I put all of these stones lined up around the lily of the valley.

The Lily of the valley smelled so good...
I brought some inside and put them into my new
"gel" vase that sticks on the window!

Raised Beds...

Larger picture of the bed

Red Nasturiums around the interior edge!

3 Black Brandywines (rear left, right and front middle)
1 Banana Pepper (front left)
1 Purple Beauty Pepper (front right)
1 Doux de Espagne (rear middle)

also;
Lime Basil seeds around the tomatoes
Little Finger Carrot seeds in between the peppers

Listada de Gandia Eggplant (front right)

Little Danvers Carrots (seeds - front middle)

Burpee organic radish (seeds- front left)

entire rear is Turnip seeds

plants you see are Peach Melba Nasturiums

There are 6 Peach Melba Nasturiums
top left is a sage plant (not the herb)

I forgot to mention... the peels. Yes, those are potato peels. Every single stinkin time I make any kind of potato... I save the peels to sprinkle around the garden. It heard it can help keep the deer away. IF it works, GREAT... if not, at least I have ready made compost going! I also put down HAIR (yes, ours from haircuts) around the bricks... but down on the ground... not in the actual gardening area!

:)

still more yummies growing...

Two Blueberry plants... they will tranplanted again into containers with
better drainage - like 1/2 whisky barrels!

Listada de Gandia Eggplant
- in one of my anniversary
self watering containers

Banana Pepper -

in one of my anniversary
self watering containers

New tomato seedlings - taking off very well in sunny conditions!

Earthbox Update...

2 Black Brandywines

2 Cherry tomato (I think both Aunt Ruby's German Cherry)

2 Bloesser Pink Beefsteak (on right)

2 Doux de Espagne (back)
2 Purple Beauty Pepper (middle)
1 Listada de Gandia Eggplant (front)

Beans!

Royal Purple Pod (left)
&
Bush Blue Lake 274 (right)

Dwarf Blue Corn
(I will fill in the 3 spots where the seeds did not germinate!)

These are the Earthbox "experiments" in growing food on our deck!
:)

Continued Update...

Forellenschluss Lettuce

HELGA !!! Looking Fabulously recovered!

Another Helga!

Jacob's Cattle ~ Gasless

This bean does not appear to have germinated as nicely as the others, I will plant in more where they are missing! ~ it will be good, for I will have a continual harvest this way.


HELGA is all doing better (Thank you Paul!).

I simply put her outside and left her there, exposed to the elements (sun, wind and rain) on my deck. She flourished, as you can see. I also clipped off any foilage that was dry, or turned up from my "overwatering the seedling" efforts. All sunburn seems to have been eliminated on all plants as well.

I ended up with

8 good Helga plants (6 for friends- 2 for me!)

6 really great Black Brandywines (5 for me - one for Tracie!)

not so many cherry tomatoes (Like 5!) I did regerminate and there are 5 new ones are popping up outside in seedling trays. ~ I really want some bi-color cherry plants!

7 pretty good Bloesser Pink Beefsteaks - 2 for me!

5 Aunt Ruby's German Cherry - 2 for me !
(at least, I think they are all german cherry...)

Garden Container Update...

Amish Deer Tongue
&
Black seeded Simpson

Baby Leaf Spinach

Chioggia Beets

Tom Thumb Lettuce