Garden Trials and Success!

Oh what a beautiful morning! My sunflowers have just started to bloom. They are absolutely amazing. One of them has reached 12 feet.

I have been very busy in the garden lately. I harvested my potatoes. carrots, and the rest of my beets. I picked over 50 tomatoes just this past week. Much to my dismay however, I lost 4 of my tomato plants to blight. I salvaged a few dozen green tomatoes and will be making fried green tomatoes this week. I was able to save three of my tomato plants and am in the process of replanting my garden this week.

I also picked bowl after bowl of fresh apricots and will be making apricot jam soon. Watch for my upcoming post. Now to my trial; the vicious vine borer.



I have lost two of my zucchini plants to vine borers. Nasty, nasty bugs. One day I had beautiful looking zucchini plants and then they were gone. It started with wilting zucchini leaves and I knew right away what it was. As I pulled it up this is what I found.


I have recently found out that you can save your plants if you catch them in time, however mine were too far gone to be saved. These pesky insects can also attack your pumpkin plants as well and so I am now on a constant watch to protect my gardens.

Here is what I found:

• First locate the squash vine borer. They are usually at the base of the plant. Night time is a good time to find them. Take the kids out with flashlight in hand and have a borer hunt.
• Once located it is time to perform surgery. Take a knife and carefully cut a slit lengthwise in the vine. Gently open the vine and remove the borer.
• Once the borer is gone, pour a cup of fresh water over the wound and clean it out well. remove any of the orange debris that might be in the affected area.
• Scoop up some nutrient rich compost and cover the wound completely.
• You can wrap the area snugly with a strip of old panty hose to cover the would.
• Water well after completing surgery.
• Water it well daily until it is healed.

This is not a a fail proof method but worth a shot. I have found that in organic gardening there is a lot of trial and error involved, but it is all well worth it to provide nutritious toxic free fruits and vegetables for my family.

If you have any suggestions on vine borers

or organic gardening please share.

Avoid the DIRTY DOZEN

...by growing your own healthful

fruits and vegetables.

This is the end of our broccoli, but the beginning of our tomatoes and zucchini. Our carrots, beets and onions are still going strong. We harvested the last of our artichokes last week and planted our pumpkins for the fall. There is nothing better than being able to go out into the garden and pick your own fruits and vegetables. I feel great comfort in this especially now.

CNN just came out with a report called the "Toxic America". It gives a list of fruits and vegetables that contain the most chemical residue from pesticides used during their growing and harvesting seasons called the:

DIRTY DOZEN

• Celery
• Peaches
• Strawberries
• Apples
• Domestic Blueberries
• Nectarines
• Sweet Bell Peppers
• Spinach, Kale and collard Greens
• Cherries
• Potatoes
• Imported Grapes
• Lettuce

The "Dirty Dozen" contain 47 to 67 different pesticides per serving. This is unbelievable! Even with the high power pressure watering systems the USDA used in their testing, these fruits and vegetables were still contaminated. No wonder we are counseled to plant our own gardens. I hope that this makes you want to go out and immediately grow your own food, or at least purchase organically grown fruits and vegetables to protect your families.

You can find out more information here.

Family Get-Away

This morning we surprised the children by pulling them out of bed at 5:00 AM, yes 5:00 AM and loaded them into the car to go to an undetermined get-away. In less than an hour we traveled up the mountain into the beautiful pines. We totally expected the mountain to be bustling with people but when we reached the top we were the only ones there. It was a nippy 46 degrees which felt so refreshing since the weather down in the desert hit 100 this week. We had a fantastic time hiking Marshall Gulch and made some wonderful memories.

We followed a stream the entire hike.

Someone had built this shelter and so

we stopped for a rest.

We found this huge log over the babbling

stream. It was perfect and I could not resist

getting a picture, however it was tricky

getting on it and it left a few splinters

in everyone's you know what.

Afterwards they thought that it was almost

as fun as the Log Ride at Disneyland.

Everything was so picturesque.

I am so thankful for this beautiful

world that Heavenly Father has created for us.

Happy Birthday Kendrick!

Do you know who you are little child of mine

So precious and dear to me?

Do you know you're a part of a great design

That is vast as eternity?

Can you think for a moment how much depends

On your holding the"iron Rod?"

Your life is forever worlds without end

Do you know your a child of God?

Ora Pate Stewart

I blinked for just a moment

and now Kendrick is all grown up.

Where has all of the time gone?

I know that Kendrick is a Child of God

and I am honored to be a part of his life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON!

WE LOVE YOU!

Grape Update

This is just 1 single grape vine.

It has completely taken over the whole area.

We even cut it back all of the way last season.

I thought that we had lots of grapes last year,

but this year there are too many to count.

Today's Harvest!

I love gardening!

Summer Reading

Even though my children love to read I still seek opportunities to encourage them to continue throughout the summer. I am going to involve my children in as many programs as possible. Here are just a few I have found so far, besides our local public library. These can all be done on-line. Each program sounds wonderful and has incentives and rewards that encourage them along the way. There is even a Read for a World Record in the Scholastic Reading Program.

I am so excited for summer!

Barnes and Noble

Reading Warriors

Scholastic Summer Reading

CELEBRATE!

Last night at 11:30 I turned in my last

college assignment for this semester.

What a relief!

Having to deal with all of my health problems

has made this the most difficult 6 months of my life,

but I made it through thanks to the

help and support of my family.

Now on to our summer plans!!!

Life is GREAT!