"The most funniest thing we grew in the garden was popcorn!", so thinks Little MIss.

This was our first season of growing popcorn, and there is nothing fancy to it.  In April, the kids pushed the seeds into the ground & kept it moist. By July, when the stalks had turned completely brown, they picked and shucked the ears of popcorn and tested the kernels for dryness by trying to pop a few. The kernels started to pop, but before they completely opened up, they burned.  So we hung the corn on the back porch for a few weeks in mesh laundry bags.

I ordered one of these brilliant little inventions.

 Little Stripper Popcorn Sheller 

When we were in Texas last year we had a chance to use one of these handy dandy tools.

C counted 71 ears, which yielded 20 cups of popcorn minus the kernels Little Miss put in her pocket.

and then had to clean out of the washing machine.

Good Times!

Erckle the rooster ......

and his groupies.

Mag, Marge, Mel, Meeps, Mac,  Mizzie.

They're going to provide us with lots of farm fresh eggs.

A dozen or so every few days.

I'm into positive thinking. And sharing eggs.

But so far its only Erckle the rooster who's providing anything. 

About every few minutes or so he lets us know he's alive.

Compliments of Little Miss

 Little Miss was begging for mercy when I asked her to hold one of her sunflowers so I could take a picture. The flowers are much heavier than they look!

The kids have enjoyed picking seeds off the flower and eating the soft meats inside.

likewise, the birds were given a treat,

when we hung a flower in the suet feeder near our front door.

The kids picked a bounty from our garden this morning.

This means its time to set up their first produce stand.

Just a simple set up for the first time sellers of all things fresh. Literally. When someone stops (and I wish I could have captured the squeals and yells of delight the first time someone did) the boys go back to the garden and  pick the prettiest of the fruits or vegetables to restock the table.

Summer's colorful delights

Last evening ……

The men of the family manned the kettles, and cut and stuffed apricots into jars. Little Miss clipped the tops off the green onions and I .... did stuff. I was on-call.

The man-in-charge, the washer-cutter, and the splitter-stuffer.

The jar sealer-kettle stuffer

Just in time to meet the challenge of 'what to do with all those peppers', PW posted this How-to-roast-green-chilis tutorial

I am pretty pleased with the results. When letting the peppers steam. I used a bowl instead of baggies and it worked just fine.

J brought in a gallon sized baggie of basil ... and when life gives you basil, you make pesto.

These green jars are stored in the refrigerator for preservation. I filled up the jar with pesto to about 1/2 inch from the top, covered it the rest of the way with olive oil and then sealed it with a lid. It will hold this way for months.

I made my pesto with walnuts, instead of pine nuts. Shocking I know.  They've been in the refridge since last harvest so I roasted them first to draw out the oils. J especially loves walnuts after they have been roasted.

On the list today, is to dig up the green onions and freeze peaches. I made a huge mess of the kitchen yesterday and didn't get to those.

After a busy crazy good last week, we are back at home, with no where to go except out back. And oh it feels good. Good because it makes me crazy if we can't get out there for a few days to see how the fruit and vegetables are doing. Things grow over night. Mysterious little bugs move in when your not looking. Little underground creatures come up from the depths of the earth and eat the roots of your full grown plant. Even if these things are out of our control, it still helps to know that they are happening, rather than wandering out there asking yourself, "Now when did that happen?"

So we have our hands and mouths full and its time to roast, bag and freeze the peppers. Make up some pesto for winter. Shuck and freeze corn. Freeze the peaches for smoothies. And make salsa ..... for breakfast.

Can you see the mower just under the trees in the orchard? Do you notice the puffs of dust rising from the ground? What would summer be without dust covering my furniture?

My Mothers Day gift is still a work in progress. Here it is in the early stages. It may become our Fathers Day gift too, because I know the Dad around here would really like to call this one ..... done.

I have been strangely out of words lately, falling into bed at night and waking up early to beat the heat. We have been busy with birthday parties,  baseball and our already abundant garden.

There are loads of pictures to show what we’ve been up to and notes about our school year to share, what worked, what didn’t and what I’m looking forward to doing this coming school year.

So if you’ll bear with me, there may be days of more photos than words……

Because that’s life.

As the weather begins warming up, these plants will start producing, and I will be swimming in tomato goodness.

The plum tree on the right is over flowing with fruit which we intend to jam, freeze and dry this coming week.  C's zuccinni has made it into egg dishes and sautes flavored by J's fresh herbs. We picked our first table gold squash today. Z has been shucking beans. 

Little miss has supplied our table with some junior sized sunflowers.

1st of the season apricots for jam

Apricot and apricot strawberry

Yum!

 Remember, I am flexible. I go with the flow.  I have plans, you know, just in case. Just in case something goes my way.

So herein lies what actually wasn't planned:

Mike said he got the irrigation water for that evening and the trees needed  

fertilizing , which means today. As in  - now. The boys enjoy this job and like pruning, gives them a little income. So OK, I'm flexible. Off with you. 

On our way out to C*stco, Little Miss and I found the boys out in the trees.

Z sits in the back and passes out measured scoops of fertilizer.

 The fertalizer is then sprinkled around the base of the little trees or the trees with stakes by them. It took them about 3 hours to do the 35 acres on the home ranch.

When Little Miss and I got home from our shopping trip, we found the farmer rolling around in the pruning tower, looking for a good tree limb to re-hang the circular swing. Little Miss was pretty jazzed.

"Can I ride Daddy?"                                    And this is me not breathing.

I was mumbling to the dog about how flexible I am, and how I watch my only daughter giggle, stories above my head and how I simply smile with a brave fortitude. Meat-head showed no emotion for my plight.

Bike riding

Jesse: "Dad, if you just show us how to change the bike tire's we could do it ourselves."

Dad: "Meet me in the building."

Mike, Uncle Dan and the boys are hard at work changing tires.

C insisted on fixing the tire on this red bike for Little Miss. It's the next size larger than her girly bike and "will make her go faster".

Baseball haircut's

Look at Meat Head (the dog! not the kid), laying on a rug in front of a wood burning stove. What a life!

Flood Irrigation and Gophers

 Mike took over the irrigation from brother-in-law Dan after last night's baseball game. The water chases the gophers out of their holes which means our little gopher dog is on high alert. Ugg! The little sneak will try to stash them in our mudroom!

Thinking of his Mom, J planted a herb garden.

C planted zuccinni, yellow and golden table squash

Z, our resident seed whisperer, planted carrots, beans and peas.

Little Miss was not feeling well on the day of planting, but she did manage to get her flowers planted a few days later.

Every extra minute in our schooling/baseball/farming week, has been filled with garden preparations. The kids are fired up and the farmer is focused on putting in a more permanent garden watering system with raised beds. Many hours have been spent on the tractor and backhoe, with me explaining to the kids how wonderful it is for Dad to have equipment to use, otherwise we would be digging for days. Still, there is lots of shoveling to be done and they stepped up to help.

Putting in sprinkler pipes

"Dad said I need to cover this pipe all up with dirt." And she did.

Moving dirt ....

and covering pipes.

Yesterday, we took a trip to a nostalgic seed store, complete with wood floors and a wall of little wooden pull out drawers full of seeds. Each kid had a list (mental or written) of seeds they wanted to purchase. This past month, they have been pouring over gardening books. C has even spent a few evening’s reading to Little Miss about flowers, helping her chose what she could plant in her bed.

"I should ask the farmer which one he thinks I should plant."

I had to laugh. The farmer!

The boy's want to build up their gardening tool collection, using their own money. So they browsed for a new purchase ....

and consulted Dad.

Little Miss found her flower seeds (asters and sunflowers) and for some reason wants to plant onions too. I talked her into planting those in my bed, with the green onions and leeks. Can you just picture beautiful, flowers smelling like onions?

And so this morning they were all back at it, until I came out and announced and early E*aster hunt.

.....to be continued

Although it isn’t officially here, it sure does feel like it.

We will get more rain and some colder temps, maybe even a freeze but for now we can enjoy the first signs of spring.

C & J out driving laps.

Planting pansies

Ripping the soil for the garden.

We took the day off of school Monday. Call it a planning day. A work day. Or maybe a get ourselves back together day after a long weekend.

I’ve learned that taking one good day to “see my week” and make sure all is planned out well is conducive to having 4 good day’s of schooling, rather than 5 day’s of crazy.

And after a weekend in the snow, and much sliding over and running into, we needed to visit the chiropractor.

Earlier in the afternoon, while I planned, the boy’s went with Mike to pick up prunings  in the walnut orchards.  This is a once a year deal, and it’s a long day (or two). But it’s good work that little men can do and earn a little cash in the process. When Tuesday rolled around, there was still work to be done. When I explained that Dad needed more help, I caught a little grumbling, a little “I don’t really want to do this, Mom. I'd rather mow the lawn or split wood."

That’s OK, I told them. But they still needed to do it. There are many a grown men out there who can’t get the job they want or they think they deserve and so they refuse to work, and in turn can’t provided or rather won’t provide for their families. Their own pride hurts the ones that love them. I would be doing them a disservice if I allowed them to work only when they felt like it. 

Proverbs 28:19
He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.

Ecclesiastes 2:24

24 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,

At the end of the day, their smiles & snores said all there was to say. And their bellies were full from a dinner out with Dad, for a job well done.

The new addition to this harvest season was a Peterbuilt Semi-tractor.

This is a sight I never imagined I would see.

J(10) being dropped off by Dad.

Little Miss and I took them lunch, as is our job and it is expected of us.

"Mom, are you going to Costco for stuff?"

"Yep."

"Oh, good. Pizza." 

Expected. Mom goes to Costco + boy's go to the huller = Mom brings pizza and treats for lunch.

Here are some of the pic's I took when I rolled up with the much anticipated pizza.

Farmer directing the tractor driver.

The tractor driver (Z) back up the trailer.

Here, J is picking sticks off the elevator.

Breakfast anyone?