Getting the Kids Involved

In our new home we don't have much of a backyard, so we don't ever really play out there. Luckily there is a neighborhood playground that is very close to our house. We play there a few times a week atleast. The last few days we noticed it was starting to look horrible. A lot of the kids play there unsupervised and leave their trash everywhere. And the only trashcan there was overflowing. So, the kids and I decided we would go over there this morning and clean it up a bit. So, we loaded up in the little red wagon and walked over.

Rachel was incharge of gathering anything recyclable in her bag. She gathered about a dozen empty bottles of water. Will thought he needed to stay well hydrated. So, he mostly drank my water while we worked.

After we finished picking up we played for a little while. Will was pushing Rachel on the merry-go-round.

Will decided he'd pull the wagon back to the house. He refused to let anyone help him.

Here they are relaxing after a hard days' work.

New Garden Pictures

So far this summer I've canned 15 pints of dill pickles and 4 jars of sweet relish. It's been relatively chilly for this time of year, so I haven't had a single ripe large tomato. But, most things are doing well. Here's my last picking from a few days ago.
I made my sweet relish with what you see here. I only had to buy one red pepper. Everything else in it was from my garden. I'm looking forward to getting some tomatoes soon so I can make some salsa.

One of My Many Goodwill Finds

I shop at Goodwill almost every week. I LOVE Goodwill with a passion. It amazes me what all you can actually find there. Just today I went there with my mom. Sunday is by far the best day to go if you want to find the best deals. Sunday is the day their 1/2 off tag color changes. But, mom and I were out today, so we stopped. I found three tops, a dress, two movies, a cd, and three books and I only spent $16.00. Did I mention how much I love that place????

Here's a gorgeous plaque I found awhile back. It was solid white plaster and only cost $1.99 at Goodwill. I took it home and painted it and put it outside in my landscaping. I painted it with acrylic paints and coated it with two coats of polyurethane to protect it from the weather.

Here you can kind of see it in the mulch by the sidewalk. It looks very "Welcoming" there.

Click on here: http://locator.goodwill.org/ to find a Goodwill near you!

First Harvest of the Season

My garden(s) are looking beautiful if only I had more time to pull the weeds! I picked my first few things this week. Sunday, I picked the first cucumber. I didn't have a chance to take a picture of it since we ate it immediately with our lunch. And it was delicious! Later that day I went out picked the first small batch of green beans. There weren't many but enough for me and the kids to eat one night while my hubby is in class.

Last, but not least, I picked the very first banana pepper. I usually can these. My hubby loves them on bratwurst and hotdogs. But, I'll have to think of something to put it in since there's only one right now.

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Family Trip to the Farmers Market

Every Saturday our family takes a trip to our local Farmers Market. We usually ride bikes there. It's about 7 miles round trip, but today it was raining, so we drove instead. We stopped at the credit union to get some cash and headed over. We've now realized $20 isn't enough to buy everything we want.

We bought some squash, radishes, blueberries, raspberries, and honey sticks. We also got some yogurt from Traders Point Creamery. At this point we realized we didn't have enough money to get everything else we wanted. On our way to the car to run back to the credit union we walked by our favorite booth. The lady there is so sweet. They were starting to pack things up, so I told her we'd be back next week since we only had a dollar left. She then starts grabbing stuff out of her boxes and hands me some onions and zucchini. We of course feel guilty so my hubby throws our only dollar on her table, which of course she refused to take. So we left it laying there.

This is just one of the reasons we LOVE going to the Farmers Market. I love feeding my family food that is healthy and free of chemicals. And I love helping out those that can make that happen. Having someone as sweet as this lady just makes me want to give her all my money for this cause.

Mini Pop Bottle Garden

I have to thank my daughters pre-school teacher for this wonderful idea. And she has many of them. Here's her blog if anyone's interested: http://marquitastewart.blogspot.com/





My daughter came home from school one day with a pop bottle that had been cut in half and had some dirt in it. It now looks like this:

You take a pop bottle (20 oz. or larger) and cut it in half. Take the cap off and puncture a hole in the middle . Tie a knot in a piece of yarn and feed it through the hole. Tie another knot on the outside, so that there is a knot on both sides of the cap and extra yarn on both ends. Screw the cap back on and fill the top half of bottle with potting soil. Plant your seeds according to their packet. These are marigolds, but you could do anything. Fill the bottom of the bottle with water, but keep the water level below the knot. Take a spray bottle and wet the dirt pretty thoroughly on top just on the first day. After that you should only have to water it from the bottom. When the plants get bigger you can transplant them outside or to a bigger pot depending on what flower you've grown. If you leave it in the bottle the roots will eventually become too much for it and it'll become pot-bound or bottle-bound in this case.

I'm thinking of planting all my starters for my garden this way next year.