First off…no clue if that is even how it works with Cherry seed/pits but figured I could just dry them out and figure it out when I didn’t have a baby climbing up my legs

Until then…I shall enjoy the yummy cherries my friend Laura has spoiled me with!

So what to make with them now?  I am so happy!  I am like..jam? cobbler? pie?  In the mean while I put a bit of lemon juice and sugar to help “preserve” them a bit (yeah right….I am eating the heck out of these suckers!) until I figure out what I am going to do with them tomorrow
Any suggestions?

I will be pulling the rest of the lettuce out probably this weekend.
I am thinking that should cut down alot on hiding places for these guys.
It has been so wet and rainy they are just loving those low lying, yummy leaves.
Jill better get back from Ohio soon!  We have a night time hunting battle ahead of us

my cuties…

Then it was time to get down to the business of introducing  Lucas to the joy of strawberries…
I suppose I am a bad mom for just letting him eat them out of the field but he is the third.
He survived

“hmmm….what is this?”

“Oh wow!  This tastes good!!”

“MORE!”

and then it became the case of he couldn’t stand to see the basket unless one was in his hand…

and then I remembered…I forgot any sort of Wet Wipe or even a paper towel!

God Bless my mom friends.
Much like boyscouts they always seem to be prepared.
Me? Not so much!
Heck on this field trip we got about 5 minutes from the berry field when Haley declared,
“Oh My Gosh!  Mom I forgot to wear shoes!!”

I kid you not…shoes.  You know the things most normal people would notice they were missing when they walked out the door.
Lucky for her we were at a farm and I personally always garden barefoot so I told her to just suck it up or take mine
Such as life in my crazy world.  I love it!
I have a feeling we will be laughing about her forgetting her shoes for years.  It has already became the family inside joke.
We all load up and ask “Everyone buckled in?  Everyone have on shoes?  How about clothes? ”
To much laughing and eye rolling from Haley…”builds character” I tell her and we roll on along.

Sounds like fun…right?
Starting with a little Borage…

add in a few chives…

and you will end up with a beautiful…edible bouquet

Now my kitchen table is all pretty…what’s not to love?
Awe garden season how I love you!

This week has been busy busy busy…

Started off with lots of berries….

moved onto lots and lots of jam…

and tomorrow…we are heading back with our friends to pick even more.
Is it possible to have “too much” jam?
Nope…impossible!

and then I have to say I am very proud of my first Calendula bloom…
I have “a thing” for Calendula.  I swear this herb fixes everything.
The Neosporin of the plant world.

Our house is indeed a zoo…

Aunt Jill and I had a very spicy date night…

That ended with me dragging her out Slug hunting…
By the way this is when you know your best friend is indeed your best friend….
And yes….we laughed and laughed the whole time.

and then there are these guys…
We are in a battle for my dill.
I keep telling them they can have all the parsley they would like but that they need to leave the dill alone…
They disagree though…but they are really pretty so I suppose I will just keep sharing.

I spent Saturday out at Lavender Fields open house enjoying some herbs and sunshine…

Aunt Jill sent me these two images while she and Lucas were having some fun!
He is such a trend setter…this kid!

I love this one…he looks like he is pondering all things that maybe right and wrong in the world.
Or maybe whether he would rather have bananas or peas?

and then this….Oh this made my Summer right here…
My lovely in-laws (love them!) are letting me share a chunk of dirt to grow a nice BIG garden.
Not that I don’t love my Urban gardening
but it sure is nice to set out more of a perserving garden in addition to my “kitchen” garden.
More to come on this over the weekend no doubt

and last but not least…Adam’s mid-term report.
It turns out that we haven’t ruined him with homeschooling and the kid is right where he needs to be.
Big long sigh of relief …

Everyone wants a “homeschool to regular school” update…
I will probably get to that over the weekend cause it will be a long one

Jam!  Time for Jam!
Just saying…this makes me happy…. very happy!

Seems to be a right of passage in the south.  These slugs aren’t like any slugs I had ever found in Ohio…
They are ginormous!  Did I mention they are hungry too?
Cause if I didn’t I really would be remiss if I didn’t mention just how much these slimey, stickey creatures eat.
I simply refuse to share my garden with them.

There are a few ways to deal with slugs I have found.
First off you have to hunt them at night.  Now the kids think this is a hoot!  Actually I don’t mind it to much myself.
I love messing in my garden at night…really get the neighbors a talking…
“WTH is she doing out there now?!?”
You find them and then there are options…

• Drop them in a bucket of  soapy water…death
• Sprinkle some salt on them….instant death!  Actually crazy death.
  Daryl taught me this one and I didn’t believe him till he “proved it”.
• Drop them in a jar and transport them down to the field the next day….this would be my preferred option because even though they are yucky little creatures I feel guilty killing them.  I figure God put everything on this earth for a reason…yes I know…completely   silly.

OR my latest option that I am doing this year….
Eggshells

See the “theory” is that you crush up the eggshells

and surround the plant with them…

Supposedly the snail will not cross over the eggshells….I guess it would be a bit of an “ouch” for a slug.

Will it work?  Maybe.  If it doesn’t…the eggshells are awesome for gardens!

• This should work for not only slugs but cutworms as well.
• Eggshells will give your plants much needed calcium.

Oh well…not me…not today…
I will just have to keep missing this thing and that thing and stay in my real life.
It’s a good place to be

His grandparents got him a pony for Christmas…
He loves Bullseye!

If you need me…you should probably just pick up the phone and call me….
You know…the old fashioned way of communication.
Chances are I will be off playing with my kids
Well that and Lucas goes nuts if I open a computer near him.  Seems to think it is a teething toy?

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
~George Shaw 

~Images taken with the Canon 5DII

Now it’s not that bad!  The smell only lasts like a day or two.
Ok the fish stuff really doesn’t even smell that long.
The chicken poo and the coffee grounds smell for at least a few days.
Personally I LOVE the coffee grounds.

We have made the switch this year for a few reasons.
We started off using coffee grounds this year because they are a great organic choice and they are FREE.
Yes, free.
Walk into any Panera or Starbucks (except for the Barnes and Nobles one.  They don’t recycle them…shame on them!) and just ask for their leftover coffee grounds.
When we first started in the Winter with this Daryl just tilled them into the bed and we forgot about them.

We really only hit the middle rows.

This week I look at Daryl one night and I am like “These are the best peas and carrots we have ever had! I can’t figure it out I have done NOTHING for them….just threw them out there and said “GROW!” and they did!”
Then is was like a lightbulb turned on and I was like “Oh yeah!  Remember all those coffee grounds we put in that section?!”
So I am sold at this point…I will be throwing that free lovely stuff on there all Summer and seeing if it makes a big difference…
Paying attention to what plants love it and what plants…not so much.

Oh and I got super lazy this year and just threw the tomato cages over the peas to climb up instead of my normal fencing….
They love them!  I may use these from here on out!

So yep…my neighbors will be smelling coffee this year.

Perfect for seeds and herbs…
I have lots of herbs right now…they are drying everywhere around this joint!

This week brought in Chives, Oregano, Sage, Flat Leaf Parsley,  Lemon Balm, Catnip, Peppermint and Thyme.

the chives are all nicely dried already and so it was time to find them a home.

Perfect for all those baby food jars Jill thought I was being silly for keeping!

I will be needing a baked potato now please…

Now that isn’t all these little jars are good for…
Seeds.
Well and lightening bugs

I have some lovely sage…

Time for those little seeds to fall out!

I ran out of brown bags to dry them out in and let the seeds fall so I just went with Ziploc bags…
It should work…should