tomato thief

Today was the very first day I've been able to bring tomatoes into the house. Even though our garden is fenced in I have noticed some baby bunnies hanging out in it. They haven't been thieving the tomatoes though. It's Abe that's been going out everyday and eating all the ripe ones directly from the plants.

I'm glad to have brought a few lovely ripe tomatoes inside today but in reality I LOVE that Abe can go out back and eat fruit and vegetables from our garden. It must be a fun special summer childhood treat that hopefully he'll remember when he's grown.

zucchini

I've noticed that the zucchini blossoms only open up for a short while in the early morning and once it closes the same blossom doesn't open up again. Those leaves are enormous though. It's hard to tell from the photo but the blossoms are really large!

So far we've gotten four zucchini from our two plants. The fifth one will be picked today. One was used for the weird lemon zucchini bread. One was chopped and roasted. One was grated into the meatballs I made last night. One is currently sitting on the counter.

It's really only been the past few years that I've grown to LOVE the summer harvest. Even though I've only ever had a small little garden, I've completely fallen in love with the task. This year we planted zucchini and tomatoes in our garden. It hasn't warmed up until fairly recently so the tomatoes are slow going but been able to pick a few. The zucchini plants are getting huge. We went blueberry picking pretty much right when blueberry season opened up. And a friend of ours gave me a large bundle of rhubarb that ideally we'll make a big batch of strawberry rhubarb jam with today.

Fall has always been my favorite time of year, followed by spring. I really love sweatshirt weather when there's a crisp breeze in the air. Bonfires and fallen leaves... magical. But summer is really creeping up there as a fabulous time of year. I don't think I will be able to say I have a favorite season any longer. There's just too much joy that comes from fresh summer harvest and watching my kids play in the water during days of extreme heat.

zucchinis are growing

The tomatoes are growing too.

Photo on the left is from one month ago.
Photo on the right is from today.

There's a zucchini plant that we grew from seed in the very front of the photo and another one back by Abe's foot. I squeezed three tomato plants in directly next to the fence. I sort of weave them into the fence and tie them to it with string so that I don't have to cage them. You can't see the tomato plants as well in the newer photo but they are doing good. They are the three little green spots in the first photo.

We haven't had any harvest yet but I'm really happy with how well the plants are doing.

Gardening has definitely become one of the major highlights of summertime for me.

Blogging Hiatus

June? July? August? Well that went fast...

Our 2017 sunflowers

I had this sudden compulsion to stop by blogger and count my blessings... well at least five of them. It's much too much of a beautiful end of summer day to not quickly jot something cheery down.

1. Our Garden
   The awe inspiring fact that tiny, lifeless seeds are able to grow into such large bountiful fruit producing plants has yet to evade me. I'm in love with the garden. I'm in love with the fact that despite my planting the seeds, tilling the soil, and tending the plants, I am incapable of making them grow. The Lord alone resides over that feat and I feel truly blessed to be witness to it.
2. My Job
   Do I love venturing from the comfort of our cozy home so that I can earn a little extra income? No. But I'm really tremendously thankful for a job that I mostly like and for the fact that I'm able to earn needed income for our family but only work twenty four hours a week. I feel very blessed to be where I'm at in life, able to make some money but I am also able to spend most of my time raising my son.
3. Baby Sparrows
   OUR ROBINS came back this year. They built a gorgeous little nest in the honeysuckle and momma laid two lovely blue gems into the masterpiece. I watched as a crow swooped in and plundered the beautiful eggs. I was really heartbroken, furious... I may have wanted to retaliate with murder. I'm pretty easily jarred. Almost the entire summer went by, our robins vanished, and my anger with the crows never ceased. But then one day there were tiny little brown birds almost invading every bush surrounding our back alley. The little things were so hyper, so noisy, so excited about life. A large group of just learning to fly, jumping and flailing baby sparrows brought much needed joy to our nature adventures this summer. Life goes on, despite large annoying black birds, life goes on. I'm thankful for baby sparrows.
4. Family
   It's generic, it's expected, it goes without saying but I cannot actually bring myself to making a list of blessings without it. Family and friends are thee number one most important aspect and biggest blessing in my life.
5. Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
   I've been absent here for several months but not much has changed. I still LOVE food! Little Abe and I made a spectacular batch of strawberry rhubarb jam this summer and this morning it topped our breakfast french toast. I heated up a few sliced strawberries in the hot french toast pan to lay on top of the jam. Strawberry rhubarb french toast with black coffee... come on, is there any better way to start an end of summer Sunday? I think not!

This year has been really busy and really pretty wonderful. I did a heavy priorities check awhile back and majorly cut my online presence. The most significant omission was deactivating my facebook account for several months. There are a lot of people on facebook that I have little contact with otherwise but it was wonderful not having the monster that is facebook as apart of my life for quite a long while. I never meant however to stop blogging but leaving facebook, committing to spending almost no time at the computer during little Abe's waking hours, and loving the dis-connected life sort of just led to my unintentional absence in blogger. I've missed you all!

Guess What Happened This Week

One melon.

One perfectly ripe, fully developed, Bidwell Casaba melon.

We're so proud of our one lonely fruit.

And for a completely honest review (after all the many posts I put into this one melon) it does not taste like heavenly orange sherbet as it was reviewed in a melon publication. It does in fact, as I'd slightly suspected taste just like what I remember cantaloupe tasting like as a child. The reason I say, "as a child" is because I don't like cantaloupe. I may have distorted memories of the situation but I feel as though my mom tried to get me to like it all throughout childhood. It seems like it always showed up in fruit salad or as the fruit side at dinner and for some reason I always gave it a taste with unchanging results. Yuck!

Well to my long gone cousin, John Bidwell leader of the first wagon train to California, founder of Chico California, Senator, General, Mr. Bidwell you have accomplished a task that my very own mother was continually unable. I really, really enjoyed this cantaloupe type melon, this Bidwell Casaba, truly and completely enjoyed it. Not only did I enjoy the story, not only did I enjoy the family connection, the history growing in my very own backyard, and sharing my adventures with the bloggosphere, but I enjoyed a melon that I've never once liked. Thank-you.

I of course scooped out all the seeds and am saving them for future gardening endevours. Maybe one day I'll find a better spot in my yard or figure out how to clean up the soil that I suspect is awful in the bed behind the garage where I grew this lonely fruit (and it's neighboring lonely pie pumpkin). Whatever the case, I now have a plethora of seeds (still many of the ones I purchases this year and now all of the (viable) seeds from this guy) so I shouldn't ever have to purchase more.

Peter Rabbit

I'm purposefully on a mission as of late to check out classic children's books from our library to share with little Abe. They are especially fun since many of them I've either never read myself or haven't read since I was young.

Today we came home from the library with a wonderful stack of books. His favorite song right now (apart from the Star Wars theme song that he hums non-stop) is the Ittsy bittsy spider. We brought home a book today that taught us both an additional, I think it is, six more verses. What a delight!

We also brought home the VERY classic Peter Rabbit. This is a story I haven't read in decades but remember vividly. It's rather official that I think he has received it the same as I did. The copy is so small. I held it in my hands as he sat on my lap and he leaned over it the entire time I read to look at the illustrations more closely. He was in such suspense about what would happen to the little naughty rabbit that he just kept asking me question after question. He'd hardly let me go on. His attention was peaked, completely drawn in and hooked. He just needed to know if the rabbit would escape or if the farmer would kill him.

Since I've recently taken up gardening, only three years in now, and little Abe is my garden helper, and might I add our yard is over run with rabbits the story was really very relate-able for a little boy who certainly finds a bit of a thrill in trying to work around not doing certain things his mother has asked of him and a little boy who has a backyard garden of his own. I can't do this post justice in explaining what sheer joy came for both of us sharing in that story together tonight but I thought I'd attempt to make a note of it anyhow.

Ah, the little things!

Tuesday Pumpkins

Gorgeous flowers on the pie pumpkin plant today.

I don't think I have to worry about whether or not this plant will get pollinated.

Backyard Edition, July 27

This morning I slinked along. Ever so slowly I accomplished all the essential morning chores before I grabbed a cup of coffee and two slices of toast with blackberry jam. Since the heat wave hit I've been battling some serious sinus pressure and congestion but despite the incredible heat little Abe and I headed out back with our morning treats. He sat in his little green chair and I in mine. My tan little boy wore a simple pair of navy shorts, no shirt. He looked like every wonderful moment I can remember from my childhood; sun kissed skin, golden tinged hair, and the look of a well lived summer all over him.

We sat in the hot morning sun listening to the gentle breeze rustle the leaves on every tree. The birds were at work singing their morning tunes as usual despite the unusual temperature. The tomato garden in all of it's splendor spread out before the both of us and neither he nor I mumbled a word as we sat and ate.

I realized in that moment that I was experiencing perfection, pure simple wonderful perfection. A quite hot summer morning just relaxing with my son. Both of us enjoying the fruits of our labor, having fought the blackberry bushes together to collect the treasure. We then turned the fruits into the delectable jam. And now here we were, silent, together, enjoying the treat on such a splendid summer morning right alongside the garden we've so diligently tended to all summer long. These moments don't last long, but in them I find myself overcome with pure joy. I am forced to stop and think, to smile greatly, and to realize again each time, "this is life at it's finest!"

And now I document the garden growth.

First tomato turning red

Pie pumpkin plant in front.
Bidwell Casaba melon in back.

One of two bean plants.
I planted the seeds a little late this year but they should still do great.

One month of sunflower growth.
These are two different plants.
The photo in the upper right had corner is the first
sunflower sprout just over a month ago.

Bidwell Casaba Melon, July 16

The one surviving melon plant now has upwards of ten little melons on it. That fuzzy dew covered thing is a small melon. The only thing I have to compare this new venture to is the watermelon that I grew last year. That plant produced one melon that grew rather quickly but it kept making tiny melons, about this size that would just shrivel up and die. Now, looking at these ten plus tiny melons that do not seem to be growing I'm getting so anxious to see what happens.

I'm happy that there is definitely the potential for fruit, as the plant has clearly produced baby melons but my lack of patience is terrible. Although it seems like these fuzzy little darlings aren't getting any bigger and due to the "lovely" Michigan weather I'm in a race against the clock I have two things consoling me. 1.) This is the exact size that my one successful watermelon was on August 8 of last year. Which means I should probably not be as anxious about the clock as I've been. (One of the reasons you see so many gardening posts from me; I love to be able to quickly go back and compare from year to year). 2.) According to everything I've read, watermelon plants do generally only produce a few full size good melons, whereas casabas or muskmelons generally produce around a dozen. I think we're right on track folks. The Bidwell saga lives on!

Today greeted us with carrots

I started the first thinning of our carrots today. The orange carrots are lagging behind but the purple carrots were ready to thin and offered us some small but delicious veggies. I only pulled enough for a salad so we'll thin another row and have more backyard treats tomorrow but how exciting that the garden is starting to feed us.

Do you see any carrots on this salad? There aren't any because my kid ate them all before I had a chance to use them. But it's my first carrot top salad of the year and it was summer perfection!

May Numbers are in

Closing out April my average daily spending for the year was at $19.08. It's now down to $18.15 a day with an average daily spending in May of $14.53. Essentially I spent $4.55 a day less in May then I have the other 121 days of this year. 

While I had set a budget of $448 for the month, was trying really hard to stay within that, and thought I had, I'm pretty terrible with math and somewhere along the way missed something. I'm actually $2.41 over budget. The math doesn't lie so I'm over budget in reality but as far as I'm concerned I made budget this month. (I know, cheater cheater; I don't care. I'm extremely happy with where I landed).

Mission accomplished in May!
Average Daily Spending for May: $14.53

Groceries $320.74: that's an average of $10.35 a day
Food out $9.73: that's an average of 31 cents a day
Pets $27.55: that's an average of 89 cents a day
Stuff $7.60: that's an average of 24 cents a day
Toiletries $44.86: that's an average of $1.45 a day
Gifts $23.86: that's an average of 77 cents a day
Cleaning $3.54: that's an average of 11 cents a day
Garden $12.53: avg. 40 cents a day

Average Daily Spending for 2016: $18.15

REALLY looking forward to June, growth, and change

__________________________________________

May 2016 Total: $450.41                 Goal $448
Cash spent $10    5.31
NO SPEND day 50    5.30
Groceries $16.26    5.29
NO SPEND day 49    5.28
NO SPEND day 48    5.27
NO SPEND day 47    5.26
Groceries $14.33 5.25
Groceries $19.38 5.24
Laundry detergent $3.54    5.23
NO SPEND day 46    5.22
NO SPEND day 45    5.21
Groceries $29.69 5.20
NO SPEND day 44    5.19
Groceries $27.52 5.18
NO SPEND day 43    5.17
NO SPEND day 42    5.16
NO SPEND day 41    5.15
Groceries $34.29 5.14
NO SPEND day 40    5.13
Two books for Abe $7.60    5.12
Lunch $3.50    5.12
Groceries $28.64 5.11
NO SPEND day 39    5.10
NO SPEND day 38    5.9
NO SPEND day 37    5.8
Garden soil $12.53    5.7
Dog food $27.55    5.7
Groceries $55.37    5.6
Toilet paper $25.61    5.6
Toiletries $19.25    5.6
Gifts $23.86    5.6
Groceries $13.67     5.5
Ice Cream $6.23    5.5
Groceries $17.97    5.4
Groceries $3.77    5.3
Groceries $41.50    5.2
Groceries $8.35    5.1

Tomatoes

It's been really cold here. It's Michigan. I know you can never tell what the weather will be but it's been really cold here. Three days ago it actually snowed. I've had these little tomato plants on my kitchen window sill for days that I need to get into the ground. I've hardened them off and their roots are getting too big for their egg cartons but the weather forecast keeps showing nighttime temps in the 30s. It's starting to drive me crazy.

The weather forecast finally showed 40 for last night and then it went up, up, up from then on. I took the plunge and we put the plants in the ground yesterday. I think it got colder then 40 last night but they look great this morning. (we are past the frost date for our area but at this point I'm not sure that means anything)

I put the one surviving Bidwell Casaba melon plant in the back bed as well (I had three). I had less hope for that surviving the cold temps then the tomatoes but it looks great this morning. I think I've got a keeper. I'm starting one more seed of that so the plants will be several weeks apart with growth. I will just see how both do.

Let the gardening begin! Carrots, Spinach, Tomatoes, Melon, Strawberries... Beans, Sunflower, and Pumpkin to come. Don't tell me you can't garden in a little city lot with limited space for garden beds. Woohoo!!!

Happy Gardening Day!

At least it was for us. Ah, sunshine and dirt and water and mud and seeds and... what could be better?!

Today little Abe and I planted carrots seeds (I did actually plant purple carrots this year) and spinach seeds. Spinach is one of this year's new additions. When I decided to give gardening a try two years ago I chose to start out with just tomatoes and strawberries. Last year I added carrots, beans, and watermelon. Oh, and the giant sunflower. Last year was also the first year I grew all of the plants from seed.

This year I've added spinach, will possibly add pumpkin and switched from watermelon to the Bidwell Casaba melon. Getting the seeds outside and getting the tomato and bean bed ready to go was such a great way to spend mother's day. Okay, I did snap at little Abe a few times when he flung mud at me, almost hit me with the shovel, and started to flood the backyard with the hose. BUT we did enjoy ourselves and got a lot accomplished. I also put up a little fence (that we have had in the garage for YEARS) to keep the dogs away from the tomatoes and strawberries this year.

The tomatoes and pole beans will go in the ground but there are rabbits galore around here so I've found that strawberries, carrots and I'm anticipating the spinach in pots works so much better for me.

I had set this year's gardening budget at $25 and I'm considerably over that. Here's the rundown of my garden spending thus far: $17.52 for Peat and Garden soil and $20 for seeds. The bin that I have carrots in this year was given to me by my sister in law as she no longer needed it. I've been composting in the purple bin that I grew carrots in last year. I had the other three pots and the fencing on hand. I know, I spent a ridiculous amount on seeds. The problem was that I ordered them online, had to pay shipping and I went and did a second order when I found the Bidwell Casaba seeds. I spent $6.25 on the melon seeds alone. With the exception of the two year old strawberries, everything I'm growing is from heirloom seeds.

If this year's gardening endevour turns out half as well as last year then I'm more than happy with the $42.52 that I spent on the garden this year. Teaching little Abe about growing food while watching all the beautiful plants grow and fruit and then getting to eat food from our own backyard is worth SOOOOO much more than $42.52 to me anyhow.

Hooray for Spring!!!!!!!!!

Orange Sherbet Melon

I did get the Bidwell Casaba melon seeds that I blogged about earlier (of course). My little helper planted three of them for me last week Monday, March 14th. I've been keeping them in a juice container on the window sill that's too high for him to see into so he's been asking me everyday for a week if his seeds grew yet.

Today, one week and one day later we have two little green sprouts. Last year when the tomato seeds first sprouted I was so excited. Seeing that little green pop from the soil as the first tucked under leaf was trying to tip it's head towards the sun was extremely exhilarating for me. I was none the less excited today when I noticed the first sprout in the melon pot. Hooray for life! Hooray for spring! And Hooray for home grown food. This is so exciting!

Let the Gardening Begin!

This may be the point in time when I should change my blog title to: The Chronicles of my Yard (I'm not going to though).

It seems, being the incredibly novice gardener that I am, I underestimated those sunflower sprouts that I spotted through the snow in January. I'm 98% sure that they are sunflower sprouts coming up from seeds that fell from the giant sunflower I had growing last summer. And I hadn't realized they could winter over and withstand such cold.

I'm going to be watching these little buggers really closely, thinning them out, and hopefully they will result in one (or two or three) fabulous, wintered over, self planted giant red sunflower(s). If these are just a strange weed that completely mocks a sunflower sprout I am going to be rather crushed. Only time will tell.

: )

Average daily spending for 2016: $18.71

Gardening may be in my DNA

For my birthday I got a fabulous seed catalog. (I may have purchased it for myself with birthday money, eh hm) Its enormous and bursting with colorful, gorgeous fruits, vegetables, and flowers. I've looked through the entire thing several times. This last time looking through I saw something incredibly fascinating. In the melon section I noticed a seed named Bidwell Casaba. Bidwell is a family name that takes only four generations back to find, starting from my maternal Grandfather > his mom > her dad > his dad. > his mom was a Bidwell. The description reads for the Bidwell Casaba melon:

This melon was grown by general John Bidwell, who recieved his seed stock by the USDA in 1869. He was a soilder in the civil war and also became a US Senator. He grew this melon in Chico California. It produces massive fruits that weigh about 16 pounds each and are football shaped. The orange flesh is sweet and creamy. Dr. Amy Goldman says "tastes like heavenly orange sherbet," in her book Melons for the Passionate Grower.

My grandmother was a passionate gardener. I only began to grow food in my yard two years ago. But the activity is something that thrills me. I'm can't get enough of watching each little seed sprout, staring at the tiny plants as they grow on my window sill, watching them then flourish in the soil in my backyard, before too long they flower, and then by some sort of mystical magic these little seeds have been transformed into enormous plants bearing spectacular food. I couldn't ever fully describe the fascination and delight I've found in gardening.

When I saw the Bidwell Melon I had to wonder if this man was a relative of mine. Bidwell is a name I've rather enjoyed looking into in my family tree. The Bidwell's have a good part in American history. Although the Bidwell name in my family tree is flourishing with John's I was a little doubtful that this particular John Bidwell would match up to my line because he was growing that Bidwell Casaba Melon in California and my Bidwells hail from Connecticut.

I'll just cut the suspense, John Bidwell of the Casaba melon is in fact (at least from what I've been able to deduce) my first cousin 6x removed. He shares his name with my 9x Great Grandfather, John Bidwell of Hartford Connecticut, who is his 3x Great Grandpa.

The Bidwell family were apparently adventurers (and fighters). They originally came to America from England. They were in Connecticut for a while then at least some of my ancestors moved to New York, where John Bidwell (of the Bidwell Casaba Melon) was born. If you remember my POST almost one year ago about my 4x Great Grandpa Mishael Beadle who moved from New York to Michigan in 1833, Mishael was married to a Bidwell. My 4x Great Grandma Ruth Bidwell was John Bidwell's aunt.

According to wikipedia John Bidwell was not only a US Sentor that fought in the civil war and moved to California (where he grew heavenly orange sherbet flavored melons) he was also a pioneer. Like my Grandpa Mishael and Grandma Ruth Bidwell who moved to Michigan to homestead, John Bidwell "was known throughout California and across the nation as an important pioneer... He is famous for leading one of the first emigrant parties, known as the Bartleson–Bidwell Party, along the California Trail, and for founding Chico, California."

I love history. I LOVE family history and I love LOVE love gardening! What a wonderful find.

So, who votes that I NEED to purchase these melon seeds and see what bit of family history I might be able to grow in my yard? I'm afraid I live in a bit too northerly climate but I'm itching to try...

First Yard Work of the Year

We've been having a bit of a thaw the past few days. It feels so wonderful to get outside and breathe fresh air. Ahhh! There's something, be it however odd, that I just love about using my muscles and exerting extra energy while in the great outdoors with the endless blue sky hovering above and wisps of wind coming and going.

Today's chore was far from glamours. I spent a good amount of time cleaning up after the pups. But it was a chore worth doing, it can certainly be classified yard work, and I had the tremendous privileged of being out doors. Spring is a long way off but this year's first bit of yard work is officially in the books.

Little Abe spent his time chopping at ice, stomping in mud (frozen dirt actually), breaking twigs off the lilac bush and running all around. We both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

The photo above, something that once again causes me to marvel at life, and growth, at the power of seeds and nature. This patch of dirt that had only two or three days ago been covered in at least a foot of snow is now home to a small congregation of giant red sunflower sprouts, courtesy of that pesky squirrel that spent several days late this past summer climbing the large sunflower and eating the seeds. I'm not expecting them to survive the winter. I mean it generally snows on and off in these parts going into April. BUT what a little treasure to find buried beneath the snow!

Fruits of our labor

Autumn is upon us. One day I'm looking intently to find leaves in the trees changing their hues and only a few days later the horizon seems to be splattered with color throughout forests. Photos of people apple picking and strolling through pumpkin patches are beginning to decorate the many corners of the world wide web. The stores are in full swing Halloween mode. I've enjoyed several candy corn binges. Oh autumn! (I LOVE fall)

It's getting cold at night now but the day time temps are keeping really nice. My four tomato plants are scraggly and probably ready to be pulled but these babies keep cranking out the fruit. There are even new blossoms all over them. I think my tomato plants have yet to get the memo. Summer is over.

The fruit has gotten smaller and smaller as the summer has drawn to a close but it just keeps on coming. Today I went through the plants and picked all the green tomatoes. Oh, I love how they smell as I'm pulling them from the plant. Gardening is a gift I'm joyously grateful to have partaken of again this year. 

The small batch of green tomato chutney I made in August has all been eaten and I've learned that I LOVE green tomato chutney. My very favorite use for it was to spread on top of cream cheese that I'd spread on a hot morning bagel. So I was eager to slice up all these beautiful green gems. I tripled the last batch I made. I took a photo of all the fresh ingredients in the pot and somehow deleted it before it made it's way to the computer. It was really pretty. So instead you just get to see the brown goop simmering away. Oh, the yummy brown goop.

I've been wanting to have a go at canning (or bottling if you live in the UK) for quite some time but I'll admit I've been terrified of it. I could never bring myself to just buckle down and give it a try. I always figured that one of these days I'd rope a friend into showing me how or learning how with me. Until today. Okay, I have a confession to make. Chutney because of it's high sugar and vinegar content is self preserving. You don't need to technically "can" it, you know with the boiling water bath and pressurization and all that jazz. BUT, I says to myself, "ah ha, here's a chance to have a go at canning and for the most part I can't screw it up and give someone food poisoning from a faulty seal or whatever because, well, chutney is self preserving." Perfect! I did buy these jars today so this little venture ended up costing me $7. I did not however buy any of the canning supplies that are beginning to fill stores now a days. You know the lid plopper on-ers, the wire dunking in pot basket, the green puller out of pot thing; yes I could go on and on and on. There are so many canning accessories. It really boggles my mind.

And there you go. I now have nine jars of green tomato chutney (that I LOVE) all properly canned. My very end of summer, beginning of autumn fresh green tomatoes that I grew from four little seeds are all tucked away in those brown jars with apple, onion, raisins, a lot of brown sugar, a good helping balsamic vinegar, and ginger. In all honesty my cup is overflowing right now. I feel like a conqueror. AND my kitchen is clean (that's another victory for me; normally a day like today would include my going to sleep for the night with a very messy kitchen). I've had a really great day!

Ahhh, good night!

BEANS!

This year was my first attempt at beans. I chose a pole bean variety and plopped four beans in the ground next to my fence. Only one grew so I sewed two more beans. Something at one of them so I planted one more. In the ended three little plants began to grow next to the fence. These three plants seemed to take forever before they began actually climbing the fence. I wondered if we really would ever have actual beans on these plants. Before too long they took off and my fence AND the neighboring sunflower were covered in beans. Who knew a sunflower would make such a great bean pole? I love the way the plants look on the fence. I might plant more next year just for decoration :)

I've cut the head off the sunflower but I left the stalk and few leave in place for the beans.

See the stalk in there?

Turns out my husband and son aren't very big fans of beans. None the less I'm very proud of these green beauties. THIS is today's harvest alone. I'm planning on freezing most of these today.

Shooting for a no spend day here today, unless I run to the store to spend another $10 on the 10-items-for-$10-get-the-11th-item-free sale. There's a bottle of apple juice that normally costs over $2 and English muffins that normally cost around $3 in the sale. I'm having a hard time justifying not going back today to get a few more of these.

WATERMELON!

One watermelon to be exact.

Today is pretty cold. It's supposed to get really cold tonight and stay that way for awhile. From everything I've heard watermelon are a fan of  hot weather. I wasn't convinced that our little fellow was totally ripe, I however couldn't wait any longer and the cold snap was the last straw.

Even though I planted two seeds, technically put down one bag of dirt (which was intended for the carrots I'd originally planted in the ground but that the rabbits ate), grew two plants and only got one watermelon I'd totally do it all over again. Seeing this beautiful fruit grow in our very own backyard from that one little seed, well as I've said several times before, it's just miraculous/ awe inspiring. This little fellow, our first ever watermelon that we grew, as I'm sure you can imagine was the sweetest, juiciest, most delicious watermelon I've ever had the privilege to enjoy. 

Gardening is SUCH fun!