Fresh!

Every year we plant a little garden. Pretty much always the same things, but we like what we like. We've tried corn, unsuccessfully, but this year we decided to skip it. Here's our little garden.


Something new for this year, okra. I havent actually eaten this in a long time, and I dont think Mike ever has. I know the kids havent! So we'll see how that goes. (sorry it's not that focused!)

Peppers. We've already used two for dinner.

Onions. We've had mixed luck with these in the past, so again, we'll see how these go.

Always the shining star of the garden, green beans!

This year we are trying roma tomatoes, since we really only want them for sauce, none of us actually eat tomatoes. Although honestly, I've been thinking of trying them. I used to eat fried green tomatoes, but at some point, I stopped liking them. I'm a very picky eater!

These we didn't plant, they came up on their own. When we don't have anything planted, we toss our vegetable/fruit scraps out where we have the garden. These guys were our Halloween pumpkins. They will be gone before Halloween is anywhere close, but it's fun to watch them grow.

Jack-be-Littles! We have decided that we are going to try a whole patch of pumpkins out in the field. Hopefully we will be able to have a real pumpkin patch for Halloween, and sell them! There are no real patches around here. You're only options are church's with a field full of pumpkin, vegatable stands or the grocery store. Wish us luck!

The garden isn't all that's growing. Check out our Florida peach tree!

Back to the garden for a moment... with three rows of green beans, it isnt long before you have to pick.

Here was our haul from this past weekend. There is still a ton left on the plants!

And what do we do with all those fresh beans? Pressure can! From that pile we canned 32 pints of beans. The pint jar is very similar in size to a can of store bought beans. If those beans are roughly $1.00 a can (give or take), think of the savings! We only spent probably $3-$4 on the seeds.

Mother nature is also providing us with some fresh food for the summer.

It's a jungle out there!

Wild blackberries!

We picked two cups worth Tuesday. There are a ton that aren't ripe yet and a whole bunch we can't even reach, or risk ripping your arms apart.

Not pictured are the carrots and the two apple trees that my father in law planted. Yes, Florida apples, too! They are still very small but one tree has two little apples growing on it.

Have a good week!

Another random mix of topics

First things first, I received my prize from Heidi (http://frauleinh.blogspot.com/)! Thank you again! Did I mention blue is my favorite color? Not pictured: the yummy candy stick that Blake swiped.

On to the growth... things are popping up like crazy around here. It's hard to believe that it's still pretty cold in some parts of the country. It's been in the 90's down here. My Zinnia's are getting ready to bloom.

My Dahlia is coming along nicely too. This was taken yesterday...

And this today...

I have seen Morning Glories blooming out back by the "barn" but someone keeps spraying them with Round-Up. But I went out there yesterday morning and found 3 small plants. The pictures came out horrible, but here is one of them.

And for the veggies... Please ignore the overgrowth of grass! I'm almost embarrassed to post! Bad gardeners, bad! I have been working on weeding, but wow it takes forever. The corn itself looks good though!

The onions are also getting big.

Here is one of the tomato plants. I don't know what kind these are, but they look very different from our other tomato plant.



These are doing nicely...



I think all of the bell pepper bushes have baby peppers on them by now.

The green beans are ripening very fast!

Nothing much from the cucumbers yet, but it shouldnt be too much longer. They are flowering already.

White beans... Going just as fast as the green beans.

And we can't forget about the fruit... This is the grapfruit tree.

Baby tangerines...

I have seen these growing out back, and I can't help but wonder if they are muscadine grapes. Guess I will just have to wait and see.

The blackberries...

Those purple flowers I posted about awhile back? I googled them, not thinking I would be able to find them, but it turns out they are Purple Passion Flowers, also called Maypops. They bear an edible fruit, also called a Maypop. I'm not sure if I am brave enough to actually eat one, but the vines out back have fruit on them.

About those green beans & white beans... Someone enjoys picking them!

From that.... to this:

And this:

Of course, once you do that, you have to do this:

And next comes the canning. I went and bought a pressure cooker tonight. We'll see how that goes. Does anyone know anything about canning? I remember my mother and grandmother doing it, but never bothered learning while they were alive.

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My other adventure is Berry Cobbler. This is part fresh blackberries and some fresh blueberries thrown in since I didnt have quite enough blackberries. I'm not sure how this is going to turn out. Again, we shall see.

My last random topic for the night... If you want to enter some very cool blog contest, check out Sarah's blog (http://mamanjackjack.blogspot.com/). Update, drawings are closed. :)