A Few Gardening Mysteries Solved.

My friend, Julie, Hatching Bunnies Farm, read my post and sent me an email with some great info about what went wrong this year. I had to share it with you so you won't feel so bad about your crops. I know it makes me feel a little better. Read on.

Just read your blog, let me  try and solve a few mysteries for you :)
Tomatoes-didn't do well for anybody this year because our heat was high early.  The pollen is killed between 90-95 degrees depending on the variety.  It hit 100 in late April-so there wasn't much time to set fruit.  Last year was better because the triple digits didn't hit until early June.  As temps go down in the next few weeks, we should see some fruit forming once again.  Also, southern Arizona was hit hard with russet mites.  They can't be seen by the naked eye, but cause browning of the leaves on the tomatoes from the ground up.  I didn't figure out what they were until too late.  A couple of dustings of sulfur (which is great for tomatoes-all natural) would have taken care of them.  I will be treating mine next year as a preventative measure.  

The squash bugs were terrible as well this year.  I have contacted an entymologist at Arbico (organic company in Tucson) and was given some good tips for next year.  I have also found a squash bug and powdery mildew resistant heirloom squash for next year that should help.  Here's what she said:

As for your problems with squash bugs, these critters are best controlled using 
physical methods.  If you place small boards or squares of cardboard near the 
base of your squash plants, the squash bugs will congregate there at night.  Go 
out early the next morning, lift up the boards and sweep the bugs into a bucket 
of soapy water.  If you have outbreaks of the nymphs on your plants, you can 
spray them directly with insecticidal soap or neem oil--or  pyrethrin as a last 
resort. (Avoiding the blooms, of course).


My daughter came up with a homemade aphid killer that worked well this year.  Check my blog hatchingbunniesfarm.blogspot.com for that recipe.

Hopefully this fall's weather and bugs will be kinder to us. :)

Summer Garden Recap

This summer's garden was interesting. My plants either thrived and produced amazingly or they didn't . There really wasn't much in between. There is still much growing right now and many have gotten their second wind after the aphid infestation. The chard has been around for almost a year now which gives us great greens for smoothies. 

The Good: 

Cucumbers! I planted these in February against all the rules and I had cucumbers from April to July. They were never bitter even with the high heat. And....I went out today and the Armenian's that suffered the aphid attack have come back and look what I found:

More cucumbers! There are many babies growing and so I have a dilemma on my hands; let them grow and sacrifice some room for the fall garden or pull them and plant broccoli. Hard decision. 

Zucchini. Tons of zucchini. I also planted these early and had zucchini from April to July. I should have planted again in June so I would still have some but the beetles came in July and decided they wanted in on the treats. Ugh. I may plant another one now. We will see.

Melons. 

Amazingly sweet. I had about 5 then the aphids hit. I cut them back and they are now growing everywhere and I just picked a couple the other day. I have a good handful more almost ready. I hope they hurry soon. I will need to pull them out. I wish I had room to do a whole melon garden. Someday. 

Peppers and Chilis.

I have many different varieties growing and they have  all flourished this season. I have loved them in omelets, fajitas, fritatas, stir frys and about every thing else. I had onions until this past month and I am sure missing them now. Time to plant more.

I am not quite sure what these peppers are above but they are so cute. They are mini but go from yellow to orange then to red. I pick them at all various stages of color for a great variety. They are sweet and crisp. 

I picked this a couple weeks ago. The last of my carrots. They were under a tomatillo plant and I have been picking carrots for a year. They were always super sweet. I am sad to see them go. I planted the acorn squash early and have a few sitting in my pantry. The aphids ate the plants but not before I was able to get about 6 of them. I planted some butternut squash as well but they are going everywhere! I think I may pull them up for my fall garden. They will still take a while to get big so I am not sure I want to wait.

Take a peak. See how cute. Hurry. Grow.

The not so good: 

Tomatoes! Ugh. I have talked to many people and no one has had tomato success this year. I don't know why this year. I had about two plants out of 15 produce. They are starting to bud again so we will see if I can get anymore. I hope.

Tomatillos. Huge plants. only a handful of tomatillos. I made a couple batches of tomatillo salsa and stir fried some up in some fajitas but sure wish I had more. 

Green Beans. I planted three varieties and the plants looked great. They flowered but I only picked a handful for one bowl of soup. Not sure why these didn't work as well. I had great hopes of freezing lots for future use. Darn.

I have planted some sweet potatoes that should be ready by November if all goes well. The vines are huge:

Is there anything under those vines? I hope. I am not sure it is worth growing potatoes in a small garden but we will see. My other potatoes didn't do so well.

It is time to start planting in a couple weeks. I will have a list soon for pre-orders from The Hatching Bunnies farm for those wanting organic Heirlooms. She will have it all. I hope you are getting your plots ready. I am ready for the fall produce.

My mouth is watering for these:

Soon. November will be here before we know it. 

Hope you had some success this summer. Gardening is a an experiment. Even the best have flops. You just dust off your gardening gloves and start over again.

Whole Grain Banana Muffins

In my preschool class yesterday, we made these delicious and healthy banana muffins. I had quite a few moms call me to ask for the recipe their little ones were raving about. I thought for sure it was on my blog but for some reason, it never made it as a post. So, for all those moms out there wanting to know what all the hype was about yesterday in class, here you go! They all wanted more. I just teased them with one.

Whole Grain Banana Muffins

3 ripe bananas

1/2 C. coconut oil

1/3 C. coconut milk  (You can use kefir, sour cream, yogurt or any other creamy thing)

2 eggs

1 1/3 C. Coconut sugar (I used a little less)

Mix and combine until smooth

Add:

2 C. whole grain flour

3/4 t. sea salt

2 T. ground flax meal

1 1/4 t. baking soda

1 t. vanilla

Mix in dry ingredients and stir until combined. Pour into greased mini muffin pans or any size pan, loaves work as well.

For mini muffins, bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes. For loaves, bake at 325 for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Return to lists

First off, let us all take a moment to remember the best chicken ever; La Fonda. She suffered a bout of heat stroke last week and went on to chicken heaven. We were greatly saddened. She was our favorite. She would always follow you around and give you a chicken kiss until you would pet her. It was a tragedy. It has been a rough couple months for our chickens. We are down to two. I may be hanging up my chicken farmer hat after these last two. Too much sadness. I get too attached. Rest in peace, La Fonda. You will be missed.

Summer break has come and gone and I can't believe how fast it went. Why does time speed up the older you get? I wasn't ready to send the kids back to school this year which isn't usually the norm. We still had lots of groupons to use and swimming to do. All of a sudden it was August. I don't know how it happened. It was a good summer. It was relaxing but different. With kids getting older, they sort of do their separate thing. Summer school, working, driving their own cars. We added a new teenage driver this summer and had one graduate. Changes. The oldest even went on a trip to California by himself with his friends. No mom. That was a little hard to swallow but he did make it back alive and quite excited for this next chapter in life. As the mom, I have to tell you, it is hard to cut the strings loose and let them be on their own. I am doing my best but it doesn't feel right. He is a good kid and is more than ready to take flight. Ugh. 

I had a huge list of things I was going to accomplish this summer and I found the list the last week of summer. Not one thing had been done. I was going to redecorate a bathroom, patch a wall and paint upstairs, repaint the stair rails, organize every drawer downstairs, clean the pantry, scrub all the baseboards and doors with baking soda, reorganize my preschool supplies and on and on. Well, I was determined in that last week I would get every single item on that list done and guess what? I did! I couldn't believe how very productive I was. It made me start thinking of how my time is used and how I needed to improve.

I used to be a woman of lists. Lists upon lists. I followed them and delighted in crossing the items off. When I started blogging, for some reason, I started to loose the lists a bit. I don't know why. I just sort of went off the routine and went into a survival mode. Life was busy and I just decided to get done what I could get done and not worry about the list. It seemed logical. However, I have realized that without the list, I fill in the time with unstructured, unproductive waste. Don't get me wrong, we need down time and we need not overwork ourselves but man, we can sure waste our moments on earth.

After my week of accomplishing so many tasks around here, I decided that it was time to get back to my lists. By doing so, I spend a fraction of the time on the computer which was getting to be a little too much. I work out so much more. My house is much more clean and organized. I feel like I have more time. I had considered getting a bi-monthly maid to do the jobs I couldn't get to but now being back on my list system, I can get it all done and more. That just saved me a cool $150 per month. Perfect. New clothes.

Every Sunday, I write my lists for the week. I write each weekday down and write everything I need to accomplish that specific day: work out, clean toilets, paint my nails, make bread, etc. Little things to big things. I put the big jobs on my more free days like gardening and cleaning blinds. I put down every thing that needs to be done and I do my very best to accomplish every one of them. I can't get on the computer until they are done except for a quick email check or the important stuff. No blogs, no facebook until all is done. I don't really miss it. I can't believe how much I can get done and how much time I feel like I have left. There really is plenty of time in the day. We just abuse it. You have to get up early, get a jump start on it, have a routine and stick to it. You will feel so much better. You will have a clean and organized home. You can have time to exercise. You can have more time with your kids. We waste too much time with nonsense. If you don't believe me, take a day and write down what you did. It is surprising. We feel better when we work hard, serve others, take care of our home and family and improve ourselves. 

I hope you all had a great summer. I will be back to blogging but it won't be quite as often. I have lists to accomplish and goals to complete. You should see my clean drawers and freshly painted walls. I am ecstatic. 

Treat Yourself with Michele Brown at the Beauty Room.

The kids will be back in school and there maybe just a minute for you to treat yourself to some luxury. How does a facial for $10 sound? Waxing? Lash tinting? All services are just $10!!! Check out Michele's website below and take advantage of her amazing prices to give yourself a little pampering. I know I am going to be scheduling a little microdermabrasion for this 40 year old!


click here: The Beauty Room

Supplement orders due Wednesday

I am placing a supplement order this Wednesday for anyone who needs supplies. I will only be ordering once or twice a month so get them while you can!

40

How have you been? Hanging in there? Well, I turned 40. That's the big news around here. After a year of dreading my big birthday, the day came with relative ease and I can even add, with peace. There were a few reasons that I wanted to skip this birthday if that were an option and they don't have a whole lot to do with my aging body. I'm not excited about that part either but my real issues with 40 is that my young mother life is ending.


 I always dreamed of babies and a house full of kids and now, life is going to change. In the next short 10 years, I will have pretty much all my kids out of the house with the exception of Tate who will most likely always be my buddy. If all goes as planned, I will be sending 3 boys on a mission. I will have sent my kids to college. I will become a grandmother. I will probably have 1-2 daughter-in-laws and a son-in-law. I think all this is great but the idea of not having my children in the same house with me makes my mother heart ache. That is a lot of changes in just 10 years. 


But, in the past few months as I have talked with my oldest about his upcoming college semester, his mission and a what kind of wife he wants, I have become sort of excited. I get to have daughter-in-laws! I get a son-in-law! I get to have grandbabies filling my house and putting little fingerprints on my walls. As much as I am sad that my family is changing, I am happy at the same time. It will be good. I am excited to see what my children will do with their lives. I am excited to see them start their own path. I am excited to a part of what happens next for them. Motherhood will never end. It just changes and I think I am OK with that now. 


With that said, I need to get to they gym. I am getting older. I am feeling it. Time to spend a little "me" time on making 40 look good. 


Thanks for all the birthday wishes! It was a great day!

Feeding the Ants.

After our delightful summer rain, the ants were washed out of their homes and into and around mine. No bueno. They are in my pantry and last night, there was a constant stream of them coming out of a baseboard upstairs. How in the world? Anyhow, I don't do the poisonous stuff around here so I needed to find a more non-toxic approach, pronto.


I decided to invite the ants over for a little snack. I mixed them up a little organic strawberry jam and some Mule Team Borax. Half and half. 


I put it in a small little shallow dish next to their entry point. Within minutes, there were hundred's of ants in the bowl. Wish I had a picture of that to show you. However, in the morning, they were all gone but this one little guy in the picture. My pantry and my upstairs are free of ants. They eat their fill and take it to their nest. Suddenly, they don't feel so hot and their little lives end. Before they die, they do one last act of service and share it with the queen. So sorry. She doesn't feel so well either. 


The ants are gone. I have a billion outside as well so I need to figure something out there since I don't want the chickens to eat my little treat. Maybe a little DE. Any ideas to share?  

Kids and Money

Vacation time is over. I am tan and relaxed. Time to get back to blogging and pondering how in the world I am turning 40 this month. Wow.


I had someone ask me about allowances and my take on it. What a great blog topic. It is so individual for each family and I have certainly wavered back and forth on the subject but here is what goes down at our household:


First, I think there are certain things kids need to do without being paid simply for being part of a family: They should keep their room tidy. They should take turns doing the dishes and do daily chores. They should participate in family yard work day. All this, gratis. No compensation other than the privilege to be living with the greatest family on earth and to be fed and clothed. 


Now, kids do need to earn money. They need to learn how to manage money and how to respect each and every dollar. They also need to learn how to work hard for what money they do get.


They have options there. They can go out and find work via babysitting, yard work, hitting up grandpa for work or finding some creative way to bring in the cash. They can also ask me for cash jobs. These are jobs that are outside their usual required chores and come with a certain assigned dollar. They can take them or leave them. It's up to them if they want to earn the money but money is not handed out for free around here. Life doesn't work that way and they need to learn it early. As parents, we cloth and feed them and pay their way if it is a family activity. If they want to do something with a friend or go spend some cash frivolously at the neighborhood store, that needs to come out of their own pocket. If they want some toy aside from birthday's or Christmas, they need to learn how to save for that item. 


Some of my kids love to do the extra jobs and earn the money. Some don't. The older ones figured out side jobs early on to earn some cash. They tutor, teach piano and guitar, babysit and do yard work. The younger ones are eager to follow in their footsteps. These jobs pay better than mom. 


So far, my children have learned, for the most part, how to be responsible with money. Most of them are very good savers as they appreciate every dollar they have earned. They are not quick to blow it since they won't get an automatic handout at the beginning of the week.


For our home, this works great and in hindsight, I wouldn't change a thing. It creates motivation to earn and to look for opportunities to work. In the real world, no one is going to pay you just because you make your bed. I would be rich if that was the case. I don't think it is ever too early to learn real life lessons.


My take. 

Garden Wars: A surrender to Aphids

Remember this photo just posted a week or two ago? Well, here you go today:

Those darn aphids won. At least in the middle section with my Armenian cucumbers. I left town and with no one to wage battle, the war has ended. Fortunately, the aphids did not like my peppers and green beans. They also ate up some squash plants in my other garden. It was almost time for those to give up the ghost anyways but I always take it so personal, like they should just grow forever. So sad. Soon it will be time to plant again and in a way I am relieved, I leave town again and now I don't have to worry about them. They can just die. I would still like to come home to some plants, however. I still need to be able to pick something everyday for a year so the war is still on for the rest of the garden. 

I did get to pick a lovely melon today.

The color was amazing. Food grown the right way is so much more vibrant and the flavors match the color. I have enjoyed these melons and am sad that I don't have too many of them. It was savored and appreciated. Now, I won't have anymore fruits growing until the oranges are ready in November. Peaches, blackberries, plums and melons all done. So sad. If I had to rely on what I grew, it would be a long wait for something sweet and juicy. I can't wait until my apple tree is mature enough, then, the summer apples would be on in the next few weeks. The other sad news beside my cucumbers dying is that my beautiful peach tree has also died. The broken branches from the overload of peaches has killed it off. Sad. Sad.  We will plant two more in the fall but it will be  a few years before the peaches will grow. Ugh. It is a never ending battle. We have learned the need for a good prune. Unfortunately, too late.


I will be happy with what is still growing. I picked a good variety of peppers and chili's for our fajitas along with tomatillo's, zuchinni and onions sauteed up together. I never really knew what to do with tomatillos except for green salsa but they are great just cut up and sauteed or grilled as well with the other veggies. They add a little tang to the meal. 


I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. How in the world did we end up with 70-80 degree weather for July? I actually felt a little chilly outside tonight. It was as cool as a Halloween night and the moon matched to boot! Beautiful! Too bad it won't last.