It's Demolition Time! Let the Games Begin!

On Saturday, while the kids were still gone, Michael and I knocked out two walls, plus the ceiling in our dining room. It was super fun but hard work. I'm learning so much about the construction of a house. While the house is a disaster, (it has been raining and snowing since Monday, so mud everywhere), we are still pushing on, despite not having central heating and open windows and doors with nothing but plastic between us and the outside. Thank goodness for our new fireplace where we go to warm up occasionally.Here is a picture of the area we demo'd before we moved all the furniture out. As you can see, the office and the dining room are crammed in together.Here is the picture of our front door, which is now gone. We removed this entire wall as well. Hopefully you can see how much space we are gaining by knocking out these walls. It'll really open up the living area as well as create a new office/homeschool space. I'm standing on the inside of our house taking the picture of Michael demolishing the old dining room wall. You can see my new windows peeking through!I knocked out the living room wall, then removed the door. We were able to give it to a friend who needed it as we ordered a new fiberglass door that has a window in it, with shades that open from the inside of the glass. More light and privacy!At the last minute, we decided to tear out the sheet rock on the dining room ceiling because we are going to put B-board (wainscoting) up with crown molding on the living room, hallway and dining room ceilings. Saw it in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine and it looked awesome! This was such a nasty job. I couldn't stand the feeling of all that dirt and debris falling on top of my head. So glad this part is over. 

Lots more going on since this weekend. Kids are home and we are trying to keep everyone warm. I've had to go into work for some soil database training. Sooo glad I'm normally a stay-at-home mom. It is hard to get out of the house with kids by 8:00AM. I felt bad for having to wake them up. They were so cranky this evening. House was an absolute disaster. Poor Michael trying to get dinner on the table. I've got another half day of training, then I'll start working from home again a few hours a week between homeschooling and homemaking. I've got the greatest boss on the planet, he is super supportive and very understanding of family life. So blessed! As you can see by this project we could really use the money :)

Well that is all for now. I'm saving all your comments in my email box so I don't forget to visit your blogs as soon as I'm able again. 

God Bless,

Jackie

Remodel Demolition: View from Outside

With the kids gone last week, we got so much done on our remodel. It was dangerous work and I'm so grateful to the grandparents (Michael's parents and my mom and step-dad) for taking the kids for the entire week so we could get all the demolition work done on the house. Michael and I came away with a few bruises and slivers, but other than that, we did pretty well. We spent Saturday morning rearranging all of our furniture to the other rooms of the house for the next month or two as we work on that side of the house. Here is the view of our front porch after we demolished the exterior walls. The new wood floor is where our addition is going. Both these walls are gone now, including the door (I'll post more on the interior demolition later).Here is a picture of the new framing. As you can see, we now have a much smaller enclosed porch. The rest of the porch is now the office/homeschool room, which is part of the open "L" shaped living area. We're getting 3 new windows and two doors. We decided on a fiberglass door going into the house and a glass storm going into the porch. 

Here is a picture of the interior of the addition just after we busted out the inside walls. This open window came in handy as we tossed all the debris out of it. 

We finally have some heat again. We were without heat for 2 days and electricity part of the time as Michael worked on the wiring. At first Josiah was upset when he came home to see his house all torn apart, without an heat, but we just encouraged him to see it all as an adventure.  I know it looks like a lot of work and expense for just a little bit of room, but this 75 sq feet really makes a difference in the living area. It is exciting to have everything so open with lots of light coming in.

I'm sorry I've been a bad blogger, just so busy working on all this. I'll try to catch up with all your blogs when I can. 

Blessings,

Jackie

Breaking Ground For Our Garden

In addition to remodeling our home, we've also been working on getting our organic, heirloom garden going. Since our compost pile won't be ready this year, we found some beautifully composted horse manure (I call it "black gold") at a local stable. We had to dig through stacks of manure to get to the bottom where it was slimy and full of red worms. It was beautiful stuff! We dumped an entire pick-up load over our 660 sq. ft. of garden space. Michael used the "Little Crawler" he restored to push the compost around. Doesn't that look like fun?Then we hired a guy with a tractor to come till it up for us. This was so worth $50, especially since we were were breaking new ground.There's my cute hubby, raking the garden out into rows. We were both so sore that day from all the compost slinging and raking. A friend of ours gave us some black plastic rolls, so we decided to use that to cover our planting rows this year. We'll probably go with a natural fiber landscaping material next year. Michael staked them down, but apparently not real well. We had a wind storm the next day and most of the plastic is flapping now. We haven't had time to fix it because we've been working on the addition. We also got some blank newspaper rolls and are going to use that for in between the rows and then put straw on top of the paper to help hold it down and create a weed barrier between rows. I hate weeding! 

We lost our broccoli, cauliflower, basil and cabbage seedlings when I tried to slow their growth down by putting them outside all day. Apparently, even though it was sunny that day, it was too cold, although it wasn't freezing. Oops! Oh well, less to transplant. I'll start them over when I actually should be planting them ;) All the other plants are doing great.So, while the tractor guy was here, Michael decided to have him till up part of the yard so we could level it out and replant grass. I know, like we didn't have enough projects going on! I'm still bitter about that one, especially since the task of raking and seeding has fallen to me since Michael is working on the addition. I'd rather be working on the garden! You can see how big this area is compared to the garden in the right hand corner of our lot. It's like a 1/4 acre! I'm so sore from raking this puppy. Then when the kids get back, I'm going to have the fun job of trying to keep them out if it since I'm going to re-seed it soon.

Praise God the kids are still gone since some of the remodeling has been dangerous work. I didn't realize how hazardous demo work can be. It has been so nice not worrying about the kids getting hurt. My MIL has them all week and now my mom and step-dad are wanting them for the weekend. Sweet! We are going to try to tear out the interior walls this weekend. That is when the mess will really start. The framing, sheathing (sp?), and wiring should be done today. It is really starting to come together.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

God Bless,

Jackie

Good Foundations

As I was loading these pictures for this progress report on our porch remodel, verses about good foundations kept running through my head. I got my bible out and started looking up foundation verses. I thought I'd share a few throughout this post. 

Psalm 102:25 "In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands."

This is a picture of our contractor pouring the cement into the molds to make our new foundation. They kids and I were fascinated by this process.

Isaiah 28:16 "So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed."

This is Jan, our contractor who is helping us lay our foundation and frame things up. This picture was taken after the concrete dried over the weekend. Here, he is laying the framework for putting the floor in.

1 Corinthians 3: 10-14  "By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will received his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss, he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."

I love this verse because it reminds me not get too wrapped up in the project and of trying to make things look "perfect". It reminds me of what is truly important. While this remodel, is a huge blessing, it shouldn't be my only focus. Thanks for the reminder this morning, God!

The picture above was taken last night. The new floor you see here is where our office/homeschooling area will be. The door will be moved to the left, where you can see open space between the foundation and the flooring. We'll have a small enclosed porch and the rest will be living space. Our contractor will start framing it all in today, then next week we should be able to take out the existing walls. We'll spend this weekend rearranging our furniture and putting things in the shed to create a good work space.

As for me, I'm thoroughly enjoying my time without kids this week. I know I'll be missing them in a few days, but right now, I'm just soaking it it. Yesterday, I got all my scrapbook stuff out and organized and purged, something I could never get done with the kids around who would want to keep every sticker. I took a uninterrupted nap yesterday afternoon, then hopped on the Harley and went for beautiful, relaxing ride. After that, I did some database work for an hour before Michael got home and then went to MOPS. Had a great time there. Got to share about the Consequences Pyramid that has helped my parenting tremendously. My plans for today include, work, nap, motorcycle ride, lunch with a dear friend, cleaning the nursery toys at the church where MOPS meets, and dinner out with my hubby. I haven't cooked (with the exception of making my weekly dairy products) since the kids left. It is kind of nice having a break from all that. I only did one load of dishes yesterday. How weird is that, LOL?

Hope you are all having a great week. I'm going to post on our gardening progress next time. So stay tuned...

God Bless,
Jackie

Monday Meandering

This weekend was very productive but fun. My MIL, Kay, came up for a visit. The kids had a great time playing with her in their world. I snapped this precious picture of Kay, teaching Josiah how to waltz. It was so sweet. Hailey got a turn, too. Kay is good for me because she is always encouraging me to relax, something that doesn't come naturally to me. I made some homemade silly puddy for the kids, and Hailey wanted to use it like play dough. She ended up getting this all over her clothes, I think we'll stick with homemade play dough next time. She can play with stuff like this for hours. Hailey is getting old enough to play a few simple games with Josiah. It delights my heart to see them playing together.Since we had to wait for the foundation of our new addition to dry, we decided to concentrate on getting our garden ready. I'll post more on that later this week. In the meantime, we already did our first gardening mistake. Last Tuesday, we just couldn't wait any longer and got excited and planted our seeds in a Jiffy planter. It holds 72 plants. We planted 2 to 3 seeds in each little "pot".  All I can say is those heirloom seeds we got through ABSeeds.com are quite viable. I took this picture today (Monday) and oh my gosh, I wasn't expecting they would germinate or grow so quickly. They are looking quite spindly, but otherwise healthy. The bad thing is that we have at least another month before we can put these puppies into the ground. This means we're going to have to transplant them into bigger pots and store them somewhere in the house (still trying to figure out where) until we can plant them in the garden. Ooops! I'll do this as soon as they get their second set off leaves. That is what we get for not being patient, more work for ourselves. Since I'm meandering today, I thought I'd throw in this picture of Josiah showing his creation at Lego Club last Friday. He had such good time. I love seeing all the different things these kids create. Even Hailey was getting into the action. She found a pink Lego Lady and played with her for the entire hour.

My dear MIL surprised me on Friday and asked if she could take the kids back home with here for Spring Break. So, I'm sitting here, enjoying the quiet, although I keep catching myself wanting to get up and check on the kids because it is too quiet ;) This is the first time I've been without both kids in my own home in six years. Let me tell you, it is weird, but I'm enjoying it. I know I'll be missing them in a few days, but I gotta tell you, it is nice to pick something up and know that it is going to stay that way (at least until they get home). What are my big plans? I'm making cheese, butter and ice cream today. I'll have time to catch up on my blogging and database work. I even plan on doing some scrapbooking and going out to lunch with a friend. I'm also looking forward to some romantic evenings alone with my hubby. He's already told me he wants to take me out on a date, a rare treat indeed. If the weather is good, I could actually hop on the Harley and go for as long of a ride as I want or go run errands on it. It is amazing how you really can appreciate the little things when you don't get to do them very often.

I hope you all had a great weekend. If you have time, leave me a comment and tell me what you did this weekend. 

God Bless,

Jackie

A "Green" Sort of Day

I love celebrating holidays, even the ones that aren't super popular. I love St. Patrick's Day, not only because it is a wonderful time to celebrate the man who brought Christianity to Ireland, but also because we do everything "green" that day. We've got a smidge of Irish in us that we proudly display. Holidays give us an excuse to do something out of the ordinary.

So, our day started off with a drop of green dye in the toilet bowl. I told Josiah that he could add one drop everytime we flushed the toilet. This worked for about one hour. Unfortunately, he forgot to put the dye out of Hailey's reach and she grabbed it and dumped the whole thing into the toilet and all over the toilet seat (now I have permanent green spots on my toilet seat). It could have been so much worse. She only got a little bit on herself and one little spot on the wall, whew! I remembered why I don't normally have dye in the house, LOL!Next, we followed along with my mom's tradition of making green pancakes, but instead of using green dye, I made avocado pancakes with avocado butter. Before you say, "that sounds disgusting", like my son did, you have to try it! They were delicious and the kids were singing my praises. I used my basic "Fly Off The Plate" whole wheat pancake recipe, only instead of adding butter, I used a blended avocado to make green pancakes. Then I blended half an avocado with two tablespoons of butter, a dash of vanilla and sweetened it with raw honey. Oh my gosh, was it good! Josiah wanted a shamrock shaped pancake. Here is my pathetic attempt. You can't really tell by the pictures, but the pancakes turned out kind of sage green colored. The avocado butter was a brighter green.For lunch, Josiah wanted 10 minute pizzas with green olives that he bought for the family for St. Patty's Day. I know it isn't very Irish, but hey, it was green ;)Here is our favorite Irish dish that we look forward to every year, Corned Beef and Cabbage. I've got the best recipe for this. Click on this recipe link. I know it isn't very healthy to buy pre-packaged corned beef, so I was searching on-line for a way to make corned beef myself. When I get our 1/4 of a beef next year, I'm going to ask for a brisket cut and try making it myself.

After dinner, Michael and I had found an amazing deal on green cabbage, so worked together to make 2+ gallons of naturally fermented sauerkraut. It only took us an hour to make it with both of us working on it, using my Cuinsart food processor to slice the cabbage. Let the ferment begin! Again, I realize sauerkraut isn't Irish, but cabbage is, LOL! I know my new blogging friend from Ireland, Sarah, is probably laughing at our American Irish cliches, I don't blame her ;) If you have a chance, check out a Sarah's real Irish blog, heartsdesire. She's a darlin'!

Hope you all had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day! Leave me a comment and let me know what your St. Patty's Day traditions are. Maybe I can get some more ideas from you all.

God Bless,

Jackie

New Addition - Breaking Ground

Yesterday was a big day around here! Thanks to Dave Ramsey's zero-balance budget plan and a healthy tax return, we were able to break ground on our new addition. We are enclosing our porch, which will add 75 sq ft of living space to our dining room and living room. We will have a much smaller porch area that will be enclosed. Excited to not have to worry about slippery steps in the winter time. This will enable me to have a larger office/homeschooling area. It will make our living space much more open, which I'm extremely excited about! We are also planning on getting rid of our ugly carpet and putting in hardwood floors. We've hired a contractor to do the foundation/framing work, and we'll do the rest. Here is a before picture of our porch. Michael and Josiah pulled the siding off.We hired a backhoe to break up the concrete and dig the foundation. While he was there, we had him level out the driveway as much as he could. You can see our refrigerator for milk next to the side of the house. Eventually, we'd like to build a little shelter for this that would look nice. The tree you see on the left, we want to take out to make our driveway bigger.Hailey was helping with the foundation work. We hired a contractor who loves kids and lets them hang out with him and ask questions. He's a great guy! He did our the big addition to the back of our house that we added 6 years ago, just before Josiah was born.Josiah and Hailey played in this dirt pile for a really long time. Have I mentioned that a pile of freshly dug soil is a homeschooling family's dream? They were digging out tree roots and earthworms (they loved dissecting these), insects, rocks "gold" and were pretending they were dogs and burying their "bones". We talked about different soil textures and organic matter. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of other school work done. It is hard to say "do your math" with an excavator working in your front yard :) They were so dirty that when bath time came, the water was a beautiful shade of brown.

Last night, we managed to get our seeds planted in our indoor Jiffy planter. Hoping to break ground for our new organic, heirloom garden this weekend.

If you are looking for a wonderful Corned Beef and Cabbage Recipe, click here. You'll love it! Although, when we get our 1/4 of a beef this year, I'm going to try marinating our own. I'll be posting soon about the delicious avacado pancakes we made for St. Patrick's Day. I'm hoping to have time to make some naturally fermented sauerkraut today, not very Irish, but hey, I'm using green cabbage, does that count?

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Everyone!

Love and Blessings,

Jackie

Baby Dedication Weekend

Doesn't this picture just say "Spring's a Comin'"? This is Hailey sitting on my mom's front porch, rockin' out. I just thought she looked so pretty. I just got back from another crazy busy weekend at my sister, Stacie's, house. Both my sister's baby, Lily, and my brother's son, Noah, were dedicated this Sunday at their church. Michael had drill, so my mom dropped me and Hailey off at Stacie's and then she and my step-dad took Josiah and Stacie's three oldest kids back to Pendleton for a fun time in Tri-Cities and playin' their Wii. She brought all the kids back in time for the baby dedication on Sunday. Here is my twin sister, Stacie, and her lovely daughter, Lily. Lily was so cute in this dress! She was the only girl getting dedicated that day, so she was the quite the princess. Despite the time-change, all the kids did really well.Hailey was holding Lily's had at the beginning of the service. Stacie sang "That's Your Mother's Prayer" for Lily and managed to get through the whole thing without cracking. She was struggling to stay composed (hard to sing to your baby, especially when it will likely be your last one), but she did it beautifully!The reason this dedication was so important is that their pastor is going through severe chemo right now. He made it to church to do the dedication, although he was unable to preach. I know it meant the world to these parents to have him pray over each of their children. He is an awesome man and it is amazing to see the power of God working in him despite his bleak cirmcumstances. Here is a picture of Pastor Steve praying over Lily.Pastor Steve praying over Noah, who just wanted Mom ;)After the church service, all the immediate family went back to Stacie's house for a soup/salad/bread lunch. We had a wonderful time visiting and catching up. I snapped this picture of my brother, Jerry, with his son, Noah. They make quite a pair. He's a wonderful dad. I'm happy to have found out recently that I'm going to be an aunt again as Jerry and Sonya are expecting! We are all so excited for them. Children are indeed a blessing.

Mom and Larry took us back to her house and we ate dinner with them and played Wii Fit. I'm so sore!

Josiah totally blessed me today. I was on the phone ministering to a friend, and it was one of those phone calls where you just can't hang up. Josiah asked if he could make lunch. A jolt of panic went through me, but I decided to just let him and not say a word. I even walked out of the room so that I wouldn't try to "help". What were the results? A beautifully, we'll balanced chef salad. Then he said he wanted to learn to do the dishes. Double shocker!! He did them, and did them well. My little man is growing up :)

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Love and Blessings,

Jackie

Homeschool Field Trip To The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center

On Thursday I took the kids to Baker City and met up with six other homeschooling families (there were about 20 of us all together). We drove to Baker City to see the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. It is free to homeschoolers (public classes, too), which makes it worth the drive. It is by far the best Interpretive Center I've seen when it comes to the Oregon Trail. They really make history come alive.

Hailey was facinated with the "Wailing Woman" who just lost her little boy when he accidently fell out of the wagon. You have to click on this link to read my sister's "Wailing Woman" story. Well worth your time. Quite funny. Anyway, the "people" look amazing. They are covered in dust, their hair is dirty and they are sunburnt. You can really picture what it must have been like for them. The animals they use are all stuffed, but they look so real. They even have flies on their eyes and poo on their rears. How's that for real? They teach you all kinds of little factoids "along the way". All Hailey wanted to do was climb on everything, so it was a bit stressful and Josiah (extremely tired from AWANAS the previous night) was being a turkey at times, too. Their redhead personalities were shining brightly that day. But all in all, they had good time and didn't want to go home. I guess that is a good sign. Josiah and Hailey in the wagon encampment.The kids' favorite part was the children's room. They played in here for a good hour, loading and unloading the wagon, dressing up, playing games, etc. Our kids got so noisy, we got in trouble from the museum administrator. She was nice about it,  but tell me why you would put the kids' play room right next to the admin. offices? Didn't make sense to me, but oh well. Three families (including us) stayed a little longer and actually walked the trail for a bit. It always gives me chills to walk along any part of the Oregon Trail. This is Josiah's friend, Mason. Those boys ran so far ahead, I was worried they wouldn't see hear us when it was time to leave. Luckily the chilly wind was blowing in their direction and they just barely heard us. The kids had a great time playing with their friends. It is awesome to see these kids developing friendships, even at such a young age. Josiah had been saving his money and I let him pick out something from the gift shop. He picked a quill pin and ink well set with parchment paper. He was super exctied about writing his name "the old fashioned way". Notice he's wearing a black shirt? I figured it would be safe if he got ink on it.

One thing I found funny is when we got there the museum director asked what our plan was. You know what we (as a group) were going to do with the information. I just looked at her and said sweetly, "We're homeschoolers. We all have different plans". The other question I always get when I put together a homeschool field trip is "What age group are we talking about?" Again, we're homeschoolers, we've got every age group :) I love going on field trips with other homeschoolers because we can be all over a museum and let the kids go at their own pace. There is always a mom somewhere to make sure the kids aren't touching the exhibits, etc. Or if you have to take a toddler to the bathroom, you can ask another mom to keep an eye on your other kid(s) for you. Such a blessing! If you ever are passing through Baker City, this place is worth the stop.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Love and Blessings,

Jackie

Organic Heirloom Gardening Wannabes

After years of resistance, My hubby finally convinced me to start our own organic, heirloom garden this year. I'm thrilled and terrified all at the same time. I've always gleaned from everyone else's gardens. However, after watching the documentary, "Food, Inc", an instant play Netflix, I was never so motivated.  I asked around to find out where I could buy heirloom seeds and it turns out there is a local company who carries heirloom seeds. They ship everywhere. I checked out their website at http://www.abceeds.com/ and decided to load the kids up, go down to their warehouse, and save some bucks on shipping. So glad I went in and talked to the owners. They were super helpful and patient as my kids ran around their warehouse. Luckily, they had lots of redheads in their family, so they gave them a lot of grace ;-) He was a master gardner and answered a ton of my questions. He said he has a lot of advice on his website, too.

I bought 24 packs of seeds. I know, I'm crazy! If you don't know me, when I do something, I do it with gusto. I can't help it! I've gotta live and learn I guess. My goal is to fill my freezer with as much "fresh" produce as possible, so I don't have to buy veggies during the winter for cooking. It seemed expensive, but some of these seed packs I can split out with friends and family, and I shouldn't have to buy seed again if I save some back each year. So I guess it seemed like a good investment. Here is what I bought, all heirloom varieties:

Purple Top White Globe Turnip- 25 seeds

Cherry Belle Radish- 400 Seeds

Waltham 22 Broccoli - 25 Seeds

Cauliflower-Bonney

Sweet Onion (Bulb) - 150 Seeds

Gold King Carrot- 250 Seeds

Cucumber - 15 Seeds

All Seasons Cabbage - 25 Seeds

Salad Bowl Green Lettuce - 25 Seeds

Blue Lake 274 Bush Bean- 50 Seeds

Oregon Sugar Pod II Pea- 50 Seeds

Santa Fe Grande Hot Pepper - 15 Seeds

Grande Pepper- 20 Seeds

California Wonderbell (Bell Pepper) - 15 Seeds

Hales Best Jumbo Cantaloupe - 10 Seeds

Crimson Sweet Watermelon- 15 Seeds

Tall Utah Celery- 25 Seeds

Dill-Long Island Mammoth Herb- 2 grams

Sage Herb- 2 grams

Thyme Herb- 2 grams

Oregano Herb- 2 grams

Coriander-Long Standing (Cilantro) Herb- 2 grams

Parsley Herb- 2 grams

Basil-Italian Large Leaf Herb- 2 grams

Subtotal: $51.93

Here is our future garden plot. We have a huge backyard and the corner by where we buried out dog (you can see his cross in the corner) should be a good spot. It is very gently sloped which should provide adequate drainage. We can adjust the space as needed. A sweet friend from MOPS, Laurie, gave us this Earth Machine composter. Clearly it isn't going to be big enough for the garden we want to grow, however I'm still going to use it to feed our tomato plants and flower beds. We'll have to build a larger compost pile somewhere near the garden. Since our compost won't be ready in time this year, we'll have to buy some from a local nursery to get started, then next year, (if we do everything right), we should be ready to start using our own compost material. I love being able to save my kitchen scraps, instead of sending them down the garbage disposal!Any guesses at to what this is? Yep, it's well! Before we had kids, my hubby got a wild idea and decided to drill a well by hand. He set up a pully/weight system and would drop the weight down on the pipe, while I would push the pipe (fitted with a sand-tip) around and around. It worked! We hit the water table at about 15 feet. Took us about a year to do it (working at it in our spare time). However, we didn't cap it (my husband was waiting for a water pump to fall into his lap - he's a big-time scrounger) and as soon as Josiah came along and was able to toddle around the yard, I caught him throwing rocks down the pipe. I duct-taped this can to the top and waited for my husband to return home from his deployment to Iraq. Guess what? Five years later, this is what it still looks like. Now that we are doing a garden, my hubby is going to try to see if we can salvage this well, despite the rocks thrown in. Anybody have any ideas? We'd really like to not use city water for this garden. It would save us a lot of $$$.


The sweet owners of ABCeeds gave each of my kids a green bean seed and pot. When the seed germinates it says "I love you". The kids were so excited, they planted them as soon as they got home. I figured this garden would be a good hands-on homeschooling experience for both kids (and parents).
 
I would love to hear from you veteran gardeners out there. Please leave a comment with your favorite gardening tip. I'm a sponge! I really want to learn as much as I can. One question, I've heard some plants do better next to each other. Which plants on my list should I plant near each other? I'm planning to do some posts about our gardening adventures from start to finish, both the successes and failures. I hope you'll follow me on this adventure and either give me advice or learn along with me :-)
 
God Bless,
Jackie