The Harvest, Part 3

The first cucumber.

We have patiently waited for the day we could pluck cucumbers and carrots from the garden to throw into a salad - and it's finally here! We also have zucchini now, and wow are they growing fast! I made zucchini bread with one large zucchini last week, only to have 3 more in the fridge this week. Since I actually bought fresh zucchini from the grocery store last week because I was convinced ours wouldn't be ready in time, we are still polishing off leftover zucchini with quinoa stuffing (yum!). So working the homegrown zucchini into the menu before they go bad might be somewhat challening. But I'm up to the challenge. I'm thinking I'll do a pasta primavera for starters. If anyone has a good zucchini recipe, please share!

One of our first carrots.

Green beans are still sprouting, but the harvest seems to be slowing. I have a feeling if we were out there picking on the daily we'd have a higher yield, but we're still pretty happy with them regardless. We have about 6 or 7 freezer bags full of blanched green beans in the freezer to be enjoyed at our leisure.

Sadly, our lettuce harvest season has passed and our plants are spent. However, I've been doing some reading on growing lettuce through the fall, so I think we'll be starting another batch sometime soon. The spinach season is long gone and we were somewhat disappointed with how fast it came and went. Not sure if we'll do more spinach for fall or even next spring. One big thing we'd like to do differently in the future is sow seeds in stages over a period of weeks instead of all at once. Hopefully that will help us avoid an all-at-once harvest next time around, and we'll have crops to look forward to for a longer period of time.

The first zucchini.

We finally installed trellises for the tomatoes and cucumbers, and they are much happier with the supports in place. For the cukes, we used found materials that were left in our garage by previous owners. Brian took some heavy gauge wire, cut them into strips roughly 4 feet in length, bent them into U-shapes, and positioned them around the cucumber plants in the soil. We wrapped the vines around the wire, and they took it from there.

For the tomatoes, we decided to build a trellis like this one. Instead of metal poles, Brian buried cinder blocks in the ground with the holes facing up and placed inexpensive 2x2s into one of the holes. He cut off small pieces from the 2x2 and wedged them in the hole around the pole to keep it from moving. He did this for each side and got some garden wire from the hardware store and ran it from pole to pole about once every foot off the ground. The wire is coated in plastic to keep it from rusting. Then we attached the tomato stems to the wires with twist ties.

tomato trellis

tomato tied to trellis

bell pepper

The tomatoes are growing nicely, but still have some growing to do. Also, we finally have some tiny bell peppers growing on the pepper plants! They are super cute.

Finally, I've been reading Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza and finding her gardening methods very inspiring. I want to start building my own lasagna garden this fall and pick it up again in the spring. More on that later.

Happy gardening!

Eff the Joneses, Keep Up With Yourself!

Homemaking is a 24/7 job. It is hard work and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Lately, I've felt myself slipping into a rut and if you are feeling the same way, I'm here to help you (and myself) climb back out. Everything that comes with this line of work can be a daunting challenge. Between everything you possibly have to do in a single day; childcare, food preparation, cleaning, shopping, scheduling, and maintenance, just to name a few, it's easy to lose yourself in the mix. In my own household, I only have one other person to worry about besides myself, and I still feel like I can't keep up with the mountains of dirty laundry, dishes, organization, and worst of all, personal motivation. There are a few things I've tried that have proved useful in helping me through my daily duties and I would like to share them in the hopes that it could help out a struggling friend.

1.Make a schedule. I used spreadsheet to write out daily and weekly things I need to do. Mostly just so I can remember. I scheduled all of the things that I like the least for early in the morning. That way I can kick them out of the way and do more enjoyable things in the afternoon like painting or reading. I even have a day and time where I write out the next week's grocery list so I can stay on top of that and not waste time before I need to be at the store. You don't necessarily have to keep to your schedule, either. Stay flexible and don't stress if you didn't do something on your list. You can always do it later.

2.Baby steps! You're not going to have an amazingly spotless well organized living space in a day. It takes time and even then, it is impossible to achieve perfection unless no one (not even you) lives in your home. Life is messy and it's time to accept it. Do what you can when you can. FlyLady (I apologize for the gender specificity of this but it is helpful and for anyone) is a site that can help you to get on track to making small good habits a little at a time. Got a messy counter? Set your timer for 5 minutes and get rid of everything you can in that amount of time. When the timer stops, you stop. You'll actually be amazed at what you can do with just five minutes.

3.Remember that your work is meaningful and important. If you don't work outside of the home and aren't bringing in a paycheck, it doesn't mean that you aren't contributing. Of course, if you want to contribute in this way, go for it! You can absolutely do both because you are an amazing and diverse person. For those of you who choose to remain solely in the home, what you do is just as important, if not more than a paycheck. When you take into account of the actual costs of daycare, restaurants/take-out, cleaning services, maintenance work, etc., you are singlehandedly saving your family a fortune! In addition to this, these services don't provide the love and nourishment that you do.

4.Take a break. Want to read a book or go for a walk? Do it. You deserve it. You work in the home but you are not a prisoner there. Put breaks into your schedule or just sit down when you need to. You need to take care of and love yourself before you can give it back to your family. Mental health is just as important as physical health. Don't overlook it. You are a superhero, but even superheroes have their follies. Know your body and your mind and pay attention to what they are telling you.


Health and happiness to all!