Fruits of our Labor

The guy in this picture...he's my garden hero. He drove stakes in the ground for the tomatoes, tied them up, and then tonight he helped me weed the garden. (I promise I'll post something different in the future, but right now this is one of the most monumental moments in our lives...lol!)

Here he is after working those weeds out. It was humid, hot, and very exhausting even though it is a small area.
Our garden has grown in the past two weeks and it has started producing! Richard and I get all excited when we find a tomato, squash, pepper, or cucumber growing.

Jalopenos have several little peppers popping out.

Cucumbers

Squash. It is really coming along. I can't wait for entire mess of squash so I can make something yummy. I picked this one tonight because it was halfway off from the wind we had this afternoon. I cut it up with a vidalia onion and grilled it. YUM!

The most exciting for Richard is the tomatoes. They have grown so much and almost each plant has at least two tomatoes. I can't wait for them to get bigger so we can pick them.

Garden Progress in Pictures

WE HAVE BLOOMS!!!

There are no words to express the happiness a garden can bring to a person. It is very rewarding to watch something you planted grow. I know exactly how my dad has felt all of these years as a farmer and how he loved to see the cotton he planted from a little seed grow into this beautiful soft white blossom.

We are proud of our little garden and even if it never produces one vegetable or fruit we would still want to do this project again next year. Its so much more fun than standing in the produce section of Wal-mart.

(Red Bell Pepper...it had too much rain)

(Yellow Crooked Neck Squash) We discovered 3 or 4 little squash last night. I am overly excited about it!

(Tomato)

Our First Garden

In the beginning...

I have pleaded with Richard for the 2 years and 9 months that we have been married to help me with a vegetable garden. Finally he relented and helped me build a raised garden this year! I really love the raised garden mostly because it keeps Trixie from stomping around in it and its much easier to plant.

Tilling a garden is not as easy at it appears. He was sore the next day.

Richard was able to get the lumber for free from our brother in law, Chris, and the lumber is a real 2"x 8" (inches) and the entire size of the garden area is 8'x16' (ft). We were really concerned that the dirt underneath our grass would be red clay which is horrible for gardens. Fortunately it was really good dirt after he got in there with the tiller and we just added in some Miracle Grow soil for vegetables. I think its working really well.

Its coming together here!

My dad, the retired farmer, helped us know what was the best fertilizer and how much. Richard's dad, a complete jack of all trades, helped us know everything else about a garden since he has one that would take up our entire backyard. We are using Seven Dust for bugs and it is something I remember all the little old ladies using on their tomatoes so I hope it works great! We shouldn't have too much trouble with critters since we do have a privacy fence except maybe birds, squirrels, and bunnies. I hope not anyhow!

I think he's tired of my picture taking so I took some more of course. Ha!

The garden in the last week has grown quite a bit, but if this rain doesn't stop soon it may be doomed. We had a lot fun putting it together and I am excited to plant a few pumpkins for fall or even some more squash.

This is the garden right after we finished planting. It contains 18 tomato plants because they refuse to sell them in smaller quantities of 9 plants at a time and we wanted two kinds. We also planted crooked neck yellow squash, burpless cucumbers, jalopenos, red sweet bell peppers, and flowers (marigolds, celosia, and zinnias) for pollenation.

And then the rains came and stayed. We have uncovered it now because its grown a lot, but I haven't been able to take pictures because of the weather. Hopefully I can update this from time to time and show the progress. If it produces abundantly then we will definitely share the wealth!

Here's to the rain going away for a few days!

Kreativ Blogger Award

Thanks to Leann for the Kreativ blog award. Check out her blog at The King and I

The Rules:
As an award receipient I am asking you to do the following.
List seven things that you love and then pass the award on to seven bloggers that you love! Be sure to tag them and let them know they have won. You can copy the picture of the award and paste it on your sideboard letting the whole world know...you are Kreativ! Here are my seven things... (by the way this was really hard for some reason)

1. Gardening! Richard and I have our very first garden together. He built with his own hands this raised garden area, worked up the dirt (which was thankfully good dirt), and even tarped it until we could get it planted. We now have tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, jalapeno's, red sweet bell peppers, and some beautiful flowers (zinnias, celonias, and marigolds). We planted them last Sunday and today they have all grown so much! I can't wait to see something produce and if its bountiful we will definitely share!

2. Long weekends! We took two days off from work last week to spend time together and just do whatever we wanted to do. We cleaned house, spent the day at Garvan Woodland Gardens, and rested a lot!

3. Cleaning House! I know it sounds really silly to most, but I really love a clean house. I love to get the laundry done, bathrooms, dusted, vacuumed, mopped, and everything in its place. ...but to walk in after all the work I've done on the house is the real reward. The nice smell reminds me it was worth it!

4. Our nieces! I talk about them a lot, but they are a big part of our lives. We haven't decided on having our own children at this point so we focus on the girls. We spent a lot of our long weekend watching them in their softball tournament and we love it! Its fun to cheer for them to do good when they are up to bat, when they make a great catch, or especially when they score. Its funny that their friends only know me as "Rebekah and Juliann's Aunt"...and we know all their names now. The parents are entertaining and we have become friends with a lot of them. I love our girls!

5. Party planning! This love comes to me from my mothers side of the family. They love giving parties and especially planning them. I have been planning one for my father in law this past 3 months for his upcoming 70th birthday. It has been fun seeing all the old pictures, picking out the colors, the food, and all the other surprises we have in store for him. We really hope he loves it and I secretly hope he cries. Haha!

6. Weddings! We have been to a lot of weddings already this year and right now there are 3 more that I know of coming in the summer. My mom is "the cake lady" and makes beautiful wedding cakes so I help her a lot. I think if I knew it would make a living it is something I could do full time. I love the brides, their mothers, the bridesmaids, and all the men. I've learned a lot watching my mom over the years and have done a few coordinating deals for friends only. Its so fun!

7. Baseball! Ahh Springtime..."Take me out to the ballgame..take me out..." I will watch baseball over anything else on television this time of year. I know a lot of people say its boring on the tube, but my dad watches it constantly so I guess it stuck when I was growing up. This year we bought tickets to the Arkansas Traveler games called "The Weekender". I highly recommend it. The games are only weekends of course, but its only once or twice a month. We LOVE it! If you haven't been to one of their games it really is a fun CHEAP date.

So..there my list isn't "Kreativ" persay, but I love my list even though it took me what a month to write. Thanks Lele for the award!

Lambs, Bunnies, & Chickens...Oh My!

Spring has arrived in full force in my family...mostly my sisters family. I call it the "Funny Farm". Her little family of four raises chickens, lambs, horses, cattle, bunnies, ducks, and whatever else comes there way. I heard talks about them purchasing some pigs so we will see how that goes. They are so cute as piglets, but they become hogs and if you've never been around one...they are something else! My Pa Roland (grandfather) is a retired hog and cotton/crop farmer from NE Arkansas. It may be stinky business, but in his very words "Its the smell of money". He did very well for his family and its still a huge operation ran by his little brother and nephew.

My nieces are very involved with their 4-H program. I think it is a great program for kids. They learn how to do things you need to know how to do like care for living things, sewing a button, and how to cook a chicken on a charcoal grill. They came in 2nd and 3rd in that contest two weeks ago. The girls had to light their own fire for the charcoal, cook it correctly, and present it to the judges. I was proud of them since they are only 10 and 11. I'm not sure I could even get charcoal going myself. I am all about the gas grills! And...I hate to admit that I'm not very good at sewing buttons. Maybe I need to join 4-H?

They also show animals in the 4-H program. Last year they showed chickens, lambs, and bunnies. Since this started its grown a lot so they decided it was time to build a working barn. I'm not nearly as outdoorsy so I was very curious how this barn was going to look and would it fit with their home. Well it does. I mean how can it not? They have a pond in the back door and a beautiful RED barn in the front door. And lots of pasture to the side of the house with other RED barns. The chickens are mostly for the eggs they produce. Rebekah, my oldest niece, has been selling them for $1 a dozen to her Mimi and MaMa. Grandparents are suckers for that sort of thing.

I'm proud of them though. They are very responsible for their age and do more than most adults that we know personally. Between all their homework, church activities, 4-H, piano lessons, and all their sporting events its amazing how great two little people can be on a daily basis. I'm tired and feeling really lazy just reading this post about them. More Spring post to come in the near future. I have been taking a lot of pictures of our raised vegetable garden that is coming together in our backyard. I am so EXCITED about it! Richard has worked so hard on it for me to make it exactly how I want it to look.

So Spring has Sprung in our family. How about yours?

Nikon D90 Camera

I haven't composed anything Easter related yet so this is a random post about our new camera.

Richard and I purchased this camera recently. It is something we have saved for a long time and really thought seriously about before leaping in over our heads with such a huge purchase. Truth is I love taking pictures and truth is you need a fabulous camera to take such pictures. This camera...takes amazing pictures. Its going to take a lot of time to figure out. Lots of reading and possibly even a class or two from my new favorite camera store "Bedfords".

I think a photography class might be extremely fun and addicting. Let's face it photography is an expensive hobby and it can get out of control if you let it. Right now I am enjoying learning all about the new camera and toting it literally everywhere we go. I hope my family will buy me stuff I can use with this camera so I can use it to its full capabilities. Did I mention how much I love this camera? I've envied others with similar cameras and maybe even dribbled a bit of drool seeing their amazing pictures. I even migrate to blogs with fabulous pictures more than other blogs. I can't help myself. So go ahead and BE jealous.

I'll upload a few pictures later on. They are pretty good in the raw, but probably need a bit of editing.

Pizza Snack Recipe

I love posting recipes and this is one of my favorites. My mom has always made them on what we call "little bread" which it is and it comes in Rye, Sourdough, and Pumpernickel.

We eat these for breakfast most of the time, but they are delicious any time. The ingredients are very basic and it almost seems to simple for something to taste this good. You can make them ahead and freeze them. Get a few out at a time or an entire batch for a larger crowd.

Ingredients

1 roll of sausage (I use mild or original Jimmy Dean..whatever brand you like)

1 half block of Velveeta

Italian Seasoning (sprinkled)

Little bread (I use sourdough or rye)...whatever I can find and it takes about 1/2 the loaf for one recipe.

Directions

Cook the sausage until brown.

Drain well and rinse a bit with warm water. No one likes greasey pizza snacks.

Cut up the velveeta into cubes and add to the sausage.

Melt them together over medium to low heat

Sprinkle on your italian seasoning. I just eyeball it.

Mix well until its all a big melty gooey goodness and turn the heat to low.

Spoon and spread about 1 tablespoon of mixture per little square of bread. I like mine with plenty on it without it running over.

Place on a large cookie sheet. Freeze them flat and then place in a ziploc bag until ready to cook. Or cook them up right then on 350 until lightly brown and bubbly. Enjoy.

*TIDBIT* You know how your pans look when you make anything with melty cheese like Velveeta? Its all stuck on and seems impossible to get out? Fill your cheesey pan with super cold water and let it sit for about 10 minutes. The cheese will come right out. When you use hot water the cheese just keeps on melting and being sticky. Give the cold water a try and tell me what you think.