The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden

In our church, we believe in being as self-sufficient as possible. Our prophets from the beginning of the Restoration have counseled us to grow all the food that we feasibly can on our own property. Scott has taken this to heart, and our children love the primary song as follows:

"The Prophet said to plant a garden, so that's what we'll do!

For God has given rich brown soil, the rain and sunshine too.

And if we plant the seeds just right and tend them carefully.

Before we know, good things will grow to feed our family.

We'll plant the seeds to fill our needs, then plant a few to spare,

and show we love our neighbors with the harvest that we share.

Oh, won't you plant a garden too, and share the many joys

A garden brings in health and love to happy girls and boys!"

I love this picture that Christopher took earlier this month of Julie running up to hug her Daddy! Christopher took all these pics outside. After a bad garden year last summer, Scott decided this year to experiment with grow boxes. He built 3 grow boxes. One with carrots and onions, one with beans, and one with spinach, swiss chard, and celery. He put up the green house again this year and filled it with 50 tomato plants, many kinds of peppers, and several cucumbers as well as eggplants. Last year the greenhouse garden didn't do as well as we'd hoped. This year so far, it is looking great!

Julianna helps Daddy plant some seeds. The kids loved to help plant and harvest. The weeding they don't love as much. We've hardly had to do any weeding at all this year, however, because Scott covered the ground first with black plastic. In front of the green house we have a ton of potato plants and onion starts, To the corner we have an herb garden and some broccoli and cabbage. Behind the greenhouse we have squash. And to the other side are rows of corn.

Scott planted 9 blueberry plants on this hill. They are doing fantastic! They are now starting to get ripe. Just this week, Julianna finally discovered the raspberry and strawberry plants along our fence. She smacks her lips as she walks through them exclaiming in delight, "Berry! Berry! Yum! Mmmm...."

We know have a total of 10 fruit trees. 4 apples, 3 plums, 2 cherries, and one pear. Now we just have to find some more space so I can have a apricot, nectarine, and peach tree next year! I just wished we'd planted them 6 years ago when we first moved in. Then we'd actually be getting fruit now! We did try it once or twice, but they always died. Our trees have survived their first year now, and that's a good sign.

Christopher thought Julianna putting this on her head was cute. Scott uses milk jugs as miniature green houses over the tomatoes while they are small. It makes the air around them warmer so they grow faster.

Here you can see the damage the chickens do to our grass if the tractor-house they live in is not moved everyday. When it's moved on time, it looks much better. Scott is convinced that the constant manure our grass gets from Rabbits and chickens makes it a super dark green throughout the whole summer. Not that it matters much, since as a rule our family doesn't care much about getting a manicured lawn. Our backyard is for farming, not for beauty!