Juice Season

We had a great juice season this year! We have processed over 500 lbs of apples into apple cider and applesauce. Scott found an awesome deal on grapes off Craiglist. So we decided to crush the grapes into grape cider.

Julie found the perfect spot for sampling all the flavor! Can you see she's been drawing all over her hand?

She eventually got stuck and was upset about trying to get out after she'd eaten as many grapes as she could. She didn't each much dinner that night!

I LOVE GRAPES!

We made made tons of tasty grape juice. It tastes so great in our smoothies. We ate grapes all week until we were so sick of them!

Next year we hope to build a grape arbor for our own grape plants so we can get a better harvest in our own backyard! Grapes are such a heavenly fruit!

A good harvest

Despite a bad infestation of symphylans in our garden this year, we had a decent harvest from some of our plants! We had such a cold, late summer, we totally despaired of ever harvesting anything.

As you can see, our cucumbers went a little overboard. As always, towards the end of the year, our garden is entirely overrun with weeds. I couldn't see most of the cucumbers because of the corn! I harvest 51 cucumbers! Too bad many of them were overripe. But we got to eat a lot of them!

Angel and Courtney worked really hard in the garden to help me harvest all this. We made lots of Macaroni Salad and Homemade Salsa!

Our cucumbers were so prolific this year, that we made a new rule: you can eat as many cucumbers as you want everyday! Our kids would just grab a whole cucumber at eat the whole thing, skin and all. It was a delight to see! After a few weeks of this, however, our kids got tired of cucumbers. Not Dorathy, though! Cucumbers are her favorite vegetable!

Our tomatoes didn't do well enough to can them, but at least we got enough for eating. YUM YUM. I love to make Italian dishes with lots of fresh Garden Tomatoes! I've heard that some people who are trying to cut down on grain in their diet use cucumbers to make noodles. They peel them with a pairing knife, into long curly noodles, and then cover them with a sauce of choice. I haven't tried it yet...but I still have 2 more boxes of cucumbers in the garage to experiment on!

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!