One of my favorite hobbies is raising Black Swallowtail butterflies or any butterfly for that matter. My children know they will make my day if they find me a caterpillar. This summer the caterpillars were scarce. We only collected two. Next year I plan to buy a lot of parsley as that is one of their favorite foods. We found ours on our carrot tops as they like them as well. When we find … [Read more...]
My War on Potato Bugs
We have always had potato bugs. But we also have children that can pick them off the potato plants. So for many years the children picked them and our potatoes survived. Then last year I decided to wage a war on these bugs and get rid of them once and for all. I bought dust for the potatoes and the girls cheered that there would be no bugs to pick. Well, the dust did not work. The bugs … [Read more...]
Grow Your own Strawberries
We all love to eat strawberries and they are so simple to grow. All you need is a small garden or a large flower pot. In the spring is the best time to start them although they will do fine when planted in the summer too. You will just need to water them more. You will first need to get your soil ready for plants. When your soil is ready you will need to purchase plants. Your local greenhouse … [Read more...]
Enjoying Your Seed Catalogs
Most of you have probably had some seed catalogs show up in your mail by now. Some of mine came around Christmas so I stuck them away to enjoy later. My later was about a month long so now I am finally pulling them out to enjoy them. Seed and flower catalogs are my weakness. I just love to look at all the produce and imagine what beautiful garden I will have this year. And all the flowers make … [Read more...]
Corn from the Garden to the Freezer
Don't you all just love corn day? My children all groan when I mention that the corn is ready to head to the freezer. Last week we did our first day of corn. The day was very warm so I got up early to pick my ten 75 foot rows of corn. The children were a bit excited since we had rented a corn silker and they would not have to spend hours silking corn. A great machine it was! It had 100 ears of … [Read more...]
A Week of Bible School and Beans
We had a very busy week with doing lots of beans. They were beautiful long straight beans. We got 45 quart this week and it looks like there are plenty left for next week. I froze all the beans this week and next week I hope to can some. We also spent a lot of time on the road as we traveled back and forth to the city for summer Bible School. We have an hours drive and we needed to be … [Read more...]
Successful Vegetable Gardening
Some of us have had gardens for years. I remember gardening as a child and hating to pull weeds. Now my children dislike the job and I just love gardening and pulling weeds. Why do we pull weeds anyway? We have a neighbor that plants a garden every year but never pulls any weeds. Oh, yes, he has lots of weeds and he just chops them off with a weed eater every spring before he starts over. I … [Read more...]