Pumpkin, Projects, "Pretties" and Praise

This past week was a time for all of the above. 


Kailynn and I made pumpkin muffins. I used all freshly milled soft whole wheat flour instead of a combination of all-purpose and whole wheat as the recipe stated. I love the autumn season and the pumpkin recipes that accompany it!

Alyssa and I also made this delicious pumpkin bread recipe we found on Raising Homemakers. It was simple to make and lives up to its name...Delicious Pumpkin Bread!  This is definately more of a dessert than bread...delish!  {And here's a frugal tip for you...when you use your butter sticks, take the wrapper and put in the freezer.  When you need to grease a pan, take the frozen wrapper and rub on your pan to grease...and then through away.  This method utilizes that last bit of butter ~ no waste and pennies saved.  ;-) }

Another family favorite pumpkin treat are these pumpkin sandwiches.

Pumpkin has such wonderful nutritional benefits. {nutritional facts found here}

Of course, these recipes are not as healthy due to the sugar and butter, but oh do they taste good.

;-)

These treats have made completing projects less laborious. ;-) Austin has been busy getting things ready for fall fun.

A close up of one of the boxes...some re-purposed {or being frugal...however you want to look at it} wood from our old deck still being used for new projects.  Sand for the pit area and black mulch for the "platform" area.



Here's a distant shot with a glimpse of some improved landscaping down at the rear of our property...two planters:  one with crotons, aloe and some flower plants the other in the top right contain iris plants.


The horseshoe pits are completed and the garden is planted for winter, which we hope will provide a nice crop of lettuce, cabbage and two kinds of potatoes. The potatoes we are experimenting with…how hard can it be to grow potatoes? Last year our lettuce turned out well and the cabbage…it’s a locally grown crop, so the climate is right for it. We are using starter plants for both greens.  Time will tell what this winter crop will be...

Cabbage starter plants before he put them in the garden boxes.

 The girls and I enjoyed some “girl time” this past week…with toenail painting on a rainy morning. It’s been a long time since I have painted toenails for the girls and they were delighted! They were happy to pick their colors and little special stickers. It was a perfect opportunity to talk about how Jesus served his disciples by washing their feet and how we should seek to serve one another as Christ gave us this example to follow.

 This month is a wonderful month to lift up praise to Him from whom all blessings flow. As we read our Thanksgiving books this month, fill out “Thanksgiving” leaves for our “Tree of Thanks” and seek to serve one another {and others}, we cultivate a heart of praise. Those moments each day when we take time to “Be still and know He is God”, provide opportunity to give Him praise for all He is and does. Throughout the day, when we listen to our worship music, we can lift our voices in songs of praise. I love hearing the children singing Amazing Grace, Come Thou Fount and Be Thou My Vision as much as hearing them sing the children songs A Little Missionary, This Little Light of Mine, and Jesus Loves Me. To cultivate a heart of thanksgiving at an early age…


In celebration of Thanksgiving this month, I am planning to do a GIVEAWAY that week. I hope you will be blessed and join in ~ check back for details SOON. Until then, have a blessed weekend and let your heart be filled with praise!






Blessings ~

Linked this week to:

Menu Plan Monday

This past week provided time for some much needed cleaning & organizing. So, with the help of one of my sons to so the heavy moving and high reaching things, we set out over two days to empty my master bedroom & master bedroom closet. Having everything vacuumed & dusted thoroughly, purging of books {that’s always a hard one for me}, gift supplies & re-organization of movies/documentaries, gift-giving cabinet and a general putting everything in its place...the project is complete. It is once again a space enjoyable to be in without the distraction of ‘stuff’.

A couple changes/additions:

• The purchase of a video cabinet from Target on sale for…$24.99. It nicely houses the video library {which I had categorized and labeled last year} and hopefully will be a neater solution from what we had been using {that was broken and not very practical.}
• A glider and ottoman {similar to this one} found for a great deal on Craigslist…perfect for rocking our precious baby in several weeks. The condition was LIKE-NEW, with no signs of any use or wear. An oak wood and cream fabric, making it fit right in to any décor and Lord willing, provide years of use.
• Several more bags for Goodwill…constant changes in seasons of life, provide on going opportunities to re-evaluate the need for items and extend life to new owners through way of donation.

As a reward, we took advantage of a summer discount offered to the zoo…$2 per person admission…a GREAT savings for our family! For $16 our whole family, along with some friends, ventured an hour away for a morning at the zoo. We covered a lot of ground, enjoyed fellowship time with friends we saw there and then concluded the journey with an ‘in-the-van’ picnic lunch. The humidity and heat really kicked in, so the idea of staying outside the rest of the day was changed to time back at our home swimming, playing and enjoying friends. A blessed day, despite the afternoon heat and smoke {Florida fires…praise the Lord for some much needed rain we received yesterday afternoon!}

Dinner plans for the week are written out…{note to self:  work on a new menu rotation chart for the upcoming year…a summer to-do item}…and we’re off to a good start.

Sunday: We had tortilla night…homemade, whole wheat tortillas filled with homemade salsa, refried beans, yellow rice and cheese…a family FAVORITE!

Recipe is super easy and fresh:  3-4 tomatoes, 1/4 - 1 Vidalia onion, 1 bunch of fresh cilantro, 2-3 tablespoons of minced garlic, small can of green chiles, 2 tablespoons of crushed red chili powder, 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes (dry), sea salt & pepper to taste.  Chop 1st 3 ingredients to preferred texture, mix last 6 into  mixture...YUM, YUM!

Monday: I prepared Sloppy Joe's in the crock-pot before we left for the zoo yesterday and had a great and simple dinner last night ready and waiting to be eaten. This was served with fruit and chips.

Tuesday: Poppy-seed chicken over bow tie pasta, buttered peas and whole wheat bread {baked later today with the help of Alyssa}

Wednesday: Easy lasagna, mixed veggies and fresh garden salad {items yielded from our garden [read our garden post here}: lettuce, cherry tomatoes, yellow squash, shredded radish and then added green onions and a cucumber from the grocery}

Thursday: Baked chicken, mashed potatoes or maybe parsley-buttered potatoes, steamed broccoli, rolls

Washed chicken placed in my stoneware baker, sprinkled with paprika, black pepper, garlic herb seasoning, a little thyme and a little sea salt to be baked at 325 degrees - foiled covered - for about 2 hours...fall off the bone tender!

Friday: Homemade pizzas - click for recipe link & scroll to the bottom for pizza specific notes {toppings of crushed pineapple with diced ham and another with Italian chicken sausage}

Saturday: Quick and easy…Lord willing, working on concrete slab/sidewalks so a simple meal will be aimed for this day

Sunday: Father’s Day Dinner…baked pork chops with tomato gravy served over rice, steamed California blend veggies, homemade biscuits {from last week's menu...since it's a dad favorite and it didn't happen last week...}


Blessings to you as you gather around your meal table this week ~

To read other Menu Plans, click here…thanks for hosting each week, Laura!

Spring Garden of 2011 ~ Successes & Failures

Spring 2011 Garden

We added a fourth raised bed this year to house corn & peas.  My husband screwed PVC pipe over the box and draped netting over the arches to keep pesky squirrels away.  This photo shows our sprouts coming up in the beginning of April.

The beginning sprouts from left to right:  2 rows of lettuce, 1 row of okra, 2 rows of broccoli (did not come in), 2 rows of radishes, 2 rows of yellow squash, 1 row (2 plants) of kiwi from previous year and along the backside of the bed, 1 row of cucumbers.

Another raised bed holding:  l to r ~ grapevine to grow over the arbor, cherry tomato, Roma tomato (not shown to the right of the tomatoes ~ 1 yellow pepper plant & 1 orange pepper plant).  {Beginning of April 2011}



To the right of the previous pictured planter we have 3 blueberry bushes and 1 blackberry vine along the trellis.  {Beginning of April 2011}



A couple of the herbs in our herb planter...thyme & dill weed.  {Beginning of April 2011}

Rosemary...continuing to flourish from the past couple of years and located in the middle of our herb planter.  {Beginning of April 2011}

DELICIOUS blueberries eaten as quickly as they ripened...taken the beginning of May 2011.

Our two tomato bushes {l - cherry tomato & r - Roma tomato} a month later...beginning of May 2011.  

The presence of blackberries...these to will disappear as quickly as they ripen.  We are blessed to have MANY wild blackberry bushes growing in vacant areas of our neighborhood and have taken advantage of picking a couple of buckets full over the season.  {Beginning of May 2011}

One of the lettuce plants growing behind the protective netting...this was a successful endeavour.  {Beginning of May 2011}

Promising blooms from our yellow squash plants...beginning of May 2011.

Promising blooms from our cucumber vine...beginning of May 2011.

Our corn is coming in nicely and still intact thanks to the Lord's protection and the netting that remains over the planter box...beginning of May 2011.

The peas coming in nicely, too....beginning of May 2011.





Better boy tomatoes growing from one of the two topsy turvy containers hanging between two of the raised beds...beginning of May 2011.  These make for delicious salsa...click here for the post containing the recipe.

The cherry and Roma tomato plants have grown wonderfully this year and continue to yield {without any bugs} nice amounts of fresh organic tomatoes for our family.  {Mid June 2011}

Our okra (planted one row) has flowered and is producing a nice pod on the plants now.  Not sure when to harvest or what to do with them at this point...our first time growing it, but looking forward to harvesting and tasting the fruits of our labor soon.  {Mid June 2011}

As lovely as all those blooms were in the photo mid-way up, we have about 4 nice squash growing currently...between heat, smoke, not sure what else, this has taken a toil so it seems.  Beautiful squash for what we do have so far, though.  {Mid-June 2011}

One of many cucumbers that have grown pest free...but the only one that resembles a normal cucumber.  ;-)  Our other either look like balls or paisleys...interesting and not quite sure why...any ideas?  They did the same thing last year as far as shape.  If you look in the distance behind this one, you can see a couple of the ball shaped ones.  {Mid-June 2011}

Cherry tomatoes full and ripening...Mid-June 2011.

Roma tomatoes also lush and ripening steadily...Mid-June 2011.

Successes: 

• I will say, unlike last year, this year we have not had issues with as many pests...the tomatoes in the ground have actually yielded much more than the ones in the hanging upside down containers.
• Lettuce has done wonderfully, as well.
• Blueberries yielded quite a bit considering they were new (small) bushes, however after last year one of the bushes died, so we'll have to see if these will continue to grow or not.
• Blackberries...already an ample supply in our area growing wild, but our private vine produced larger ones and not quite as bitter tasting.
• Corn has done better this year for the simple fact that the squirrels were not able to get into the crop.  We have 3-5 ears growing now and will just have to wait to see what the final outcome it.

Failures:

• Cucumbers...not necessarily a failure, but definitely not the "normal" shape and only one seems to be doing what a cucumber should in the way of growth.
• Broccoli...did not come up at all.
• Raspberry vines...did not come back from last year.
• Peas...aphids have been an issue even though we treated with 'green/natural' methods to rid the problem.  Also no blooms on the vines, although the vines themselves have nice leaves and are continuing to grow.
• Yellow squash...started out wonderfully and we do have 3-4 nice sized squash growing now, it just doesn't look like we will yield as much as anticipated from earlier progress.
• Kiwi...year two and still no fruit with sparse leaves.

Still to be determined:

• Our pepper plants are still growing...slowly.  We'll see what produces on them.
• Grapevine is filling back in with nice sized green leaves, but no fruit yet.
• Radishes...should be fine, but have not harvested yet.
• Okra...doing well as far as I can tell.  Will see what the actual harvest is when they are done producing.

Things we will do differently next year:

• Plant more...to yield more.
• Better soil prep...more compost added (Lord willing), turning more in the down season...any ideas for further enriching it?
• Moving one of our raised beds to the front of the herb garden for more sun light next year {the new bed which houses our corn and peas}...it probably gets too much afternoon shade right now.

So, that's our Spring Garden of 2011 thus far...a photo journal so-to-speak.  I would love to hear any recommendations or successes you have had, especially if you are in Florida and deal with the same issues we do (heat, bugs, sandy soil, etc.).  :-)

Happy Gardening ~

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Well here is a snippet pictoral summary of our gardening experiences thus far this year...as some of you have inquired how things are going, I hope you enjoy the pictorial tour.

The construction of new raised beds for this year...while listening to GA Henty ~ March 2010

We ventured to try red leaf lettuce this year with starter plants...to our delight, this yielded two beautiful LARGE heads that was enough to pick off of to make several family sized salads and share with my Mom ~ April 2010

Watermelon from starter plants ~ April 2010

Promising signs of upcoming watermelon with sprawling vines along the ground ~ June 2010

Pole beans started from seed and transplanted into our raised bed in April 2010

Now visions of beans happily nestled between herbs and our raspberry bushes (will need to be transplanted after the season to a new location) ~ June 2010

Yellow squash very thick and green growing along the ground of one raised bed...yellow flowers a promising sign of future vegetables ~ April 2010

Our first very healthy yellow squash...delightful! ~ June 2010

Grape and cherry tomato plants (didn't take a picture when we planted them in March), yellow pepper and red pepper plant (far left) ~ April 2010

The first tomatoes to begin growing on our plants ~ April 2010

To a plant that grew much larger than we ever anticipated, bearing MANY tomatoes that have GREAT sweet flavor ~ June 2010

Yummy grape tomatoes...June 2010

The first signs of future peppers ~ April 2010

Our yellow peppers now ~ June 2010

Our red pepper plant now ~ June 2010

Our first attempt at the "upside down" planter...it started with a pint sized tomato plant (did not take a picture of the beginning stage), then progressed to this stage in April 2010 with fruit thriving.

To bearing many juicy tomatoes now ~ June 2010

Other plants we have included in our garden this year are:  herbs (parsley, rosemary...thriving, thyme, basil, oregano, cilantro...can't seem to keep this one growing healthy), raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries...though I heard it will take a couple years to bear fruit with these, grapes and kiwi.  Tried climbing cucumbers this year, with a few cukes that grew, but I would not say these were a success...two on the whole vine, maybe another variation in our Florida weather will do better next year.

Although we are far from being able to feed our family on this garden, it has and will continue to be a great learning experience and does provide immediate access to organic fruits/veggies, thus saving some money.  Over time, it is our goal to improve and have viable, fruitful raised beds which will provide a season of fresh organic fruits and veggies for our family. 

Would love to hear your success stories in raised bed gardening in Florida and natural treatments for insects and worms.  Leave a comment and share your knowledge and experience with me (and my readers).

Blessings from aspiring gardeners in Florida ~