Preserving: Blueberry Raspberry Jam

I'll tell you what: Our garden had one heck of a growth spurt over the long weekend.  Tonight, I picked 5 zucchini, 3 cucumbers (the first ones!) and quite the handful of snow peas, sweet peas, green beans and raspberries.  Last night I was so surprised by the amount of raspberries, I took a picture:

Between all of those raspberries (combined with tonight's) and the pint of blueberries the in-laws sent us home with from their bushes, I was ready to make something jellied.  Personally, I'm not a huge jelly person, but Nick has it just about every morning.  That makes it worth my time to make.  

Preserving: Freezing Zucchini & Snow Peas

Before we get on to garden things, I would like to point out it's my Blogiversary! (and post #120)  It's been a crazy year, but i seem to have picked up a handful of followers along the way and I just wanna say thanks for stopping by and i'm glad you're here.  I'd love to say thank you with a giveaway like the big blogs, but this here is a low (aka: no) budget operation.  Deal with it.  In the mean time, feel free to reminisce and check out my first post.  Warning: The refrigerator pickles are a good idea but i really should have followed up on my attempt at fermenting pickles.  It was a moldy mess of fail.  I don't recommend it.

On to garden stuffs.  Food is beginning to roll in from the garden.  Mainly snow peas and zucchini at the moment, but also a few bush beans and raspberries.  (I think the birds are getting to them before we can tho, more on that later).  Anyways, it's about time to kick my resolution to try and preserve a year's worth of veggies from our garden into action.  It's no doubt a lofty goal, but shoot for the moon, even if you miss you'll land among the stars.

Scrap Day!

Today is scrap day.  Nick's Garage/workshop is in desperate need of some cleaning out and organization strategy.  Unfortunately, between lumber and unusable appliances you can hardly enter the place.  The lumber is being kept, though it does need some serious sorting.  That leaves getting rid of the busted appliances (3 stoves and a hot water heater) as the first step to what I hope will be a full garage overhaul.

One stove does work so we're gonna try and sell it on craigslist, where it will fetch more than the $10/#100 our scrap yard is currently paying for tin.  The rest of the appliances, along with every piece of metal junk my husband has been hoarding for the last 4 years are going to the scrap yard today.  My dad graciously volunteered to give us a hand.  My mom threatened our lives and my husband's reproductive organs if my dad (famous for declaring a busted shop-vac to be "A perfectly good bucket on wheels") came home with anything we had declared scrap.

The Journey Behind the Blog

A lot of folks aren't aware that this blog actually sprung out of a very rough time for me.  I had already had a long and rough battle with infertility that I thought was over when things crumbled around me again, this time completely without explanation.  I was crushed.  I needed a distraction.  I needed to feel like i was doing something worthwhile.  That's when I decided that my chemical-ridden, plus-sized lifestyle was far from helping my health and could possibly even be contributing to the untimely losses of my children.  It was time for change.  You guys have gotten to see the change, but I kind of promised myself I'd keep to my topic and leave my personal life out of it.  I've redefined my mission statement a few times over the last year, but i've always kept that promise.  Today, I'm giving you guys a little view into my world, my more personal struggles.  Maybe I'm sharing too much and will regret it, but maybe I've been holding back a little too much.  Here goes nothing:

Clicking through/Scrolling down is a picture which may be (emotionally) difficult to see

The State of the Garden Address

It's been a rough couple weeks and I haven't posted in a while, but it's high time I did.  I promise that, unlike it's distant cousin (The State of the Union Address), this address will be quite positive and minimally frustrating.

On Wednesday, June 15 at around 6:30 my little girl, Elizabeth Grace, was born far too early and entered into her Heavenly Father's arms.  She was beautiful and I wish with all of my might my body could have held on to her for longer but I know she has found the peace and rest we could not give her on earth.

Ugh... Potato Beetles

Last Year, our potato plants became covered in beetles.  This is how it played out:

We put out a beetle bag, figuring that was a good way to not have to spray our plants.
It did no good.
Our pants disappeared at an alarming rate.
I researched: they're Colorado Potato Beetles.
Colorado Potato Beetles are very hard to kill, go through many life cycles in a growing season and burrow in the ground to survive the winter.
Never fear!  There is an organic biopesticide that fungally kills almost exclusively this bug and is totally safe for people.
But you have to spend a ton for even the smallest ammount, which will treat many acres.  Its for farmers.
Don't my 10 potato plants deserve to be bug and chemical free?
Nick found an "approved for organic production" mix at Agway.
The chemical is hard to find info on.
There is nothing left of our potato plants anyways.
*Defeat*