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Sunday, May 29, 2011

Planting Day Pics

It's a blessing watching things grow...whether it be spiritual maturity, spiritual blessings, children, or other living things. We find such a joy in watching the blessing of life and health grow out of the ground. I never cease to be amazed at the amount of sustenance that comes out of one tiny seed that is cared for and nurtured....there's a sermon in there somewhere, right?
Here's our plots as pictured from the back deck.:

the two long gardens on the right are new to us this year. They house all our leafy greens, herbs, tomatoes, peppers, and about 1/2 of our cucumbers.




Here's several shots of the larger gardens. On the left in the first pic is our "companion plantings" of tomatoes and basil. In the last photo, to the right of the wooden arbor, there is a trellis for our snap peas. About 4 years ago, my dad bought us one of those shade gazebos from Big Lots!....well...the netting only lasted one year. We had kept the iron under the deck under the premise of "We can find some use for this stuff...it's too cool to throw away!". Well, my pops was right. He cut the bottom off of it and Gavin and I zip tied it together and stuck it in the ground. As it turns out, it makes a super cool trellis for snap peas.
Go Resourcefulness!


"Leafy Green Alley" closest to farthest we've got a mesculin lettuce mix, light green lettuce, Swiss Chard, Kale, and Spinach. The Leo Family is going to be "regular"...I can tell you that much.


It won't be long until we're up to our eyeballs in strawberries. There was 1....repeat...ONE ripe strawberry today, which I picked and gave to Gavin. It's funny...looking back at our "Planting Day" blog from a year ago.....this time last year we were harvesting quarts of strawberries every day. It's cool to see how much the weather effects what and when you harvest stuff.


The lower gardens. 30 years ago, everything beyond the granite posts was swamp. Goes to show you what decades of grass clippings can reclaim.




Oh...AND we filled up the splash pool.....


....AND caught a crazy huge bullfrog.

We had friends over later in the evening for a campfire and good fellowship.... Not a bad Sunday at all.

Yeah God!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Planting Day 2011...We're In!

Well....It almost wasn't but, today ended up being our warm weather crop planting day, as has been the tradition around here for some time....the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.
Until about 4 days ago...the weather around here was HORRIBLE...absolutely NO sun and tons of rain for 18 solid days. We were going to postpone our warm weather planting day for a few weeks. I was afraid that our cool weather crops wouldn't stay viable....but they did...and the weather cleared up perfectly...and we ended up scrambling to gather up our seedlings and threw them in the ground today.
It ended up being a really nice day. Planting Day is one of my favorite days of the year. There is so much promise. There is so much potential. These vulnerable little seedlings that will become monsterous heaving vines. Last year, I planted 7 cucumber plants, all of which would have fit in the palm of my hand on planting day, that ended up yielding well over 200 lbs of cukes throughout the season. We had cherry tomatoes that got planted at about 8 inches tall that ended up topping out at over 11 feet tall and giving hundreds and hundreds of DELICIOUS jewels.
We made some major changes to our garden this year. We used to container garden our tomatoes and peppers. At the end of last year, we put in 2 new large raised bed gardens. "Large" like 48 ft long by 4 ft wide. We're putting our tomatoes and peppers in the ground this year. It is lots of work to get all those containers together each year, and the soil only ever gets 1 year of planting....and no worm love. With the new raised beds, the soil gets to spend year after year gaining nutrients AND will receive the castings of thousands of earthworms over the course of the year....which amounts to black gold for a grower.
Additionally, we started experimenting with "companion gardening"...putting crops near another that mutually benefit for a number of reasons, whether it be nutrient distribution, pest control, or flavor enhancement. For instance...we've got our basil inter-planted with our tomatoes. Doing this makes tomatoes taste sweeter. We'll see.
We also added a TON of new leafy greens to our garden this year. Chrissy has been making these amazing fruit smoothies that hide spinach, kale and other leafy greens in them. They are so nutritious and SO tasty.
If there's anyone besides me reading this by now...please let me reiterate that our family keeps this blog mainly for ourselves...but which we also invite others to share in what The Lord has been doing in our lives....it serves as a virtual "diary" of where The Lord has taken our little family. The blessings, the struggles, the victories, the frustrations. I never want to be perceived as boastful or prideful. In fact...I often question The Lord as to why he has given me the blessings that He has...my family, my life, my land...I am so sinful and so undeserving...but His grace is so wonderfully covering....
Anyway....as a record for myself...just like I did last year...here's a list of what we have in the ground in 2011:
Harvestable Fruit: (we have lots of young fruit trees still not yet mature enough to produce yet...nectarines, peaches (apparently taking a year off after producing last year), pears, Asian pears). Anyway...here's what we expect to harvest:
Cherries
Strawberries
Apples
Red Raspberries
Black Raspberries
Blueberries

Herbs:
Sage
Oregano
Basil
Dill
Cilantro
Mint
Rosemary
Chive
Garlic Chive
Horseradish

Veggies and what not:
Zucchini Squash
Summer Squash
Butternut Squash
Carving Pumpkins
Sugar Pumpkins
Snap Peas
Broccoli
Garlic
Spinach
Kale (2 varieties)
Swiss Chard
Lettuce (2 varieties)
Collard Greens
Asparagus
Carrots
Pickling cucumbers (vine and bush varieties)
Slicing cucumbers
Peppers (4 varieties)
Tomatoes (5 varieties)
White Onions
Red Onions


We've definitely gotten a bit ambitious this year. I think we'll be o.k., though. I'm going to take more pics tomorrow but, for now, here's a few shots of planting day 2011:


the turtle we found in the yard.

Planting with The Girl

Planting with The Boy

The kids harvesting some chives


Last year we started a "tradition" based on Proverbs 12:11..."He who tilleth the land will be satisfied with bread" by baking homemade bread and making an herb infused dipping oil from our garden herbs....this year, Chrissy tried something a bit different....she made a garlicy bean dip with some garden sage.....we didn't bake bread, but did use a nice hearty grain bread from the local grocery store. It was good....very good....VERY garlicy....I think I smell garlic coming out of my pores.....and my eyes.

Now we get to watch out seedlings mature into plants that produce great amounts of fruit. Much like we continue to do with our children.

Thank you, Lord, for the blessings and grace that you have bestowed on our little family.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

They Grow Up So Fast **sniff**

This blog turns one year old today. I figured...what better thing to give it for it's first birthday than a birthday post.
I had started this blog a year ago after meeting several Christian homeschooling families who also kept family blogs. After reading several of them....blogging seemed like a neat way to keep a family diary, so-to-speak, and I figured that I'd follow suit. Leading up to that, The Lord was revealing so many truths to Chrissy and I through Scripture...about Biblicaly modeled and mandated familial roles, about the need for growth and maturity in certain areas of our lives, about creating a more Christ-centered culture within our home, about training up our children and keeping their hearts pointed towards Him.....
A year later, it's cool to be able to look back and see the growth that has happened in our family, and also areas where we still (and will always) need His Direction and Wisdom. I love John chapter 15...Jesus is talking about vines and branches...and about pruning....how even branches that bear fruit are pruned...cut back...in order that they may produce more fruit. We will never "arrive" as Christians....we ought to always be growing, and our lives will always need pruning, So that as our families grow....more and more of our time, focus, words, and activity is spent glorifying Him.
I've been reading back through some of the older posts from last year. I have enjoyed rereading where we were at as a family a year ago and thinking about what this next year has in store.
Reading posts about the kids...even from 5 or 6 months ago...and seeing how much they've grown physically and in maturity has been shocking...comforting but shocking. Specifically, Ivy turning from a crawling baby to a full-on little girl.
Looking back on last years gardening posts...seeing the bounty that we were able to reap...and looking forward to this year with 3x as much room to plant and well over a dozen new crops to tend.
Watching the School Room go from gutted corpse of a basement to a beautiful classroom and praying for God's Will in potentially getting an informal co-op going.
Ivy's broken arm
Our cat, Jack, passing away
our 12 foot tall Christmas tree that had to fit in an 8 foot tall room
My new job

I'm getting cheesy, aren't I.
**insert "No Woman, No Cry" softly in the background**
or worse....
that Green Day song that was used for every video montage, graduation song, and prom song from 1997-2003. gag.

In all seriousness, though, looking back, this was a nice little year for the Leo family. We continue to delight in the little things....the "small things" that we are told, in Scripture, not to despise. The learning, the pruning, the growing, His Mercy, His Wisdom....

I can't wait until I read this post a year from now and see where He brings us from here.

Of course...I can't end without posting about something that we discovered in the yard so....without further adieu:


The Cutest Little Turtle That You Ever Did See!!

We spotted this little guy swimming around near our dock during a fishing session last week and netted him up (we let him go a few hours later). I handed Gavin the quarter to use as a size reference....which I think he pocketed afterwards.

God Bless.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Mom's Day, CHAP, Stickers, and Swans

A quick prologue:
This Easter....worst ever. We headed to Jersey with the best of intentions..to enjoy a nice Easter with family. What we ended up with was a lingering, nasty intestinal virus that took it's time infecting all of us, landing Gavin in the hospital, and quarantining all of us at Chrissy's moms house while everyone else was at her sisters for Easter lunch. We had to hole up in Jersey for 5 extra days until folks were healthy enough to travel. After that whole debacle, Mother's Day smacked me RIGHT in the face by arriving early...I was totally blindsided a few days before...anyway..we ended up having a real nice day. It was great having everyone healthy again. Here's a few pics:


We decided that since the kids didn't get to celebrate Easter on account of being sick...that we'd combo it up and have a Mother's Day/Easter Extravaganza...complete with Easter church outfits and the "Gross Chocolate Broken Face Bunny". The story of how that chocolate bunny came to our house....that's a blog of it's own....maybe someday.


The family unit out in the backyard.


Ivy Frances....less than impressed.

A week later it was back out on the road for the CHAP homeschool convention in Central PA. CHAP stands for "Christian Homeschool Association of Pennsylvania"...and YES...I know that we don't live in Pennsylvania....but we went anyway. It was a great weekend of education and encouragement. We met up with Chrissy's twin sisters family out there....quick side note:

Chrissy is a twin. Her twins name is Susan. Susan married my best friend from Jersey, Dave. They live in South Jersey and have 2 boys about our kids ages. It's usually fun times when we all get together. Back to the story...

We all stayed together in 2 rooms at a nice little hotel with an even nicer indoor heated pool. The coolest part was that our 2 rooms were adjoining which meant that we could lay the kids down for bed all in 1 room and hang out in the other...the rub was....to make the adjoining rooms happen, we had to get 1 handicapped accessible room...which we didn't mind at all. Let me tell you...as far as our combined 4 kids were concerned...the second coolest thing about staying in the hotel (the pool comes in first on the coolness scale) was:


The Super Rad Monkey Bar Handicap Shower Stall!!!
This photo was taken about 3 minutes after checking into the hotel. Good times.

The convention was about 370 miles from home. Chrissy did a great job in putting activities together for the kids while we ate up miles on the highway .....BUT....sooner or later...you just want to be out of the car and done driving, you know? The kids did great...but we all started to get a little bit crazy towards the very end of our trip home. I'll title this one: Gavin+Stickers+Mile 364=


Yep...and in case you're wondering...that's a little froggy potty staring back at you from the back seat, there. Gavin will attest to the fact that stickers are much more fun putting ON legs than they are peeling them off.

That about does it for the moment. I think I'm all caught up. I did spot this little duo out back after dinner tonight:

Bunny up front....Swan out back. Nice.

Lastly....somehow, while we were gone, Southern New England turned into Seattle. If anyone knows where they stashed the sun, please let me know.

Be Good.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Pickerel Party

I just got finished telling Gavin how lure fishing takes much more patience than worm and hook fishing. He persisted, I conceded, and we tied on a little crawfish lure. 3rd cast....



...we land this mother.

There goes that theory.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Holy Catfish!!



The boy and I pulled a nice one the other day...then another...then another.

I've unofficially labeled our fishing area as Instant Gratification Cove.

I'm completely introducing a false reality to my son of what actual fishing is...when he realizes that in most lakes it usually takes more than 15 seconds to catch a fish...he's going to be devastated. But for now...

Our pond is actually one of about 5 or 6 ponds that are connected through pipes under the roads in the area....there's a slight current running through all of them. At one point, years ago, before this area was developed, my bet is that it was actually just a healthy river. The development of the area included a series of dams which pooled up these small ponds and lakes. For our little lake, there is a dam at the one end with a spillway that only lets water when it storms or when the snow melts. The upshot is that the current sends lots of wildlife down into our lake...and then has nowhere to go. It's like our pond is Uber naturally stocked....frogs, turtles, FISH. tons of them. If you can't land a little bluegill inside of 10 seconds off our dock, there's something wrong with you.

It'll take a little longer if you want to land one of the bigger fish in the lake...a nice bass, pickerel, or perch. But...at 4 years old...a fish is pretty much a fish....so right now the boy is king of all God's creation out there.

Life's not so bad out here these days....the fish are biting... the seedlings are up....the fruit trees are blossoming....the kids come in every night covered in dirt...we're dining on garden asparagus....my seasonal allergies are making me want to scratch my eyes out but...a small price to pay for the simple life.

Go Spring!