green thumb

"You have a green thumb!". This is what Jason told me this afternoon as I took him on a tour of our sprouting garden. It has been so much fun watching all our plants show themselves. We have now added strawberries to the garden because when we asked Jamie what she wanted that was the first thing out of her mouth. Our garden is expanding! We have now added a fence to help keep out the dog and kids, no more sun bathing in the beds. We will also be adding 5 more 2x4 ft beds, 4 2x2ft beds, and 4 4x4ft beds. What a lot of veggies we should have! It will be so nice to go out every night to pick a fresh salad.

These are Jamie's strawberry plants. I ordered them from Burpee Seeds.

Here are our sugar peas, beans, cucumbers,zucchini,spinach,broccoli, radishes, and cauliflower.

WE have tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, corn, onions, carrots, broccoli and something else I can't remember right now.

You can see the fence we put up around the garden, the kids play area, and in between them the chicken coop. Yes a chicken coop! More on that in the next post.

Homesteding in the Military

So we have been doing a lot of praying as to what we should do with our family. Do we stay in the military and move every few years, should we buy a home and settle down, or do something in between? The one thing we know for sure is that we want to be more self-reliant. The price of food, fuel, and fun is going up everyday. As a family we have chosen to stay away from credit cards and needless loans. We have seen many of the young families around us well over there heads in debt due to them. So as an answer to that we have started a Square foot garden in the backyard. We are also playing with the idea of getting some chickens to add fresh eggs as well.
Jamie is very happy to have a garden in the back yard, and is eager to help. Michael is a bit more of a hindrance. Oh he enjoys helping plant the seeds, but he also likes to pull up the plants! Our dog Sam is also finding the garden useful. She thinks that the beds are just that, a bed for her to lay in. I have now added some netting to keep little hands and big dogs out and will be adding a short fence soon.
As I was watering the garden this morning I came across 4 seedling! our radishes are coming up to say hello. It is nice to have something to show for all the work I have put in. Sadly Jason won't be here for the main harvest. By the time we are in the season to enjoy all the work he will be in Afghanistan. Such is the life of an army wife. It is all fine and good so long as he comes home to me and the kids.
ANYWAY... we are taking the first step in having a homestead in the military. I just pray that we don't get caught up in some silly rule that limits what we can do. I will post pics later but for now I must get back to washing clothes.