Cucumber Conundrum

Refreshing Agua Fresca.

Have you ever grown cucumbers? If so, then you know what I mean when I say I have got to find ways to use them up. Now, I know everyone says "pickles" but I have neither the time nor the inclination to make pickles right now, so that's just not going to happen. I've had my fill of cucumber, tomato, and feta salad, and today I was on the search for something new to do with the 'cukes on my counter.

My search brought me, as always, to Simply Recipes. I love this site. If you have not visited before, you must. It has saved our family dinner too many times to count. Today, it saved my cucumbers. Wanting to try something new, I decided to make the Cucumber Lime Mint Agua Fresca. I have tons of mint growing in my garden, so I decided to go for it. I used chocolate mint instead of spearmint, and lemon instead of lime, but it was quite tasty just the same. I would recommend it if you want to try something different!

Prolific chocolate mint in the garden.

Since I'm obsessed with vegetables, of course I did some research on cucumbers to learn more about them.  I learned that this widely cultivated veggie, which I always seemed to overlook in the grocery store, was thought to originate in India, and is actually very nutritious. They are part of the cucurbitaceae family, which also includes pumpkins, melons, zucchini, and other squashes. Because of their unique combination of phytonutrients, including lignans, cucurbitacins, and flavanoids 'cukes can actually provide you with anti-inflammitory and anti-cancer protection, while fiber, a healthy dose of vitamin K, and a high water content keep you regular. Who knew? You can head over to World's Healthiest Foods if you'd like to learn more.

Freshly picked.

I decided to give some to the kids, since I try to sneak vegetables into their diets at every possible opportunity. The girls turned their noses up at it, but they did try it. Pumpkin, however, ran over immediately, pointing and saying, "Sip dat! Sip dat!" I gave him his own in a sippy cup.

After the first sip--I love his face!

 He drank the whole thing. I enjoyed it, too, and found it extremely refreshing on this hot day. So even though the girls didn't like it, I consider it to be a successful recipe.

He decided he liked it, though.

 I have lots more 'cukes on the vine. What is your favorite way to eat a cucumber? I need some suggestions!

Of Melons and Memories

Last night we picked our very first watermelon from our garden! We have been waiting and waiting for it to ripen. Every day, all the kids and I march down to the garden (which is, by necessity, at the very farthest corner from the door as it could be) and check on our watermelon. It is a variety of ice-box watermelon called Sugar Baby, which is a very popular small heirloom variety. It's called "ice-box" because it will actually fit in the refrigerator. We have only one vine, which I am actually growing up a trellis as an experiment because it requires so much less space. I first read about that in Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholemew and it's going well so far. One melon did crash to the ground prematurely, but I suspect that had more to do with bugs that anything else, because two melons are waxing fat and happy, dangling from the top of the trellis.  I'm growing cantaloupes this way, too, and they will fall off the vine when they are ripe, but I actually like that, since my trellises are not too high. I always know when one is ripe without them busting when they hit the ground. Speaking of busting, Darling begged to carry the watermelon back to the house, then immediately dropped it as soon as it was in her hands. I love that girl so much. I couldn't help but laugh. It busted a little bit (you can see it in the picture), but it didn't affect the flavor one bit. :)

It was sooooo juicy. The juice just ran out everywhere when I cut into it. It dripped down little chins and turned little hands sticky and was such a mess to clean up. But a lovely mess, because it was a homegrown mess in every sense. We had such a good time eating it. I taught the kids how to spit out the seeds as they ate. Darling caught on immediately and became an expert seed spitter. Doodlebug had a bit more trouble and the seeds just sort of fell out her mouth (I picked all the seeds out of Pumpkin's melons before giving them to him). I never could get a good picture of them spitting the seeds, but I wish I had been able to. Oh well. I have some blurry ones for my own memories.

When I was a child, my grandparents lived out on some acreage, and they grew watermelons every summer. My aunt, uncle, and cousins would come down and Papaw would put all the melons on ice in preparations. In the afternoons we would gather on the deck and cut open the most enormous, juicy watermelons you've ever seen and pass the salt shakers around. I don't think any watermelons have ever tasted so good as those from my childhood. When we were all done there was a contest to see who could hurl the rind the furthest. I don't think I ever won, not once. I guess hurling watermelon rinds was just not my thing.

As you can see, we completely devoured our watermelon. The kids ate it like it was their last meal on earth. Pumpkin had an enormous pile of rinds in front of him, and he actually gnawed one rind until there was hardly anything left, then carried another rind around with him all over the yard. I guess he was saving it for later. We all felt extremely proud that we grew it ourselves. It makes me happy to think of what a lesson in patience and perseverance (not to mention botany!) this was for them. I hope they will cherish these memories as much as I do. I can't imagine a better way to spend an evening.

In the Still of the Morning

It's been such a long time since I posted on my blog, but I'm trying to squeeze in a few moments for an update before the kids wake up. My life seems to get busier and busier, yet if you ask me what I'm up to, I'll just shrug and say, "Oh, you know! Same ol', same ol'." Why is that? I think it's because Pumpkin is walking (well, running) around like a champ, talking up a storm, and of course he needs to be supervised every single moment or else he's into something.  My life totally revolves around keeping him from hurting himself and keeping him and his sisters stimulated. While that can be summed up in a mere sentence (okay, a compound sentence), it requires every waking moment to actually accomplish. I'm trying to get up earlier in the day to get some time to myself, but it seems like I'm just getting up early to work before I start to work. Do you ever feel that way? I was hoping to get in some good knitting time this morning, but so far, it's a no-go.

Speaking of knitting, there is a store-wide sale going on over at Loop. Ten percent off! I went ahead and ordered some Spud and Chloe Outer yarn in preparation for the new free Outer Baby Blanket pattern that Susan Anderson will post soon. I know it will not be all the yarn I need, but it will be enough to get me started. I find Outer to be a stretch for my small budget, so I have to buy it in increments anyway.

Our garden is producing! We're enjoying plenty of tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and we've had one eggplant so far. There are watermelons and cantaloupes ripening on the vine. Those a I grew vertically on a trellis and am having good results so far! I already have plans for improvements next year. I've found that with gardening (well, with anything) that you really do learn by doing. I've learned more this year with a small Square-foot Garden than I did reading a dozen books on gardening. I think the problem is that you don't know what you need to know until you actually encounter a problem. And once you find the solution, you don't forget it. Or at least you don't forget what didn't work. Sometimes you can't find the solution before it's too late. But there's always next year! For me, I simply did not realize the sheer size the plants grow to. I know that sounds silly, but it's hard to visualize something that you've never seen before. Another thing I learned this year was the absolute importance of keeping cucumbers evenly watered. You don't realize how important it is until you taste a bitter 'cuke! Pest control, surprisingly, has not been a problem. I planted marigolds throughout and they are doing a good job of keeping all kinds of pest away.

I plan to start homeschooling Darling in just a few weeks. I'm just pulling together my last supplies. My girls are very crafty and I have  a few fun craft projects planned to get us going. I've chosen our curriculum. If you're interested, here it is:

Math- Singapore Math, Earlybird Math Standards Edition
Phonics- Phonics Pathways
Handwriting- Handwriting Without Tears
Science- Living Learning Books, Life Science
Language/Literature- Five in a Row

I plan on doing quite a bit of art through lapbooks and crafts that go along with Five in a Row. There are tons of ideas at Homeschool Share and there are new Fold n Learn downloads from FIAR. And I absolutely love the books by MaryAnn Kohl. Our library has quite a few of her books.

I suppose that's all for now. Can you believe it's already Thursday? The days fly by so quickly that I can barely keep track!

Life: Summer Cooking

Tonight, I made the first pot of okra and tomatoes of the season! The onions, garlic, and okra all came from my garden (my tomatoes are hopelessly late this year). It was spectacular! Find my recipe in the recipe box on the left. Next okra recipe to try: gumbo!

Pumpkin can officially crawl, and he is trying to pull up onto his feet. All I can say is: No! No, no, no, no, no! 

I'm taking the kids to Kindermusik this summer, and it is going so well. We're in a class that all three can be in together and they love it! Doodlebug is really coming out of her shell, and even little Pumpkin squeals and smiles at the music. I'm so glad I decided to sign us up.

I took Darling to the library today, and we found tons of pictures books about elephants. We checked out six books. I think we will start doing weekly visits. It was such a nice time together.

A Child's Garden

I have two cherry "Tumbling Tom" tomatoes (one red and one yellow) that I grew from seed planted in $3.00 Lowe's all-purpose buckets on my back patio. The stems are heavy with little green fruits, and my kids and I go to look at them every day, eager for them to ripen. We have little red strawberries ripening in a strawberry pot, and several blueberry bushes with their very first crop of blueberries. They are ripening three or four at a time, and we go pick them and eat them together. I have a poor, suffering raspberry bush which is still in its original container and has yet to be planted, but it is giving me fruits despite its neglect. My oldest daughter, R, picks the ripe raspberries before anyone else has a chance. I also have yet to bring a single sugar snap pea into the house, because she eats them straight off the vine. The other day, she said to me, "It's fun to pick our food when it's ready." At that moment, nothing could have delighted my heart more. I love gardening, and have secretly been hoping that my kids would take an interest in it, too. I never mention gardening because I know if they feel forced to like it, they'll end up hating it. Instead, I just try to let them approach me about it. They'll just be playing the yard, and I'll be digging or weeding, and they come to see what I'm up to, and before I know it, they are digging the holes for my squash seedlings and wanting to see how much the plants have grown over night.

I feel that gardening is the most wonderful hobby to share with children. It is full of important lessons. Not just about where their food really comes from, but also lessons about patience, consistency, and hard work. There is no such thing as instant gratification in gardening...it's all about work up front and delayed reward. Gardening also teaches lessons about planning and working towards a goal. But gardening is more, even than that. It is a subject that directly relates to learning in all areas: young children can learn directly about the weather and how it affects the earth, they can learn basic math by counting how many seedlings you've transplanted, or the number of days until the harvest. They can learn about ecosystems, bugs and birds, predators and prey. Older children can learn about germination, photosynthesis, plant reproduction, even genetics, all by toodling around in the garden. They can practice geometry by helping to build raised beds. Gardening even provides lessons for the right lobe of the brain! I recently read about an idea of a "nature notebook"....a little pad of paper on which children can draw pictures of flowers or bugs they've seen, write descriptions, then take them home and look them up. Even though my girls can't draw very well now, I think they would enjoy that.
Many of my gardening plans have not come to fruition this year, but I'm learning all the time, so hopefully next year will be a very productive one. But big or small, I'm just glad that I can share it with my children.

And speaking of children and gardens, check out A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson (you know, that guy who wrote Treasure Island). It's a collection of wonderful poems for children, usually with beautiful illustrations. I happen to love the illustrations by Tasha Tudor, but there are so many different versions that you can find something to suit any taste.

Things Are Growing In the Garden!

Despite the below-freezing temperatures, there's been some action in my garden. Despite the fact that I got it in the ground appallingly late, my garlic has sprouted! What a joy to see tender green shoots emerging in the middle of winter. In the middle of an ice storm, at that!

And speaking of tender green...My onions seeds are germinating! I started my onion, shallot, and German chamomile seeds this weekend, and some of the onion seeds have already lost their hard seed-coat. Hopefully there will be some green shoots by next week.

I've got an ambitious garden planned this summer, but hopefully it will not be all-consuming. In his book, Square Foot Gardening, Mel Bartholomew promises less work and more harvest. Sounds like a gimmick, I know, but his book has been a best-seller since its publication. Also, before retiring to full-time gardening, Mr. Bartholomew was an--get this!--"efficiency expert".  I love his book. It's full of lots of information. He tells you how to build or get what you need at minimal cost (which is so helpful!), and gives you several options, while telling you which method has given him the most success.

I'm planning a garden of four 4' x 4' squares. This is the minimum we will need to meet our family of six's vegetable needs. I've got lots of things planned, including:

tomatoes (a few varieties)
eggplants (three varieties)
peppers (two varieties)
lots of different greens
radishes
carrots
onions
peas
beans (pole only)
squash (both summer and winter!)
watermelon
and lots of herbs (but mostly in containers)
Nasturtium and marigolds

Mr. Bartholomew promises that you can grow even heavy winter squash and watermelon vertically, so I'm giving it a shot. Both of my varieties, an acorn squash "Table Queen" and an ice-box watermelon, shouldn't be too heavy.

I've also got strawberries that will grow in one of those bags....Off the ground! Hopefully, this will deter pests. And in a new raised bed will be two dwarf blueberry bushes.
I plan on doing lots of succession planting, companion plantings, and inter-planting for the biggest harvest. I've already got an exact planting schedule typed out so I know what to plant each week. We'll see how I do! My biggest fear is just becoming totally over whelmed.

Garden Surprise!

I went out back to feed some rose bushes that were transplanted this summer (not at all a good time to transplant roses, but this was necessary as the bed they were comfortably settled in was being taken out as we re-worked our yard). I discovered that a tomato plant which I had left for dead over the summer has somehow survived....and is producing fruit! There are only 6 green tomatoes on the vine, so it is far from a large crop, but I am almost in shock. I have not even looked at it in months. Probably not since August. And I certainly had no idea that tomatoes could mature in November! This is what I love about gardening: the surprises! I wonder if gardening will hold the same fascination for me once I become more experienced? Right now, I know almost diddly-squat about gardening. Until about a month ago, I couldn't tell you what Zone I lived in. And yet somehow I have fumbled through it all and had a good crop of okra, eggplant, and peppers (which I am currently drowning under. Didn't know peppers would mature in November, either, although they are in the same family as the tomato!), and have now successfully started plants from seed. It makes me feel like a magician: all I started with was a tiny seed and some dirt. But! Combine with water and you get a plant. Amazing!

Quick Garden Update

I've added some new herbs to my garden! Oregano and purple basil, but the chives and catmint that I started from seed have also sprouted! Unfortunately, we've had so little sun for the past two months, that once they sprouted, they barely grew and keeping them alive has been a challenge. We're in for seven days of warm sunshine, though, so I hope they'll be able to grow some more and really get established before we start having frost.

I also started (at last!) my "Lacinato" Kale and "Bright Lights" Chard. I read somewhere that you can just use old egg cartons to start seeds in, so that's what I'm trying! I'm horribly late getting them in (I should have done it back in August/September!) but we really don't get much cold here until December/January, so I think it will be alright for these cold-hardy plants. We'll see, anyway! I had bought some excellent compost from a master gardening at a plant sale, and that's what I've chosen to start them in. I'll update if they sprout!

Also, we've planted some Lamb's Ear in the pot that my oldest daughter painted. It looks so cute! She LOVES its soft texture and silve/green color, and is always wanting to go outside and check on it. I'm glad that it is in a pot, because it is apparently a very hardy, prolific plant (actually, it's a weed) and is known to take over if you're not careful.

Hopefully in the next few days I can get out my camera and actually take some pictures! That would add a lot to these updates, but I just can't seem to think about it until after-the-fact. At least I AM updating my blog!

Late-Summer Garden

I am STILL getting okra from my 8 okra seedlings. And some of it is growing so fast that I can't keep up. I never dreamed it would do so well (note to self: do not plant okra in a 4-foot raised bed next year, as it grows to be 7-feet tall. The resulting 11-foot branches were hard to reach). Also, all my eggplants are coming ripe at once, and we are finally getting substantial peppers! I found the problem to my witherings squash: little white, flat-bodied bugs crawling all over it! They seem to be (thankfully) ignoring everything else, but they were totally immune to my insecticidal soap. Here's what I picked yesterday:

 

It is by no means a huge haul, but I am incredibly proud of it. This is the first year I've actually grown enough to eat all summer. Usually I just have one tomato plant in a pot.