Totschool Yearend Review

Since we are wrapping up our 2019/2020 school year, I thought I'd take some time to review some of our academic experiences. I've always done some form of preschool, which I prefer to call 'totschool'. For our family, it's just a part of our day where the younger children learn basic academics. I prefer to call it totschool, so as to include some of my middle age children who enjoy that time of our day too; but may not want to participate if I called it 'preschool'. This year our totschool included my children who were two, three, five, and seven. 

In years past I have used a variety of different preschool (totschool) systems, most of which included 'calendar books'. These books went over a multitude of different facts. But over time these little notebooks ended up taking upwards of thirty minutes to complete with each child. Now that I'm educating eight children, my time is stretched thin. Even though we lean towards unschooling, I still like to do some form of learning with each of my children each day. After much prayer and research last year I decided to drop our daily calendar books and create a totschool board.

In an effort to explain our tot school program in it's entirety I did a post at the start of this school year; you can fin it here. I titled that post Homeschool Preschool because that's what most people would call that specific type of lessons. Today I'm going to elaborate on what exactly was a success in our totschool program that I custom designed to meet our younger children's academic needs. 

The most important key component was my planner. Y'all that planner was a LIFESAVER!! I've always planned our school years, but this year I went into detail overdrive and planned every single minute detail of our lessons. Since I'm pulled in so many different directions each day it was a huge asset to just open my planner and plug and chug! It was also was great for the few times when I was out of commissions and my husband or one of my older children stepped in to facilitate our totschool lessons.

My favorite part of our totshool was the totschool board. I loved this board so much that I've decided to expound on our board next year ~ well actually I'm going to do two boards. This year's board covered: calendar, counting, shapes, color, letters, alphabet, seasonal song, months, days of the week, and the weather. Next year I'm going to add: skip counting 2s, 5s, and 10s, sight words, number words, seasons, and personal facts like address and phone number. I plan to continue to use our totschool board with the same four children, but Abby Lou will be added to the bunch; yes, even a baby can participate. 

Honestly, there isn't anything I plan to drop from our totschool lesson plan. I feel like after 15 years of homeschooling, I have finally figured out a younger children's academic program that works for our family. If there's one homeschooling truth that I've learned over the years, it's that what works for one family may or may not work for another family. Keep trying new programs or styles and continue tweaking until you can figure out what best fits the needs of your family. 

There was a few components to our totschool program that I hope to improve upon. The first being our table time totschool activities. I have educational toys boxed up which I had planned to rotate each day, unfortunately this did not happen consistently. Second, I was not committed to assembling our weekly sensory boxes. And third was our educational game time, or rather lack thereof ~ sigh. As you can see our totschool wasn't perfect, but we had a goal we were working towards, and I'm confident next year we will further refine our totschool .  

The good thing about homeschooling is it's a never-ending learning process for everyone involved, especially the parents. Sometimes the lesson plans do not go accordingly, but sometimes they do, and that my friends is a really good feeling. There are plenty of extended seasons of homeschooling when nothing goes right. But, when we do experience those rare unicorn moments of success, its those sweet little victories that are at the core of what encourages me to keep on doing whatever it takes to create the best learning opportunities for my children. 

 With another year of homeschooling under my belt, I can say without a shadow of a doubt: I wouldn't change a thing. I'm so grateful for the gift of homeschooling. It truly is a blessing to get to watch my children learn and grow in wisdom and truth. I especially cherish the fun we get to have learning together, whether it's with my younger crew of totschoolers or my older children of highschoolers ~  its all a gift from the Lord.   

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Buying in Bulk

Buying in bulk has been a major blessing to our family over the years. Our first experience with buying in bulk began with just white flour and sugar from Sam's (which at that time was over an hour away). I had zero clue how to cook or bake when I was a young, newly married woman at the ripe old age of 19. It took me a year to come to the realization that I actually wanted to cook and bake, and that I could really enjoy it. It took a couple more years and a couple of babies before I jumped into cooking and baking from scratch, but once I started doing that, I quickly learned it was in our best interest to buy dry goods in bulk. 

As our family grew and we evolved into a more healthier lifestyle of eating, it became more and more practical for us to seek out a bulk co-op company to purchase our dry goods from. Since we live in small-town rural Alabama, finding a co-op company was not that easy. Thankfully, through many hours of searching, as well as networking with other like-minded families, we did finally find a co-op company. That was about eleven years ago. Because of the cost, only once a month delivery options, and the inconvenience of driving an hour to reach the co-op drop-off location; we opt to purchase a one year supply of all our necessary dry good food items.

For our large family (currently 11 living at home) that means we store around 45, 5 gallon buckets (some are 6 gallon buckets) within our home. We do not have a large house. We actually live in a doublewide mobile home. Our house is not a Pinterest house. We make our house work for us. For now our buckets are dispersed in three different closets, stacked three buckets high. We keep smaller containers of everything in our kitchen pantry for daily use. We typically fill our smaller containers once a week depending on the food item, while some may only need to be filled monthly. 

We label the buckets with masking tape and a Sharpie. We do this because often the buckets have to be switched out when we purchase a surplus of one item or another, from year to year. It's super easy to just rip off the tape and put on a new piece, instead of scribbling on the buckets. 

I really don't have an exact science as to how I figure out how much of each item we need to purchase each year. It's kind of just a given that all our buckets need to be filled and I take stock of our inventory before placing our yearly bulk order. Some years we eat more of one certain food item than another and we order accordingly. 

Through trial and error I've learned how many pounds of food fill the buckets. Different food items require different amount of buckets. For instance a 50 pound bag of quick oats fills about two and a half 5 gallon buckets. But a 55 pound bag of seas salt barely fills one 5 gallon bucket. And to be honest I'm still learning! Even with this being our eleventh year for bulk ordering, we ended up being short four buckets, so we will have to order some more. This year we purchased more bulk beans than we have in the past, and I overlooked two full buckets of oats (meaning we didn't really need any ~ sigh, good thing they won't go bad!).

The following list is the bulk dried goods we've ordered over the years. As I've mentioned before, what we order exactly each year depends on what we consume, which fluctuates from year to year. 

Prairie Gold Hard White Wheat Berries

Quick Oats

Old Fashion Oats

Steel Cut Oats

Popcorn

Cornmeal

Brown Rice

Wheat Germ

Flax Seed/ Flax Meal

Spices

Carob Powder

Carob Chips

Raisins

Cranberries

Lentils

Sunflower Seeds

Quinoa

Kidney Beans

Chick Peas

Black Beans

Pintos

Sea Salt

Barley

Yeast

Nutritional Yeast

Baking Powder

We also purchase a year's supply of honey, usually as 'seconds' which means there's some form of condensation in the honey. To us this doesn't matter and allows us to buy the honey at a discounted price. Along with the honey, we buy a year's supply of maple syrup. We buy the maple syrup by the gallons, and four of them usually meets our family's needs for the year. 

The company we use for our dried goods bulk order is from Country Life Natural Foods. We usually place our order around March after we get our income tax returns. This year it took us until the end of April for us to get our order in due to most of our needed items being out of stock. Since we order so much food, we don't usually join in on a group co-op order, our own personal order meets the necessary money quota required for a truck order. 

We order our maple syrup from Branon Maple. 

The honey comes from a local farmer we know. 

We've purchased buckets from several different places over the years, one being Emergency Essentials, but they no longer sell buckets. We have purchased them from Lowe's before too and another online container store; but I honestly cannot remember the name of that company, it was so many years ago and the buckets are not labeled with the company's name. Pretty much any bucket will work as long as it is food grade.

Ordering in bulk has so many benefits, but mostly it helps save our family money and allows us more flexibility to remain committed to eating healthy. Finding some of these items in our local stores is nearly impossible. Without the bulk food suppliers our family would not be able to enjoy such diversity in our healthy eating endeavors. While we do eat plain, simple food, on repeat for the most part, it is a blessing to be able to mix our meals up to some degree. 

There really isn't anything complicated about ordering in bulk. It's just one of those things you have to jump into and learn as you go along. Each family is going to have their own different needs, but I'm confined nearly every family can be blessed by ordering in bulk.

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Conquering Fear

Fear is a poison that can grip anyone during a myriad of circumstances. Confusion, lies, and the unknown can be crippling. The world is experiencing unprecedented fear mongering via fake news and those in power with personal agendas. It's down right hard to stay positive with all 'this' craziness happening right now. Even when it seems like life is spiraling out of control, people can still experience joy-filled lives intertwined with peace within the mind so long as there is the right checks and balances in place. 

The current state of affairs of our world has been more of an inconvenience than an opportunity for worry and fear for our family. We do have some concerns, but none of them are in reference to any sickness. We are more leery of the long-term side-effects from political decisions being made and how they will permanently alter our way of life as a people than anything else. Even with those issues, we ultimately know that none of this has caught God off guard, and He is going to protect and provide for his people.

As a family we are doing our best to rise above the occasion with not letting our circumstances dictate our perspective. It's easy to fall into the pit of despair, but through it all we really can be victorious in Christ. It is through faith that we find our strength to not just survive and endure, but to become empowered and thrive. Fear can always be conquered with faith. When faith is combined with action fear has no opportunity to sink in and take over the mind. Our family has found that as long as we keep our focus on keeping our faith in motion with the following components we are not so easily susceptible to debilitating fear.  

Conquering Fear

• Bible & Prayer: God must be first in our life regardless of any situation we find ourselves in. God desires a relationship with His people and the only way to cultivate a relationship with the Lord is through bible reading and prayer. God's word holds all the truths we will ever need. When we take the time to talk to God and listen to what he has to say, we can truly experience all-encompassing peace. 
• Family & Friends: God did not design his people to live in isolation. Human beings were intended to interact with other humans. While it may be difficult to physically interact with people, we do live in the technological age and almost everyone has a way to communicate, even if it is only by a land-line phone. Be intentional to communicate with other people, a simple conversation with a family member or friend can do wonders to uplift the spirit.
• Routine & Order: When life is chaotic and tumultuous it can be easy to chuck all sense of routine and order. Unfortunately this can continue to reek havoc on the mind's ability to process situations accurately. While old routines may not be feasible, there's nothing wrong with creating a temporary new routine. Living life intentionally and on purpose helps to eliminate chaos while creating an outlet of peace.

No one can control all their circumstances they will experience in life. There will be times when life will seem to be a never-ending emotional roller coaster. Despite these facts, focusing on the things that can be controlled will help to stop fear in it's tracks. God is in control and that is the ultimate source of peace. God is mightier than anyone or anything we will ever face while living on this earth. The Lord has equipped us with everything we need to put our faith into action and conquer fear. Rest easy friends everything is going to be okay.

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Creating a Natural Medicine Cabinet

I shared a little last week about how our family is preparing for lean times, and one way is through building our immune systems. We as a family are intentional with our pursuit of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Some of those practices includes eating mostly whole foods, limiting junk foods such as sugar, overly processed food, and sodas, as well as taking supplements in the form of vitamins and probiotics. While all of these efforts are great, sometimes our family does become sick. When our family does fall ill, we try to treat our ailments as naturally as possible. Which is why we do our best to keep a well stocked natural medicine cabinet. 

Over the years, as our family has evolved in our natural health endeavors, we've also learned how to make our own herbal home remedies. We have been extremely blessed over the years with the combination of our natural medicines and healthy lifestyle, that we've rarely had to visit a doctor ~ which says a lot for a family as large as ours! While many may question the validity of natural medicines, I for one can attest to their amazing healing properties. 

When creating a natural medicine cabinet there are some key elements to be mindful of so that you receive the best results for your time, energy, and money. The following are the steps we have taken to build and maintain our family's natural medicine cabinet.

Creating a Natural Medicine Cabinet 

1. Education: Jumping into herbs and essential oils should never be taken lightly. Anyone who is carrying the burden of being their family's healthcare provider should take it seriously. I have acquired many books over the years regarding natural medicine, which I reference often. It is acutely important to be aware of the health issues each family member has and how different herbs or essential oils will effect those unique situations. Furthermore, it is imperative that any prescription medications or over-the-counter drugs that are being taken are weighed against any natural medicines, because in some instances such combinations can cause problems. I highly recommend researching each natural ingredient you plan to utilize to make sure it is safe for your family's personal needs.
2. Supplies: Acquiring the necessary supplies can take some time. There are some amazing businesses out there providing quality products to those seeking to use natural medicines. One does not need to obtain too many items to begin making natural remedies. Take it slow and gradually add to your apothecary. Every day kitchen items can be used to make herbal concoctions. I like to recycle canning jars and old glass vitamin containers for storing my creations; but you can still purchase containers from different suppliers. Amazon has a wealth of suitable containers that can be used within the natural medicine cabinet. As for herb suppliers I have ordered from Amazon, The Bulk Herb Store, and Mountain Rose Herbs. When it comes to essential oils I prefer Plant Therapy or Rocky Mountain Oils. I'm sure there are plenty more great places to order from, these are just the ones I have personally ordered from.
3. Recipes: Now comes the fun part! Making your natural medicines requires recipes. I strongly encourage you to search out quality recipes. Trust me I have learned the hard way when it comes to using the 'right' recipe for making natural medicines. There are scores of recipes available on line, and much of them I'm sure are creditable; but for me, I prefer to use recipes that come from well-known herbalists and/or naturalists. Remember to pay attention to dosing and research the recommended age of usage. Not all herbs and essential oils are suitable for all ages. When planning for what recipes I need to make, I evaluate what ailments our family is mostly presented with and go from there. The following is a list of afflictions I try to insure we have the proper natural medicines on hand to combat.

Immune Builder

Sore Throat

Cough

Headache

Bowel Issues

Nausea 

Ear Ache

Insect Bite 

Topical Antiseptic 

Anti-itch

There is plenty of other natural medicines we make, but these are the core recipes I try to make sure we have on hand at all times. While I will not deny the value of modern day medicines, I find it is much more feasible and better for our health to try to administer natural remedies before we rush to the doctor to treat our health care needs. There have been plenty of times over the years we've opted to use over-the-counter drugs and even prescription medicines, but for the most part we have been able to use herbs and essential oils combined with a healthy whole foods diet to prevent and treat health issues our family has encountered. 

The following are a few of my favorite natural medicine reference books:

The Green Pharmacy

Mommy Diagnostic

Herbal Healing for Children

While there was a slight learning curve when it comes to using herbs and essential oils, it has been extremely beneficial to our family's health. God has blessed man-kind with amazing natural resources to use at our disposal, it just takes a little time and energy to make the remedies, and use them in lieu of their not-so-healthy counterparts.  No one has to be caught off guard by the ailments of life. We can be prepared and ready to handle them if and when they occur with just a little planning and fun creating with herbs and essential oils. Having a well stocked natural medicine cabinet keeps our family out of the doctors office and equipped with the tools to promote quick healing when faced with health concerns. Time and time again I am so thankful we have learned the art of healing through natural medicine. 

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Preparing for Lean Times

There's no denying it, times are strange and uncertain. Life may or may not ever return to the way it once was. It could be understandably easy to sink into a hole of despair. Or you can do like our family is doing and prepare. Who knows what the future holds. I would like to think one day we will wake up and this insanity called COVID-19 will be a faint memory. But, in all likelihood, there's a good chance, this global shutdown is going to last a while longer and have dire consequences for years to come.

Our family has decided to be proactive and focused on creating solutions to our current concerns than wallowing in self-pity. I'm not going to lie, it's hard for me to keep on keepin' on. Some nights I lie awake sick, thinking about how horrible this world has become, and that I have ten children who have to figure out how to survive in it. But, I know that God is going to use all of this for the good of His people. I also know it would be a major disservice to the Lord, my family, and myself if I remained in a depressed state of mind. Instead, I'm hoping to be an example to my children on how to adjust, pivot, and roll with the punches. We don't have to succumb to this craziness, we can rise above it, and become better people as a whole.

Our family is making some consorted efforts to create practical solutions to help us thrive during this time. We want our children to feel safe and know they do not have to worry how their needs will be met. We want to shelter them from the raging storm whirling around outside our four walls. They deserve it, and my husband and I will do whatever it takes to make sure our children are well protected. The following is a more detailed synopsis of exactly what we are implementing within our family dynamics to help us survive the dire circumstances we currently find ourselves in. 

Preparing For Lean Times

1. Reevaluating Needs vs. Wants:
• Now is not the time for frivolously spending. We are praying through each and every purchase whether food, clothing, or any other item to determine if it is a necessity. 
• We are making purchases which help to reduce our over all spending, such as our new clothe line. 
• We are limiting our shopping in person as well as online, making sure every purchase is an essential item that our family truly needs.
2. Intentional Sustainability:
• We have increased the size of our garden with plants and fruit bearing trees/bushes. We are also pursuing meat chickens and other sources for food supply; such as inquiring of neighbors and friends if they know of outlets where we can find fruit trees to pick from. So far we have found a new free source for crab apples and someone who is getting rid of their canning jars.
• As cliche as it may sound, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is at the core of our daily life. We are reusing everything that we possible can ~ just the other day I salvaged a set of stand alone stairs to use as a planter station for my herbs. ALL leftovers are being eaten. Of course cloth for as many things as possible including diapers and napkins. We are trying to become a no waste family. 
• After a month of searching we were able to place our yearly co-op order. While this does not sustain us indefinitely it will meet our dry goods needs for the next year, reducing our need to purchase these items from stores or online. We've also managed to place our yearly order for maple syrup which we cook with and we're working on our yearly order for honey. All of these bulk purchases safe us money in the long run.
3. Immune Health:
• We are focusing on eating clean. Whole foods to promote a healthy immune system which can ward of disease and infection as well as give us the energy to pursue our many avenues of self-sufficiency.
• We are removing as many toxic substances as possible from our home from cleaning products to beauty products. There was a time we had minimal of these items, but I guess you could say I became negligent. I feel now is just as good as any time to get back on that band-wagon, it's really not that hard and it's certainly more affordable.
• We are making sure we have a decent stock of herbs, essential oils and vitamins to help combat ailments. We have always done this, but I guess you could say we are upping our game. We haven't been to the doctor for sickness in so many years I couldn't even tell you exactly the last time. But, the key on this one is to be proactive with necessary supplies so that when there's a need to treat a health situation, you are prepared.

Ultimately, God is in control. But, we can be used by God to fulfill His will. Having a plan and being intentional to work towards those goals is a much more positive way to use our time these days; rather than just hiding inside worrying. It is my deepest desire that throughout these crazy times our family would uphold God's word, look for the Lord's wisdom and knowledge, and not be wasteful with our time here on Earth. We are alive for a reason. None of *this* has caught God off guard. He is still in the business of providing for His people and He will continue to do so until the end of time.

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer 

Freedom Rally

Our family had the privilege of visiting our state capitol where we participated in a Freedom Rally this past Saturday. We met up with some dear friends to caravan the two hours it took to get down to the capitol. Thankfully, it was an absolutely gorgeous spring day in the South!

Anytime we venture out of the house, especially when the trip is going to be longer than just a jaunt around town, it is an event!  A day trip of necessities for us is like what most people would take on a week long vacation, lol. We have two diaper bags, a change of clothes for my five year who almost always gets carsick, and of course food. It takes a lot of planning and preparation for us to go on a day trip. But this adventure was one for the books and one I will always remember. 

We brainstormed as a family to come up with the best rally signs. Since the only stores open to buy craft supplies was Walmart and Dollar Tree, we were unable to find large markers so we had to paint the signs, which took about four hours to make four signs. Sheesh, talk about a lot of work, but we were all pleased with how well they turned out and we even received complements on them. The camaraderie was amazing at the rally and we were able to share our signs with others to use once our younger crew got tired of holding them.

It took a little while for us to actually find where the rally was located, but we managed to get there on time even if we did have to walk a fairly long way from where we parked. As we were walking up to the gathering, one of the other protestors had a nasty fall. An elderly lady missed the curb and fell and smacked her head on the sidewalk. She had a horrible gash on her head as well as terrible swelling to her face. The paramedics came to patch her up, be she opted to stay for the rally. Talk about an encouragement in patriotism! One of her family members was treating her wounds with essential oils which let me know she was in good hands. (Love it when I see folks who know how to use natural medicine.)

There was a decent amount of people at the rally. People from all walks of life passionate about preserving the Constitution of the United States, pleading for the reopening of Alabama. People who want to work and to choose how they protect themselves and their family from illness. Several news outlets were there taking pictures and videos. There were even people protesting the protest. There was a strong police presence. They seemed nice and did not interfere, they even stopped traffic when the rally finished with a march up and down the sidewalks on the road where the rally was located. 

We had plenty of opportunities to explain to our children a myriad of different subjects. From what people meant by their signs, to why people were protesting the protest. It was a perfect homeschool field trip. We engaged in conversation with several different families. We shared our stories and why we were there, and what we hoped to achieve by attending the rally. It was amazing to see so many young folks there as well as family's with children. We all have a stake in this country and desire to see it moving again.

Brent Sheridan was sharp on the megaphone at the rally. He definitely managed to capture the heart of the message we all desired to make clear. Our country is not facing a health crisis but a Constitutional Crisis. We value our freedoms and hope to preserve them at all costs.

The rally lasted an hour. We had planned for a picnic lunch which we had packed the night before, unfortunately we forgot it in the chaos of getting out the door. {{Goran}} There was a fun little family owned cafe on the road where the rally was held. They let us use their bathroom a couple of times during the rally for our little kiddos who just couldn't 'hold it'. My husband promised we would come back and purchase lunch from them. 

Apparently the cafe owners didn't believe him, because when we returned to buy our lunch, they said they were shocked to see us back. My husband responded with he was a man of his word. Sadly we live in a day and age where people don't mean what they say. It is one of our deepest desires to teach our children to keep their word. Their character means something, and when you say you're going to do something, you do it. Children learn best by watching what we do.

The Alabama Capitol is absolutely beautiful. We arrived early enough that we had time to walk around and explore. The government buildings were gorgeous with emmaculant grounds. We've never been to the capitol before, but our brief experience this go-around is enough to encourage me to plan a trip down there just to explore the buildings. 

It's an unusual time for our country. Unprecedented measures have been taken to revoke Constitutional rights from the American people. While we understand there are people sick and dying, there is never an excuse to void the Constitution. Removing the ability for Americans to work and provide for their family's is unacceptable. It's time we all worked together as a united front to reach a solution that values all humanity as essential and not just a few. 

It was truly an honor to be able to express our Constitutional right to assemble and protest the current state of affairs. Lord willing it will not be too much longer before the masses realize we don't have to sacrifice anyone to effective disengage this 'silent enemy'.

With Love and Hope,

Jennifer

2020 Spring Planting Season

This year's spring planting season has been an eventful one to say the least. For as long as I can remember we have planted the second week of April. This year we went along with those same plans, only this year we've experienced some unusual weather. 

First we had nonstop rain, so much so that we could not plant any of our late winter plants or seeds.  Even though we didn't get the potatoes or onions planted in late winter like they were supposed to be, we decided to go ahead and get them in the ground (late) and pray for the best. 

Then we've had some unusually cold temperatures which have killed many of our plants. We've had to replant quite a bit of our tomatoes and peppers. We thought we'd lost our entire patch of sweet potatoes, but a fellow gardener informed us that they are growing just fine. Apparently the cold kills the leaves above ground, but the vines below are still growing. Lord willing that is the case, because sweet potatoes are one of my most favorite foods to grow.

We start the majority of our plants from seed either in recycled food containers or directly into the soil. We do buy some plants from the store such as tomatoes (not all of them, some tomatoes we start from seed), eggplants, peppers, and sweet potatoes. 

We've found that a lot of seeds that we'd normally plant directly into the soil do better if we plant them into small pots first and then once they get a good start, we transplant them into the soil. Those seeds include: yellow squash, zucchini, pumpkin, butternut squash, cucumber, some watermelon, and cantaloup.

Thankfully, even though we got our red and white potatoes into the ground late, they seem to be growing great. We planted four nice long rows, Lord willing we will have a nice harvest. We also have four great looking rows of green beans coming up. It's been a few years since we've had a decent harvest of green beans, but we're determined and we aren't giving up. We've yet to run out of them throughout the year, but we do have to ration them. It would be so wonderful to get a bumper crop of green beans this year.

We planted about a dozen rows of sweet corn. Our first planting had some skips in the rows so we've already gone back and replanted where some of it did not come up. We're hoping to put up ears of corn in the freezer as well as can corn. It's been a few years since we have had to can corn, but our supply is running low and it's time to restock. It's fairly labor intensive canning corn, but it's worth it once the job is done and we've got it to use whenever we want. 

We try to be as resourceful as possible with what we use in our gardens, with the intentions to keep the cost at a minimum. We stake our tomatoes and bell peppers using cages made with rhubarb fencing, a pole (sometimes we use a good thick stick), and zip strips. It may not be the most esthetically pleasing contraption, but it gets the job done. Our focus is to grow as much food as possible with the least amount of financial impact. 

We still have a good bit of planting left to do. It's still too cold for the plants that prefer hotter temperatures. In a couple of weeks we will be planting the watermelon, cantaloup, and okra. We will also plant another six or so rows of corn, to help stagger the harvest. From now until the end of August we're going to be full on, full-time gardening, picking, and preserving. Busy yet fulfilling days ahead to say the least.

To recap what we currently have planted:

Corn

Field Peas

Tomatoes

Bell Pepper

Hot Pepper

Red/White Potato

Sweet Potato

Pumpkin

Butternut Squash

Eggplant

Zucchini

Yellow Squash

Green Beans

Onions

Cucumbers

I try not to think about everything we have planned ahead of us in regards to the garden, because I would probably panic and have a melt down. In the long run it is a lot of work, but if we just remain focused on one harvest at a time, it doesn't seem like nearly as much work. Plus, when the main gardening season comes to a close and we have freezers and jars full of food to eat, it makes all the long days of hard work worth it.

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer