Just Checking In

Hello, hello! I'm sorry to have been away for a week and a half, but I swear, life be cray-cray around here. As most of you know, I've been working on my fiction writing. With a single-minded determinedness on that, I've been enduring all my other chores, chomping at the bit to write more. The story is coming along well. I'm at the point where I've decided to muck it all up. It was a short, sweet story and but now, plot changes are a-coming. Today should be a much slower day than the last couple, so I'll have plenty of time to work today.

A Day In the Life: April 2017

I haven't done a "Day in the Life" post in forever (since February of 2013!!), so today I thought I'd have some fun. I'm also changing the format of the traditional "Day in the Life" post, just cause I can 😜

I woke up yesterday with the intention to blog. It was one of those mornings where I felt completely uninspired and couldn't come up with anything to say. I wrote out a post and then I reread it. Even I was bored. Deleted. One of my intentions since coming back from my break was to share quality work, not just sharing work for the sake of sharing. So I decided to take the day off from posting. To work in the garden. To do some yoga. To enjoy my pups. It was then that I had the idea to do a "Day in the Life" post so I decided to take some pictures throughout the day.

Oh yes, it's definitely time for a fun post! Let's get started-

Canaan 2017

Hello friends! I know it's been awhile and that was definitely not my intention. The hubby and I were staying in West Virginia with his family with no Wi-Fi. Then, as soon as we got home, I got a cold. Drat! As such, I've been feeling foggy, achy, and completely stuffed up. I haven't felt like writing, except to text the hubby to ask him for more soup or another box of Kleenex 🍜🤒

Backyard Update!

Yesterday I shared some pictures on my personal FaceBook page showing the backyard update, so now it's time to share the pictures with the rest of the blogosphere! We (and by we, I mean the hubby) have worked our butts off on the yard, and it has paid off. I am so incredibly pleased with the yard. 

So, for a reminder, here's what the backyard looked like in December of 2012:

Summing up May: 2016

Another month, in the books.

Ah, I know. I'm a bad blogger. I was supposed to get this posted yesterday, but I had urgent garden affairs to attend to. Some of my tomato starts had become root-bound and were starting to die. They had to be transplanted immediately. All is well though. The best of the starts are moved, I've gotten a wee-bit sunburned, and I'll just post my monthly wrap-up today. 

May's weather left something to be desired. It was an extremely rainy month. We've had a huge pile of dirt in our yard for most of the month, waiting for dry weather, just itching to be moved into future flower beds. We're also tapping our feet for the yard to dry out so we can get in and build our fence. Thankfully the end of May was not too wet, and we were able to get the flower beds out front done. Hopefully by the time I write my June wrap-up, the side and back flower beds will be done and the fence will be installed. In the meantime, let's look at the front flower bed-

April, Abbreviated: 2016

It's May, you guys. How is it May? Almost half the year is gone already! On the plus side... it will be summer soon. Outside, the trees all have leaves or are actively growing new ones, the weeds have bloomed, the wasps are out *grumbles*, and we are on the cusp of humidity here in NE Kentucky. Yes, it is currently that short, maybe 2-week period we have here where the weather is warm and sunny, but the humidity is low. Because when the humidity kicks in, whew, it's tough to be outside in the afternoon. The garden is growing by leaps and bounds, to my delight. It also appears our bees have decided to stay. What I can I say? April kicked ass. Let's summarize the whirlwind that was last month-

From New Construction to 3 Years

December 2012

3 years.

Well, technically it's been almost 3.5 years. But I digress. Can you believe it's been almost 3.5 years since I've done an update on the state of the homestead? Mercy. I thought we'd take some time today to remedy that. 

In case you were wondering, you can find the link to that old update here.

But for now, let's talk 3 years in!

Autumn in Kentucky: October 2015

Hola! I'm here with a Saturday post to show you some beautiful October leaves here in Kentucky.

This (above) was the view of the road right after leaving my house. That is, until the leftovers of Hurricane Patricia went through the area, viciously taking down those oh-so-gorgeous October leaves we had going on. Well, boo to you Hurricane Patricia. We were having the most beautiful fall that I can remember around here. 

That could be because 2 years ago, we spent October in Oregon and last year we spent the last 2 weeks of October in Mexico... Hmmm...

At any rate, the hillsides have been awash of gold and red, with the occasional evergreen poking out here and there. If I were to go back and take pictures today (these were taken last weekend), everything would look vastly different. Plus, they would all be gloomy and gray and who wants to look at those right??

What I Learned In My 2nd Year of Gardening

Well, I think it's time.

I officially put the garden to bed yesterday. Actually, I did most of the work on Friday before our first heavy frost. I was at the gym, walking on the treadmill, minding my own business when the local garden guy came on the news. He advised getting any vegetables you might have in the garden, out of the garden before the cold weather. I still had a few tomatoes and peppers on the vines, so I got to work. 

I pulled the last few green tomatoes, and put them in closed paper bags in the basement. They'll be ripe in a couple of weeks, and that will be a nice treat. I pulled up the tomato and pepper plants, and added them to the compost. 

Metamorphosis

What? Another Sunday post? Are you guys lucky or what?? :)

Truth be told, something magical happened at the homestead this summer that I just had to share. I introduced milkweed to my garden for the first time this year, and I was rewarded with butterflies. 

Lots and lots of butterflies.

Oregon 2015

Oh my goodness. I took quite the break!

It's been more than a month since my last post. And let me tell you, time off did me good. I definitely feel invigorated and refreshed. The hubby and I got back from our Oregon trip on Thursday night, but it's taken me a while to find my bearings. It always feels like that coming back from vacation. However, the house is back in order, the laundry is all done, the fridge is stocked with veggies- which means it's time to get back to writing. 

May in the Jarrell Garden

-plus an announcement!

Good morning, and happy Wednesday!

I know I've been away all week, and I apologize. It's been a fairly busy sort of week, between getting the garden going, keeping up with the lawn, and oh yeah, raising a puppy that's new to the homestead. I just wanted to share how the garden is looking at this oh-so-early time of year-

Spring 2015 aka Chipmunkpaloosa

Hello from Kentucky this wonderful Tuesday morning!

I'm not so sure about the wonderful part, since I've gotten up early for an appointment plus it's raining. But, to look on the bright side-

1. I got to see a big frog this morning, since it's raining. Just chilling on the driveway, enjoying the early spring rise in temperature.

2. I don't have to water anything I planted over the weekend. 

My 2015 Goals

It's time to talk change. Self-improvement. Growth. You know, all that stuff that we humans loathe to do. I, myself, am a highly self-motivated person. When I set a goal, I work hard to get there. As such, I thought before I laid out my 2015 goals that we would see how I did on last year's goals.

My first goal was to run a 10k. Accomplished! I ran my first 10k in August. It was extremely hilly and my time wasn't the best, but I did it.

Me and the hubby at the Cincinnati Beer Run in May 2014.

Lately: Fall 2014

Happy Sunday!

I thought I'd throw in an extra post this week, just for fun. Plus, it's Sunday morning and I don't have much else to do. The hubby worked last night and as such, is snoring lightly while he naps on the couch next to me. The dogs must be exhausted from guarding the house all night in the hubby's absence because they are passed out as well. Why not sneak in a little blogging time while the rest of the house slumbers? Here's what's been going on lately-

The hubby was synching his phone to the computer after the latest IOS update, and we discovered he had a bunch of photos from when my parents came to visit. I thought I'd share a couple that he took. This one is one of my favorites. Am I a baby? Or a turkey? I can't decide. 

Dad signing the Oregon plate at Hillbilly Hot Dogs.

Family baseball night. Dad making contact with the ball.

This picture makes me laugh, I'm not sure what I'm doing. The hubby commented that I look like I'm doing the Heisman poise. Maybe??

We've still got Sam the Cat living out back. He's gained a decent amount of weight, and still doesn't appear to be leaving the yard. He's become a backyard fixture, I've gotten quite used to him. He's such a good natured cat. I still wonder where he came from.

He loves the sun, he loves to play, and he especially loves rolling around on the cement of back porch. He's not so fond of the dogs, who still haven't learned proper cat socialization yet. Surprisingly, Gizmo is adjusting faster than Haloti. 

But Gizmo still loves to watch Sam out the back door and bark at him. I haven't shook him of that habit yet.

Well, it's fall here so the garden is pretty much done. I say pretty much because I still need to gather what green tomatoes are left and then compost the plants. I've turned what's left of the lettuce out to the wildlife, all the jalapeños have been picked, and my tomatoes look like this-

Pretty much just brown vines. I learned so much this year. I know when to seed next year. I know what I want to grow next year. I know what pests and diseases (ahem, the spotted cucumber beetle, blight, the tomato hornworm, to name a few) I need to combat next year. I'm armed with a list of helpful plants to grow around my garden to attract the right predators. I'm ready, I'm excited, and...  it's still October. In other words, a looooooong ways from Spring :)

One thing I learned this year was the best way to grow cilantro, for us. I started the summer with cilantro starts. I bought 3 and planted them in a row. This wasn't enough cilantro, as I exhausted that supply with 3 batches of salsa. Next, when I went to plant, I only dug 5-6 small holes and dropped a few seeds in each hole. This technique didn't produce enough cilantro for me either, I used it all up with 2 harvests. I finally took a large pot and dumped half a seed packet in the dirt. This resulted in a large, full pot of cilantro. Within 3 weeks. Next year, I'm going to plant a pot and then stagger more pots throughout the summer. The basil and cilantro were the herbs I went to the most. In fact, the herb garden is still going pretty strong-

It's not really starting to brown, either. I love that my herbs are still right out there. Well, except for the basil. I used all that up about a month ago. Which means, the bottom tier of my herb garden is just dirt. One might think it's just dirt, right? Nothing exciting about that. I thought that too, until I looked out in the yard one day and saw this squirrel-

He was furiously burying nuts in yard. All over the yard. I watched him for quite a while. Since I was inside, I wasn't able to get an awesome picture of him, unfortunately. I was shocked when I watched him jump right into the herb garden and start digging where the basil used to be.

Later that day, the hubby and I went to check out the herb garden. The hubby couldn't resist trying to find the hickory nut the squirrel buried in there. To our surprise, we did find it. At the very bottom. The bottom is about 2 feet down, by the way. We couldn't believe how deep the squirrel was able to bury that nut. Crazy! We re-buried the nut, and had a good chuckle over the incident. 

The hubby loves pugs, so I couldn't resist getting this picture to send to him. I was at my sister-in-law's house for her birthday, while the poor hubby had to work. She was dog-sitting for her friends who happened to be out of town. That's a big puggy smile, if you ask me :)

I participated in a 5k last weekend that was my very first trail race. I actually had no idea that it was going to be a trail race, because I'd ran it the year before when it was very much not a trail race. I learned the night before it was a trail race, and I'd chose to make the best of it. I hadn't done any training on trails, mainly because there are none around here, but my plan was to take it slow. Make the best of a bad situation, I told myself. And that's exactly what I did, because I ended up getting 1st in my age group and earning my first medal! It's been a goal of mine to earn a medal, so I'm very proud.

I think I mentioned that the hubby's birthday was last week, and we had the whole family over for cake and ice cream. Here's the whole crazy group, complete with vacant, unhinged gazes.

See what I have to deal with?  :)

I hope you are enjoying your weekend! Have a great week!

Mid-August in the Jarrell Garden

Hola! Happy Monday y'all :)

I missed updating the garden at the beginning of the month, but better late than never right? I just finished reading one of the blogs I follow and she was mentioning she's coming up on the last of her tomatoes. What??? Mine haven't even started yet. Everything in my garden is just starting to produce. 

-Hold the press. Just Googled this. It's apparently common for new gardeners to get nervous by the amount of green tomatoes hanging out on the vine this time of year. They will ripen. Eventually. I think I just have different varieties of tomatoes. 

Why won't my tomatoes ripen?

Our garden path is finished! I just love it! It's so nice to be able to head out to the garden first thing in the morning and not have to worry about getting my shoes getting wet. Awesome sauce!

The raised bed tomatoes. Just for comparison, here's a picture of when we first planted those:

Yeah, I'd say those tomatoes have taken off! Plus, they have HUGE tomatoes on the vine-

Come on, ripen! :)

All the container tomatoes are doing pretty good. Even the Charlie Brown Christmas tree! I went psycho on it and hacked it up. Hacked it up good. I cut practically everything off of it, and now, it's coming back quite nicely. Plus, everything that has come back is green!

Romas on the vine...

Funny story. My pepper plants? Both have turned out to be jalapeño. I now have 3 jalapeño plants, and no other pepper plants. I'm puzzled as to what happened. I obviously mixed up some seed packets. Better labeling next year! In the meantime, anyone need any jalapeños???

I'm actually scared by the number of jalapeños on this plant :)

The cabbage appears to be making a head, so we'll see what we end up with at the end of the summer. 

Lettuce and Chard. This box is crazy. I've harvested the chard quite a few times and it just keeps growing back stronger than before. I'll definitely be growing chard again next year.

Cukes. I'm pretty sure I've been battling the cucumber beetle all season. Next year's goal will be to eradicate these damaging little bugs. I've been spraying the plant down with garlic and cayenne oil, which seems to be helping some. But not 100%. While the cucumbers might not look as pretty as I want, they still taste amaze-balls. 

Let's talk organic gardening, shall we? I saw this extremely strange site in my tomato plants. Upon first glance, I assumed it was a mass of insect eggs on a leaf. NO! This is a parasitized tomato hornworm. A braconid wasp laid it's eggs all over this hornworm. When the eggs hatch, they eat the hornworm and the hornworm dies. These hornworms are extremely detrimental to your tomato plants, so these wasps are a gardener's best friend! If you see this in your garden, leave it alone! These wasps also prey on aphids, beetles, and other bugs that destroy your plants. My favorite part about these crazy wasps? They don't have stingers! My new best friends :)

Organic Gardening and Tomato Hornworms

The herb garden. My 2 cents?

1. Why haven't I moved that mint? Insanity :)

2. Wow, that basil needs to be harvested.

I'll wrap this post with a picture of my favorite gardening partner :)

Have a great week friends!

Mid-July in the Jarrell Garden

Not bad for a first harvest!

I can't believe it's Wednesday already, and I've yet to post this week. Eek. The hubby and I had a great time in Cincinnati over the weekend. It was sunny, relaxing, and just the fix we needed to recharge our batteries. So relaxing, in fact, I couldn't be bothered with my blog. Until now. I do have recipes to share this week, but first I'm going to share what's been going on in the garden. Cucumbers and tomatoes are starting to ripen, and I'm even going to have jalapeños this week! 

The hubby and I have been working slowly on landscaping. Here's one of our weekend projects- dwarf spruce's. I'm proud to say we planted these in our own compost!

I keep finding these giant moths around the house. They creep me out, big time.

The hubby and I finally got some chairs and a little table to put on the front porch.

The garden is starting to look a little greener and bushier. 

The path continues...

My gardening partner :)

The raised bed tomatoes are starting to take off.

As is the raised bed cabbage.

The chard and lettuce continue to grow...

Last week, my roma tomatoes started to look a little worse for wear. I think they got a little root-bound, so I transplanted them into bigger pots. I also read an article about using straw to combat blight, which is the problem I think I'm having. Every plant I've surrounded with straw at the base looks healthier. 

Even my Charlie Brown Christmas Tree! The new growth on this plant looks extremely healthy. If you are combatting blight this year, separating the soil from the plant leaves with straw might be an option for you. The theory behind straw in the garden is that it keep fungus from the soil from splashing onto your plant leaves while watering the garden, a process that can introduce blight to your plants. No bueno. The straw has been a fantastic (and cheap!) fix.

The Charlie Brown Christmas Tree has even started producing new fruit!

The green pepper has been growing by leaps and bounds. I'll have tiny blossoms within the week on this one.

My zucchinis were starting to get blossom-end rot, so I had to transplant them as well. I'm afraid it too was a little root-bound. We moved it into a bigger pot, and fertilized it with plenty of calcium.

This tiny zucchini continues to grow, so I think the transplant was successful.

The cucumber has started climbing (and almost outgrown) it's 2nd trellis. 

I should be able to pick this guy in a couple of days!

The cilantro is coming along amazingly well.

Lavender...

Grasshopper hunter :)

Let. Us. In!

Happy Wednesday friends! I'll be back tomorrow with recipes!

Interesting Articles:

Control of Tomato Blights in the Home Garden

Zucchini Growing Problems

Saturniidae Moths