GARDEN REPORT - NYE final report

by Robin

What does this have to do with New Year's resolutions? Well, not much except for the fact that I do want to garden smarter this year. I'm in the 2nd year of gardening in Central FL and I hope that I've learned from some of last year's issues:

* plant much sooner!
* don't use those peat moss cups inside. Go straight to the ground.
* take advantage of misplaced babies and do your transplanting on cool days.
* don't fret that seedlings don't mature to harvest in 63 days while doing a fall planting & daylight is decreasing in FL. Those are ideal conditions for those who are planting as the sun period is increasing.
* take advantage of those days where you're 10 deg above normal! We had approx 13 days above average in Central FL this month.
* cut new garden space in Dec-Feb.
* always add new dirt, compost, old leaves to garden to help with nutrients. We have a huge amt of oak leaves in Dec that can make great natural mulch/fertilizer.
* buy additional sprinklers for dry/fire season in April. It is crucial at the point where the plants are finally producing fruit.
* carrots are a waste of my time & garden space. They don't like sandy loam and they come out strange and short. Buy carrots.

Here is what I planted this week while we were around the 80's:
Beans- Kentucky Wonder, Rust resistant
Sweet Bell Peppers - seeds from last year's red, green, chocolate and yellow varieties
FL speckled lima beans (pole variety)
Evergreen bunching onions
Spinach - long stem

Here's what have already growing & blooming:
Leeks - American flag
More bunching onions (different ages)
Beans - Kentucky Wonder (leggy & sparse, so I put more in for early spring harvest
Yellow Onions - Sweet Spanish & Hybrid Granex - Most of these died but hopefully I have some left by spring
Tomato- Burpee's big boy hybrid
Cherry Tomatos- hurricane transferred plants that are WONDERFUL!
Cucumber - Straight Eight (not doing as well as my spring ones did). Must find more seeds!
Lettuce- Iceberg A - Crisphead
Jalapeno, serrano, cayenne & anaheim hot peppers
Sage, thyme (coming back from death), flat-leaf Italian parsley, Rosemary, Sweet basil, 1 lone Cilantro stalk.

We will be enjoying Zinneas this year as well. I love cutting flowers! I hope they survive this heat.

Now........ onto the pictures. I apologize for not having pictures of Garden #2. I took them but then they never were uploaded before I erased them. It's ok. Not much was growing there, so I will take more pics when the seedlings pop up. I put approx 50 Sweet Bell Pepper seeds in the ground!

I love new life. Let's look at the blooms happening around the yard:

Okra (looks similar to a hibiscus)


Cucumber (all males)

Another boy (I had only 1 female and I didn't get to pollinate her before I noticed she was there.)


Pole bean


Big boy Tom (cherries are blooming too)


Some vine on my trellis. Poor thing is eaten up with bugs, aphids likely.


Next, I'd like to post up some pics of Garden 1 since I worked a long time here last weekend. I pulled my mature spinach, ate them for dinner and then potted many parsley & sage babies to give away as gifts. It opened up 2 sections for plantings. I also did pruning & shaping of the herbs.



It's hard to believe that this entire right side of the garden will be one big green mass like it was last spring. I was feeding my family & the church with 2 cherry tomato plants last year. I purposely planted 6 so that I could give out many more. It was hard to manage but I hope it blesses a lot of hungry families. I also have more Okra than space allows but am leaving it all in place until the strong kill off the weak. Again, I'm hoping to bless others with fresh okra. I am not sure what is going in the lettuce spot in another month or so.



Here are the tomatoes from Feb 08


My adult parsley is on the verge of dying. It looks good here but is wilting terribly the past few days. It may have reached its prime so I left plenty of her babies for future harvesting. Thyme worries me. It is barely hanging in there but I wonder if it was the chickens that nearly killed it last summer. I am praying for a better harvest of spinach for winter/ spring. My fall crop yielded only 3 plants (thanks chickies & puppies).




Here is Garden #3, cut at the last minute in spring 08. It was one of those scary, unused parts of my yard. We got a lot of cucumbers & peppers from this area this year. I will need to replant my cukes as soon as I locate seeds. For whatever reason, I start off with a wonderful bunch of seedlings but something happens at this stage. Maybe it is the cool winter fronts. I do have to start soon because bugs will be in full force by May. All my spring squash died so I changed to beans this year. I'm getting a handful of beans at a time, but I need more to feed the family. I guess I should be patient through the winter.


Our bananas almost pulled the tree over with all the wind, so I trimmed all that this week too. Jack tells me they will never ripen because we're not over 70 deg year-round. Hmmmm..... these are more like minis anyhow, not full-size.


Don't let it fool you. They're hard as rocks! It snapped like a carrot.

FISHERMEN can BAKE too!

by Robin

On my other blog about fishing and food related to our catches, I posted up some pictures of Jack cooking seafood . He is an excellent cook in the kitchen. It is no secret that I am not. I'm decent and I love a good recipe BUT, it is not second nature to me. Jack inherited his ability to cook from his mama, who can literally pull leftovers and flour out of my pantry & frig and make an entirely new gourmet meal. This is not my gift. My gift is painting that conch shell over the oven.

(Mom, don't look at the shirt......at least flour comes out easily.)


It does look as if both my boys have inherited Jack's love for cooking. I've posted in the summer them cooking eggs. They love to make garlic bread and put together their own sandwiches. Oh and my little man (9yo) would be lost if he couldn't make macaroni & cheese once a week. And I believe that sifting flour has become a new favorite thing. (Sorry about the flash vs bowl issue. Um.... and don't look in the sink.)



Each year, they insist on an entire day of baking Christmas cookies. How could I say no?


I have deeper thoughts about how this makes good training for their future wives. (Shhhhh, don't tell them that.) Below, my little one is now only making Thumbprint cookies. This was my great Aunt Alice's recipe. He's rolling the dough in walnuts.


I even have taught them to run the washing machine, dryer and fold laundry. "Train them up in the way they should go....", right? Below, Simon Peter gets the priviledge of making the thumb prints, which will hold the jam.


Definitely use chunky jams or preserves. I love getting whole pieces of strawberry in with my walnuts. These are pictured below pre-baking. They are so deadly post-baking that I can't even show you a photo. One stick of butter per dozen.


When my sisters and I were little, we used to get these fun jobs too. Moms should always let their kids in the kitchen!! Remember that saying, "Give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach him to fish and he'll eat a lifetime."

Hope you all had a blessed Christmas.

RAISING an Engineer?, not just FISHERMAN....

7:15 am -Saturday morning, heading over the Indian River, on the Beachline to Merritt Island. I cannot lie. It was a perfect day to fish, but..... must. stay. on. task.



A little team anticipation prior to the first run.


"Are you ready to go?"


This ended up being post-2nd run. The Judges are adding up the points. The boys are there to answer any questions or defend their run. They must also reset the table up prior to leaving.


It was this boy's first time competing in the performance runs. He knows it was good, but how good?



Oh man!!! It was good!! His Dad gave him a huge celebratory hug as soon as they cleared the table.


Somebody else was pretty happy with his run too. Simon Peter was the "assistant"who attaches & detaches parts. He keeps the lead "button pusher" focused and reminds him of the tasks.


Yes!!!!! We got 205 pts and it boosted us up to 1st place in performance. Oh... by a mile.


1:30 Break. Time to rewrite the words to Jingle Bells. There is less pressure because their Research, Technical and Teamwork judging is over as well. Three runs to go.


A couple runs later..... we're still on top with the best of 5 runs.


There was a long wait while the judges deliberated & counted points. The kids lines up to work the controls of a high school team robot.


I'm not sure of its mission, but it was fast.


Much later, the Thunderbricks team goes up for their certificates & judge score sheets.


Here was our emcee, who worked hard all day. The hand-made trophies are behind her.


Ack!! Then we were called for the first trophy of the day. 1st place Robot Performance. This is the reward for the 205 pts at the mission table. They are in awe.


Say cheese kids!!!


No....look at ME. Not your parents. haha. (There is one that never smiles.)


We wait and more trophies are given out for other categories, but then, the Grand Champions are announced. And the winner is............ Thunderbricks!!! GC's are picked for having done the best in a combined point scoring for Peformance, Research, Teamwork, and Technical knowledge.



They came a long way, learning from past judges comments. They have worked hard with gracious professionalism, too. There is so much that goes into a Lego League competition. First, you need to start with excellent coaches and that is something we have. They are organized, competitive and very patient teachers. I don't know how they do it with 5 twelve yr old boys for 6 hrs a week in their home. The hardest thing to command is for the boys to be serious. That isn't an easy task. LOL





I couldn't be more proud of my fisherman.... er..... engineer. He loves to build & program.

JOY

to the World, the Lord has come. Let earth, receive her King!!!
Let every heart, prepare Him room.....

I pray that each of you is taking the time to slow down and enjoy the holiday season. Joy is not in THINGS. It's in YOU. Have you made Him room in your heart? He's the true joy-giver.

Merry Christmas,

Robin

WHAT CAN I GIVE HIM??

By Christina Rosetti

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and *** and camel
Which adore.

Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air,
But only His mother1
In her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.

Our Company

by Robin

We had company last weekend and I never did post up a proper picture of my friend, Pam and her son, Chad. We met probably over decade ago at church. She changed Simon Peter's diapers when he was a baby. (Shhhhh) We worked a lot of pre-school duty together and enjoyed a couple Ladies' Night Out too. She was there for my good-bye dinner before we moved away and still calls to check on me during hurricanes. Pam, I love you girlfriend!! Thanks for being such a great friend.




Here we are at the FIRST Lego League competition in Rockledge, FL.

IN OUR SPARE TIME....

by Robin

..... as if homeschooling fishermen had spare time..... especially during a busy holiday week..... while trying to recuperate from having colds..... and making fingerfood for 3 different parties this week.....

The boys decided to build a castle from special cards that Nana sent them for Christmas. They had plenty of downtime during songs at the rehearsal last night, so this was a perfect (& quiet) escape for them. Thank you Nana!!! This is a great gift idea.


I had only 6 hrs of sleep last night when Jack's alarm went off. After getting him up & out the door (twice), I thought I'd try to finish sleeping. Well, he came back in the door a 3rd time saying that our neighbor was at wit's end with potty training Molly & couldn't take her into work either.


Molly was left to her own accord in the back yard with an inground pool. I know how much her momma loves animals (they have 8), so she must have been very sleep deprived and exhausted to do this. So, it was the right thing to do by running over there and getting Molly for the morning. Her Daddy will be home by 11:30 to check on her.


I enjoy Molly. She entertains the boys too. And there is no pool to fall into in my yard. She'll be fine until that storm comes and then I'll put her back in her crate in her own home.

Look how big she's gotten!! She's probably nearing 20 lbs and solid.


Here is a nice picture of Captain enjoying yesterday's little bit of sun. Today, we're getting that rain & cold front.


We're off today to a 4H party. We will be electing officers too. Tomorrow is recorder lessons. We're half-way through the book.

GARDEN REPORT - December

by Robin

It's not exactly been a great fall crop but things are coming along slowly and if we don't have a hard frost, I'll have a nice early spring crop. This should ensure lots of veggies before the heat kills everything by July/August.

I didn't get the spinach crop I wanted. Only 3 bunches out of a whole packet. Lettuce did great. Old Big Boy Tomato seeds pulled through nicely. They are a foot tall. I have plenty of misplaced cherry tomato seedlings that will be transplanted to the right spot next week. The onion bed is coming along nicely for this time of year. I should have a full year's worth of pickings when they mature. Okra seedling are approx 15" and I'll have to do some thinning at some point, maybe transplanting too. I have some empty space in the hot pepper bed that I don't want put more peppers into. I had more than my fill of hot peppers this year and had to waste many. I couldn't give 'em away. Cucumbers & beans are beginning to produce fruit but the stalks seem so weak. I will probably plant more reinforcements come January. The cucumbers are throwing only male blooms but as soon as I have my first female bloom, I'm ready to do my own pollinating. I haven't seen any bees around. My sweet peppers are few & far between. The fruit develops small sizes, quits and falls off. I'm assuming this is either lack of fertilizer or par for winter. I'll have to put out more seeds come January.

Ok, enough talk. Here are the pictures.






















This one, I really can't decide if it is Cilantro or Parsley. I did put Cilantro seeds here but it looks very close to Parsley, right? What do you think?


We're in the midst of our dry season so I am having to water everything myself. Today.... I'm hopeful for rain. Gardens always seem to do better when God pours the rain, not me.