Summer Mornings like this. {{WORDless Wednesday, July 27, 2016}}

Quiet... slow mornings... playing, exploring... surrounded by fur and fleece.

Making memories in their pajamas.  :)

Jeanette

Green Veggie Pests

Hello again!

The month of July started out busy in both the garden and the kitchen.  There were some veggies that were bursting and ready to be harvested and enjoyed!

Garlic scapes pickled!

Fresh baby peas that the girls ate straight from the garden.

And enough green pepper and tomato to make fresh salsa!

Unfortunately though, spending time in the garden also indicated to us that we had a pest problem on our cabbage plants.  Cabbage loopers.  :(

These fat green inchworms were eating big holes in the outer leaves of our cabbages.  Thankfully they hadn't moved onto the nearby broccoli.  But what to do?  Reading various articles found online there were some suggestions such as flour and baking soda - which I tried as I had these items on hand; and next steps such as bacillus thuringiensis.   And of course manual collection of the worms.  So with Sammy helping, we scoured the backs and fronts of the large cabbage leaves and picked off all loopers we came across.

Into a bowl they went and soon became evening treat for the chickens!

They were very much enjoyed!

So now, daily we closely inspect our plants for loopers.  But what to do about the large outer leaves that are riddled with holes??  I can't find any information on whether or not to trim off the ugly leaves or leave them?  Should I be worried about the plants that have not yet formed a tightly wrapped cabbage head?

If you have any suggestions, please share them.  :)

Jeanette

Celebrate good times!!

Howdy friends!!

What an exciting time of year around the acres!

We rejoiced with our one year anniversary here in our forever home!  What an amazing year it has been - a journey of learning for sure!

Our family congratulated both Nicole and Erin on their hard work this school year as they both graduated and will be moving schools in September - Nicole is off to high school and Erin will be starting middle school!

Congratulations on earning the music award Nicole

Derek and I celebrated a very blessed 15 years of marriage.

Our family then began our summer vacation with a bang!  Erin's school choir and dance clubs performed at our town's Canada Day celebration after which we cozied up in the tail of the minivan and enjoyed the town's fireworks display!

The girls have all made their wish lists for summer adventures - its sure to be a wonderful time together!  :)

Stay tuned...

Jeanette