A successful experiment!

Way back in May (feels like yesterday) my elder son and I embarked on an adventure. An organic experiment of sorts.

We decided to attempt to grow sweet corn in our very own backyard.

This little guy painstakingly poured the dirt into the planting trays and and carefully nestled each seed in its own compartment. (Must have taken a lot of concentration for this 3 year old)

He proudly finished the project, and spent the next month eagerly watering the seeds each day.

When the ground was warm enough (early June), I carefully transferred the seedlings (each about a foot high) out to the garden. I used weed fabric, which I laid out on the ground and then cut an 'x' in rows of 4x4. The weed fabric turned out to be a great idea as I only had to weed the bed once all summer!!

So now fast foward to last week, when William and I got to reap the rewards of a summer of patience.

Early one morning, we trekked out to the yard, green grass still wet with dew, and surveyed for ears among the stalks.

I'm happy to say that the naysayers, who warned us that the raccoons would raid and destroy the corn before we got to it, were wrong. We harvested about eleven ears in all.

(Lest you think that face reflects his excitement about the armful of corn, let me let you in behind the scenes. I actually cheated and posed this question to him right before snapping the shutter release: "Now tell me, who do you think would win in a fight, Superman or the Flash?" Works like a charm, every time.)

And in case you wondered, a 3 year old is not great at pretending to eat corn on the cob. 

Well, I guess pictures of people eating are rarely flattering...

At any rate, the corn was amazingly delicious and worth the months of patience.

It was a successful gardening experiment, one which we will surely repeat in the future.

And for next summer, we're on to potatoes! (If I don't chicken or lazy out)

Today from my garden

This week's garden scavenging adventures brought me...
A bowl full of soapy water and Japanese beetles.
Yes, I regret to say I forgot to take a picture of those suckers, but rest assured I reveled in their drowning misery. Those oh-so-pretty green and gold insect bastards are the bane of my garden's existence. Last year, they ate my entire raspberry patch. This year, it's me against them. I was told that if you drown the early appearing 'scout' bugs in soapy water, it will discourage the rest of the 'flock' from choosing your garden as a great feeding and breeding ground. We shall see....

At any rate, I got a couple other nicer things from the garden today as well.

Another bouquet of lovely flowers.

I've got all kinds of great things blooming outside right now. I am definitely doing my part to support the dwindling honeybee population.

And my garden is doing its part to support my son's insatiable appetite for all things 'berry'.

Mmm...I never knew how good a strawberry could taste until now. To think...up until now, I actually thought that those things that we buy in the store that look red and are shipped in from California tasted SWEET!

Wow. These berries are amazing.
That other thing is a sweet cubanelle pepper. I was very surprised when I went out to the garden and found it, because I had decided to make meatloaf and would have loved some peppers to put in it. Problem solved.

Anyways, back to my son and his obsession with berries. Blackberries. Blueberries. Strawberries. Doesn't really matter, he devours them all.

Do you see the anticipation on his chubby little face?

Well today it just felt so summery, I had to snap a few shots.
Little blondie in swim trunks (with farmer's tan), scarfing down a juicy homegrown strawberry.

Mmmm. Yum. Quintessential Summer.

Today from my garden

The fruits of my garden labor are starting to be realized.

I picked a lovely bouquet, and there are many more, so feel free to stop by and make yourself a nice bouquet too :)

Annabelle hydrangea, un-named rose, monarda (bee-balm), baby's breath, pink yarrow, lavendar and purple butterfly-flowers

And these beautiful, fresh-picked, luscious and organic raspberries. 

I've been picking about this many every other day for the past week.

Mmm...I love raspberries. Trouble is, my little son does too. The kids eats them faster than I can pick them! He's a smart child, know's where it's at.

 Thanks to my friend (you know who you are) who got me this lovely colander from Anthropologie, the coolest store in the world. I've bee using it to gather fruits and veggies from my garden on a regular basis...and they just look so much more appealing in it :)

Like old times...

The other day, my  lovely garden granted me this lovely bouquet.

That evening, some rather nasty thunderstorms came, knocking out power for us and hundreds others in our area.
Therefore, we enjoyed the bouquet that night like this:

Good home-popped popcorn with lots of butter and salt, candle light, crickets chirping, catching up on quiet time, letter writing and reading...
Kindof wish the power went out more often.

Be fruitful.

Normally I would say, "Check out the fruits of my labor!!!" before showing you this picture

However, I'm afraid somebody would tattle on me...
My garden would say, "What labor?!"

It's true. I am ashamed to admit.
My faithful garden, though sadly neglected by me all summer, has still come through for me.

Yes, the green beans are fewer and far between

Yes, the raspberries are almost microscopic in comparison to last year, and the large-sized tomatoes are certainly not in abundance

But this faithful garden has still managed to make my mouth water today.
Isn't he a beaut? This is a Black Prince...

And these are a multitude variety of small guys...black prince cherries, yellow pear, grape, cupid and red cherries

And this faithful garden, despite it's disappointment in my neglectful ways, still provided me the means to make this amazing caprice salad...

And now if you'll excuse me while I go devour it. Nummers.

My day in a nutshell

Today was a random but pleasantly fun day...

I started out the day admiring a new garage sale find.

Check out this beautiful crocheted runner

It's probably hard to appreciate on film, but the detail on this thing is marvelous.

I can't imagine being able to crochet like that.

I think it adds a lot to my secretary, which if you read this post you would recognize as having been plucked from a Chicago alley by this bargain-hunting gal. Speaking of bargains, this lovely doily only put me out $1. One buck, to transform this space with a lovely, soft vintage flair! (Have I mentioned I love finding great garage-sale gems??)

Later in the day, I had to use my camera to capture this adorable stage in my son's life...
we have a tooth folks!!

While I think it adds charm to his smile, still, the disappearance of that ultimate baby gummy grin makes this hopelessly sappy and sentimental new mommy just a little sad...

However,
I don't think he's too upset about it...









Later in the day, I was so happy to get to meet up with a wonderful friend who was in town from Philly...and I also got to meet her sweet little baby girl. Happy 2 months little Ellie!

At the end of the day, the warm, balmy breeze dragged me out to my yard where I ended up picking a spontaneous bouquet of flowers.
Magenta yarrow, pink hydrangeas, dusty rose astilbees, minty green ladies mantle, Annabelle hydrangeas and a Princess Diana rose.

Flowers make me happy.

Who needs a florist when you can grow it all in your own back yard?!
And best of all, it is complemented so nicely by my new doily!

All in a fun day's fun.

Hello Spring Garden.

Baby Spinach. Grow baby grow.

Didn't know sage was a perennial. Fun surprise!

Chives, out of control.

Raindrops on a Lady's Mantle

Coral Bells

Bugelweed

Impatient!

 I am impatient.
These little babies are so tiny...and all I want is juicy cucumbers, fresh and crisp, and tender, crunchy sugar snap peas...and judging from the size of these little guys, it's going to be a while....

Sigh.
I'm also impatient for my daisies to bloom

At least my lillies of the valley are blooming full-force. I brought some into the living room (and miraculously, the cats haven't eaten them yet) and they are dispersing their intoxicating fragrance throughout the house.

Speaking of impatience, I cannot wait to meet my baby.
I am impatient that I am experiencing many of the lovely pregnancy symptoms, as evidenced by the bounty from a recent shopping trip to Walmart (not to reinforce any stereotypes here, but I really did need all of that stuff, except maybe the pickles, and who can resist a jar of pickles that size for 3 bucks! And yes, I loved pickles before I was pregnant, ok?)

But it is still evident to only me, myself, and maybe my hubby a little, that I am carrying a real, live baby inside. See, this was me at 4 weeks:

And this is me at 15 weeks:

Yes, not much progress. Hence the impatience.
But my impatience at meeting my child was temporarily assuaged yesterday when my doctor, who is the best doctor ever, asked me if I wanted to do a quick scan to see the baby, "Just for fun?"
Who in their right mind would say no to that?! So I did get to see him (we still think it's a boy) and it was such a blast!!
Here you can see his spine and profile

 And here you can see him trying to kick and stretch out those legs, I think he looks a little claustrophobic in there:

Here are his little legs, or I should say long legs with big feet (he's taking after his momma) stretching out, with ankles crossed:

And here is one of my favorites, simply his little arm, with his hand balled into a fist:

I guess not much change is happening on the outside, but things are certainly happening in there.
Thank you God for protecting our little peanut!