all the little pea pickers

We're *starting* to get produce from the garden! I know, I know, it's August...but it's also Alberta and sometimes the weather deals the gardens a bad hand. The frost hit it hard, (and potatoes, tomatoes started all over again!...cucumbers were totally wiped out.) then the drought hit, then the horses got in, then Curt rototilled snips of rows! (If you're reading this CURT, I'm still thankful for the help though!) Not sure what all will "make it" (as frost again has made it's mark) but the kids have been enjoying picking peas. The beets, lettuce and beans are all doing well too. Everything else is still trying it's best to make it in time before the cold hits again. For a few days in a row, Robin came in with flats of peas. She always attached a little love note for me. :) Finally, we picked all the rest and had enough to freeze 2 large Ziploc bags. This past week we finally got carrots and potatoes. The corn that is only about waist-high this year is actually producing ripening cobs and the zucchini that started so late has decided to make a few perfectly tiny zucchinis as well! So thankful for the things that succeeded in spite of the horrible gardening year. And I'm also thankful for all the little pea pickers! :)

Robin's flat of peas. A little "I love you."
A successful garden raid.

The GARDEN!!

Sorry, I know this pic has nothing to do with the garden... but it has everything to do with the atmosphere around here... so to make it fit with the theme of this post, I'm going to dub her the "Garden Warrior". Carrie thrives where there is a job to be done. Especially if said job is to be done in a very specific way with specific tools. Unfortunately she didn't need her headdress, sword, shield, nor her coyote skin... but she DID need the rubber boots. She was the perfect side-kick for Curt today putting in the garden. We needed a "warrior" too as Curt didn't just put in a *garden*... he put in a GARDEN!! I'm glad he has vowed to work it with us this year. Men sometimes go a little overboard....

Robin helped with soaking seeds the night before and liked checking out how chubby they had grown overnight. Carrie (of course) needed to try "Indian corn" and Robin thought that was pretty cool.

Noon picnic on the swing; chicken, sausage, celery, oranges and granola.

Robbie helped watch over the little ones with me and pack the lunch. She's so patient and tender.

Carrie insisted that we get a picture of the back of Curt's shirt. She is always so proud of her dad.

My little "Garden Warrior".

Planting the broad beans i accidentally bought.

Me in my fancy gardening pants i fashioned for myself only using a pair of my old "big pants" and a handy pair of kitchen scissors. Planting the peas thick the way my mother-in-law taught me to do.

Home Grown Produce!

Today after church we visited the local greenhouse, picked up seeds and plunged them, scattered them and placed them by 3's into our new garden plot. I mapped it out and Curt staked everything we've put in so far. We still have some pumpkin, sunflowers, squash, beans, peas, sweet peas and the tomatos to get in but we need to fix supports for some of those things so they will go in early this next week....Well, the tomatoes will have to wait maybe a little longer if i want them to actually live. When I'm fairly sure this Alberta weather won't get the best of them I'll cage them in too. So excited to see how this soil works for us. This is our first garden on this land. Curt is crazy about corn and potatos so he did row after row of that. I am planning on canning again this year so have planned out lots of tomatos, cucumbers, dill, and carrots. I crave beets all the time so there's tonnes of that too. We usually pick lots of what we *know* works and that we know we like and then i splurge the extra 2$ on a "lottery" type item. This year it's multi-colored peppers. I'm pretty sure they will not have time to mature... but the fun is in trying sometimes. I'm planning on tumbler tomatos on the south deck so i think I'll plunk my peppers out there too and see what happens. It feels like so long since we have done this and we're both so excited about it this year. We're planning that the kids will be helping out and I'm sure they'll learn a lot that way. Maybe Sadie will eat more if she is part of the process of growing the food too. Still trying to chub that girl up!