So this is my second year attempting a garden, and again I've been learning a lot. The biggest challenge I have is good positioning for sunlight. Because of the direction my house is facing and the fences and houses beside us, much of our yard is shading for several hours at a time. Our raised area is where I prefer to keep the garden but it isn't as big as I would like it and parts of it are shaded as well.

Basil coming out of my ears! all this from a tiny seed. I think the most amazing thing about gardening is when you see a fruit producing and it all started from one tiny seed. I can't help but be in awe of .....God. It puzzles me how someone can see everything around us and not believe there was a Creator of it all.

If you know me, you know I am a picky eater. Especially with veggies....It probably sounds funny, but as I pick all these fresh veggies, they seem like gold to me. I long to enjoy their taste. Some I am beginning to be able to tolerate, others.....may take several years. :) But I always think....God designed all this for us to eat- and I go and get something out of the cupboard that has soooooo much extra fake stuff in it. Yeah, it tastes good. But if I was on Survivor-----I would devour all these beautiful fruits and vegetables if I came upon them on my journey.

Making lots of pizza and spaghetti sauce with all the tomatoes. It smells SO good when I am roasting them in the oven with EVOO, garlic, basil, oregano, and salt.

And of course, one of the most popular items in the garden.....that we check to harvest daily. Lib and Luke take turns for who gets the 1 or 2 strawberries a day that are ready. :)

A bountiful harvest! Challenge- using it all before it goes bad. (and convincing my family to eat it as well)

The other new one I did this year was peas. Luke loves them and Libby had eaten them on occasion. They LOVE to pop the pod open and eat them. It is so fun to find pods that are ready at snack time and sit outside and eat them. (again- a food that will take MANY years for me to accept. ---so mushy!) But I have 2 children that will eat them. progress.....right?

I would love to have some berry bushes....but I don't want to ruin the landscape of my yard so I am struggling to know how possible it would be.

(sigh) I'll have to write more later on my adventures of staying at home. But now- I'd better go to the stinkin P90x in my living room before all my clothes don't fit at all. (or before Libby wakes up again and tries to clean out her own poopy diaper,....or before someone else calls, someone knocks on the door, i find an intolerable mess somewhere or Luke comes down asking when his personal "mom" time starts *which is a special time where he can pick what we do without siblings around)
2 more days til Friday!!! And counting.....