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Welcome to September, everyone!!! This year is going SO FAST! There is still a lot going on around the homestead. With tomatoes coming off at a rate of….constantly….there’s been a lot of freezing and canning going on. Thankfully, having two kitchens, we are able to keep the canning and homestead products (noodles, bread, etc) to our homestead kitchen. But, having two kitchens, there is twice as many dishes and utensils to store, and we’ve come up with some creative storage solutions for some of our homestead items.

We love our homestead kitchen…pallet walls, open shelving, aluminum backsplash…it turned out great. Some creative storage solutions have had to be added though. We took some inspiration from Cracker Barrel (one of our kids’ favorite restaurants), and decided to take advantage of vertical wall storage. With some brackets, hooks, screws and nails, we hung some items on the walls.

I have been canning for years now, and that leads to quite the compilation of canning supplies. I have quite the collection of canners, and I utilize the space above the fridge for those. Also included in the canning supplies I have acquired are lots and LOTS of canning rings! Honestly, I find them super annoying to store. They have been stored in plastic bags, thrown in a drawer, twisted back on the jars after being emptied… I needed a new solution, and I have one. I took a curtain rod and threaded the bands on it. I like how it turned out…but much to my dismay, I may need to put up another one for the amount of bands that I have!

This last storage solution in our homestead kitchen allowed us to reuse a piece of furniture that has been repurposed several times, and is older than both Luke and I. My parents bought their previous house in 1988, and when they moved in they found this storage shelf in the basement. After some modifications and updating, my parents used it as a pantry. It eventually made it’s way back down to their basement for storage. When they decided to move, the shelves were offered to us. We used it for basement storage, and then garage storage…and then decided we could bring it back to life. After removing some wall paper, giving it a really good clean, and a fresh coat of paint, this shelving unit has been given a new life! It turned out great, and provides storage for pantry items, and gets items off our limited counter space.

Using creative storage/repurposing old items, we are able to keep the homestead kitchen clean and organized. What is a creative storage solution you have come up with? Or something you have refurbished for another use? I’d love to hear or see pictures of your creative storage solutions!! Take care and have a blessed week!!

It’s been a busy week here on the homestead. In addition to keeping up on chores and projects, the girls started school this week. I think school starting was harder on me than it was on the girls. I miss them not being home every day. Wyatt has a couple weeks before he starts. He will start school after Labor Day, which gives us some quality mother/son time. He is very helpful with projects around the homestead.

One project on the homestead that is now complete was a family affair. It’s been a while since I reached out asking for aluminum cans for a project that I had on the homestead, and thankfully a few people answered my request. The chicken tractor, even though the chickens have been living in it for a while, now has the finishing touches completed. I love the finished product!!

Wyatt was a huge help in this next project. When we expanded the garden earlier this spring, we had planned for a gate at the other end of the garden, but never got to putting one in. Well, Wyatt and I got it done. This summer we were fortunate to have someone offer for us to salvage items from a house that was being prepared for demolition. One of the things we found was an old barn gate. The gate was too big for our project, and had some rotten areas, so we had to do some modifications, but I love how it turned out! I like giving new life to things that would otherwise be disposed of.

Reusing items and giving them a new life/purpose reminds me of the Bible verse from 2 Corinthians 5:17. “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun.” The old in the scripture refers to our “old” nature – pride, love of sin, reliance on works/deeds, bad habits/passions. These old things have died, being nailed to the cross with our sin. But, the good news is, the new has come! The old, dead things are gone and have been filled with the life and glory of God. We find a new kind of love toward mankind, the sins we once enjoyed we now detest, our bad habits have been replaced with habits that brings joy to God, and we realize that there is no amount of money or time that we can give that will get us into Heaven…only a personal relationship with Christ himself. With the example of the gate, Wyatt and I took a gate that was rotting and falling apart. We removed the areas that were no good, and replaced them with new parts, giving it new life. So cool how references to the Bible are literally everywhere in our lives!!!

One final item I would like to give an update on…my pepper plants. Last week I posted how I learned a hard lesson, that grass clippings around the pepper plants was putting too much nitrogen in the soil, and while the plant was growing well, I was not getting any peppers. We have since removed the grass from the row of peppers, and this week it has been a joy watching all the flowers and baby peppers coming on the plants! I may get peppers this year after all!

I hope you all have a wonderful week. I’m sure ours will continue to be very busy. Between school, soccer, chores, noodles, bread, harvesting in the garden and canning season being upon us…I’m sure we are in for another crazy week. Take care, God Bless, and a reader question for this week…have you done a project where you have taken something old and given it new life? I wanna hear about it!

Life is full of lessons, both simple and difficult, and the work on the homestead is no different. Every year we are learning new lessons. I have eluded several times in previous posts about failures and learning hard lessons, and I have decided to share a few of them in this post.

The garden has been keeping us busy. Our tomatoes have been coming off in droves, and they are delicious. We have also been able to start restocking our green beans supply. A couple of the zucchini plants seem to be struggling after having been attacked by vine bore and squash bugs, but the rest are still producing. I was able to get some shredded and put in the freezer for me to use later this winter, and still have plenty to eat fresh. I’ve harvested several small cantaloupe, and they were delicious. And, the herb garden is doing wonderfully. I’ve been able to harvest and dry out several cuttings of basil and parsley, as well as hanging rosemary to dry out.

Even with all the blessings we’ve received from the garden, there is always more to learn. Proverbs 1:5 says “Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance.” A wise person is not a “know it all”, they are willing to learn from others to increase their knowledge and wisdom. With their increased knowledge, they are able to assist others. I’m always learning, and this year was no different.

I’ve written before how putting grass clippings on the garden is a wonderful weed barrier, as well as helping hold moisture for the plants. This has worked wonders for the tomato plants, zucchini, corn, cabbages, and peas. But in doing some research and talking with some veteran gardeners, I’ve gained some more knowledge. My pepper plants have really taken off lately. They are green, tall and bushy…however, I have no peppers. I already knew that plant rotation in the garden is a must, as plants take different nutrients out of the ground, and not all plants benefit from the same nutrients. Grass clippings add nitrogen into the soil as it decomposes, and while that is great for plants that thrive off nitrogen, it can hinder the growth of others. In my research and discussions, nitrogen can actually inhibit the growth of peppers. The plants themselves may grow, but the “fruit” will not grow. So…the grass has been pulled from around our pepper plants, in hopes that we might get a few peppers off our plants.

A first for us this year was dealing with aphids. Those little buggers were on my chamomile! I’ve had no idea what to do about them, so I had to do my research. I found that in addition to ladybugs being a natural predator, so are grasshoppers, and fortunately there was a grasshopper in the patch. But, in my urgency to get them taken care of more immediately, I wanted to find a natural remedy. I made a spray of water, a little dish soap and some peppermint oil. It worked!! (Side note……I also tried it on some squash bugs, and it worked on the young ones! Game changer!!)

The final hard lesson I had to learn this year was with my pumpkins and watermelon. I knew the vines of watermelon were very delicate and that you can’t damage them or it will kill the whole vine. What I didn’t know is that it even applies to the little “fingers” that grab onto things. If you move the vines and break those little grabbers, that will kill the vine as well. In my trying to keep the vines all contained in the boxes, some of them got broken, and all the vines died. No watermelons for us this year. We had a similar situation with our pumpkin patches. They got trimmed back (by someone whom I will keep anonymous ;-)…) and maybe got trimmed a bit too much. Between the over trimming and the squash bugs, the vines all died, and took the pumpkins along with them. We did salvage a couple jack-o-lantern pumpkins, but the rest did not make it.

This year was not a total failure. We were still blessed with a lot of food from our garden, and we are still able to bless others. Every year is another chance to learn, and use that gained knowledge for the next year. Blog question…what is something you tried to grow for the first time that didn’t turn out? There is nothing to be embarrassed about, and if you are a reader that can offer your expertise, feel free to have an open discussion in the comments. Have a blessed week!!!

How is it August already?! I am not ready for summer to be winding down. I realize that I may be in the minority, but I dread the start of school. I love having my kids home during the day. Not to mention this year I have my first senior!!! How did THAT happen?!?! It seems like just last year we were stressing over kindergarten school supplies…and now she’s going to be graduating?! This year is going to be full of new things with having a senior and all that goes along with that (senior pictures, cap and gown, graduation invitations, graduation party…..STOP!!!) I don’t need to think of all that today. But, this week we did try some new things here on the homestead. Let me fill you in.

We have continued to be blessed by our green bean plants, and were able to get another good sized picking. This time, I wanted to try out my new pressure canner. I have pressure canned beans before, but this canner allows me to do more than 4 pints at a time, compared to my mini pressure canner/cooker. Now, I had to read my manual about 4 times to make sure that I was assured of what I was doing, but I still had to “phone a friend” to make sure that what I was doing was right. Her reassurance was GREATLY appreciated! When all was said and done, I found out that I REALLY like this canner, and all the jars sealed. SUCCESS!!!

My last blog post I shared pictures of my abundance of fresh herbs growing. I decided that, if I wanted to make the best of what I had, I needed to do something with them. I did some research, and thanks to DirtFarmerJay, I was able to dry a large amount of our fresh basil. He had a great video showing how to step-by-step, oven dry basil. Now my goal is to be able to grow as much as he does!

I took the steps he showed for basil, and I also tried it with a LOT of fresh parsley. Much to my surprise, it took a LOT longer than the basil to dry out. It turned out great though, and I have the most fragrant, home-dried basil and parsley! It’s amazing how much more fragrant the herbs are when you dry them out yourself.

Canning vegetables and drying the herbs led me the a Bible verse found in Psalms: 21:20 “In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but the foolish devours all he has.” Now, I’m NOT saying that I’m wise, but taking into account the times we are living in, even the Bible says that it is responsible to prepare for the unexpected. Having extra supplies on hand (extra food in your pantry), could mean the difference between feeding your family or going hungry. We are not hoarders of food, or preppers…but we are trying to be good stewards of the bounty that God has provided us.

Another first for me, is I’m trying “second-planting” of some of my other produce. I have always read that you could plant some plants/seeds several times in one season, but I have never actually tried it. This year is the year. I had about 4 rows in the garden that I had just been staring at since the decision to expand the garden. When watering the garden I would water the rows around them, and just stare at them not knowing what to do with them. I decided to try a second planting of sweet corn. My first round of corn was kinda depressing. The stalks are only about waist high, and the cobs are tiny, if there even is any on a stalk. So I’m trying again. Almost all of the seeds took, and they are growing nicely, so far. I also replanted lettuce and peas. I was disappointed in my first pea planting as well. We only got 2 pickings, but part of that is because we were on vacation and a couple chickens got to them before I did. The peas and the lettuce are coming up nicely as well! Wish I could say as much for a few of my other plants…but that’s for another post. I’m going to have to share that I’m not a perfect gardener, and sometimes things don’t go well. I’m not going to share failures/hard lessons in this post 🙂

Hope you all have a great week! Reader question for the week: What is your favorite canned vegetable (either from a store or home canned)? Just by the amount that my family goes through, I’d probably have to say green beans.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. Honestly, I wish summer would slow down, it’s going way too fast. I’m that crazy mom who is not looking forward to school starting this fall. I love having the kids home every day. They grow up so fast, and with this being Lillian’s senior year, I need summer to last a little longer.

While summer is flying by, the homestead is in a phase of maintaining. I titled this post “Calm Before the Storm”, because while we are starting to get some produce from the garden, soon we will be overwhelmed with produce as the season comes to an end, and then the long days/nights of canning will begin.

This reminds me of the Bible verse, Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” If God feeds the birds, He will also feed those who are worth more to Him than the birds, you and me. We are not supposed to live in fear or worry over our basic needs, for God will provide, and this is evident in growth of the garden.

After all the work to get the garden planted this spring, what a tasty reward we have in store. Here’s what we’ve been up to. There’s an old wives tale that says “not to let onions see the August sun”, so in following the “old wives”, we pulled our onions. I think this year is one of the best years we’ve had for onions! We had some pretty good sized ones. They are currently hanging to dry so we can store them for using through the winter.

Our Roma tomatoes are slowly but surely starting to turn red, and we’ve picked enough to start putting in freezer bags to freeze. Last year, we didn’t have time to can the tomatoes as they came off the vine, so we put them in freezer bags and put them in the freezer. In February, we needed to make room in the freezer, so I thawed the tomatoes out and made some tomato sauce. It was some of the best sauce we’ve made! Freezing the tomatoes and then thawing them drew out a lot of the water in them. We didn’t have to boil the tomatoes as long, and the sauce was the thickest we’ve made.

We are getting some zucchini, so if anyone wants some, let me know! We did have vine boar get to one of my plants, which is killing it…but I have others that are still going strong.

Our cabbage plants have given us several heads already, and more are already starting to come back on where I harvested these from. There were a few cabbages that didn’t fare well with the drastic fluctuation of too much rain and then a lack of rain. Several of the heads split down the middle and were not salvageable, but they did not go to waste. We try to use all we can on the homestead, so the chickens had a nutritious snack of cabbage and turned them into eggs!

The green bean plants are thriving! We got our first picking, and what a jackpot! The whole family helped in the snapping of the beans, and we ended up with 3 freezer bags stuffed full! Not bad for the first round of picking! One of those bags we ate that night (the recipe for my roasted green beans has been added into the recipe tab on the website. More recipes will be coming soon), and the other two bags are in the freezer. Now, full disclosure, freezing is NOT our preferred choice for green beans, but we did not feel like dragging out the canner for such a small picking.

Lastly, for today, my herb garden is doing amazing! Full disclosure, this is my first time doing an herb garden, and I’m not sure I gave all of them enough space…..but I’m thrilled at how well they are doing, and they are delicious!!!

I hope everyone has a blessed week! If you are interested in any produce, let me know, as I will not be attending any farmer’s markets this year, and just selling from the homestead.
This weeks reader question: What is your favorite fresh herb? This is a hard question for me, because I really like so many, but if I had to pick one, it would be basil.

There is a lot of debate out there between organic vs non-organic. This blog post is not to try to persuade you one way or another, just informational and random thoughts about it.

I’m going to come right on out and say it, we are not organic. We can’t be. Due to being surrounded by fields and the farmers putting spray on their fields, due to the nature of things, I’m sure that my garden gets drifted with whatever they are spraying. This does not bother me, as we have also been known to use some store bought pesticides to help rid some of the bugs in our garden.

For those who say that we need to be more cautious about what is going into our bodies, and choose to eat organic, I completely understand. I agree that there are too many chemicals being pumped into our bodies every day, via medications we take, immunizations, and yes, even some of the food we eat. While I do try my best to not put chemicals on the garden, unless we have a big issue (usually that issue is squash bugs or tomato worms), I am not opposed to pesticides for our garden. Our garden is large compared to some, but even still, we need to make sure that we get the best harvest out of every plant we have. If tomato worms decimate even a couple plants, that is a lot of tomatoes that we are out of.

All that being said, I have also tried some natural measures to see if they work. I found a recipe for weed killer that consisted of water, vinegar, salt and dish soap. Honestly, I am a little skeptical, but I gave it a shot. I also read an article that offered a natural remedy for ridding squash bugs, containing just dish soap and water. Now, I’m not sure how these nasty little bugs are supposed to react to the soapy water…but when I sprayed them, they walked TOWARD ME!!!! So I just kept spraying, and spraying….I didn’t want them to reach me! LOL

Maybe once we get the greenhouse up and are growing in it, I will be able to be more organic with those items, but first things first…I need to get the greenhouse constructed. It’s in the planning process, and hoping to get it constructed this year yet…but we will just have to see. *Fingers Crossed*

When it comes down to it, we do try our hardest to not use chemicals on our garden… As much as we would like to be “organic” and be able to advertise this, it just isn’t realistic to do so and have a clear conscience. We are Faithful Friends Homestead, and as we aim to utilize what God has blessed us with to help bless others, we have to stay true to this and be honest in all our dealings. So, Semi-Organic maybe.. but not going to be organic 100% with the drift that occurs in the windy countryside we live.

I hope you all have a blessed week!! Be sure to follow Faithful Friends Homestead on Facebook, LinkedIn and/or Instagram for postings about day to do life here on the homestead! If you have any questions or have a topic you would like me to write about, or just want to touch base with me, please leave a comment and I will add your suggestions to my blog topics to write about.

Hey everyone! I hope everyone is having a great summer. There’s been a lot going on around the homestead.

As of last week, I officially left my job in corporate America to be home and full-time homestead! This was a huge leap of faith, but as a family, we all agreed that this is where we felt I was being led. This bring to mind a Bible verse that has been in my mind a lot lately. Proberbs 16:9 says “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps”. Deciding to homestead full-time was not an easy decision, and there are still a lot of questions that haven’t been answered for us, but God is leading our steps. He has led us to this moment and this time, and this is what I was led to do. And with that, my work days have gotten longer and harder. HAHA! I am truly enjoying it though, getting outside and getting my hands dirty, building things, taking care of the animals, tending the garden….It is my happy place for sure! God rewards those who work hard, and that comes in a variety of ways, but if you are working as if for the LORD, then you will be fruitful. Psalms 128:2 “You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you”. Amen to that!!

With deciding to homestead full-time, we took the opportunity to get our signs hung up! The log sign was taken out of a section of tree that we fell ourselves here on the homestead. I was excited to be able to use a section of it to make a sign!

With the long holiday weekend, I enlisted the help of Luke and the kids, and we were able to get some other projects done around the homestead as well. The weeds all got pulled (but it’s a never ending job, and could probably be done again already), Ella and I worked on putting in a path to the duck house…but ran out of time and materials to get the chicken path done (we need to tear apart the stack of pallets to get some more boards), the girls and I cleaned out our shed, and Luke and I started the construction of our chicken tractor for the meat chickens. We are notorious for “over-building”, and this project is no different. I will post pictures of the finished product once its completed.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day!! We had a wonderful time in Hilliard, Ohio attending a Dylan Scott concert! We were also able to participate in the “meet and greet” and got our picture with him!!! Then, we ended the night with one of the most amazing firework displays I think I have ever seen!

It was a crazy busy weekend, full of late nights, but it was wonderful!!

Now back to the work week, and I will just say that I am super thankful for the thunderstorm last night! Yes, it woke me up at 5 am, but I don’t have to worry about watering my garden for a couple days! Halleluiah!!!

Hope everyone has a great week!!! To see who reads my blog…..let’s do a fun question. What is your favorite side dish at a BBQ? (To post an answer, on your computer select the blog title on the right of the screen and go to the bottom of the post…on your mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click on the blog post). Take care and God bless!!!

Sorry for the 2 week hiatus, but the family went on a vacation/hubby business trip to Nashville, Tennessee! We have been to Nashville several times, and we never get tired of it… We stayed in the Gaylord Opryland Resort, and as always, it was beautiful and we had a blast.

The first full day we were there, we went to the resort’s water park. The kids and I went last year, but this year we had to take Luke with us. The kids forced him to do the surf simulator…hahaha Luke and Wyatt also did the drop slides (where they close you in a tube and the bottom falls out)…NO THANK YOU! I’m more of a tube-slide person.

In the evenings, at the top of the hour, the resort held a water show at one of the indoor fountains. They played music and timed the fountain to the song. We went to at least one show every evening.

Nashville is full of amazing food options as well! Our rule when we travel is: No eating at places we can get back home. And we always try a new place if we visit the same city more than once. This trip we hit a couple different restaurants that we hadn’t eaten at before. We went to Paula Dean’s Kitchen (AMAZING!), The Aquarium (you get to see all kinds of fish swimming around while you eat), and we also tried The Stillery (let’s just say the Nashville hot chicken is HOT!!!)

In addition to playing at the resort, we took a day and went downtown and walked Broadway. There was music coming at us in every direction, and we could hear aspiring artists playing in some of the restaurants. I know the saying is “When in Rome, do as the Romans”……however, with our family it is “When in Nashville, go to the boot store”. HAHAHA We had three teenagers who all were in need of a new pair of cowboy boots, and they picked some really nice ones! I think that just means that next time it’s Luke and my turn to get some LOL

And now that we are home………………I’ve been overwhelmed with playing catch up. I have been in the garden every. single. night. For hours trying to get it cleaned up from being gone for a week. I usually do a walk through every night and pick a stray weed or two….but not having done that for a week, I had a lot of weeds to pick. It is all cleaned up now though, and everything is growing nicely. I have baby roma tomatoes, baby pumpkins, we picked our first zucchini, and the lettuce and peas are thriving.

One final note for this post….. we all know the story “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie”……. There again, our story is a little different, “If You Send A Girl To Rural King”….. SSSoooo….our homestead grew by 34 little feet. I bought 17 meat chicks! I would have bought more if they had more, but I bought the last of all that they had. For anyone who knows me, I am NOT bird person….but here I am killing it being a crazy poultry lady. *insert eye roll*

Hope everyone is having a great summer so far. Leave me a message of how you’ve been beating the heat!

For those of you who know me, patience does not come easy. When I tell my kids to do something, I want it done now. When I make up my mind to do something, I want to do it now. When I plant a seed in the ground, I want it to sprout…NOW… Are you seeing a pattern here?? Hahaha

I was kinda hit-up-side the head this weekend with the whole “be patient” thing. Last year we decided to plant some strawberry patches. Great idea, right?! Put the plants in the ground, water them, watch the strawberries grow, enjoy the delicious strawberries…NO! That is NOT what happened. The place we bought the strawberry plants from told us that we needed to pull off the flowers the first year, and not to allow any strawberries to come onto the plant. That seems counter productive when planting something that provides a food source… I wanted berries! Once they started flowering, I got very excited. First comes flowers, then comes strawberries…..except I would catch my husband picking the flowers off of the plants. I was getting so frustrated because he wouldn’t allow the berries to grow! I planted the berries, and I wanted to enjoy them NOW.

Fast forward to this year, and the waiting paid off. The plants are THRIVING!!! We are getting so many berries, and they are sweet and delicious. The plants are producing so many runners which produce even more strawberries!

This went along well with a Bible verse I found. Proverbs 14:29 says “Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly”. Yikes!! Reality check for sure! I didn’t want to be patient. I wanted instant gratification, which would have caused the plants to not be as bountiful. But, because Luke gave me no other choice, we are being blessed with an abundance of berries. I guess I owe Luke a big “Thank You” for that one…. <3

Another lesson in patience, trees don’t grow overnight. LOL We have catalpa trees, and they are absolutely beautiful when their flowers bloom. And when their white blooms blow across the yard, it is one of the prettiest sights. However…..it takes 5 years for the trees to bloom the first time!! A true testament in patience….the catalpa tree that we planted 5 years ago, is blooming for the first time this year!! It’s so pretty….

In our world of everything being at our fingertips, sometimes we lose sight of the benefit of having to wait. We we want everything “now, now, now” that we forget to enjoy the present. We forget to enjoy the process. Today’s world moves so fast, and before you know it, another growing season is done, your babies aren’t babies anymore, the joys in this world pass us by because we are too busy rushing onto the next thing. Growing the homestead is such a blessing to me, as it is teaching me patience. In being patient through it all, we are blessed with the reward of happy, healthy animals, abundant crops, and the ability to bless others.

I’d love to hear from my readers. Are you a person blessed with patience?? What is one things that you struggle with patience about? My list is a mile long….LOL

Today’s title may confuse you…..or intrigue you….. But needless to say, it was an interesting week.

All the rain has yet again caused us to have to wait until the grass was crazy tall and by the time we mowed it, we should have baled. However, that is a huge benefit for us. We are able to use the extra grass cuttings in the garden to snuff out weeds, help in maintaining moisture, cover the walking paths to reduce mud, and improve our compost.

For those of you who follow me on Facebook or LinkedIn, you will have seen that I finally got my green bean plants put in. Six rows of green beans that are planted to their max. Along with the already great dirt that was in the rows from years of dirt and compostable materials, we also had some fresh compost ready to add to the rows. It was amazing! If you aren’t a compost person, this next bit may gross you out or just not understand why I get so excited about it… But, 2 years ago, I tried starting a worm farm, and thinking I epically failed at it, I threw all the remains of the worm farm into the compost pile. HOWEVER…..fast forward to today, and I created a wonderful vermiculture! There are SO MANY red worms in my compost…and they are breaking down the produce scraps, dirt and grass clippings wonderfully! To the point that the dirt actually smells like manure! It was weird to have dirt smell like manure when we don’t have large livestock to make it smell that way LOL But it was amazing, and so dark and moist. I am so pleased with our compost!

In addition to getting the green beans planted, Wyatt and I spent an afternoon working outside and we pounded posts into the garden and fastened some goat-fence to it. At the base of the fencing, we planted cucumbers on one side and spaghetti squash on the other. The plan is to feed the vines up the fencing so that veggies will hang down and make picking MUCH easier! And, I just think it looks cool how we did it 🙂

And now for the “Part of a Finger” part of the title…… I haven’t made a post for a while, because I had a little accident with a knife. While making dinner one night, I was chopping some veggies, and on the last cut, I thought I nicked my finger with the knife. When I inspected my finger….It was more than a nick with the knife…..a chunk of my finger was gone. Now, I am not going to gross anyone out by posting bloody pictures or what my finger looks like, but I cut off the end of my finger in a diagonal across my fingernail. Needless to say, it is still quite tender, but it is healing nicely. The passing joke in the house is “don’t cut your finger” every time I am cooking or prepping in the kitchen. *insert eye roll here* HAHAHA

I hope everyone has a great weekend!! Remember that this weekend is not just about having a long weekend. People who loved this country made the ultimate sacrifice dying for our freedom, and this weekend is about remembering them. So take a moment this weekend, when praying over a meal, enjoying the weather, having a bonfire, or toasting with a drink, to remember that freedom doesn’t come free….. Happy Memorial Day, and God bless!!!!