The Start of Garden Season

Happy Spring! Garden season is upon us, and we are definitely ready for it! 

It was all hands on deck to prepare the garden: tilling the hairy vetch into the beds (planted in the fall and tilled into the beds in the spring to add nitrogen to the soil), raking everything flat, and doing a bit of weeding and general clean up.  

As far as planting goes, we did two Super Sweet 100 cherry tomato starts for Papa (he's the only one who likes them!) and made sure to give them a bit of insulation against the chilly nights for right now.  

Carrots are a must, according to Timothy. We didn't have a good run with them last year, but we're thinking that was due to the soil being depleted of it's nitrogen (hense the reason we planted the hairy vetch to correct that!). With that issue taken care of, we're hoping to have a much better carrot season. I missed washing all of our perfect little carrots in the bathtub, hahaha, so crossing our fingers for this year. We shall see.  

My favorite, broccoli! We were gifted with two huge flats of broccoli starts this year by friends of ours. I am so, so thankful for that!! We get not one, but TWO beds of broccoli and I can't wait to watch them grow! Last year the broccoli was so delicious, the kids were down there picking off the little shoots and eating them right then and there. YES! 

In our smaller side bed, we decided on corn. We know we won't get a whole ton, but Anthony's been wanting to grow corn for a few years now, and we told him we'd take a break from beans and snap peas in that bed so he could do corn. Funny how I'm the one who wound up planting it though, lol. Towards the end of planting day, the kids were getting pooped out, so Papa and I finished the job. 

We have one bed left, and I'm thinking we'll divide it into three and have the kiddos plant their herb seeds they got for Easter. That'll be fun for them to do. 

Our strawberry plants are doing fine on their own, it'll be exciting to see those start to flower. We had such a great season last year, getting strawberries into the end of October! 

I weeded the raspberry bed and am delighted to see so much new growth this year! 

Our rhubarb shot out of the ground literally overnight! That was exciting to see. 

The pumpkin patch has all been tilled up too. Ready for planting. Last year we didn't get as many pumpkins as the first year we did pumpkins. We had a deer issue and I think the same nitrogen depletion problem as in a few of our garden beds (lesson learned!). This year we'll plant a few pumpkins in one corner, we got some acorn squash to go in another corner, and in the back I think we're going to put in some blueberry bushes. We were gifted one for our anniversary, and the pumpkin patch is the only place we can think to put it right now where it'll be protected a bit. So eventually the pumpkin patch will become the blueberry patch! I figure while pumpkins are fun, and we can always do a couple, we still go to the pumpkin patch yearly for our large carving ones.....so it's not a necessity to always do tons of our own pumpkins. 

We are so excited to watch our garden grow! Crossing our fingers for a great growing season. 

With love,
Mama Hauck

Easter Fun

It's hard to believe that Easter has come and gone! 

Friday evening we headed over to Grandma Cathy's for dinner and to dye Easter Eggs! We had close to 30 eggs this year, which the kids thought was awesome because we never seem to have enough and someone is always upset that they didn't get to dye many eggs. This year was argument free. Win! 

The kiddos made some beautiful eggs! 

Anthony and Molly both know the truth about Easter and that Mama and Papa are the Easter Bunny. So this year, after Timothy had already fallen asleep, we let them help hide a few eggs. But only a few! It's not fun when you know where all the eggs are! So off to bed they went so we could finish hiding the rest and get out the baskets! 

In the morning, we did our Easter egg hunt first. They were filled with plain mini chocolates, organic gummies, money, and special coupons I made up.....like "you choose what's for dinner tonight" or "stay up an hour later and watch tv in Mama and Papa's bed" etc. etc. Those were a hit with the kiddos and a great way to limit the amount of treats in the house. 

Next up, Easter baskets! All the kids were excited about their loot....books, new water bottles, clothing items, herb seeds to plant, a few yummy candy bars, etc. They definitely loved their baskets this year....especially Tim and his jump rope! That boy hasn't stopped yet! 

We were granted beautiful weather this year! So later in the day, while the kids hid in the house behind closed curtains, Sam and I hid the eggs that we all colored outside! We really enjoyed the outside hunt because there was so much more space to hide the eggs! Daisy enjoyed it too....she kept trying to eat them as I hid them. 

We shared our Easter afternoon with Grandma Cathy and our neighbor Ted as well. We enjoyed smoked ribs, bacon braised brussel sprouts, sweet potato salad, and saute'd broccoli with apple. I also made a blackberry/blueberry cobbler. YUM! 

A wonderful Easter with all my little Hunny Bunnies! 

With love,
Mama Hauck