Picking our own strawberries is our favorite way to get them, but there was a week before U-Pick started when we simply couldn't wait any longer so we stopped in a bought a few pints from the salesroom. I also picked up one of their bags of shortcake mix to have for dessert that night. They were so juicy however, that we ate most of them before we even got the shortcakes out of the oven (the shortcakes were great though, and I highly recommend giving them a try). Tasting them got us even more excited to go out and pick as many as we could to enjoy and make some of our favorite strawberry recipes!
There is nothing better than fresh picked strawberries! We are lucky to have a fantastic fruit stand in our town where we get fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables through the year. Johnston Fruit Farms is just down the road and we love stopping in the salesroom for their AMAZING fresh apple donuts as well as picking strawberries, blueberries and apples! My kiddos love to get to the salesroom early in the morning and getting the donuts when they have freshly come out of the oven. Usually, the kids and I end up eating them in the car because they smell so good we can't even wait until we get home! I enjoy having a chance to chat with the workers in the shop and always appreciate their input on what type of apple will be best for my specific recipe! It is such a great resource to have so close to home! Picking our own strawberries is our favorite way to get them, but there was a week before U-Pick started when we simply couldn't wait any longer so we stopped in a bought a few pints from the salesroom. I also picked up one of their bags of shortcake mix to have for dessert that night. They were so juicy however, that we ate most of them before we even got the shortcakes out of the oven (the shortcakes were great though, and I highly recommend giving them a try). Tasting them got us even more excited to go out and pick as many as we could to enjoy and make some of our favorite strawberry recipes! One of the reasons I love to pick our own strawberries is because it is an excellent way for my kiddos to understand where their food comes from. I find that when they have a chance to help pick their food...be it out of our garden, the local strawberry patch, or even at the grocery store, they are more likely to want to eat it. My kids are all great eaters who are willing to try anything once! There are few things they don't like and I believe it is in large part because we try to keep food fun and have them involved. Picking strawberries is a great way to do just that and also get the out of the house and outside doing an activity outside of our ordinary routine. After about an hour and a half we had picked 29 1/2 pounds of strawberries! The kiddos did a great job helping, and I have one tip for those trying to do this with young children... Be sure to bring along a little snack, otherwise they will eat as many berries as they pick! It was a great outing for us, and once all those strawberries came home it was time to clean them and get them ready for some of our favorite recipes! Strawberry freezer jam, strawberry pie, strawberry lemonade, and of course strawberry shortcake! I love to make them all from scratch and fresh local grown strawberries really pack the most flavor! I also like to freeze plenty so that we can enjoy them throughout the winter. If you want to make sure you are aware of what Johnston Fruit Farms have available for U-Pick or in the salesroom, like them on facebook to keep updated! Now that we have gotten our strawberry fix, we will have our eyes out for the U-Pick Blueberry sign!
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When I pictured in my mind what our farmhouse would look like I imagined cottage gardens filled with beautiful blooms of every color, shape and size. They would surround a huge wrap around porch with a swing large enough for all my babies to pile on with me to read books and fall asleep in the summer breeze. Then reality set in and as we drew plans for our home I discovered that the floor plan I loved for the inside did not lend to a porch that wrapped the full length around our home. I also learned that the exact size of a porch had more to do with roof pitches (or slopes or something like that) than it did with the swing you wanted to hang on it! Darn reality! So we designed a porch I still loved and I was thrilled to have a back screened in porch where I will hopefully someday have that swing of my dreams! The first summer in our house was spent settling into the indoors, and when the following spring arrived, we were ready to focus on landscaping. I searched pinterest and clipped articles for inspiration of what my "cottage garden" (a term I didn't even know existed until then) would look like filled with large flower beds jam packed with blooms that would allow me to hand cut them and always have a vase of fresh flowers on my kitchen table, counter, guest room, etc... Again, I was forced to face reality and recognize two huge components of designing landscaping. One...soil type and Two...maintenance. With extremely sandy soil, the types of flowers that would grow well were more limited, but it was still possible. However, the maintenance on the types of flower beds I envisioned in my dreams made my hubby cringe and I was certainly not about to take it on myself! So...again it was time to compromise and find the best balance of my dreams and the reality of my situation. We selected low maintenance plants for the flower beds that would still provide us with color and blooms throughout the year, just not necessarily the types that would do well cut and placed in a vase. I got a number of hydrangeas and lavender which I love, and a white flowering tree to offer a bit of shade and balance on the opposite side of the house as the porch. While I agreed to the low maintenance needs of my husbands, he promised me pots, hanging baskets, and a single window box to fill with colorful blooms each spring. Sounded like an O.K. deal to me. I went in hunt for large pots for the front porch. I wanted something that would be appropriate for our farmhouse feel while also being large enough to have a chance to be seen from the road (we sit really far back). I found the perfect pots at Costco for a very reasonable price, so I purchased three of them, shoved them into the back of my van and brought them home. I was honest enough at this point with myself to admit that I did not have a green thumb, at least not one that I knew of, but was sure that it couldn't be that hard to handle a few plants in a couple pots. My very sweet husband liked the pots and when I said, "O.K., now I just need some dirt," he very kindly pointed out that while the pots looked good, they had no drainage and would require him to drill some holes first. He also pointed out that while the size was great for visibiity, they would be nearly impossible to move once I filled them with dirt. Two things, I had overlooked...but hey, we all have to start somewhere and a couple holes seemed like simple fix. At this point, I just wanted to get something in these pots! He drilled me some holes and helped me pour multiple bags of soil into each one. The first year I selected beautiful blue hydrangeas to fill my pots. I was sure that the large flowers would be the perfect look. I bought beautiful, full plants and excitedly placed them in my pots. Two days later, I learned a valuable lesson about wind, large flowers, heavy (unmovable) pots, little to no wind break, and how much you can do with wooden stakes and twine. Lets just say, the plants were prettiest the first day, and went down hill from there. I stakes and tied as best I could to give the plants support to withstand the wind, but at some point, I began to see more stake and twine than stem and blooms. They simply were not the best choice for my pots on my porch. So, I turned my attention to my hanging baskets. I went to the greenhouse anxious to pick colorful baskets, but was surprised when I arrived to realize that it was much more challenging than I had anticipated to find SIX matching baskets...evidently I was a little late on this task. What I was sure would be a colorful expedition, quickly turned into a counting game. My mom and I must have walked 20 laps around that greenhouse just looking for six of something matching. In the end we found enough of a deep purple petunia hanging basket and loaded them up and brought them home. They were lovely, but from a distance the flowers didn't stand out. I loved them anyway, but made a mental note to make a brighter (and earlier) selection the next year. With my three pots and six baskets, I began to learn about caring for flowers and was surprised by the enjoyment I found in the daily watering and minor pruning. I was shocked at the pride I felt when I realized that I was able to keep them alive (I blame the pots struggles on the harsh environment!). I loved to look at them out the windows while I cooked and cleaned in the kitchen, not exactly flowers in a vase on my counter, but I found I enjoyed them just the same. These few pots offered me something to do once the kids went to bed and became something to keep my hands busy while my husband watered our other new landscaping. I felt like I had a hobby and ownership in something outside of the house, a territory that up until this point was my hubby's domain, and one I gladly let him have. Funny how something so little as flowers can provide so much. This year the first task was to remove the remaining dead hydrangeas. Needless to say, it didn't take much effort! I chose to focus on my pots first and then select hanging baskets that would compliment them. I knew that this year I wanted my pots to look like they were overflowing with flowers, so I went to the greenhouse with that simple requirement. After walking a few laps, I felt overwhelmed and not sure where to start. That is when I made a discovery, they had larger pots containing a mix of three different flowers, all different colors. This was the perfect starting point for me! I selected three of each of these per pot, and then wanted to add one more color, so I selected a flower with a purple and white bloom. I purchased enough for all three pots and headed home. I added more dirt to each pot and placed the new flowers on top in their pots to figure out the best spacing. I was so excited when the turnout was exactly what I was wanting! Go figure! My next task was to find six hanging baskets that would match/coordinate with my beautiful pots. Off we went to the greenhouse again, armed with my assistants, I showed the greenhouse workers a picture of my pots and asked them to help me find the perfect baskets. They were so helpful, and I found the perfect baskets. Loading them into my car proved to be a little difficult, but with a little rearranging and creativity, we managed! So pretty! Once my pots and baskets were finished and looking awesome, I decided it was time to finally try my hand at the window box. This is the first year I have planted in this spot, so I am hoping it goes well. I selected flowers similar to the one I have in my pots, but honestly forgot to purchased enough of the same initially, so I have red and purple petunias, but other yellow and blue pops of color to help coordinate. This was the last thing I got planted this year, so they have only been in the flower box for about a week now. So far so good....keep your fingers crossed! This year I am proud of the effort I have put in as well as the appearance it has achieved. It'll be hard to beat next year...but you can be sure I will try!
What do you do around your home to celebrate spring? What do you do to help your home bloom? My favorite part of this time of year is planting and tending to our garden! This is NOT something I have always been excited about, in fact, it is something I was pretty sure I would NEVER get excited about. Oh...how things change when we just get out of our own way! I always thought the idea of having a garden was cool. Who doesn't want to plant something in the ground and have it grow and then feed you? However, it was something I was very uneducated about and assumed was more work than it was worth. I remembered having gardens growing up, but it wasn't something we worked on as a family, and other than a few tomato plants and a strawberry here or there, I honestly couldn't tell you what we grew! Obviously, it wasn't something I helped with or learned much about. This left me thinking it seemed cool, but I didn't know where to start or understand what all was involved in caring for a garden. The first year Sean and I planted a garden, I remember the only thing that grew was the jalepenos, but I enjoyed picking them and making poppers for Sean! Besides that all I got was a LOT of mosquito bites! The house we were in at the time was surrounded by TONS of oak trees. Beautiful, but also gave us to much shade for the garden to grow well. The next couple of years didn't improve much, and we didn't have much time to dedicate to it. I was still in college and while I enjoyed helping Sean around his house, I simply wasn't into the outside stuff, I was happy filling picture frames with images from when we started dating and adding throw pillows to the couch to offer the house a more feminine touch! We got married, moved and started over in a new, much sunnier spot. Shortly after our wedding, we were thrilled to find out I was pregnant and the following summer, instead of caring about a garden, I was learning how to care for a newborn. One of my favorite garden memories of her was when she was about 1 year old, I was doing in home daycare at the time and had up to five kids on my busiest day. I thought it was an awesome idea to get the kids involved in planting our garden. All the kids helped us pick types of fruits and vegetables to plant and helped to "care" for the garden. They were great at watering and did their best to help pull weeds. Miss L has ALWAYS loved tomatoes, so that summer, we went out to play in the backyard and started by checking on and watering the garden. We picked a few ripe tomatoes and I let each of the kids eat a cherry tomato right off the plant! We all walked to the swing set to play and I placed the other tomatoes on the patio table. While I helped lift the other children onto the swings, I turned around and realized Miss L was no where to be found. I called her name and heard a little squeal. She had walked back to the deck, up the couple steps, and climbed into a chair at our patio table. When I came around from the back of the chair, I saw my sweet girl, wet, muddy, and COVERED in tomato seeds! She had reached one down and was sitting happily in the chair eating a large tomato like it was an apple! This was the beginning of my love for our vegetable garden. I wanted to have more mud and seed covered memories. I realized that the garden was not only something that could fill our belly but also provide us with an activity to do together and a place that I could give my children independence and an opportunity to explore, get dirty, and feel responsibility and accomplishment! The first summer in our new house I had 2 tomato plants. With a very large pregnant belly and a whole house to unpack and settle into, that was all we managed. Looking back, I am thankful for my sweet husband who built me a garden box knowing full and well that we would not have time to care for them, but that I wished we would. With a million projects and things that needed accomplished before the arrival of Mr. N, Sean still found time to make me a raised bed and fill a small portion of it with top soil. We planted our couple of tomato plants and enjoyed watching the chickens eat the ripe fruit off before we got a chance to pick them ourselves! Looking back, it was probably pregnancy hormones that made me think I was super woman and would be able to do it all that first summer. Thankfully, my husband simply completed the task so I could say I had a garden that year. Those lucky chickens sure did enjoy it though, and our girls giggled every time I yelled out the window at them to stop eating my tomatoes! Finally, last summer we were able to focus more energy on getting ourselves a set up that would be successful and allow us to plant more than just tomatoes! Sean built me more raised beds for a total of 4 and we filled them with top soil. Our soil is very sandy, so we knew we needed to have more quality soil in order to have a successful garden. We planted what most would consider a salsa garden along with some cucumbers, strawberries, rhubarb, cantaloupe and watermelon. The melons never produced into much, our rhubarb was thin, and the strawberries gave us 2 TINY delicious berries which the girls ate right off the plant. Our cucumbers, bell peppers, banana peppers and tomatoes did very well. The tomatoes were not pretty, the weather never got hot so they were more orange than red and many split, but they still tasted alright. The kids loved to help gather our vegetables and were always excited to see a new cucumber growing when we thought we had gotten our last one for the year. As last summer came to a close I was excited knowing that it had been the best garden yet, and that with each year we would have more time to dedicate to it and the kids would be able to help in all new ways. I have spent the last year thinking and dreaming of what this years garden would hold and how we as a family would care for it and enjoy its harvest!
This year, my Mother's Day gift was the addition of two more raised beds to our garden. I made a list of all the fruits and vegetables I would love to plant, and we selected what made the most sense for our garden. I was so excited this year when my rhubarb and strawberries all came back bigger and better! The strawberries spread taking over half of one of our raised beds and are full of white blooms already. My rhubarb had giant green leaves and stalks that were already twice as thick as last years before I even realized it was growing again! These were fun things to start watching as we waited for the never ending winter to finally end and the warm temperatures of spring to finally arrive (even though I am not sure that has happened yet, but I remain optomistic. This year our garden has tomatoes (roma, beef steak, 2 varieties of heirloom, grape, and tomatillo), green bell peppers, sweet and hot banana peppers, purple bell pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, burpless cucumbers, canning cucumbers, red and green cabbage, red onion, rhubarb, strawberries, zuchinni and yellow squash, canteloupe, and watermelon. We have chosen to use landscape fabric in the boxes with any plants that do not need to spread as an attempt to help with weeds. This is something we did last year and felt went well so decided to stick with it again this year. We stake our tomatoes with wood stakes and use a loose string to tie the plants to the stakes to help them stay tall. We have no wind block in our yard, so the wind is to strong for the small growing plants initially. We also have a triangular trellis set up for the cucumbers to vine up as they grow. So far we have had a number of cold nights in which we have had light frost. We have not lost any plants that we are aware of yet, but are anticipating that we might in the next few days. We will we watching them closely to ensure any plants lost will be replaced quickly. Stay tuned for more info on how our garden is doing as well as ways that we get our kids involved in the garden and make it a family project! One of my favorite places to take the kids in the Spring is to our local greenhouses! We are lucky to have a number of awesome local greenhouses near our home, and it makes it a very effortless and exciting trip for all of us. To date, we have actually already visited 7 times, and are planning a trip back tomorrow for a few final items we need! My husband and I enjoy walking around and looking at the various flowers as well as fruit and vegetable plants, we find it leads to ideas and inspiration. This summer will be our third summer in our farmhouse. The first summer was filled with unpacking and preparing for a new baby. Last summer was wonderful, but our focus was on getting some landscaping done in the front flower beds, and to be honest our garden and any other flowers and pots were put together in a hurry to simply get them planted. This year, we have learned from a few mistakes made last year, as well as have more attention to focus on these projects. To me, the dreaming and planning has been both the most exciting and the most stressful part of building our family farm. We, like most homeowners, have LOTS of ideas. Each requires time and money to have them become reality and this simple fact has required compromise and prioritizing! Our trips to the greenhouse provide a concrete way to solidify our plans and build our visions! The kids enjoyed the multiple trips as well. They love to run up and down the rows pointing out the flowers they each like the best. The girls instantly noticed all the fallen petals and flowers on the ground and quickly started collecting as many as they could hold. With each trip, they grew more creative in their collection methods. Starting with holding them in their hands, to finding the trays the greenhouse provides, to finally bringing along small purses to fill with the discarded blooms! Even our little man enjoys the trips....he loves anything with wheels! Keep checking back to learn more about what we have purchased and the plans we have made for our farm this spring and summer! Do you enjoy trips to the greenhouse? Do you go for flowers or fruits/veggies? Working on any projects this spring? Here are a few of my favorite pictures snapped while we explored and enjoyed the beauty of the blooms that surrounded us! |
Welcome to our Farmhouse!Having three beautiful children and one handsome husband to share this farmhouse with provides me with some amazing views. From inside to out, our home provides us with magical moments as we explore all life has to offer us! I hope our moments inspire you to create and enjoy some of your own! Archives
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