Frugality at its Finest

Is there anything more frugal than growing your own fruits and vegetables??  If it's not at the top, it's close!

This is our second summer in this house with this amazing property to grow, grow, grow!!  I have to admit, that I am NOT a gardener and I DO NOT have a green thumb.....this will be a definite work in progress for me.  My "worker bee" husband is the gardener in our family, at least for now.  He grew up watching his parents and, for sure, his grandparents take care of their bountiful crop.  (Right here, where we're living now!!)  He will be the first to tell you that he doesn't know much, but I guarantee he knows A LOT more than I do!!  He has been working his little heart out these past few weekends and it is soooooo exciting!!  I have been doing my best to help him with whatever I can, ie:  weeding, planting seeds, giving advice, etc, but with this pregnancy and my leg/vein issues, PLUS, taking care of the kids, it's been more of his thing.  We have our roles, though, as I'm sure every married couple does.  It's kind of an unspoken rule that he plants everything, gets it all ready, and I'm the one who does all the picking, harvesting, and preparing of it all.  He doesn't like that part, and I don't like the planting part, so, IT WORKS!!  He's also been hard at work planting some grass, too.  We felt like we needed a little bit more space for the kids to run, and it's so exciting seeing some sproutlets coming up!!  Here are some pictures:

These are the strawberries.  Mark replanted all of them and re-built the boxes; they look so happy!



[caption id="attachment_347" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="strawberry boxes"][/caption]

Here's a couple shots of the garden we planted last weekend.  (Well, I supervised and spread the seeds!)  We planted Cucumbers, corn, radishes, leeks and carrots.  We will also be planting our blueberries in the same area!

And, here are the tomoatoes Mark planted yesterday!

[caption id="attachment_350" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Tomatoes"][/caption]

If you can tell, here's the area where the new grass is planted.

[caption id="attachment_351" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Grass (trying to grow!)"][/caption]

Besides all this, flowers also grow in abundance in the yard!  We can't take credit for any of them, though, because Mark's grandparents planted them all when they lived here and we're just going to try to keep them up!  Behind the strawberry boxes, Mark transplated the Calla Lillies, and here is a shot of where all the Dahlias are (and will be!) this summer.  I have to get out and weed through the aisles, but Mark has put sticks up and pinpointed where all the Dahlias are!  And, right in front of those are the Gladiolas sprouting up!!  I can't wait!!

Besides all this, there are rows of Raspberries, a Peach Tree, a Cherry Tree, tons of Rhubarb, about six Apple trees and a Pear tree!!  (I might be forgetting something, but you get the idea!!)  Someday (in our wildest dreams!) we would love for this to be a "farm" for us and we can sell all this wonderful produce and flowers.  A nice summer job for me!!  I dabbled in it a bit last summer and sold peaches and apples in a stand that Mark made, and I also put together Dahlia bouquets, that, in my opinion, sold VERY well for it being my first time doing it!  It was such an enjoyable experience!!

With a new baby coming in early August, I hope and pray I/we can keep everything up!!  (I think it's the weeding that is overtaking us, now!!) :-)  But, all we can do is our best!!!

I will make sure to keep you updated and post pictures of all the progress!!