Gratitude Sunday

I am grateful for my beautiful daughter, who sleeps so peacefully regardless of where she lies.

I am grateful that the work on our house is finally completed and we'll be moving back home this week.

I am grateful for the support of my family and friends in the last few months. This has been really tough.

I am grateful to be moving home in time to plant my garden. Sure, it's a little late for the cool weather crops. But I am still grateful!

I am grateful that we had a safe place to stay during the repair of our home. And I am grateful not to live in this apartment any longer.

The last 3 months...

Things have been hectic. Miss Mariella turned ONE in November! Here she is, enjoying the banana cake that I made for her. Life with a toddler is crazy...I find only a few quiet moments here and there to myself. I will blog regularly again one day...but not now!

And then....this happened:



Two days after Christmas, a tree fell onto our house. Not our tree. We are currently living in an apartment while major repairs are done to our house. All three of us were together, in the room where the tree hit. We were very, very, very lucky. This is the sort of thing that reminds us how blessed we all are to be here, every moment.

I am currently trying to plan how I will garden, since right now we aren't sure if we'll be back in the house by spring planting time. The good news- it has been so mild this winter, spinach that I planted in the cold frame made it the entire winter!

Butternut Bonanza

While I may go down in history as the worst and least prolific blogger EVER, I can proudly proclaim "I am GOOD at growing Butternuts!"

I will admit to all of you, however, that I did not intend so many squashes. My mom and I used seeds that we saved from last year's harvest. Being new to saving our own seeds, we didn't note that we should have been paying attention to what varieties we were attempting to save. I planted three hills of Acorn Squash seeds saved from last year, and three of Butternut. I got SIX hills of Butternut. Apparently the hybrid acorn squash reverted to its parent plant, which must have been butternut.

I count 14 harvested so far, with six more or so still ripening in the garden.

I couldn't be prouder.

August!

August is just flying by!!
Miss Mariella is now 9 months old, crawling fast and pulling up to stand. She is not content to sit still for even a moment.

My garden is now in the "hurry up and wait" stage...waiting for all of the squashes and pumpkins to ripen! I discovered this squash hidden underneath my day lilies, had no idea it was there until last night.

My life...

Small squashes...

...make big Hubbards (I hope!)

It was time...

...to harvest the first zucchini! Having planted TWO zucchini plants, I am suddenly reminded of why I really only need ONE zucchini plant.