Life Can’t Stop for School!

Jeff and the kids picked green beans the other day. A friend *gave* them to us, we just had to come pick.

They brought home a BUNCH of beans!

It took 5 of us snapping to get them done.

I gave the younger children a basket full of beans to be snapped and placed them in front of the TV watching a documentary about bees, because bees are what they’ve been asking so much about lately.

This was not a typical ‘school day’ for us, but it was what needed to be done. We spent the morning snapping, canning and talking about bees, evolution and world view. This is the way education should be…naturally answering questions when asked, doing what needs to be done.

In the afternoon we did our math and reading, but for this morning, life…beans could not be stopped because we had worksheets to do; we had life and work to do!

Emma sat at the table snapping, while I manned the pressure cooker. This gave us HOURS and HOURS to talk. I loved it. I really wanted to slow the process down so we could talk even more… I know these kind of days will become fewer as the winds of change are blowing for her…for all of us.

I had to laugh at her at one point as she said in frustration, “Do you see my pile of beans going down any? I have been snapping so long but I don’t seem to be getting anywhere and my fingers hurt.”

I told her, “It’s just like life, you snap away, one day at a time, it seems like you are kind of stuck in time, but before you know it, your pile…your days are gone.”

We canned 49 quarts in 24 hours!!!

And we still have a huge pot of beans to eat off this week!!!

Life is good and God is GREAT!

Real Food Link Up – WATERMELON! (videos)

There are tons of watermelon recipes online, even recipes for watermelon drinks!

Olivia has made this a few times, it’s watermelon with feta cheese…OH MY GOODNESS!!!

How to know when a watermelon is ripe:

How to carve watermelon roses:

My Watermelon Woman I’ve made a few times:

How is your garden going?
The Real Food Link Up series will be posted each Wednesday. Please share how you are incorporating healthy REAL food to your diet, even if it is just baby steps, OR how your garden plans are coming along.

Real Food Link Up – Harvesting Seeds from Herbs -video tutorial

Yesterday, Olivia and a couple of the kids harvested some seeds from some of the herbs in Olivia’s herb garden.

Olivia’s Herb Book

$2.97

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Real Food Link Up – Blueberry Time!

We have 2 blueberry bushes and it is harvest time!

Picking will last for a few weeks.

I try to get the kids out there to pick before the heat gets too bad;

this is where you’ll really see their true work ethic.

Some of our pickers are better than others.

She’s going to be a good mom,

she can take care of ‘baby’ and work in the garden at the same time.

Right now we get about a gallon every other day.

I wash them and bag them up for freezing, super easy!

They are great for smoothies, muffins, pancakes

and our favorite cobbler!

Blueberry bushes take time to grow, but in just a few years you’ll have berries, and they are super low maintenance. Bushes and trees are a great way to add your your family’s economy and health!

Here is a very simple cobbler recipe:

Here is Olivia’s muffin recipe:

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Real Food Link Up- Soaking and Sprouting Seeds and Beans Video

How to make bean sprouts:

How and Why to soak nuts:

Why you should soak your beans before cooking.

Real Food Link Up – Zucchini, Zucchini, Zucchini!!!

Zucchini is our main crop coming in right now… it is soooo good! Emma and Cherish blanched a bunch to put in the freezer.

Here is a video clip how to make zucchini noodles. I tried this recipe, but we didn’t like the nutmeg, so next time we’ll leave that off.

Since I am trying to stay away from the white sugar and white flour I may make these noodles for myself for our traditional Sunday pasta and sauce.

The ways to use zucchini are endless! You can throw it in just about anything; think muffins, pancakes, stir-fry, salads, juice…

and even on pizza as I did here!

Use tiny chunks and top with cheese and no one will know the pizza is a little good for them!

Over the next few weeks I hope to make some zucchini bread to put in the freezer too and get enough blanched zucchini stocked up for stir fries and such.

Real Food Link Up – Self-Watering, Space-Saving Gardening (videos)

This is great if you live in the city or have limited space for gardening. I think I may try this with lettuce this fall.

This first video he shows his irrigation system, which eliminates the need to water the plants, so there is an initial cost, but you can reuse it every year. This system also eliminates weeding!

More about the soil:

Tomatoes:

Our garden is doing GREAT! We have lots of zucchini coming in, so next week look for ways to use zucchini! ) This morning Jeff and Hayden are over at a neighbor’s digging up potatoes. Our blueberry bushes are full of berries, we’re just waiting for them to ripen!

How is your garden going? Have you started anything yet?
The Real Food Link Up series will be posted each Wednesday. Please share how you are incorporating healthy REAL food to your diet, even if it is just baby steps, OR how your garden plans are coming along.

Real Food Link Up – Weeding, Dead-heading and Staking

Olivia took the little kids out this morning to do some weeding in the herb harden.

We have a lot coming up in our gardens, the squash and cucumbers are flowering. I planted more seeds last week, including some more lettuce.

How is your garden going? Have you started anything yet? We have some potatoes growing and we’re getting the ground tilled.
The Real Food Link Up series will be posted each Wednesday. Please share how you are incorporating healthy REAL food to your diet, even if it is just baby steps, OR how your garden plans are coming along.

Real Food Link Up – You don’t weed just once….

Gardening is so much like parenting.

With our little ones right now we are weeding…a lot!

This morning I was thinking about how much WORK weeding is.

The planting of new seeds, new ideas in them is pretty easy and their heart soil is rich and workable. It’s fun to plant, especially when they are receptive.

Watering is fun too, constantly encouraging those seeds to sprout up. There is so much hope while you are planting and watering. Watering is about discipleship and you cannot disciple if you don’t stay close.

But then comes the time for weeding, which is also discipleship. Oh.My.Word…weeding is so much work. Striving to keep those weeds away from the seedlings so they won’t get choked out. Being careful of how our tender seedlings they spend their time; who we allow to influence them whether it be through friends, media and even family.We need to keep the weeds of laziness and selfishness from taking any root at all.

Weeding is the longest and hardest part of gardening, but if you don’t stay on top of it all the planting and watering will be in vain. You don’t weed just once, you weed all season long.

To grow seeds to maturity you have to be in your garden every day. You’ve got to stay close. You’ve got to know as soon as those weeds sprout up or if pest are eating away at those tender seedlings!!!

Your job as the gardener is to care for those seedlings until their roots are deep and strong. Once plants are established and showing fruit the weeds don’t stand a chance.

If you are in the weeding season with your seedlings, hang in there and be diligent. Tend that garden with the hopes of a bountiful harvest one day, a harvest that will bring life to others!!!

We have a lot coming up in our gardens, the squash and cucumbers are flowering. I planted more seeds last week, including some more lettuce.

How is your garden going? Have you started anything yet? We have some potatoes growing and we’re getting the ground tilled.
The Real Food Link Up series will be posted each Wednesday. Please share how you are incorporating healthy REAL food to your diet, even if it is just baby steps, OR how your garden plans are coming along.