It's Officially Fall

Luke Loves tomatoes...
look at all the seeds on him from eating them as I pick them!
You would think they were berries!

Hopefully there will be enough left for tomato sauce?:)

Sept.22 was the first day of fall and so to my "little lambs" that means time to pick the pumpkins and most of our squash!

Here they are...

Our Angiosperms that we germinated and scarified and transplanted and now finally harvested!



We have been doing "Exploring Creation's" Botany Science Book along with our Creation videos.
So much cool stuff to learn while we get to "experience it first hand!"

I am so blessed to have my children home with me.
I pray this is a gift that they have the freedom to experience with their own children. Who knows but that the things we take for granted may not always be here for us in the future!
Let us lay our hope and trust in HIM who will provide the strength in these uncertain times our country is in. Let us keep diligently on our knees for our leaders, our country, our rights, and our freedoms.


Well here is the biggest pumpkin weighing in at 88lbs.
This Giant Atlantic didn't get to be 600lbs like the package said it could but we are happy with almost 100!
Next year we want to try it again and actually take care of it... feed it fertilizer and water it when it is hot (we didn't do very good at that this past month). Plus while turning it... it kind of got detached from the vine a month ago.

Great Fun!

Homegrown Popcorn

One of our long term Home school experiments was to grow our own popcorn.
It all started last spring when we germinated and planted the corn seed last April.
Then we transplanted into our little garden and 3.5 weeks we harvested it.
Finally, yesterday we popped it.

It was beautifully White little kernels of popcorn.
It feels so satisfying to have completed this project.

Update on the Garden

Everything is in Bloom!

Here is an update on my gardenWe are harvesting Beets, radishes, lettuce, brocolli, onions, shallots, garlic and many different herbs! Oh, I am so excited!

This year we did companion planting...
Box #1
Tomatoes
Basil, Sage, Parsley
Asparagus
Lettuce & Carrots
Onions, Shallots, Garlic
Rubarb
Marigold, Calendula & Echnicea

Box #2
Peas (trellis)
Cucumbers
Lettuce, Calendula, Parsley
Nasturiums, Blackeyed Susan
Carrots & Asparagus
Tomatoes

Box#3
Broccolli & Cabbage
Beets
Onions, Shallots & Garlic
Sage, Dill &Chamomile
Peppermint & Spearmint

Box #4
Pole Beans & Bush Beans
Radishes
Yellow Summer Squash
Zucchini
Eggplant
Corn, Sunflowers & Pumpkins
Morning Glory, Lupine, Salvia

Anyone know if I am supposed to cut the flower off of onions, garlic, etc???

Rest from Work

We can now rest easy knowing that all has been done with the vineyard until the warmer weather when we need to lift off the grow tubes!
The plants have all been pruned, the compost is out, and the dead plants are replaced!
Good job Isaac!

Kozy Koats

If you lived in the North West
If you love tomatoes
If you would like to reap tomatoes earlier than September this year
Than you have got to check out these
Kozy Koats

Here is a tomato plant I planted without a Kozy Koat 2 weeks ago...
Droopy and Dead!

Here is the same kind of tomato planted on the same day but warmed and protected by a Kozy Koat...Healthy and Growing!

Kozy koat can be found at almost any garden center... I found these at Portland Nursery for $15.95 for a package of 3.

I was also told by a friend to try filling a plastic water bottle with water, putting it next to the plant and then wrapping the trellis (which surrounds the plant of course) with Saran wrap. I haven't personally tried it but it sounds cost effective and all stuff you can probably find around your house.

Also I wanted to tell you about these wonderful Tomato Ladders I found through Garden Supply Company. I bought a set of five for $39.95 last year and my tomatoes were amazing!
Tomatoes typically do better with some sort of trellis system!

"He who works his land will have Abundant food, but he who chases fantasies lacks judgement."
Proverbs 12:11

Lord willing, may we all reap an Abundant Harvest this year!

Presoaking, Scarifying, and Presprouting Seeds

This year we got around to planting are starts a couple of weeks later than I would have liked.... so with the pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini and squash we soaked the seeds and put them on damp paper towels, rolled them up and sealed them in a zip lock bag. After a couple days they look like this:



Then you plant them inside for a few weeks and you are set. This process also works with beans and peas; however you have to pour boiling water over them and let them sit until the water is cool. The they need to be scarified. Most gardening books talk about this process. It is fun to do with kids and it works. We have had so much fun.

My starts are taking over our kitchen and guest room, but I love it. Yeah Spring is here!
Happy Gardening!

Open Season in the Garden

Finally it is Time! Time for Gardening!
Yeah! I am so EXCITED this year! We have expanded my garden... added 2 more flower beds in the enclosed garden! My hope is to be able to use past of the land behind our chicken coop for corn and potatoes and things like that as well. That is if I can manage to figure out my watering problems.

After weeks of reading, planning, buying seeds, buying starts, testing and amending the soil we were finally able to plant our first plants this past week.
I am trying planting garlic in my rose beds to deter aphids and hopefully blackspot. Every year we have been here our roses get massive amounts of aphids as well as blackspot. And every summer I spend hours, pruning off and spraying the bushes with garlic. I read in a few awesome books, "The Self Sufficient Gardener" by John Seymore and "Carrots Love Tomatoes" by Louise Riotte, that Roses are great companions plants to any plant in the onion family... especially garlic. So we will give it a try. Anything to get my hours back! I love spending time in the garden but I just don't have the time to do it all!

The Hard Work is Done! For Now!

Now we can rest until January... Pruning Season!

We did it! We are done with the hardest part of planting our Vineyard! The trellis system is up, the plants are in the ground, the grow tubes are protecting every yearling, and they are secured to the wire! Yeah! Thanks be to God for holding off the rain until 20 minutes after we finished tying the last grow tube to the trellis! Isn't He amazing!
Here is the finished product!


To see more on our journey of planting the vineyard go to www.thevineyardjourney.com

We also got firewood stacked for the winter yesterday! Good work Kelsey, Austin & Daddy!

DONE PLANTING!

Thursday we finished planting all 1,386 plants!
Friday morning was beautiful out in the vineyard.. a gentle fog lingered over the dirt.

Welcome Autumn!

Tuesday Tolpin Team Work

Everyone in the FAmily worked soooo Hard yesterday! There was planting of the first section, and picking up the containers, watering each plant individually, putting the stakes back in... and for baby Luke he was so good in the stroller (most of the 7 hours...)
Great Job Guys! Mom and Dad are soooo proud!

We went to Olive Garden at 8 last night to celebrate a hard but successful days work.
Today we plant the second section! Thank God for good weather!

Planting Day Has Come

Tuesday Plants arrived @ Noon!