2008 Garden Plan

My working garden plan is complete! I wasn't able to till the ground today (the tiller needs a new condenser), but I staked off the boundaries so I know right where to direct my husband to till.

My husband requested room to mow around the garden this year, since I had almost butted it up against the fence my first year. So I measured the width of the mower and gave him that and an extra two feet for clearance all around. That shrunk my garden just a bit, but it's still plenty big for just a second-year gardener. It's 15x30'.

I'm running my rows shortways and putting 2' footpaths between each row (wider by the melons). Here's what the rows look like:

• 3 rows corn
• 1 row watermelons and cantaloupes (they're space hogs, but I love them) - 1/2 row each
• 1 row mild banana peppers and green peppers - 1/2 row each
• 1 row cucumbers
• 1 row lettuce and tomatoes - 1/2 row each
• 1 row beets
• 1 row onions
• 1 row radishes and carrots - 1/2 row each
  

I arranged them that way so that I can start planting at one end of the garden and finish at the other end. It seemed easier to my way of thinking, since I know nothing about companion planting.

Once I harvest the radishes, I'm going to plant broccoli in their place. Once I harvest the beets, I'm going to plant more radishes and some marigolds (for cut flowers) in their place.

Okay, are you ready for a listmaker's over-organized garden plans? I know it's not all going to work out this neatly, but I did the following charts to help guide me (so my broccoli doesn't all flower before I realize it's ready to be picked, as happened my first year) ...

Planting Schedule
Week of 3/24 - radishes, carrots, onion sets, beets, lettuce
Week of 4/21 - tomatoes, cucumbers, banana peppers, green peppers, corn, broccoli
Week of 4/28 - watermelons, cantaloupes
Week of 5/12 - radishes, marigolds
Week of 7/14 - corn (second crop) ???

Harvesting Schedule
Week of 4/14 - radishes (On 4/21, plant broccoli in their place.)
Week of 5/12 - beets (Plant radishes and marigolds in their place.)
Week of 6/2 - carrots
Week of 6/9 - lettuce
Week of 6/30 - banana peppers, green peppers
Week of 7/14 - cucumbers, corn (I might replant the corn.)
Week of 7/28 - watermelons, cantaloupes, tomatoes, onions

And of course I have a specific plan for everything in this garden:

• Corn - I'll freeze some on the cob and take the rest off before freezing.
• Watermelons and cantaloupes - to enjoy fresh to our heart's content!
• Banana peppers - I'll can and pickle these since my husband dearly loves them.
• Green peppers - I'll chop and freeze these (1/baggie) to use throughout the next year.
• Cucumbers - I'll can and pickle these, doing half dill (for my husband and kids) and half bread and butter (for me and kids).
• Lettuce - to enjoy fresh to our heart's content, and probably share with others!
• Tomatoes - We'll enjoy some of these in fresh tomato sandwiches (yum!), but I'll also be canning spaghetti sauce.
• Beets - I'll can and pickle these so I can get my "pickled eggs" fix whenever I want (my husband eats the beets, so we're a great pair).
• Onions - We'll enjoy some of these fresh, but I'll dry (or chop and freeze) whatever we don't use right away.
• Radishes - My kids and I love these fresh, and they'll make a great accompaniment to the lettuce for salads.
• Carrots - I'll probably can these. My kids go crazy for carrots.
• Broccoli - I'll freeze these.

So there you have it - my entire garden plan for this year. I'd love to include more cut flowers, but there isn't any more room for them in my main garden. I'm racking my brain trying to think of where else a flower garden would look good on our property. I'll let you know if I come up with anything.

Year Two of Gardening

Until I was nine years old, we lived on the outskirts of a small town (technically a village - it's right on the sign) and had a huge backyard. My dad gardened ever since I could remember, until we moved to the city. I remember helping him plant onion sets and running in fear of the garden spiders I'd encounter walking through the rows.

My grandfather was an excellent gardener who could grow nearly anything that could be grown. His specialty was garlic, but he also built and operated a flower greenhouse for several years.

My dad followed in his footsteps. We ate well, thanks to his garden. There were many years that he was laid off from work, but we still had plenty of fresh vegetables because he had this humongous garden out back. He didn't have a lot of money to put into it, so he often became creative. Instead of Miracle Gro (which he couldn't afford), he made "manure tea." (I'll let you imagine what that involves.) It seemed as though there wasn't anything my dad couldn't grow.

So when we moved to our current house and someone offered me the use of their tiller to start a garden, I was ecstatic. I've always enjoyed watching things grow, even if it does make me nervous wondering if I'm doing everything right.

I didn't get to plant a garden last year because the kids were at difficult ages. This year, my son can't wait to help me and I think my daughter ought to be okay, too. (I distinctly remember planting onion sets as a child; maybe that's what I'll give them to do.)

So right now I'm in the process of planning my garden. I'm deciding what I want to plant and how to arrange everything so that I'm not wasting space.

It's supposed to be near 70 degrees here tomorrow, so I'm thinking about tilling up the plot tomorrow. An avid gardener from church tells me that I could already have in carrots, onions and beets. Within two weeks I can start planting lettuce, cauliflower and broccoli. So I need to get a move on!

So I'll probably be blogging about gardening for the next few days ...

Cousin Camp 2008: Food

Here it is: the last post of the planning stages of Cousin Camp. I might add other ideas later, as I find them, but this is the end of my "blog series" on Cousin Camp. I hope it's helped you some. Remember, you can always use the ideas for something else - like summer activities for your own kids.

So what are we going to feed this small army for a week (8 kids and up to 4 adults)? I took the successes from last year, added a few more ideas in place of the "failures," and here's what I came up with:

Breakfasts
Tuesday - cold cereal
Wednesday - waffles (made ahead and frozen)
Thursday - cold cereal
Friday - pancakes (made ahead and frozen)
Saturday - cold cereal (I'm including Saturday just in case everyone wants to wait to make the trip back home.)

Lunches
Tuesday - lunchmeat sandwiches, chips, fruit (for a picnic)
Wednesday - macaroni and cheese, hot dogs
Thursday - lunchmeat sandwiches, chips, fruit (for a picnic - this is subject to change)
Friday - grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup

Suppers
Monday - hamburgers, French fries, soda
Tuesday - Tuna Noodle Casserole (with peas - they requested this last year!)
Wednesday - sloppy joes, chips, soda
Thursday - taco salad
Friday - pizza, chips, soda

Snacks
Monday - Chex Mix
Tuesday - homemade soft pretzels (made ahead and frozen)
Wednesday - Watermelon Sorbet
Thursday - Chocolate Yummies (I found this recipe in a Rice Krispies advertisement, and it looks fabulous!)
Friday - funnel cakes (homemade)

No, this wouldn't qualify for the most nutritious menu for a week, but I really doubt a week of eating like this is going to kill them ... Or at least it shouldn't harm them as much as starving, which they most certainly would do if I introduced a bunch of foreign-to-them foods which they would refuse to eat.

As a side note, my garden should be producing something at this point (not sure exactly since I don't have the dates nailed down yet), so I aim to offer whatever I might have fresh from the garden in addition to what's on the menu.

Frugal Easter Baskets: Personalized Notebooks

Last year I did the usual Easter basket routine and my kids were flying higher than kites for three weeks, thanks to all the sugar from the candy. So this year I decided to modify the contents of the Easter basket, and save myself a ton of money in the process.

I'll post again next week with a picture of the finished baskets and the rest of the contents, but I wanted to throw out this idea for anyone who might be needing another little (inexpensive) something for the baskets.

I got a bunch of spiral-bound notebooks during the after-school clearance at Target. I got them in packs of 10 for $0.25, if I remember correctly. Since I'm including a set of washable markers ($0.50 each during back-t0-school sales) in each basket, I decided to make notebooks for them to write in.

I got the illustrations off a junk mail brochure that arrived last week with a bunch of animal wildlife information cards. They enjoyed the free wildlife cards, and I squirreled away the extra insert with these pictures on them. (I just cut them out with a pair of scissors.) My son is currently interested in eagles since his daddy is. My little girl loves anything with anything baby in it - including baby animals.

After mounting the illustrations to a piece of cardstock cut to size (8x10.5"), I took the coil out of the notebook. It's really quite easy. Just open up the top and bottom of the coil and turn it around and around until the coil is completely free.

Then I mounted the cardstock on top of the old notebook cover with some scrapbook adhesive I had on hand. I then used clear ConTact paper to laminate the front of the cover and keep the animal cutouts in place. [A tip for laminating like this: Cut the laminating film 1" larger lengthwise and widthwise than the item you're laminating.]

If you price the ConTact paper ($5.75 for the roll at my Wal-Mart), you might not consider this too frugal, but I have lots of uses for clear ConTact paper, not the least of which is to protect the covers of softcover books that I use a lot. And it comes with lots of laminating film for your money! I considered it an investment in all the other notebooks I'm going to end up making, now that they know I can.

I used my Crop-A-Dile on the 1/8" hole punch setting to punch the holes in the new cover, using the old cover (which it is mounted to) as a guide for placement. There were 41 holes in my notebooks, so expect your hand to get a little tired!

Then I stacked the new cover on top of the notebook and re-threaded the notebook coil pretty much the same way I un-threaded it ... And they were done!
The cost per notebook was $0.22 (which includes the laminating film, cardstock and notebook).
These are super-easy, and you can use the same concept for almost anything: a recipe book for a bridal shower, a make-your-own address book (using a smaller notebook), etc.

Let me know if you try it!

Simple things that make me happy

I'm up later than I had planned, so I need to make it short tonight. (Cousin Camp posting will hopefully continue in the next day or so.) Here's one of the simple things of life that makes me happy:

I had a favorite glass pitcher that we received from a dear friend for our wedding. I used it nearly every day for the last five years to serve my iced tea. I could have cried when it broke a few weeks ago! It was a unique design, so I knew I wouldn't be able to find a duplicate. I went to Wal-Mart and found the pitcher you see here.

There's something about it that makes me happy. It's simple. It's rounded. It's a necessary item that is also a "thing of beauty" for me.

Sometimes it helps to step back and appreciate the little things in life.

Cousin Camp 2008: Activities

Some of these activities are dependent on the location of Cousin Camp. I'm hoping to have it at my house this year, but there might be a problem getting everyone here. I'm brainstorming ideas at this point.

We live near Assateague and Chincoteague Islands, so they're on for an entire day's activities. We can picnic, walk trails, look for wild ponies and try to find a secluded section of the beach to build sand castles (we're not sunbathers). This will be prime photography time for me! I just have to figure out the best way to protect my camera from the sand ...

We also live just a few miles from a fabulous free city zoo and play park. You wouldn't believe what's there for free! So that's also on for an entire day's activities. We can picnic, go through the zoo and play in the play park (which is one of the best I've ever been to). This will also be a great time for photography!

I plan to do another obstacle course, which was so popular last year. We have a great backyard for this!

Another repeat from last year will be Cousin Camp Celebration, where we play games and win prizes. (Everyone gets a prize for every activity - they just get to pick prizes in ranking order.)

An activity I mentioned earlier that also coincides with a craft is the Soap Box Derby using the Soap Box Dragsters the boys will be making. I'm not too concerned about the girls being bored with this activity because if you can get the boys interested, the girls usually come along, too.

I found a Jump-O-Lene at a local thrift store last fall (very similar to the one in the link - for $2!), and I'm planning to keep that inflated to keep the youngest three busy in case they get bored with the more detailed crafts the older kids are making. I've already had it up, and my kids are enthralled with it.

And then there are other miscellaneous activities to fit into little niches in the schedule where we have some time, but not an entire day (or even afternoon):

• Magic Sandbox (from Family Fun, July/August 2007) - Hide coins and other small prizes in a sandbox and let them dig them up. I plan to combine that with the Treasure Stones idea and keep track of how many stones I've hidden.


• Along the same lines, there is the Backyard Treasure Hunt (from Family Fun, July/August 2007) where they learn to use a compass and work together as a team to find the treasure you've hidden. They start out with one clue and directions to the next clue, using the compass. After finding several clues this way, they are directed to the treasure, which will include a little something for everybody.


• Magic Lollipop Hunt (from Family Fun, September 2007) - Poke a bunch of lollipops into the yard and let the kids try to find them. This works best in grass that hasn't just been cut, since a little length will help to hide them. Of course, everyone will end up with at least one.


• Super Sidewalk Paint (from Family Fun, February 2008) - This is a "recipe" for a cheap homemade version, using items I have on hand. We have a large parking lot next door at the church, and I'm fairly certain sidewalk paint will be more popular than the chalk. There's just something about paint and kids!

And here are some great indoor activities, in case of inclement weather:

• Colorful Catapult


• Roll Out the Marble


• The 15-Cent Write, Rip, Lace & Zip Championship

So what exactly do I have for prizes? I'm glad you asked!

In case you're wondering, I got these treasure chests at Dollar Tree. They're hugely popular and sell out within two days around here, so I was pretty happy to be in when they got a fresh shipment in the middle of winter! Just what will be in the treasure chests? Well, take a look at what I already have. This is the boys' treasure chest.



I got the plastic canteens at Wal-Mart when they were clearancing them last year for $0.10 each. The grow frogs (and lizards) were from Target's Dollar Spot, but they donate them to Goodwill and I picked them up for $0.25 each. My little guy loves these things so much, I just had to get some. There are also some sports-type watches that I picked up for $0.25 each when Dollar Tree was moving to a larger store and didn't want to have to move them. There's more in there - those are just the highlights.

Here's the girls' treasure chest:



The Ty Beanie Babies were given to me, and I know my nieces will love them. They like anything stuffed! There are quite a few craft-type kits behind them that I picked up at Dollar Tree for $0.25 each when they were moving the store, as well as girls' watches ($0.25 each) I got at the same time. That's where the journal came from, too ($0.25).

Lest you think I spend a small fortune on Cousin Camp, I really don't. I keep my eyes out for inexpensive prizes and such everywhere I go. It's amazing what you can find for $0.10-0.25 when you're looking hard enough and long enough!

Cousin Camp 2008: Crafts

This is just in the planning stages right now, but I've been thinking about this and gathering ideas since Cousin Camp ended last year. This year we will have eight participants - 4 girls and 4 boys. (Last year, my youngest was there but didn't participate since she was too young.) These are the crafts I'd like to include in Cousin Camp this year:

Personality boxes - I learned to make these in 4th or 5th grade. We cut out phrases and pictures from old magazines that said something about us. Then we glued them collage-style to shoeboxes. The end result was a place to put our miscellaneous treasures. Since I rarely buy new shoes, I have no shoeboxes. I'm planning to purchase photo storage boxes when they go on sale for $1.99 each. This is our big (i.e. most expensive) craft for this year (like the stepping stones were last year).

Mini photo album of the week - I got a bunch for $0.10 each when my Dollar Tree was moving its store and almost giving away the stuff they didn't want to move. This way, they can arrange their own pictures. (And it's more durable than last year's since the plastic sleeves protect the pictures.)

Decorated cups - Like last year, I'm going to have them decorate their own cups (to include their name) for the week. But this year I'm buying a couple paint pens instead of Sharpies so I don't have to keep going over the writing and drawing!

Foam visors - This is another repeat from last year, but very practical since we'll be outside a lot.

Soap Box Dragsters - This one is for the boys. It looked like something that would interest them and it's a great way to use up things that would otherwise be thrown in the garbage.

Pretty Plastic Pocketbooks - This one is for the girls. I figured they could be making these while the boys work on their dragsters. I have two sturdier organizers that would work beautifully. I'll be keeping my eye out for more of them at spring yard sales. In a pinch, I can always buy a pack of the flimsier ones to make up the difference.

Banks - I got the idea from Family Fun, but I can't find it on their website. The idea is an oldie but goodie - take lidded cans and make savings banks out of them, decorating the outside to suit each child's fancy. I'll be collecting the cans from now until Cousin Camp, I'm sure!

These sound like fun to me. I hope they enjoy them as much as I think they will!