Garden Again

We have started up the garden again. I am using our raised bed from last year for my early spring & late summer gardens. In these we have: sugar snap peas, Alaska peas, winter squash, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and spinach.
My dear husband has made 2 more raised beds, which we spent an entire day filling with dirt, that measure 6 feet by 16 feet each. Needless to say, we will have TONS of veggies this year!
We also are experimenting with strawberries, blackberries and grapes this year. I will keep you posted on those!
For those of you wanting to plant this year you still have plenty of time. Feel free to search my site for other postings under the label "garden".

The Garden - Part 2

Everyone said not to plant before April 15. Did I listen? Of course not! The weather had been so beautiful so we planted our tender little seedlings early. Yes, all of those people were right, sort of. There came a few days of frosty weather causing us to tarp or otherwise cover our little plants. And yes, it was a hassle. But we are now reaping (pun intended) the benefits of planting an early garden! It amazes me that God can pack the whole plant and all of that food into a tiny little seed!

Here is our first little harvest of zucchini, parsley, basil, mint, and one little carrot - and the resulting dinner! This time we had to add store-bought squash and red bell pepper, hopefully in a few more weeks our peppers will be ready.


We have about 5-10 little zucchinis, 10 squash, 15 peppers, a couple of cucumbers, and countless tomatoes ripening out there right now and I can hardly wait to start making freezer spaghetti sauce and dill pickles!

I am also planning now for a garden to be harvested in the fall and winter. If you are considering a fall or spring garden you need to plan now, seeds will not be as readily available after the summer! Hopefully, I will post soon on what I am planning to plant. As I have never planted a fall garden it will be completely experimental!

The Cave

Here are the photos from the cave at Cheeks Bend Bluff trail. Although it appears to be well lit, it is, in fact, VERY dark in the middle! It is also not as big as it looks in the photos. Here is a link to another website with all of the information about the trail and the cave, as well as a book that lists other hikes around Nashville.

Special thanks to Casey for taking the majority of the photos on this post and the previous one.

The Hike

Yesterday we went hiking in Columbia (Tennessee) on a trail called Cheeks Bend Bluff. It is a 2 mile hike (round trip) and with all of Casey's photography stops and a side trip through a cool cave it only took us 2 hours. Cody walked, with her backpack, the ENTIRE way and was not ready to leave! It was a great family day and we are looking forward to more trips like it. Here is the photo journal of the hike. The photos of the cave are coming soon!

The Trail

1 View of the Duck River

The River

View across the river

Me & My Sweetie

Smiley Trail Marker

The Mouth of the Cave
(More cave photos coming soon!)

SNOW!!!

I love snow. I love everything about snow, the ways it feels, the way it smells, and they way it sounds under my feet.

Last night I forgot all of those things as I made my way home from Franklin in the snow. Normally, it is a 25 minute drive. Last night, 2 and a half hours. TWO AND A HALF HOURS! People were either driving 50 miles an hour on the wrong side of the road or 2 miles an hour causing everyone to stop and go, stop and go. Some people were sliding off the road while others, it appeared, just randomly drove off the road on purpose. There was a lady behind me at a stop sign. I turned right and stopped because all of the traffic in front of me had stopped. All she had to do to turn right was follow my tire tracks in the snow. But no, she decides to make a really sharp right turn immediately after the stop sign (maybe thinking there was a shoulder there?) and she bails off into the ditch. Her car is at a 45 degree angle, in the ditch! I have no idea what some of these people were thinking last night, we only had an INCH and a half of snow!

Anyway, this morning I woke up with a much better attitude and my renewed love of the snow. The girls have been outside already, throwing snowballs, ice skating in the coul-de-sac, making snow angels and a tiny little snowman. We laughed and played and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the snow crunch under my shoes. It is beautiful, the sun is shining on the snow and it is perfect!