Happy Father's Day ca. 1924

I am sure this photo was not taken on Father's Day but it is the only photo I have of my dad and paternal grandfather together. My grandfather passed away not long after this photo was taken. Four years later my grandmother married his brother- the man I always knew as grandpa.
My dad also passed away a few weeks before his 55th birthday. So for many years my husband has been the only family I had to spend Father's Day with- and hope fully we will spend many more together. I am greatful to   my dad and grandpa's for the love the gave me and for making me who I am!

Did the Pilgrims Get This Excited...

over their vegetable gardens? Probably not since they had to have a garden for survival. No McDonald's or Di Giorno pizza's for them. I on the other hand am excited- I am looking forward to fresh vegetables and hope fully being able to preserve some of the harvest for winter use.
 I am amazed at how fast things are growing.

                                           The basil is doing very well- I will be drying more of this this year.

                                           The cantaloupe is bloomnig well- I hope I get at least one good melon this year!

                                             The Scarlett Runner Beans are getting ready to set their scarlett flowers- they are growing amazingly fast- I have never grown them before- I can't wait to see the foot long beans!

I am not over religious but tonight I am sure there is a God.

About 6:30 tonight my son called me from work  and said he wasn't feeling well and was leaving work. He was not sure whether to just go home or go to the ER. He told me what was happening and I told him to go to the ER and I would meet him there. I did not know what was wrong but new that  what he described was abnormal.
My son is 38 years old so I was in shock when I arrived  at the ER and they told me he was having a heart attack.
 The on call cardiologist arrived and he was taken to the cath lab where a very large clot was removed and a stent put in.
 He is now resting comfortably but has another artery they will need to be inclogged in the very near fiuture.
 As I said before I was raised to believe in God but have not been to church in a very long time- tonight I prayed almost continuosly that my son would live and my prayers were answered. So for me there is no longer any question. Yes there is a God.

Progress Made Today!

 I made some good progress in the garden today!
                                                       
Rainy Midwest weather is good for making grass long enough to mulch with!

 This will be raked and spread in the garden after supper tonight.

As the garden is starting to get a little weedy!

Beets and Onions

Basil, Radishes and Onions

Cantaloupe

Green Beans are a little spotty so I will be filling in with more seed soon.

The peas are spotty too so I added some seed to the rows today.

The zuchini is growing quickly!

The sweet coen is sparse so will add seed to that too!

My clematis is blooming nicely!

And so are the peonies!

Memorial Day

My family has a long list of service men- HH "Tip" Dow

Ladowick Underhill

Emmet Underhill

Capt. Edward Bump

and probably many I have not yet found in my genealogical research.

The two most recent are my husband and my brother. My husband is not well documented in photos but I did find one of my brother that my Mom had put in the local paper. It was taken in 1966.

To all men and women who have served I thank you.

I Made Soap Today!

Today I tried my hand at making handmade soap!
I am not sure how well it turned out at it is still in the mold.
Hope fully I did things right!
I will keep you updated and take pics if it turns out!

Free Mulch and the first green onions

My neighrbor brought over his grass clippings today- I was delighted! Very kind of him!
I spread one batch this morning and will spread the rest after supper tonight.
Hubby had the first green onions from the garden at lunch today- 35 days after planting! Amazing!

Plants in the Pilgrim Garden

The garden is making progress!

There are about 45 green beans plants through and 6 pea plants, 9 baby stalks of sweet corn , four zuchini plants, four sunflowers and, 2 scarlet runner beans. There are approximatley 2 dozen radishes through and the green onions have all sprouted tops.

As of today no lima beans through yet and the garden has lost two cucumber plants and a cantaloupe plant.

A Fact About Old Time Soap Making

I have been considering making soap.

I often wondered since there wasn't any lye back in those times how the ash made soap. I found this online- so now I know!

I've never found that salt does squat for hardness (unless I'm making a salt bar where the salt is in huge quantities). Salt was used way back when sodium hydroxide wasn't available and people made their own caustic out of ashes - but that was potassium based caustic. Then salt was boiled with the soap to convert the potassium salts of fatty acids (soft soap) to sodium salts.

The Pilgrim Garden Continues to Grow!

Yesterday was a big planting day.

The garden got three cherry tomato plants, three yellow heirloom tomato plants, 4 muskmelon plants, a row of lima beans, chives, thyme , more basil, and garlic chives, more beets and Swiss Chard.

Today it got 4 Basil plants for a jump start and 2 mint plants. I wanted watermelon plants but a woman bought the last three right in front of me! So I bought a packet of seed and will start them in little pots. I have started mulching and just as I did the raim came!

Woo Hoo- no dragging water to the garden today!

The photo is last years watermelon plants.

Progress In a Pilgrim Garden!!

Yesterday and today were very planting productive.

The garden now has 175 onion sets, 12 big onion plants, beets, Swiss chard, radishes, lettuce, basil, peas, green beans. sweet corn, 4 types of bell peppers, 5 types of tomatoes, cauliflower, zucchini, eggplant.

Tomorrow I will plant Indian corn, pumpkins, okra and I am not sure what else- my space is big but i t is getting full although I can fit in a little more.

Hopefiully it does as good as it did last year!

What a nice RAK!

This what my kind friend did for me this morning- tilled my garden spot! I will be forever greatful!

Westward Ho!!

Youu too can ride the old wagon trails just like the pioneers.
Go here for details

http://www.americanprofile.com/articles/wagon-trains-pioneer-history-oregon-trail/

Spring Blooms!

Even though it is still pretty cool here my Spring Flowers are starting to bloom.
I have two types of bleeding hearts.
The flowering crab tree will soon be loaded with blooms.
The strawberry plants were one plant last year- I hope they continue to spread.
I wonder if my great grandmothers had bleeding hearts?

Prim Early Look Items on Ebay

These two items and more!! Go Take a peek!

http://shop.ebay.com/brandyanne/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686