Garden Update 2010

This year we planted a BIG one, and we have loved all of the great stuff that grows there. I've tried to lable some of the things so you can get an idea.

So far we have 30 qts of peas in the freezer, 40 qt jars of green beans, and a sack full of red potatoes and squash. (Lots of Squash!!!)

Next week: Some  pictures of veggies!!

Jill's 4 easy steps for perfect bean selection

This week we jarred 40 quarts of green beans. (We have another 40 still in the garden waiting to be picked if anyone is interested.)
Jill, our quality check specialist understood and preformed her job very thoroughly. Here are Jill's 4 easy steps for perfect bean selection:

Step 1:

Grab a handful of beans (no fewer that three or four).

Step 2:

Carefully examine each bean for any signs of age, over growth, or decay.

Step 3:

Test a few for taste. (This is a very important step. At least half of the beans are guaranteed to be fresh and crisp if you taste test along the way.)

And Step 4:

Discard any beans that don't meet the highest standard for quality.

There you have it. Now, go can your beans with speed and confidence If you need a quality check specialist, Jill works for $20 or one bunch of bananas an hour.

Since last we met . . .

So it's been a while, and the Team has had a few adventures since the last time I posted.
* We took a trip to Provo to celebrate Matt's sister's graduation and meet our new cousin Seth.
* We made a table cloth. (Jill and I. And Matt admired our fine work.)
* We started reading Middlemarch by George Elliot. Really I started reading Middlemarch, but because I'm listening to the audio book, everyone gets a chance to hear it from time to time.
* Jill learned to sit up on her own, how to fold her arms, and how to "sing" during the quiet moments in church.
* We took a trip to Texas to visit family and celebrate my brother's graduation.
* We went to some parties.
* We celebrated mother's day.
* We tried making new foods.
* I knitted a few things.
* We planted our garden.
* Matt started playing league soccer. Just a little warm up for the FIFA World cup this summer.

Just a few things. Hopefully I'll get some pictures up before too long.

xoxoxo

Thanks for letting us visit everyone. We love seeing you!

Garden Update

I know! It's way past time for an update. I was telling Mom about the things we were making from the garden, and she said, "We need to see pictures of your produce." So here you go!

For a birthday surprise, some of the Utah Svedins came to visit us. This is a pic of me and my sis-in-law Julia, and two of her girls in the tomatoes and squash. I wish I had thought to trim back that squash because now it's practically taken over the place.

A few weeks later, they cut the wheat field behind us. So I did a little gleening and came up with this lovely fall center piece.
Those are two of the acorn squash from the garden. If anyone knows how to make acorn squash soup without it tasting dry, please let me know. It's such an odd feeling to eat "dry" soup.

And this is for you Mom. The Produce! We have lots of bell peppers. They are all meant to be red and yellow, but most haven't turned color because it hasn't been sunny enough. I'm excited that we have such beautiful egg plants! I love egg plant (it's something about the spicy seeds). And then there are cherry tomatoes (and regular ones that got eaten before they were pictured) and that artichoke in the middle. I didn't know you could grow your own artichoke. I thought they just blossomed on the shelved of the supermarket. boy was I wrong.

Not Pictured:

We also have beautiful carrots that look perfectly long and round, big white onions, corn on the cob, spighetti squash out our ears, butter-nut squash, peas and beans, and potatoes like (about 150 lbs, at least). Oh, and brussle sprouts, swish chared, callard greens, and beats. It's been an amazing year. And a fun one too.

The Garden

I've waited so long to put this up that I already need to do an update. This is what our garden looked like in mid-June when we finally got everything planted that we wanted.

Last year I loved my garden, but it was really just for fun. This year we have a serious garden, or at least I feel like it's all serious. I guess that's what I get for marrying the son of a gardener. I love it, but I forgot to plant the wild flowers, and we have many more rows of everything to weed. It a good thing I have help.

We got a lot of rain in June, other than potatoes, peas and beans, (or and radishes) we haven't seen many more finished products. But we have so many peas and beans, we were thinking of having a "garden party" and having all our friends come out and pick a bag. Wouldn't that be fun.

I guess I should explain why we live in an apartment down town and we have a huge garden. Each year the Church farms plant their fields and leave the sections by the road between houses and telephone lines empty. They can plow it up, but it's not easy to feed or harvest, so they plow it, and section it, and let volunteer gardeners plant, weed, and harvest it at no cost. They water it. It's basically the best type of community garden.

Never Before, Never Again

Yesterday, the fam came over and we had breakfast for lunch, then we bought some seeds for the garden, checked out the new plot and picked up our new canoe!!!
It was starting out to be a pretty great day.
Then, it started to rain, so we went home and pulled out RISK!


This is the beginning board. I'm blue and pretty equally dispersed around the world.

I had never played RISK before, and was honestly a little afraid for the following reasons:
1. This game is notorious for taking HOURS to play.
2. Everytime I've seen people play this game (except that one time between M. and N., who are both really good natured girls) at least one person leaves the room early, angry, and hurt.
3. Every game hits you at a different psyphological level, and this one hits me at a level that is way above my ability to maturly cope with loss. (I mean come on, someone is attacking you (and probably verbally insulting your intelligence for no reason) and you get less opportunity to win back your pride than you attacker gets to take you over. It really is like a war.)
4. I don't know how to play, it seems really confusing, and I already have a complex about looking stupid when I do something new. Why on earth would I want to do something new, and confusing, in front of one or more people who are (see above) attacking me and verbally insulting my intelligence for no reason, especially when my odds of success are so calculatedly low?

I'm not going to tell you how the game ended. It's not important. But now I can say, I know how to play RISK, and if I can help it, I will try very hard to avoid ever playing it again.