Thursday, July 29, 2010
Greening of the Thumbs
We are very proud of our vegetable garden.
Maybe it's not anything all that glorious in the big scheme of things, but for us, with no vegetable gardening experience to speak of, we're pretty happy with the way our raised-bed-veggie-gardens have turned out this summer. Here is what we've tried so far: radishes, lettuce, arugula, snap peas, rainbow carrots, herbs, potatoes, strawberries, pumpkins, cucumbers, and tomatoes. The snap peas were a huge success, as they provided instant gratification -- pick it and eat it, as Sammy would say. The lettuce has made us far more likely to eat salads this summer, always a good thing. Jury is still out on the tomatoes, potatoes, pumpkins and cucumbers. Oh, and the strawberries -- well, let's just say that we've really enjoyed the two we've had, but it's not easy sharing a single strawberry three ways...
Maybe the best thing about the garden, though, is the constant excuse it provides us to be outside, and to be doing some sort of physical labor. Whether it's the zen experience of watering the garden each night after the girls have gone to bed, or the constant weeding as we try to protect our precious bounty, or the thrill of seeing a snap pea on the vine after months of waiting, the garden, we've decided, is a very good thing.
Oh, and it's kind of pretty, too...
Maybe it's not anything all that glorious in the big scheme of things, but for us, with no vegetable gardening experience to speak of, we're pretty happy with the way our raised-bed-veggie-gardens have turned out this summer. Here is what we've tried so far: radishes, lettuce, arugula, snap peas, rainbow carrots, herbs, potatoes, strawberries, pumpkins, cucumbers, and tomatoes. The snap peas were a huge success, as they provided instant gratification -- pick it and eat it, as Sammy would say. The lettuce has made us far more likely to eat salads this summer, always a good thing. Jury is still out on the tomatoes, potatoes, pumpkins and cucumbers. Oh, and the strawberries -- well, let's just say that we've really enjoyed the two we've had, but it's not easy sharing a single strawberry three ways...
Maybe the best thing about the garden, though, is the constant excuse it provides us to be outside, and to be doing some sort of physical labor. Whether it's the zen experience of watering the garden each night after the girls have gone to bed, or the constant weeding as we try to protect our precious bounty, or the thrill of seeing a snap pea on the vine after months of waiting, the garden, we've decided, is a very good thing.
Oh, and it's kind of pretty, too...
8 Months!
Nina is eight months old!
This month has been so busy, (evidenced by how behind I am on this blog...Nina is actually about 8 1/2 months old now, but oh well), that I realized we have very few good pictures of Nina at 8 months. Alas, the life of a second child. So, I thought I'd post this video instead. This is Nina at her Grandma's house, enjoying the new swing in the front yard, with some help from her dad and her big sister. Clearly, she loved it! [I apologize in advance if it makes you a bit dizzy to watch!]
I feel like a broken record, but Nina continues to amaze us with her happy, mellow demeanor. The perfect example of this is her morning routine. It is rare that Nina makes any "peeps" (Sammy's word) in the morning, let alone cries, and often we decide we'll need to wake her up so we can get ready for school/work. When we finally enter her room (Sammy leading the charge, of course), there she is, usually wide awake, propped up on her tummy, giving us a huge smile. It's as if she's saying, "Oh, there you all are, I was just hanging out here but gosh, it's great to see you!"
Nina is now officially a backwards-scooting, log-rolling baby, able to cover some ground, but still chomping at the bit to get some forward motion mixed in. It really seems like a matter of days, not weeks, before those legs start moving her closer to the elusive toys, not farther away. In the meantime, we're relishing these last days of relative immobility -- babyproofing, here we come!
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