How Does My Garden Grow ~ September

Welcome to my Spring garden, dear friends...

 

Coriander growing beautifully against the fence...with California poppies in the background...

Whilst there is not much to see above the ground at present, I know there is a fair amount of activity happening beneath the surface of the soil and oh!  That makes me so very happy!

Potatoes are poking their green leaves above the soil now...

The Septemeber days have been somewhat cool and often wet with all the rain we've enjoyed lately, but there have been some rather warm days too, which means the little lettuce, Swiss chard, squash and bean seeds are popping up wherever I happen to look!  Such joy!

Ah, this season is truly glorious!

I can work in the garden till teatime without getting sunburnt or too hot, but I know summertime will be upon us before we know it!

Butternut squash about to unfurl it's next set of leaves...

This year we moved our vegetable garden to another area to the side of our house...  This garden is much flatter than our previous one and thus, easier to maintain!

Thankfully, I had help to prepare the soil and put up fences...{{smiles}}

This is where we have planted all our big crops...squash (butternut, gem and courgette), bush beans for drying, potatoes and some lettuce and chard...

Bright pansies grace our flower garden...my sister, Nancy, has planted flowers in the various containers she finds..tin pails, tea cups, and even baskets...

There is another little patch to the bottom of our yard that has been fenced in to keep the pesky chickens out, and that is where I have planted all the cucumber plants, beetroot and soon to be tomato and pepper seedlings, once they're big enough...

Swiss chard...  I love having fresh chard in the garden to use whenever I need!  

Of course, I do share it with the chickens, snails and other critters than happen to get there before me...the joys of organic gardening, I'm afraid... 

My role in our family takes on many shapes and forms, and I just love that!

Sometimes I am the head chef, dishwasher...little girl dresser...this makes life interesting!  

But, my main ''job'' is the vegetable garden, and this is a task I love...

Of course it is a lot of work, and I usually devote my Mondays to tending my patch of earth...

We make our own compost and try to garden as organically as we can...

We also have a worm farm...it took me a while to come to terms with the keeping of earthworms as ''pets''...{{smiles}}

 

These California poppues seeded themselves after I planted one or two plabts last year...they add such colour and beauty to the garden!

Each year I have very high expectations of the variety of crops I want to grow...but this season, I am not setting unattainable goals...being very busy with my little business means I can't spend all my free time pulling weeds!

 Beetroot seedlings...

 Thus, I have chosen only a few crops so that I can keep a hand on them...

Do follow my gardening journey this season in How Does my Garden Grow, which I hope to share each month!

 

Albenga bush beans...  Last season I grew some beans and left them on the bushes to dry before harvesting...  

We all agreed that we had to plant more this season as the flavour and texture of homegrown beans is just so much better...one cannot compare...

  And do feel welcome to share how your garden is faring, as well as any helpful hints and tips!

I don't know how many of my sweet readers are green-fingered as well, but I look forward to taking you on a tour of my little garden each month in the hopes of inspring you...and inspiring me!  {{smiles}}

~

Now...  How does your garden grow, lovely friends...?

 

“And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put the man whom he had formed.”

- Genesis 2:8

 ~

  This post may be shared with...

~ The Art of Homemaking Mondays, Roses of Inspiration, Wise Woman Link-Up, Raising Homemakers Link-Up, Cooking and Crafting with J and J and Modest Monday

A Walk through the Garden ~ 27.9.13

 Dear friends, this post is a little late - just as I was about to hit 'publish' a few days ago, I saw that we had run out of internet:-( 

I just love spring gardens.  I love how, though the earth may look bare, underneath the surface where no human eye can see, there is life and activity. 

Seeds are germinating, fruit trees blossoming and crops grown through winter like broad beans and peas, start producing in abundance. 

This is the stage we find ourselves in right now.  As last year we were still in the midst of moving house and coping with my being ill which kept me (and the rest of the family) out of action for about a month, we didn’t have a ‘spring garden’ at all.  What joy to still be in the same place a full year later and ready to begin a new growing season feeling good, healthy and very excited! 

The weather has only now begun to warm up, so just a few of the seeds I planted at the end of August have grown.  

On Sunday I planted trays and trays of herb, flower and leafy green seeds.  I only planted squash, butternut, pumpkin and brinjal about a week ago and I’m still waiting for them to germinate.  When speaking to a gardening neighbour the other day, I was surprised to hear that she only begins planting summer crops after the spring equinox – it is just too chilly here to plant any earlier.  But nevertheless, the runner and bush beans are growing steadily as well as the radish (oh how I love growing this rewarding crop) and beetroot. 

In Mom’s garden, (she has a small kitchen garden to the side of the house which is made up of lots of truck tyres and wood chips to fill the walkways) there is another crop of beetroot, a bed of carrots and a bed full of Swiss chard.

My first batch of little seedlings will be ready to plant out shortly.  Spring is such a lovely busy time in the garden and most days I don’t want to do anything else other than potter about in the sunshine:-)

But now let me share a few photographs with you…:-)

 

 Beautiful beetroot seedlings…  Don’t they make you feel so happy?

 Radish – I just love crops like these!  They are dead easy to grow and look so pretty dotted in amongst other crops.  We love the radish in salads and our guinea pigs enjoy eating the leaves!

 

 Broad beans are in full flower and producing such amazing pods.  I made broad bean fritters the other day from beans given to us by our neighbor, but I’m getting quite excited about our own now.  The pods are about 15cm long already and the little beans inside are just so sweet and juicy!  If you have some fabulous recipes you would like to share, please comment!

 Who doesn’t love the sight and smell of lavender?  I love all the varieties, a lot of which we have growing in our garden.

 Nasturtiums add such gorgeous colour to any garden and act as super veggie protectors!

 This is the first time growing runner beans in the garden…  The bush bean seeds I planted a week and a bit ago are also almost all up.  Exciting times ahead:-)

My mom and I are also so desperate for lovely flowers in our garden, so I made sure I planted many different seeds.  So far I have sown Aster, Cosmos, Poppy, Foxglove, Forget-Me-Not, Delphinium, Phlox, Viola and Dahlia.  Now we just have to wait for them to poke their leafy heads out of the soil.

We made sure we ordered packets of lots of different herbs such as Red Rubin Basil, Sage, English Thyme, Tarragon, Tansy and Oregano.  As for veggies, there are all sorts to be grown!  Hopefully next time I’ll be able to share a few more photos with you!

How is your garden growing?  What crops are you most determined to successfully grow this season?

Happy gardening,

Kelly-Anne

just another day...

Hello lovely readers, I thought I would share a few photographs with you of a typical morning milking session for us. The photograph above is of the view from the grassy patch where we milk – all part of the beautiful farm we live on.

After 3 months of trial and error, our milking routine is pretty good – we milk after breakfast now:) Besides the fact that the early mornings are just way too cold to milk, Nancy and I just CANNOT work without something in our stomachs – neither can the rest of the family!

Now Nancy and I warm our backs while milking in the mild winter sunshine...it is bliss milking in such conditions...

I love being able to milk in the open.  Whenever a patch of grass gets too dirty, we move to another area of the field.  Molly is tied to a fence post to keep her from wandering and Nancy gives her some food while I do the hard work:)  Lol!  We are currently getting six litres of milk in the mornings and we leave one teat for Dude, the foster calf.

Izzie always comes with to milking – Nancy brings treats for her and does a mini training session with her while I’m busy.  Kisses...

Dude having his morning drink...Molly isn’t very kind to him since he doesn’t belong to her so we have to make sure she is secure and can’t get at him.

Dude is then picketed to a fence post to graze for the day.

He is really cute...too bad he’ll end up as meat one of these days:(

Molly is then taken to her field for the day to graze and to make lots more milk for us!

A job well done!

Dude currently has a friend. Snowdrop will be leaving the farm very soon, but until she does, Dude is very happy to have her as a companion.

Every three days I make butter – Molly isn’t a proper milk cow so she doesn’t give too much cream. However, we are more than grateful for the little she does give – it saves us money and is much healthier than store bought. Plus we are able to have whipped cream whenever we like.

Just over two years ago I knew nothing about milking and milk products. Now I know how to milk and how to make basic milk products like butter and kefir. Next step: learning how to make cheese...

Thank you Lord for the privilege of living here. I never thought we’d end up in such a gorgeous place and have our own cow, veggie patch and soon, chickens:)

Kelly-Anne

Winter Days.

Another winter has begun in South Africa. Cold days have arrived again with icy nights and pouring rain. It is a cold, dark time of year. The birds don’t sing and the sky stays dark for hours during the day. Nights are longer, days are shorter and a lot of your time and energy is spent keeping warm.

But come with me, friend, to the Gray Homestead and see what is happening here on a typical day in Winter...

I curl up in my bed at night, Izzie tucked up beside me as my hot water bottle and try to relax but my feet never seem to warm up...when they do I am fast asleep. All too soon I am awakened by the shrilling of the bedside alarm clock at six thirty – another day to be thankful for – “but Lord it is freezing and I don’t want to get out from under my toasty covers!” I cry.

Izzie, my JRT pup keeping cosy under the stove. What a life...

Somehow I make it through that first and awful hour of the day. Nancy and I wake up at six thirty which is the time Dad leaves for work, so we have to literally spring out of bed to catch him before he goes. It is probably best not to linger anyway...

I get warm quickly by starting the wood stove – I have to chop the wood into small pieces so that the fire will take faster. If I am up really early, Mom and I might chat a bit about the day ahead of us; things we’d like to do or try and about each other. Most of the time Rebekah and Sofia are awake and playing in Mom’s bed.

Rebekah age three and Sofia 8 months playing together in the bed this morning...what bliss.

After getting dressed (hurriedly) Nancy and I brave the outside world to the milking pen. We greet Molly (the cow) with a friendly “hello” and begin to milk. For the first time in our lives, we have experienced frost – we discovered the poor dandelion leaves were furry with frost when we took Molly to the field on Monday morning!

Cattle grazing in the field below our house this morning. Look at the mist!

Back inside with a pail of frothing milk, I strain it and pour it into a big jar. Everyone runs around to finish last minute pre-breakfast chores and then we eat. Oh yes. Breakfast time is when I can just relax and put the icy morning behind me...

Our view from the dining room window.

But housework keeps you warm. There is satisfaction found in the washing of dishes, feeding of guinea pigs, dogs and cats and even in tidying-up or sweeping. We start school when everyone is ready – it may take us a while to get done, but then we have a whole day ahead of us.

Sometimes it rains, other times the sun braves the cold and we can go outside and thaw a bit before lunch. The little girls play in the sand-pit, Izzie gets her morning training session with me and Nancy and Mom usually sit at the sand-pit and chat. Sofia is somewhere among the happy party.

Now and again Nancy will put Sofia in the pouch and walk with me.

Somehow the rest of the day gets eaten up in a matter of minutes...or does it? I never know where it goes, but when I look again it is time for an afternoon walk. I can’t describe the delight a walk in the crisp winter sunshine gives me. (I walk each day, rain or shine unless something REALLY hinders my going) I walk alone on the farm so I can think and be quiet. Izzie tags along for some (much needed) exercise. When I return, I greet daddy who has just arrived home from work.  He and mom usually enjoy a cup of coffee together to chat about their day, then dad goes off to chop wood and start the 'donkey' (our hot water system) and plant a tree/shrub/plant or dig up another vegetable bed, while mom supervises evening chores and dinner preparation.

Supper is eaten together as a family. I prepare half the meals each week – it is wonderful way for me to ‘potter’ in the kitchen doing what I enjoy most – cooking! Plus I have the opportunity to try new dishes:)

What a wonderful way to end the day – a home-cooked meal of Moussaka made by me:)

And so the evening wears on with dishes that need to be washed and little girls who need to get ready for bed. Then comes the special time...Some nights Mom, Nancy and I sew or cardmake while on other (rare) occasions we hire a movie. Most of the time Nancy and I either work on the computer or read a good book.

Snuggling up for the night is for me the most pleasant part of my day. I feel good that I achieved a lot of what I set out to do and that everyone is happy and warm under their blankets.

I send a prayer up to Jesus, talk to Him about my day and ask Him to be with those less fortunate than us. He has given my family so much that I can only praise Him.

What is a day in your life like?

Kelly

Life. Art. Creativity.

I have heard it said that life is what you make it and I am trying to enjoy it - make it fun and exciting, love every little thing that comes my way. 

This is my piece of artwork that I made for a Valentine’s Day Party the homeschoolers put together. It was so cute! Each child had to make a post box for all the mail they would be receiving (They also had to make a small gift for every other child). There were two age groups – 4-8 year olds and 9-15 year olds. My ‘lollipop’ mailbox won ‘the most creative’ category and Beth’s (below) won the most colourful! Out of the six prizes to be won, we won two! Way to go Gray Family:)

This is our little artist.  She drew the birds on her box without any guidance from the rest of us.  I love you so much, Bethy!

Gabrielle made such a sweet house (with a little help from us all).  We got the idea from Joyful Mama’s Place.

I am so impressed with Nancy’s box.  Although she finished before any of us, it still took her a long time and just look at how much effort she put into it...

...She put even more effort into her little gifts!  She sewed about fifteen felt hearts for her friends!  I am sure she will show some more photos on her blog soon:D

...Some more of Beth’s work...

I made a lot of bookmarks as my gifts.

So we did enjoy Valentine’s Day and everything leading up to the party:) Life happened, art happened and creativity happened...

Have a wonderful day, friends!

~ Kelly-Anne

'Sewl Mates' and a New Hobby

Finally, after much begging from Nancy, I have taken up sewing...well, there is a bit more to the story than just that.  It started with Beth and Gabrielle a few days ago.  They wanted to play Barbie dolls and I said I’d ‘play’ with them (dress the dolls, etc.), but I was shocked at the state of the Barbie dolls and at the clothes, linen and furniture!  “What happened?” I wanted to know!  When Nancy and I were little we played for hours with our Barbies, inventing amazing games for them and we made sure all our things were intact.  Unfortunately the little ones came along and...well...we moved and...well... there’s a baby in the house and a puppy....soooo – things are a little muddled!  I decided in my ‘bee in my bonnet’ way to do something about this...’Kelly to the rescue’ you could say!  Beth’s seventh birthday is on the 22^nd of July and I heard her say she wanted a new Barbie doll and Barbie things...Aha!  A perfect idea, but help!  I don’t like sewing at all!  But I was determined and what do you know?  I NOW LOVE SEWING!!!! 

Sewing the Main Bedroom things: a floral duvet.

I spent ages in our little sewing room which doubles up as a garage with Dad’s tools and things and our washing machine. Chores were left undone and blogging put on hold because I was busy – busy, busy, busy! You might say Mom and Nancy were a little surprised but Nancy soon got over it and started helping me make duvets, pillows and tablecloths for Beth’s birthday surprise! We now call each other ‘Sewl Mates’ instead of ‘Soul Mates’! It is a dream come true for Nancy because she now has a sewing partner! We are going to be very busy the next few weeks making lots of things for Beth and working hard helping with the family fudge business (and selling baby guinea pigs!) so that we can buy Beth a mommy Barbie and a baby Barbie!

Older child’s duvet ready for sewing up and frilly pillow.

Baby Barbie’s quilt and pillows ready to be finished.  Nancy is working on another one like this just in case there are twins!

The duvet and pillows for the main bedroom also ready to be completed!

So if I am a little scarce, you can remember I love sewing and that I am probably sitting in the room with pins and material, sewing to my heart’s content!

Blessings,

Kelly-Anne

P.S. Nancy and I made all these things by ourselves and had a wonderful time!

Learning through Living - Life in Knysna

My sisters and I have had a very full life and we have learnt so much over the past few years. We have lived almost all over South Africa and if we haven’t lived in a certain place, we might well have visited it on our travels!

We have seen beautiful countryside, long stretches of ocean, busy towns and hectic cities! We have seen so much and sometimes we forget to take moving around the country as a blessing – we have learnt things most of our friends haven’t!

I decided to take you through our travels, showing places in beautiful South Africa that you might not have visited before. I want to show you crazy things we have done but enjoyed so much! So now sit back and enjoy looking at the heap of photographs I have to show you! I know it might or might not inspire you to step out of your front door and tour the beautiful countryside that you live in! But we learnt and we are learning about life and the world around us through living!

Each week I will show you a different place we’ve lived in.

This week I would like to show you Knysna – a holiday-type town where my dad got a permanent post at the local primary school. God also miraculously provided us with a huge house belonging to the school for very little rent!

We had huge grounds to play on and I also started my first ‘mini garden’!  The only disadvantage was that the house was freezing cold in the winter months, but cool in the hot summer weather.

Gabrielle was ‘my baby’ and I did everything for her!  I sometimes put her in the pouch and carried her around the garden till she fell asleep.

A beautiful family picture

Me and my new puppy, Jemma, getting ready to go on a ‘doggie walk’ around Leisure Island.

Nancy waiting for the ‘doggie walk’ to begin.

Beth waiting for time to go by, by playing on the fence.

We went on lots of outings to the Knysna Forest and explored many old churches and places.

We sometimes took our new puppy, Jemma, on these outings to let her get some exercise – Labradors are always full of energy and we found that out the hard way!

We got two new kittens, Tom and Jerry – here Jerry sleeps in an old ice-cream carton!

For Christmas my parents bought us a pool.

I used to swim with Gabrielle in the pool!

Cooling down by eating ice-cold watermelon!

“This is yummy!” Gabrielle

Beth celebrated her third birthday in Knysna and I was put ‘in charge’ of snacks.

Beth eating her chocolate cake.

We visited the Beach of ‘Noetzie’ which is just outside of Knysna where there are many old castles!

Mom and her little girls on the beach

Nancy and I built a huge sand-castle

Nancy and I with our completed castle!

Gabrielle wearing a rather worried expression playing in the sand.

Nancy celebrated her eighth birthday...

Lots of presents for the sweetest little Nancy girl...she has her own beautiful blog now called ‘Homemaker in Training’ and I’d love for you to take a look!

Sweetest sisters!

Mom with her two little girls on Mother’s Day

Gabrielle and Mom smelling the roses.

I celebrated my eleventh birthday...

We all dressed up in pretty clothes and colours.

We sometimes went to the park.. Gabrielle and I on the swing bridge.

“Hello, I see you!”

Beth on the see-saw.

All the girls playing on the see-saw!

We joined the homeschooling group and on one of the outings we visited the Featherbed Game Reserve on the Knysna Heads.

Going on a hike was part of the fun and the scenery was breathtaking.

View from the top.

Looking onto Leisure Isle and in the distance, Thesen Isle where all the white houses are.

Gabrielle with Mommy on the day of her dedication.

Isn’t she just too cute for words?

Jemma loved to swim so whenever we had the chance we took her with to the beach or to the river!

Nancy, our little ballerina, with her teacher.

So that is Knysna and after two years we moved to Fish Hoek - but, don’t let me run away with myself...more in the next post!

Blessings,

Kelly-Anne