For the past five years our children have set aside a week's vacation time to spend at our farm.
The next to last week of August is a picture perfect time to have them visit.
There is so much going on. We usually start the week off by going to the Chenango County Blues Festival. The remainder of the time we spend relaxing, eating, a little bit of drinking, playing tooooo many games, swimming, fishing, and making up for lost time.
One of my greatest pleasures while there're here is to take a stroll to the garden. If you want to see a little kid's face light up with excitement, determination, and curiousness, let them pluck, cut and unearth what has been growing in your garden.
Their attention span goes from a few minutes to the point where I just can't answer anymore questions. What a joy it is to interact with them while they are spellbound by the colors, fragrances, taste, and feel of what surrounds them.
(Mom started me along my path of growing stuff when I was a kid.)
Now that's what I'm talking about!While reading @zekepickleman latest #gardenjournal, I smiled when I read this line.
Our first stop was by the tomato plants. I think the bright red caught their attention.
We checked out the carrots next. Being that the carrots are grown in raised planters, a boost was needed.
ending up with loads of cucumbers, tomatoes, and few carrots and beets.
By the time we were done they seemed to be on top of the world,
filled with pride and a sense of accomplishment.
As far as what else we have going on in the garden, the cabbage continues to thrive and welcomes the cooler temps.
The potatoes proved to be disappointing as we ended up with a mere 15 pounds.
As disappointing as last year's carrots were, this year was a different story.
32 pounds is by far the best we have ever done.
With the cucumber vines still spitting out their goods, our goal of 25 quarts of pickles shouldn't be a problem.
The few hop vines we have left are loaded with hops. This will be another year that brewing beer will not make the cut, but at least they provide me with a flashback of yesteryear when #homebrewing was at the top of my hobbitational list
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Wow 32 lbs of carrots you must be joking! I also had issues with my potatoes, just not enough rain!!!
Your grand kids are so cute! Such precious moments ^^
I think this is pretty cool!! My mom grew some fruit and ornamental plants when I was a kid but she wasn't a passionate gardener. When growing up I just liked to weed out our little garden and I loved seeing it nice and clear. But it wasn't until I became an adult that I developed that interest in gardening and vegetables gardens and started growing my own plants but making a lot of mistakes and learning from them step by step hahaha it's been quite a journey!!!
Thank you for checking this post out. Your mom planted the most important seed of all, the seed of getting you interested in gardening, even if all you did was pull the weeds from her garden.
Making mistakes is part of the learning process and believe me I've made my share. Every year I learn a little more and try out different things along the way. That's the beauty of being a part of the #hivegarden community, there's so much to learn from the other community members.
Have a great weekend.
I forgot to thank you for the reblog, greatly appreciated.
This was your carrot year, and not mine. I may get 10 carrots, if I am lucky... Next year...
This was The Year of the Carrot. I started processing them yesterday and getting them ready for the big freeze. The difference between home grown carrots and store bought ones is like night and day.
Wow what an abundant harvest. I agree, it's so important to involve children in growing food, it is one of the best skills we can share with them. I usually grow my carrots on buckets, love your raised beds though, they are great xxxx
With the way food is grown these days by the big farmers with their use of chemicals and bioengineered food, the more we can provide for ourselves the better off we will be.
The raised beds took several years to built and prepare the dirt for gardening, but well worth the effort, no bending or kneeling sure is nice.
Excellent work my friend 👍🏻
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!PIZZA
Thank you very much and thanks for the pizza. With my better half back in our old stomping ground for the past several days the pizza will come in very handy.😁
All I can say at this point is GORGEOUS! Gorgeous grand kids, gorgeous carrots, gorgeous garden...
I bet there will be some wonderful memories for them of visits to the grandparents. I feel if I ever have grandchildren the memories will be of the scary, booby trapped place! 🤣
Thank you for such a wonderful compliment.
While the grand kids were visiting, the older one brought tears to my eyes when we got back from picking some veggies. She sat in my lap, leaned over and said, (Pop, I love the farm, can we stay with you forever.)
All four of our children have veggie gardens on their property. It's wonderful to have common interests and to share this experience with them!We've owned this piece of dirt for over 40 years now. Before I built our house we spent many summers here camping out with our children when they were just little kids. It has been a trip watching them learn to appreciate nature and understand how important it is to live in harmony with #mothernature.
You often make me laugh, which is good for the soul.
Booby trapped or NOT, your homestead is gorgeous as well and very unique.
As we go through life we pick up different titles along the way, and I must say the honor of being called POP is at the top of the list. If it is meant to be, one day you will also be blessed with some grand kids that will bring you joy that is like no other.
Have a wonderful weekend my friend.
That's bringing tears to my eyes too! 😍 Now I really want grand children!!
I'm a bit afraid I'd be too much like my mum, though. She's never been particularly maternal, then wonders why her grand children never wanted to spend time with her. I'll have to take my example from my late mother-in-law instead. They'll have to settle for bony cuddles, though, because I don't have the soft padding my kids loved so much from her.
Laughter is definitely healing. I rather prefer to lighten mood than complain about things. It helps to lighten the mood of others too and that shared laughter is even better!
I've got a feeling you would make a great Grandma, and bony cuddles would abound.
A sense of humor also goes a long way in developing a tender and warm relationship with children, and that you seem to have in spades. Not too often do I get a reply from you that doesn't make me LOL or smile.
You're making me blush now! I'm not used to compliments.
☺️ I hope that looks like a blushing smile emoji to you. I've learnt that they display differently on different devices.
In all honesty is easy to banter with you because you because you banter back and often make me smile and laugh too. With some people I have to be more cautious in how I interact with them, in case they take it the wrong way.
You blush and I cry, emotions that show sensitivity are a good thing as mankind seems to be turning a cold shoulder to each other.
Some people are too sensitive and need to be able to laugh at themselves, rather than take offense to a light hearted joke.
Wow, I love the pickles, I love the tomatoes, I love potatoes, I love everything in this blog, and most of all the kids are adorable doing some garden thing. Good morning from the Philippiens!
And I love this reply! The grand kids visited for a week and every morning we made a trek to the garden, special moments for sure.
Oh @thebigsweed this is wonderful. Your grandkids will have the best memories of your garden and they'll become gardeners one day too because of these nice memories!
Yay the carrot crop and the beets, yay the cucumber pickle (dying to make my own according to your recipe this year).
I can just feel the family love and laughter and the kids excitment in the garden from here. Whenever we have kids in our garden they gush with wonder! I remember being a kid in my Nana's garden eating parsley and to this day I think of her when I garden.
Thank you very much. Putting this post together was so enjoyable. I did it after they were gone and as I went through the pics, many emotions welled up in me and a few tears rolled down my cheeks. I'm a big softy and I'm not afraid to admit that tears flow often on most special occasions. I keep tissues in my pocket for the unexpected.😂
I've tweaked the recipe at Robin's request. She thought the pickles were a little lets say spicy, so I kicked up the syrup to 6 teaspoons in this last batch. I love them like they are, but we will see how adding a little more sweetener plays out.
It's funny how certain things make us recall events long past.
Thanks very much for the #hive you sent my way, greatly appreciated.
Have yourself a wonderful weekend my friend.
Awww, good on you for being a softie. I can tell how much you love your family and your loving relationship with farm-mom also reveals your butter soft heart.
Your grandkids will remember this. 💚💚
Aah, that must be really fun with the kids and all those harvests you've got! And yum! Got my mouth water looking at those pickled cucumbers.
Children are funny and encourage us when we visit a place, because they do the same things we do.
They are very cute and fresh plants.
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Thanks for promoting this post, greatly appreciated.
I'm already a member of the DIY community and I think I have a few projects that will fit nicely into this community.
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So good post
Thank you.
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