Finally! I Have Some Veggies

This summer I stepped out on that limb and planted tomatoes and stuff. The past few years have been an effort in futility when it came to gardening. If the weather didn’t fry our plants in the scorching heat, the deer decimated the scrumptious, tender leaves of young plants. If a plant managed to make it past those disasters, the rabbits or turtles took their toll on the low hanging fruit.

This year is the best summer in years!

This is our one row of beans (because I was too wary to invest more beans and time into a gamble).

My ingenious hubby came up with this design to keep the deer out. This and some coyote urine keeps our garden off the deer radar. As a result, along with plentiful rain, we have a bumper crop of green beans!

These plants are still putting blooms on too… more beans.

I’ve picked at least ten pounds of beans from this little row!! I’m amazed.

We have a couple of cantaloupes and lots of gorgeous cucumbers!

Not to mention tomatoes…

… and awesome peppers…

I took these pictures a couple weeks ago. The plants are even more proliferative now.

We have had beans with potatoes every weekend for the past three weeks. The tomatoes have made into outstanding spaghetti sauce as well as spanish rice seasoning. (I should post the recipes, me thinks.)

Thanks for sharing in our small slice of productivity and my little piece of heaven.

Love,
Jeannene

Homecoming 2012

This post is so late in coming, considering the date of Homecoming was in October. So many varied interruptions poked at me this piece never made it to the world. Never the less, this will see the light of day today.

This post is really for my daughter. It is about my daughter. Truly, it is almost nothing but my daughter.

When you get a look at these pictures you too will understand why it features … my daughter.

I am new to most girly things, being the mother of first three boys and lastly, of a girl. When I was sixteen, I was a tom-boy struggling to be feminine and getting very little help from my mother. As wonderful a person as she is, my mom was not the girly-girl most mothers are. I tend to lean toward her practical and stoic outlook of femininity.

My beautiful daughter, on the other hand, intuitively knows the requirements needed to accomplish the epitome of femininity. She dragged me to all the right places until we found the perfect dress.

After which we found the most stunning pair of shoes.

Hers are the pair on the far left. Studded with rhinestones. This picture does nothing to enhance the wonderful sparkly nature of those heels.

The whole experience swept me away in exuberance. I love shopping and shopping for shiny things is just that much more fun.

Then she found a hair stylist close to home to do her hair. It turned out beautifully.

And then there are more shots of just the girl…

So sorry. She’s my kid and this moment will never be here again.

Then of course we have the young man who is her “date”. We met up with him and his buddies where I also met his very nice mother. We are ever the protective parents, so we have to know everyone who touches our child.

He is a gentleman and made my girl feel elegant. Way to roll Keith!

And…. even more important than the guy… All the girls!!

Aren’t they all so pretty!!

These are the males to the females. All of them are so grown up and they clean up pretty darned well.

One new friend added here.

Had to include this one too.

And I had to get my mug in there with my lovely daughter.

This was so much fun taking the pictures – practice taking head shots and all sorts of people shots and making use of the light in these lovely settings.

This is my little piece of heaven today.

Love,
Jeannene

Garvan Woodland Gardens

This weekend we enjoyed the beauty that is truly Arkansas. We walked through Garvan Gardens on a glorious spring day.

Before nature, we had to make a stop at the go carts.

This was a whole family affair. Even our ever loving Cooper got to enjoy the scenery.

This place has numerous waterfalls of all sizes.

So picturesque and peaceful.

See what I mean.

Azaleas are in bloom and with them the butterflies.

Just another breathtaking sight. I like the little girl there too.

A young family was good enough to take all our pictures together. I rarely get in the shot, you know.

This just makes me wonder where it will lead. My mind goes off in tangents with sights like this.

Another intriguing view with the same girl. Hmmm. She is just so captivating.

A girl and her dog. How did that get in there?

The boy and his girl. So peaceful in the shadow of those trees.

Even Cooper was pooped. That was a lot of walking for those stubby little legs.

That was how we spent our Saturday in my little piece of heaven. I’d love to hear how you spent yours.

Love,
Jeannene

Late Season Bounty

This year has seen the most inordinate growing seasons of all time. Our summer was a long three months of intense, scorching heat, little rain and record highs. The results of which yielded nothing from my tomato garden but a few measly pieces of fruit and a lot of wilting green leaves. Blooms on the plants died off in the heat, ergo no tomatoes. It is what I call ‘fried flowers’. Not until the rains came in August did the plants show any signs of flourishing.

I must also mention we are plagued with a small herd of deer from the neighboring woods. They have found our garden a cornucopia of snacks. This year, discouraged from the decimation we endured last year, I planted only tomatoes. When the plants were still very small, before the deer could nibble them to death, our son made large wire cages to place around the plants. It is due to those cages we are now blessed with tomatoes. Yay kiddo!! The idea was my husband’s. It has been said he is a man before his time. He is truly quietly brilliant.

Well those plants just needed a little water to get them going. In October those plants are still growing out the top of the cages.

I have never had plants grow to this height. They have a shovelful of horse manure at the bottom of the hole. I tell you, manure makes the difference.

There are a bunch of tomatoes on those vines. Granted, I don’t cut off the sucker rods at all on these plants, but they aren’t stunted in the least.

But now we are well into the fall season. Leaves are red and brown and the trees are almost bare. As you see, the pasture grass is its own shade of done. Bermuda goes dormant under 80 degrees.

This doesn’t deter those tomatoes in the least, though. A couple frosty mornings scorched the upper-most vines, but still these sturdy plants endure!

There are a few brown leaves here, but that doesn’t diminish the size or the number of the fruit.

There is some frost damage but….

Check out these tomatoes! They are ripening on the vine. To me this is a huge accomplishment in gardening. This fall the weather is still mild… mildly warm. Temps in the 70s and 80s at the peak of the day. This allows the garden to finish its growing season. Remarkable.

If you look carefully, those broken ends on the stems are where the deer took liberties. They can only reach the pieces hanging out, thankfully, leaving the bulk of the plant to flourish inside the wire.

With giddy smugness, we enjoy fresh tomatoes despite the summer and the animals. The summer I thought would be a total loss is turning out to be stupendous.

Let me know how your growing season is this year. I love the out-doors and gardening is pure joy for me.

Thanks for visiting my little piece of heaven.

Love,
Jeannene