Category: Outdoors

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Quick Trip for Garden Decor

On my way home from work today I stopped off at one of my favorite discount stores. They have a great section filled with all sorts of outdoor items. I found some upside down hanging planters for only $0.99. I was really excited because they are normally between $15 and $20. I got three and plan to use them for peppers, tomatoes, and strawberries. We already had one with strawberries at home, but the strawberries seem to disappear the second they are ripe so I figured an extra one couldn’t hurt.

In addition to the planters, I got some soil, plant food, and some seeds. I kept walking through the various aisles in search for some cute, kid friendly, garden decorations. I found a pretty wind chime with butterflies that I know he girls will love. I also found some pink and purple bunnies on little wooden posts that will be great for Easter time.

Speaking of holidays, I also found a couple giant four leaf clover window clings that I can hang up on the sliding glass door for St. Patrick’s Day. I think they will look great accompanied by homemade rainbow light catcher ornaments I plan make with the girls.

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Happy Independence Day!!!

Family watching fireworks (free clip art)
Family watching fireworks (free clip art)

I love the 4th of July!!  We really go all out to decorate, well we do that for every holiday but there’s just something about Independence Day that I love!!  We always have a huge community picnic type party with grilled hot dogs and hamburgers with all the fixin’s and of course potato salad, baked beans and we can’t forget the banana pudding and homemade ice cream.

Then there’s the fireworks display.  I love all of the laughter, ooohhh’s and aaahhh’s from the children when the fireworks start.  It’s just a wonderful time for all!!!   I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful 4th of July and remember what the celebration is all about, our independence!!!

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Lots of Summer Vegetables Available

Guest post by Louise Stratham

I wish there was a Farmer’s Market close to my house. I don’t know of any except the one downtown, and I hate to drive downtown. I end up spending an extra $10 in gas to go all the way downtown and an extra $10 to the trip for paid parking. So the cost of fresh vegetables is already $20 before I even pick out the first one.

The last time I went to the Farmer’s Market, the price of vegetables was not any cheaper than what I can buy at Kroger grocery stores. I’m not sure there is much advantage to shopping at Nashville’s Farmer’s Market other than you are supporting local farmers and local businesses rather than a big grocery store chain like Kroger and whatever farms they decide at a corporate level to buy from.

There is a little place on the side of the road that sells fresh vegetables and fresh flowers on Lebanon Road. I don’t usually take Lebanon Road to go anywhere, but when I know I am going that way, I usually stop and buy a few things. I went by there yesterday and found lots of summer vegetables. They are a little cheaper than Kroger and the owner tells me that all the produce is grown locally. So I don’t mind supporting this guy and his wife.

I tried to grow some tomato plants on my patio, but they did not produce much. The tomatoes are so small and colored funny that I ended up throwing them out. It was nice to find a fresh picked, field grown tomato at the vegetable stand. One slice of their tomato covers the entire piece of bread! So I enjoyed a fabulous tomato and mayo sandwich last night. And I’ll have another one tonight for dinner, with a couple pieces of bacon and some lettuce on top.

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Happy 4th of July

fireworks (free clip art)
fireworks (free clip art)
I sure hope you guys are having a ‘blast’ today. We have a special July 4th package deal going on where the whole house is decorated for the 4th, and we are having a huge picnic type dinner for everyone in the community too. The other local businesses like the tubing guys up river are throwing in with me and offering tubing and canoeing along with my package.

It’s kind of a bring your own fireworks type display and everyone brings a side dish too from the community. Watermelons are in the river getting good and cold and so is the beer. We always have the best time, and the house is booked solid for the whole 3 day weekend. 

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Where is the sax?

Saturday at the street dance and concert that my kids and I went to, the band was playing a song about how much they love the saxophone, and I could swear that I heard the saxophone playing, but darn if I could see anything that looked like a saxophone anywhere on the stage! This perturbed me greatly, as my uncle used to play a mean sax, and I was thinking about talking to him later about the concert and the song about the saxophone! It wasn’t until my brother was telling me about the cheap buy used yamaha wx5 sale at guitar center event that I realized that there are other instruments being used in this day and age that can mimic the sound of the saxophone, and the trumpet, and other wind instruments.

I felt amazed, and yet cheated, at the same time. Isn’t modern technology amazing? And how sad for the many talented musicians that are now out of jobs because machines can mimic what they took years and years to learn how to do! I think that I would prefer to see the genuine saxophone musician wailing on his sax – it provides a much better theatrical performance!

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Day Trip To Go Hiking As A Family

My husband told me he would like to plan a day trip where we can all go hiking as a family, I think that sounds like a great idea. He has some really nice lowa renegade hiking boots that he got for Christmas that he has been dying to break in. I can’t blame him, if I got something like that as a gift I would want to use it right away.

We like to get outdoors when the weather is not too cool and not too hot which is exactly what the weather has been lately. Well, it has been kind of crazy some days but that’s besides the point. Maybe we can go next weekend or weather permitting maybe even tomorrow. We don’t’ have anything else planned really and it could be a lot of fun.

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Harvesting Our Home Grown Fruit

Our upside down planters have really done wonders with the fruit plants we have.  I spent the afternoon harvesting our strawberries, tomatoes, and even a bunch of peppers.  We ended up getting a huge crop of peppers.  I’m excited to try all of the recipes I’ve collected for all of these peppers.  We do seem to have more than we need though so I plan to give some away to our neighbors and friends.

Our plants also produced a nice few baskets of tomatoes and strawberries.  Of course we’ll be gobbling most of the strawberries up before I have much time to do anything with them, but I told the kids and my husband that I really want to save some to make some jam and a nice strawberry rhubarb pie.  I know it will be hard for them to resist the temptation of eating the fresh and delicious berries but I promised them it would be worth their sacrifice.

I love seeing my family enjoy the work that I put into the garden.  I know exactly what they are eating when I grow it for them myself.  Next year I think I want plant more food for us to enjoy together.  I’m not sure if I want to do planter boxes or if I want to dig up some of the garden for vegetables.  Maybe I’ll have the kids help me pick out what we should grow together.

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Waiting for My Fruit to Grow

It’s been about a month and a half since I’ve put up the upside down planters in the garden. We are starting to see some growth. I can’t wait for the plants to start producing yummy fruits. I’m excited to be able to eat some of the strawberries this time around. Every other time we plant strawberries they are gone before I get any. This year we planted two strawberry plants. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to get some this time. I’m also anxious to try out all of those tomato recipes that I have stockpiled over the past month.

I don’t think I have anything to worry about when it comes to getting my share of the peppers. It’s just me and my husband who will be eating those. I haven’t thought about finding recipes for all of the peppers. Maybe I need to start working on pepper recipes now too!

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Afternoon in the Garden

This afternoon I spent time assembling the upside down hanging planters that I got at the really great price.  I let the kids help put the soil and the plants in each planter.  I let them use some of the toy gardening tools that I found for them at the toy store.  First, they carefully put the baby plants in each planter. They both had smiles on their faces as they heaved small shovel fulls of soil into the planters.  They carefully put the baby plants in each planter.  We had one for peppers, one for tomatoes, and another for strawberries. Once all of them had enough soil they sprinkled on some plant food and topped them off with water from the toy watering cans.

I labeled each of the planters with pictures of each type of fruit that the girls colored for me.  Their favorite one was the planter with the strawberries.  This didn’t surprise me in the least.  The strawberries always go first when ever we have fruit.  I’m excited to watch the planters produce some yummy food and the girls are excited to eat it.

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Breakfast with the Family on the Patio

Breakfast with the family is one of my favorite times of the day. Yesterday we had breakfast outside on the patio. I made blueberry scones, scrambled cheesy eggs, and a fresh fruit salad. My husband and I sipped our coffee as the kids gobbled up their breakfast. The scones turned out great. It was a new recipe that I got from a gal at work. It’s definitely a keeper.

When the kids finished eating they played in the back and we kept an eye on them from the patio.  The girls ran around in the grass and kicked a soccer around. I noticed the lawn needed to be mowed and politely mentioned it to my husband. He promised to mow it before lunch and made good on that promise with a smile on his face.  I told him I would pick up a few planters for some peppers and tomatoes as a thank you the nex time I went to the garden center.