A Day in the Garden (and the laundry room)

Today was an outside day and thankfully the sun was shining and the temps were cool! I was able to wash and hang out about 6 loads of laundry (maybe that will take the bite out of my air conditioners running constantly!) Jordan was able to re-till a couple of beds that we had prepared earlier for beans and corn. The tomatoes (36 plants in a large bed) are producing, but so were the weeds, so Aaron, Kaelan and I weeded and weeded and weeded some more. Then we covered the entire area with hay. Hope to keep the water in and the weeds down with all that hay. We were also able to get the green beans in the ground. If they actually grow, we should have plenty of beans. My mom always liked to put up one bag or can of each vegetable for each week of the year. I would LOVE to do that, but we'll see. I think I need to make an outdoor kitchen to do some of that as the house gets so hot when we are in the kitchen all day in the summer. Last winter we created a compost bin and added veggie scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, grass clippings, leaves and apparently, last years tomato vines! Jeff put the compost in one of our flower beds and it is producing great looking tomato plants right in the midst of the crepe myrtles and hawthornes. I counted about a dozen there. We should have lots of tomatoes for canning and freezing. I would love to can spaghetti sauce and salsa.

Planning for the next school year is constantly in the back of my mind, but I haven't set aside the time to begin. We have purchased Teaching Textbooks for this next year and Jordan has already begun Algebra 2. We have a few NEW things that we will be trying out and I am eager to see how it goes. We will begin a two year stretch in American History starting with the explorers. I love American history and am eager to get back to it after spending the last 3 years in the ancients through the Reformation period. Maybe later next week I can actually get pencil to paper. I have printed out calendars and assignment sheets and would love to get new notebooks purchased as well. Hope to get some of the actual planning written out next week as there most likely won't be any garden work going on for me. I see the surgeon Tuesday afternoon regarding my gall bladder and I am hopeful that he can schedule me in later in the week. I will be "forced" to sit and read through curriculum and do nothing but plan for the next year..... and nurse Caedmon!

Now off to prepare dinner! Should it be spaghetti with homemade basil bread or country vegetables with cornbread? One child says no to spaghetti but the others say yes... What do I want?