Happy Day!

Just one of the reasons I've been neglectful on this blog lately....our oldest son Bradley got married last weekend to a lovely young lady....and we are thrilled. Brad and Laurel will be living in a cute little fourplex just a few blocks from us (we've promised no pop-ins) .

Photographs by Heather Chandler Nickell and Jamie Nickell

Our Hero

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. -- George Orwell

Come Home Soon

Take Care Son...

...we are so proud of you.

Our son Sam surprised us last month by coming home for a visit during Easter vacation. He hadn't planned on coming home until sometime mid-deployment so we were thrilled to be able to spend some time with him. He ships out to Iraq in the next few days and tho we've known about it for months, I find myself in tears at odd times during the day lately....a good country song will do it every time, or a commercial that features a soldier, or a random memory about him that a friend posts on Facebook. Nothing in particular and everything in general reminds me that our son will be in harms way for the next 365 days. When he walked in the door last month, our world brightened ...and for just those two weeks our worries subsided.

Playing our favorite family game....

....that's not a word.

Wilson and Sam playing with the toy gun...

...and thankfully shooting at targets, not my glass candle holders.

(oh yeah, they can't ....he shot them all when he was 7!).

Easter lunch at the other Garvers.

Laurel and Brad.

Never too old for an Easter egg hunt!

Annie and Abel.

The Garver Men.

Playing Rock Band...

...fixing an old bike...

...and sitting on the roof.

We miss you already Sam.

Container Gardening

Ignoring the mess...this is our back patio/slab that we poured many years ago so the kids would have a place to play basketball in the winter and where we set up our pool every summer. The hoop has since been retired but a smaller version of the pool will be up and cooling us off in a few weeks time (replacing the mound of one-gallon tomato seedlings in the center of the photo) .

The slab has become somewhat of a negative as we look for more growing spaces around the Garver homestead. Because it is one of the sunnier spots in the yard, and we don't want to jackhammer it out (just yet) we've been doing a lot more container gardening and are always on the lookout for castoffs that we can use to pot up a couple more tomatoes etc. The wooden box pictured above was a garage hutch that I spotted going into the neighbors truck headed for the dump. Placed on it's back with a few large drainage holes in the now bottom....ta da...a raised bed! Tomatoes in the deeper back section, peppers and butternut squash in the front/lower half.

On a side note ~ I found something to do with all those used canning lids I've been washing and saving. I've forgotten where I saw this idea or I'd give them credit:)

Where I need to be....

In The Palm Of Your Hand"

If I could have the world and all it owns
A thousand kingdoms, a thousand thrones
If all the earth were mine to hold
With wealth my only goal

I'd spend my gold on selfish things
Without the love that Your life brings
Just a little bit more is all I'd need
'Til life was torn from me

I'd rather be in the palm of Your hand
Though rich or poor I may be
Faith can see right through the circumstance
Sees the forest in spite of the trees
Your grace provides for me

If I should walk the streets no place to sleep
No faith in promises You keep
I'd have no way to buy my bread
With a bottle for my bed

But if I trust the One who died for me
Who shed His blood to set me free
If I live my life to trust in You
Your grace will see me through

I'd rather be in the palm of Your hand
Though rich or poor I may be
Faith can see right through the circumstance
Sees the forest in spite of the trees

If I could have the world
If I could have the world and all it owns

In Which I Send you Elsewhere.....again.

I've decided to stop writing a blog and will hereafter just keep sending you here...she says what I'm thinking but infinitely better and definitely funnier.

Thank-you Aldra....again.

Just Because....

...I thought they were pretty.

No Sweetie, we Cannot get ANOTHER dog.

Despite the incredible cuteness of our neighbors new puppy (a Maltese) we shall wait for one of ours to....ahem....depart before bringing another canine into the house.

But he is adorable!

Ok....the Feed Store clerk MAY have lied.

The turkey chicks are bullies.....they keep pecking at the littler chicks. I'm not sure if they were the culprits but one of the baby hens died yesterday (not uncommon, but we didn't lose any last time). I'm thinking we may need to give them a very long time out.

(relax, we're just moving them to a separate box)

Yes, I'm talking about you.

We Bought our Thanksgiving Turkey Today

I love that I can go to the feed store for a couple more laying hens, come home with way too many, introduce our homestead to the prospect of raising our own turkeys and all my husband says is,

"I guess I better get to work on that second pen." What a guy!

I had no intention of buying turkey chicks today but I got curious when I saw them in the same box as the Buff Orpingtons. I started chatting with the clerk about raising turkeys and how different is was from chickens...apparently, not much. So we are now the proud owners (at least until November;) of two turkeys, one white and one brown...

...and in about 5 months, the new chickens will be adding to our daily egg totals. Next thing we want for our ever growing city farm is meat rabbits.....shhhhh, don't tell the neighbors.

Win a LOT of Flour!

Click on the widget below and enter to win a Kitchen Aid mixer and a years supply of King Arthur flour. If you win....I win! (just go do it)

Soccer Ends

It's been a long, tiring, wonderful season for the lady Monarchs.

Annie will miss her friends who are graduating this year...

...but is looking forward to being the big man on campus.

Friends since first grade ~ Annie, Alisa and Kayla.

Garden Soup

Tho not entirely from the garden, we're getting closer.

Decided to just see what I could harvest yesterday and came home with enough good stuff to make kale and sausage soup.

The peas are just starting to plump up and they are delicious.

We'll be picking carrots pretty much as we need them for the next several months and maybe thru the summer depending on how the second crop (just planted) does.

The kale...that has escaped our chickens....is wonderful (as is the spinach).

Tho the onions are still young, they are at least bulbing this year (finally planted the right kind for our zone) and we are using the thinnings.

Garlic left from last Springs crop.

Sauted the sausage with the onions and garlic, added homemade chicken stock and veggies plus some store bought potatoes (ours aren't quite big enough yet, but in a few weeks....)

Simmered for about an hour and enjoyed with some freshly baked bread....yum!

Happy Birthday Steven!

With our lovely daughter at her last soccer game.

I know this is an anniversary song, but since we celebrated 27 years last month (and I didn't blog about it) I wanted to include it this post. So glad I can say this is true of our life together.