Wow it has been a long time!

I haven't realized how long it has been since I wrote on here, but I have made a goal to try atleast right on here once a day or at least once a week. Alot, has happened since I have been on here last. Kyle has turned 3 this passed July! Crazy! and we have a new addition to our family, Tyler was born on June 23, 2010 and we love him so much! It has been an interesting journey so far being a mom of two but i am loving every minute of it! I love this adventure!
Tom lost his job back in May from Groffs and is now working at Messicks Farm Equipment which he loves! I am so glad he found a job that he loves and something he knows! :) Thanking the Lord for providing that for us!

Okay well on to the garden we planted this year. We made two new gardens around our house , we dug up a huge garden in our backyard (or as much backyard as we have hahah) and a spot on our side yard, to try and get more product in to can and freeze. I will have to post pics. We had a pretty decent crop. We planted green beans which did great, and I am on my second planting of them to freeze. We also had a mixed lettuce which was very abundant, but was not a favorite of Tom's so we are going to try to grow iceberg next year. I planted cucumber plants but they didn't do well at all. So maybe next year , thankfully our associate pastor gave us an abundant amount from their garden for me to make bread and butter pickles along with some dill! Yum!! We planted some corn late but are very excited to say it tassled and now has heads growing on it!! That is going to be frozen to depending on how well it grows. We were genorously given 23 or so strawberry plants from a friend of mine to start our first strawberry patch and I transplanted the 4 plants we had started last year. I am very excited to see what next year brings for them! We are trying to grow potatoes this year, i pulled a small plant up and sure enough little potatoes are growing! Yay!!! Our first time and we see something! We had an abundant amount of Roma tomatoes this year and I can officially say I am tired of tomatoes right now! :) My oregano plant took off, I need to get out there and dry some. Our mint plant did awesome but that is no suprise! We also planted some squash which is starting produce, ( I planted a little late). And last we had green peppers which produced but the peppers were very small. I think that is about it for the garden, so all in all not a bad year, but going to try some new seeds and see how everything turns out next year. God has really blessed us with a good garden this year.

I did alot more canning this year then I have done. I have canned about 8 qts. of peaches, 6qts of dill pickles and 14 pints of bread and butter pickles. I also canned 3 quarts of applesauce, but when fall get here I plan on canning more applesauce, pie filling and maybe just some sliced apples. I can't wait! YUMMY! Today I am in the process of making homemade Ketchup and it is quite the process. I am needing to finish it tomorrow but I will get 3 pints of that for us to can. I am learning that it takes alot of time but it is a great experience and giving the experience to get better at my canning, so I am thankful!

This year we wanted to get some chickens and I emailed our borough, who wrote back and said we were not aloud to even if they were caged 24/7, because they are "dangerous animals". So, so much for getting fresh eggs in the morning. :( Another reason I can't wait to get our little farmette!

We are learning alot of stuff living where we are though to prepare us for the day when we do get our farm. We are learning alot about gardening, animals( through blogs, youtube,etc.), composting, etc. We are also learning to be content with our 650 sq. ft. home. We are living within our means and that is what we are wanting to do. By doing this we will hopefully be able to save for our farmette and be able to have our own little Homestead. :)

We are starting the no tv again and maybe even taking it off the wall to make sure we don't watch it and have more family time together! That is the best kind! I have also made a goal to read more books and made a list of books I would like to read by the end of winter, here is my list:

Better Off: Flipping the switch on technology by: Eric Brende

Self-sufficient Life and How to Live It by John Seymour

Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need in just a quarter acre! Editor: Carleen Madigan

I am sure I will add more as the months go, but it is a great start!

I am also wanting to atleast read a book of the bible a month. I feel like I need to get a deeper connection with God and what better way to get that then to read His word!

So until next time! God Bless!