Just Call Me Mrs Greenthumb!

There is a very good reason why I took a horticulture related program in college.  I love it.  I love plants, I love gardening, I love being outside working on even the hottest of days.  I even love hard labour (seriously I love shovelling, digging, and hauling wheelbarrows full of dirt).  The only I thing I don't love, or even like for that matter, is bugs.  But it's something I'm willing to deal with to do what I enjoy.

I have been out of the garden for many years now since getting pregnant with Tristan and had almost forgotten how much I love it.  A few weeks ago my dad asked us to clean up his backyard which Tyler had landscaped last year.  It didn't take me long before I was back into it and happily spent hours there weeding, cultivating, pruning and mulching.

The fact that I am currently 7.5 months pregnant has not stopped me from getting my hands dirty.  Ever since our family has embarked on this hops farming adventure I have been longing to jump in and help out.  But being a full-time mom has meant I couldn't do that.  I was actually jealous of Tyler and his parents being able to get out there and do some hard labour, but whenever I would go with the boys I would have to spend pretty much every second watching their every move.

Over the winter I was able to stay involved by helping plan our vegetable garden.  I was responsible for researching and picking out what plants we were going to grow, and for setting up a gardening, sowing, seeding, and transplanting plan.  I had no idea what I was doing, but figured I'd be learning in the process. 

In March we started sowing our seeds and I finally got to put my hands in the dirt a little bit.  We would sow them on nice afternoons in the backyard into cell packs, and then transfer them into the basement where Tyler had set up an area for them to grow and germinate.  It wasn't long before all our little seedlings were emerging, and we were on our way.

The past few months have been an experiment in starting seeds indoors for us.  While we had a very high success rate for germination, we were always struggling to figure out what each of our individual types of plants needed.  And as they got bigger we struggled to find room for them since we were constantly sowing new seeds.  At first we were certain we'd have such a warm, early spring that they could go outside earlier than usual, but it turned cold on us and we had to keep them inside.  We even had some that got stunted from the cold when we tried to harden them off.  We kept juggling all our plants, moving them around as they got bigger and trying to get some of the hardier ones outside into the hoop house at the farm or even in the backyard.

Finally we were able to start transplanting some into the garden, and eventually we were able to start direct seeding as well.  Now we are in business, and our garden is filling up nicely.

Filling up!

For awhile I was still more of a passive player in this gardening game, but in the last few weeks I have stepped up and gotten involved.  The weather has officially turned hot which has made it more comfortable for me to be out there with the boys.  They are now familiar enough with the property that they are willing to hang out near me while I work, and I just have to keep an eye on them but not worry about them wandering off.  Usually a few toy trucks are enough to keep them happy!

My little gardening helper with his tractor and wearing his favourite John Deere shirt

I have been spending most mornings recently working in the vegetable garden, especially since Tyler has been so busy helping his parents plant the hops.  It's go time at the farm and there are always a million things that need to be done.  Last weekend we went as a family and planted some of our tomatoes in the hoop house.  This past week I have been going with Finn and planting some more seedlings, as well as working on keeping the weeds in check.

We sowed so many tomatoes and peppers that we're having trouble finding homes for them all!  Those two types of vegetables where the ones we knew we'd want a lot of, and we chose several different varieties of each.  I think we have 7 or 8 different kinds of tomatoes, and 5 different kinds of peppers.  We've put some of each into the garden, but have also decided to plant some in the hoop house too to see how they do.  We're hoping to have enough vegetables that we could even sell some.  I'm sure we will!

The hoop house

First row of tomatoes planted and mulched inside

So many tomatoes!

Both boys love coming to the farm and hanging out with me while I work.  I have gone a few afternoons this past week with both of them, but I have gone most mornings with just Finn.  He is my little gardening buddy and is so great about hanging out with me.  I think he is a little farmer in the making!  He will often play in the dirt with his toy digger or tractor, or he will just wander around the garden area.  But he never gets upset or whiny, or asks to leave.  Tristan will hang out too, and sometimes he will help me pull weeds or lay mulch.  He really loves hanging out with Tyler though and will jump at the chance to 'work' with Daddy.

At the moment in our garden we've got a variety of leafy vegetables like lettuces, swiss chard and cabbage, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, peas, beans, onions, and artichokes.  Our strawberry plants are still in pots and are thriving, but we really need to get them into the ground asap.  We won't get a harvest from them this year as the advice is to pinch off the flowers in the first year to encourage stronger plants, but we are willing to be patient to get a good crop next year.  I have sowed some greenhouse variety cucumbers which are just sprouting, and will direct sow some more next week along with some other things like squash, corn, melon, pumpkins, and subsequent crops of carrots.  There is so much going on in our garden right now!  And we still have no idea what we are doing or what is going to work out, but boy are we having fun.  We have to learn somehow and it is all trial and error.

Red cabbage

Peppers

Lettuces

Strawberries, carrots and onions in pots

Tomatoes and beans growing up the poles

I am remembering what it is like to be out in the sunshine with my hands in the dirt, and I am loving it so much.  It means I have been spending less time at the gym, but I don't care because it's so good to be out there in the fresh air.  I also love that the boys are enjoying being out there and are learning about gardening and farming along with us.  I hope it won't be too long until they're actively involved in the process and hopefully gaining a strong work ethic from it.  I can see them spending summers working there and I hope they enjoy doing it as much as Tyler and I do.

I look forward to the future and getting to do more of this.  With a new baby soon to be here, my involvement will still be limited, but I hope that I can still get out there and keep tabs on my garden.  When I look into my future I see myself being more and more involved with the farm and all that is going on.  I love being at home with my children and do not wish that time away, but I look forward to when they are older and start school, and I will be able to play a more active roll on the farm growing my vegetables, and helping with the hops as well.

It truly is a dream come true!

Mommy and her little sidekick!

Two Years on the Bay

This week marks 2 years since we moved out here and started our new lives.  It has been an amazing two years.  Well, the first year sucked, but I consider it amazing because we had to get through it to be where we are now.  And we couldn't be happier.  We've made great friends and are enjoying every minute of our lives here.  It's hard to believe I used to want to go back, now I know we would never go back!  We love living on the bay.

Of course, I've gushed about all this before so don't need to go on now.  But I did want to be sure I took a moment to remember that it's been two years.

Our big party last weekend was a success, and everything went wonderfully.  I think all our guests had a great time.  The weather was fantastic, the food worked out well, and we had lots of people show up.  The boys had an absolute blast, I think all the kids did.  I have tons of pictures, and if I feel up to it I will post some but I find that resizing and uploading them is such a big task that even if I start it I get frustrated and give up.  So maybe I will post them, maybe I won't. 

That's all for now, my blogging isn't very interesting these days!

Happy Two Years to us!

Little Dude's Birthday and Party Plans

Happy 2nd Birthday to my very special, very sweet, very funny Little Dude Finn!  I can't believe it's been two years since he was born.  What an amazing day it was.  I reflect on the birth of my children a lot, as expressed in previous posts.  I won't go into massive detail here, since I know I already did that last year for his 1st birthday!

I'm not really finding the words to describe how I feel on this particular birthday.  It's been a bit of a blur of normal life really.  We woke him up with a song and had a nice day together.  After dropping T off at school we went to Walmart and had a birthday muffin and smoothie at Tim's, then did a little shopping for his upcoming party.  He is such an amazing little man when we're out, so patient while sitting in the cart and hardly asking for anything.  It's really a pleasure to go anywhere with him.

After that we went home to hang out for a bit before picking T up from school, then had a yummy lunch before the boys went down for their naps.  This afternoon we just stayed home and the boys played while I got some housework done.  We were on our own for dinner since Tyler had to go down to the city, but we had a nice meal together and then after bath time I let the boys have some chocolate pudding as a treat for F's birthday.

So not a terribly exciting day I'm afraid, but we're saving all the excitement for his big party coming up this weekend!  I'm very excited!  We expect a lot of people to come out to the farm to celebrate with us, and while part of me feels like I should be overwhelmed this week while planning such a large event, I'm not at all.  Everything seems to be coming together nicely, and I am really looking forward to seeing a lot of our friends and family that we don't get to see too often.

We're doing a bbq style cookout at the farm, with lots of food and fun stuff.  I'm taking care of the dessert and am going to be making about 100 cupcakes, as well as a dirt cake.  Wow!  Now, I do feel a little guilty because I just went and bought cake mixes instead of making them from scratch.  I know I know, I have made such an effort in the past to make healthier varieties of cakes and cupcakes for the kids' birthdays.  I wanted to this time as well, but I just couldn't see how I could make so many from scratch on my budget, since the healthier ingredients required always end up being SO expensive.  So I'm cheaping out a bit, but they will still taste yummy that's for sure!  I might try making some rice crispy squares as well.

Another thing I try to do for birthday parties is avoid giving out treat bags that are filled with candy or crappy plastic toys.  This year for party favours I have sowed a bunch of extra tomato seedlings, and will give one to each child to take home and plant in their garden.  I'm also going to do little snack bags that are made out to look like butterflies and they will be filled with dried fruit instead of really sugary stuff.

I really hope the weather cooperates for this weekend, and I'm really excited to have everyone over to the farm to see it and to celebrate with us!

My littlest (but soon to not be the littlest anymore) guy is already 2.  Wow, just wow.  He is such an amazing little boy.  In fact, sometimes I can't believe he is the same baby that cried all the time and didn't sleep, because how he is now couldn't be further from that fussy baby.  He is so happy, and so social.  Everyone who meets him loves him to bits.  And we do too!

Happy Birthday Finn!!

Lazy

I have two incomplete saved posts from the past week that I couldn't be bothered to finish.  That is how unmotivated I am feeling these days when it comes to blogging.  Not that I feel particularly unmotivated with all aspects of life right now, just not really in the mood to sit and write and go through pictures to post.  It feels like it takes too much effort when I'd rather be doing other things!

Maybe I will get around to finishing those posts, maybe I won't.  We'll see!

Y Ride

This time last year we had only just become members of our local YMCA.  I did not know much about the Y prior to then and had never been in one, but a friend had suggested we become members as we were still new in town and it was a great way to meet people.  It took several months to get around to it but finally last spring we signed ourselves up, and I must admit it was probably one of the best things we did for ourselves as a family since moving here (especially for me and the boys). 

I had only ever been a member of a gym once before in my life and I never felt comfortable there.  Getting another gym membership was not something I was interested in mainly because it was so expensive and intimidating.  But the Y is totally different, and it has been such an important place for me over this past year.  It has allowed us to do so many things as a family, and to stay healthy and active, without having to spend a lot of money.  There have been so many great programs there, both for me and for the boys, and it has allowed me to get out of the house with them and have a place to go, and keep my sanity in the meantime.  We've met so many great people and made so many new friends through our local Y.

Last spring I remember going one Saturday during the annual Y Ride and seeing all the participants cycling in the gym.  It looked like so much fun, I couldn't help but stand there watching and wishing I was a part of it.  I had never been on a spin bike before but that day I resolved that I would do it next year. 

It took me several more months after that to get up the courage to take a spin class, but once I did I was hooked.  And I have been going every week ever since.

This year I AM going to be participating in the Y Ride, at almost 6.5 months pregnant no less.  The Y Ride helps raise money to support the YMCA and all it has to offer.  Seeing as how the Y has given us so much, it only makes sense to give back.

I have to say I'm really excited for this event.  I have found a sense of community at the YMCA here that I have never experienced anywhere else.  It really is our home away from home.  The boys and I can be found there usually at least 5 days a week, and sometimes we go both in the morning and the afternoon.  Everyone is warm and friendly there.  We have always felt welcome. 

The Y Ride is on April 14th and it is a 6 hour event, though I have only signed up to cycle for 1 hour (not sure I could manage much more than that being pregnant!).  My goal is to raise a minimum of $75 but I would love to raise more. 

If anyone out there would like to donate to help me reach my goal, my personal page can be found here:  Martina's Y Ride Page

The Invites Are Out!

Finn's 2nd birthday is fast approaching and I've just finished sending out the invitations for the big day.

Normally planning the boys' birthday parties stresses me out to no end.  I am not a natural hostess, I don't really enjoy throwing parties.  I mean, it always sounds like a great idea but the work involved ends up feeling so daunting.  Last year Finn's birthday party was very stressful for me.  We hadn't lived here that long and didn't really have any friends in the area.  Pretty much all our guests were from out of town and it was hard to know if anyone was even going to bother making the trek out here to see us.  I really hated the whole planning process.  So much so that I didn't even bother throwing a party for Tristan's 3rd birthday last summer, I just wasn't ready to go through the stress again.

This time though I'm actually quite excited for the next party, mainly because we have decided to pair it with sort of a grand opening of the farm and hops yards.  Also, we have so many friends here now as well as some family, so it almost makes more sense to throw a party when you know people nearby might actually come.

We're going to have the party on the farm the first weekend in May (so a little after Finn's actual birthday, but that's fine).  I'm hoping that will be a good time for the weather to be beautiful and not rainy, but the nice thing is that even if it is a rainy day we will still have the hoop houses and barn to stay dry in.  There is plenty of room in there.  And I'm sure that the toddlers would have fun rain or shine!

I've got some great ideas for kids activities so I think all the kids will have a great time.  There may be a lot of them if most of the families I've invited show up!  At first I thought we'd be crazy to have so many kids at the party, but knowing that it will be outside makes it less scary.  There is a playground right beside the farm that the kids can play at, and there's no shortage of things to do and places to explore.  I'm sure the little boys will love sitting on the tractor!

Not sure what we're going to do about food yet for all those people but we already have a bbq at the farm so that makes it a little easier.  We can just do hot dogs and burgers with a variety of other snacks on the side.  Nice and fun and simple.  I have some ideas for what I'd like to do for cupcakes and other desserts.

Party planning is still a bit stressful, but I'm really looking forward to the event.  I hope we get some great weather, and that lots of people come out to celebrate.  I can't wait to have a fun day for my boys and especially for Finn, but I also can't wait for people to come see the farm and everything we've accomplished so far. 

Leg Hooping.... AARRRGGGHHH!!!

This is frustrating me to no end!  It looks simple enough, and actually when I first tried it weeks ago I got it (albeit only briefly) very quickly and so figured I'd have it down in no time.  Leg hooping has been the hardest thing to learn so far.  I've got a number of other things down.  Maybe not quite mastered them with much finesse, but I can do them.  I can move the hoop up and down from my hips all the way up to my chest (chest hooping wasn't easy either but it was easier than leg hooping).  I can hoop around my torso both with my arms raised or with them inside the hoop, and easily move the hoop up to my neck.  I can do a number of lifts up and down with the hoop from various places on my body.  There's a few arm hooping tricks I can do.  I'm just figuring out how to move through the hoop in different ways. 

But this leg hooping business....aarrrgggghhhhh!!  So I'm working on moving it up and down my thighs which I'm getting better at, and if it falls to my knees and I manage to catch it I can keep it there for a very short period of time before dropping it, but I can't move it down and back up again with any amount of ease.

My legs are covered in bruises.  But I will get it.  I am already better than I was, I just need to keep at it.  I will get it.