The garden has just been just eh this year.

The critters have gotten to the back two beds (peas and cucumbers) despite our best efforts and lots of repellent. It blows my mind how when we hardly had any kind of protection around the garden the animals left it alone. Now that it has all kinds of fencing around it we can’t keep them out. It’s been a frustrating couple of years on The Farm.

New to The Mommyland Farm this year are the strawberries. They have been tasty but we haven’t gotten too many, I think we’ve been averaging about one every other day. I’m hopeful that they’re the gift that keeps giving and we’ll get some more as the summer progresses. I don’t think I’ll be using my own strawberries for my strawberry shortcake any time soon.

Juicy strawberries.

We’ve gotten one green pepper so far and there are many more out there that just need to get a little bigger. The red and yellow peppers refuse to change color though. We had this problem last year, three different colors were planted but we only had green. They all tasted good though so I guess I shouldn’t complain. Anyone have luck with different colors of peppers?

The cherry tomatoes are doing really well. We’ve got more than Logan can eat coming off the vine. It’s nice to not have to buy them at the store for a few weeks.

The beefsteak tomatoes are OK so far. There are a lot of them on the vine but, much like last year, they’re not turning red. So far we’ve only had one red one but it was worth the wait. There’s just something about tomatoes fresh from the garden, they’re not always as pretty on the outside as their grocery store counterparts but they are gorgeous on the inside and tasty.

The other thing we’re waiting on is the carrots. We’ve tried them before but something always ate them before they had a chance to grow. This year they seem to be thriving and Cameron is really looking forward to eating one right out of the ground. Carrots are the only veggie he’ll eat and they have to be raw and he only eats them every once in a great while. I’m looking forward to sneaking them into my meatloaf. HEHEHE

This was our second year with the potatoes and while we didn’t get as many as we did last year we still got a respectable haul. I’ll be making some chips with some of them VERY soon. I guess I should share a few with my Mom too.

Our potatoes. That’s a little more than half a five gallon bucket.

I’ve had some questions as to how to grow the potatoes and honestly, they’re the easiest thing in our garden. We got the bulbs in the spring, cut them in half and planted them cut side down. All you really need to do is keep them watered. The bulb package said to pile more dirt on top of the plants as they started to grow but we never did that. When the plant looks like it’s about to die we pull them out of the ground and go hunting for potatoes.

Potato hunting.

The boys love searching for the potatoes, probably because it gives them an excuse to get dirty.

The herbs? Don’t even ask! The potted herbs blew away and are laying dead on the front porch. Second year of herb failure.

I’ve been hearing a lot of garden success stories this year, how is your garden doing? Do you have any tips for getting my tomatoes to turn red while still on the vine or how I can get my red and yellow peppers to stop being green?

Happy Gardening!

It was a holiday week which means that I spent most of it confused as to what day it was.

Monday.

I haven’t been sleeping very well lately, or at least not as well as I had been. How do I know? My Fitbit lets me know. Just another reason I love that little thing.

The blue line is when I was asleep and the pink stripes are the times I was awake.

And everyone wonders why I take Tylenol PM nearly every night.

Tuesday.

Despite my lack of sleep I’m still running. I’m still trying to get back up to the eight, nine and ten mile runs but I think I might have to wait until the weather cools.

I decided to test my 5K speed and she how I was doing since I have a race coming up in a week. My time was MUCH slower than the last 5K race I ran and I can only attribute that to the heat and smothering humidity.

Wednesday.

This week was the potato harvest on The Mommyland Farm. We didn’t get as many as last year but we’re looking into planting them again for a fall harvest.

What should I make first?

Thursday.

It wasn’t just the 4th of July here, it was also four years since I started this blog.

If you follow along on the Mommyland Facebook page, you might have seen that I am starting to have some Kitchen Adventures. This week I made my own Nutella (more on that later) and I also made this Strawberry Shortcake from SCRATCH. I even made the whipped cream myself.

It’s not the most beautiful thing in the world, I think it has a certain rustic charm though. It was tasty and eventually I will write a post about it and what I will change for next time.

After a variety of meat on the grill we enjoyed that cake…It didn’t last long.

Friday.

Friday we took advantage of one of the most amazing things in this world…Parent’s Night Out. It’s a FREE program at the Y that allows us to drop the kids off for three hours and go enjoy an evening out. Yes, I said FREE (to full family members).

While the kids had fun playing and swimming, Bill and I went out to eat and played in town.

We made it an evening of local treats. First we stopped at Paradocx Vineyards for a bottle of wine to have with dinner. Then after we dropped off the kids we went to Portabello’s for dinner. OMG, talk about AMAZING!!! Everything was fresh and soooooo tasty. I enjoyed 14 ounces of the second best steak I’ve EVER had. If you ever find yourself in Kennett Square you need to have a meal there.

After dinner we wandered across the street to The Mushroom Cap for a little shopping. We picked up some fresh mushrooms to make with dinner Saturday night. Downstairs from The Mushroom Cap is this new little toy store called The Growing Tree. If you’re looking for anything Melissa & Doug this is the store for you.

After a little shopping we made our way to Flickerwood Wine Cellars. That is where I had the yummy concoction you see above. Wine slushie anyone? YES PLEASE!!!

Friday night was marvelous!

Saturday.

Saturday was a good day to spend a little time pool side. I try to keep my pale ass in the shade as much as possible. We get there as soon at the pool opens so I can have my shady spot.

The boys love splashing around. Cameron can swim on his own so he finds some school friends and goes to swim with them. Logan is perfectly happy sitting on the steps on the middle pool playing with a toy.

There’s something for all of us.

Sunday.

The crazy weather continues around here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sky like that before, I was ready for a house to drop out of it.

Somehow we’ve gotten stuck in this weather pattern of daily storms. Not a fan.

There you have it…My week. How was your week? Did you do anything fun for the holiday?