A place called "home"

A PLACE CALLED "HOME"

I can remember picking the sunflower seeds out of these when I little!

 I grew up right here in this amazing little countryside of Illinois! My dad has always had a huge garden and I planted my very first seed in this very garden below, so it's pretty special to me. Time with dad, country views, and gardening........LOVE! So, today I'll share his amazing garden with you!

 He has the most amazing turn out of raspberries every year! They are the biggest juiciest raspberries I've ever tasted! And yes, I usually manage to take some home every year!

 Spinach

 Lettuce

 Peppers. He usually cans peppers in the tomatoes every year. My mom then uses them for chili. It's pretty tasty!!

 A tiny baby pepper is already growing!!

 Tomatoes!

 Dad has regular and sweet potatoes planted. I'm planning to take some sweet potatoes when they are ready to make some raw sweet potato pasta!!

 Fresh broccoli, which I will be taking home with me!

 Look at all of that parsley! I told dad he needed to juice it! I will also be taking some of it home with me!

 Leeks.

 Celery perhaps? I took so many pictures and now can't remember what everything was. I'm not an expert gardner by any means! I just like eating the stuff!

 Cabbage.

 Sweet corn. Some of the best sweet corn you will ever taste!

 Onions.

 Look at what I found! Raspberries are usually ready in Aug/Sept, but there were a few that I picked....and ate!

 Blueberries!

 Dad has some of the most amazing grapes from this grape vine as well. He makes some super delicious grape jelly!

 A few blueberries just starting to grow!

These pictures were all taken about a month ago, and this pic will likely make Julie (my mom) sad, because Toby, the cat, went missing about a week ago and hasn't been seen since. Poor Toby! Well, at least he made it onto a raw food blog before he departed!

 Black walnuts.

 Apple and crab apple trees!

 The best part about all of dad's fruit and vegetables, is that they are all organic and chemical free! LOVE that! I'm so glad I grew up in a home that valued gardening!! Thanks for the good example Dad!!

The horses! Can't come home without at least several dozen pictures of my boys!! Mine are the two black ones, Indy and Sunny.

Garden update.

Do ever really want something for dinner and realize you are out or don't have enough? Tonight, I was really in the mood for a salad, but I knew I was out of greens. Yesterday, I had a veggie salad without greens. It was good!

I was too lazy to go to the grocery, but not to lazy to walk out to my organic raised bed garden in our back yard! Woohoo! How convenient. I decided to just cut a fresh bunch of lettuce and boy was I glad I did! I can't believe how much everything has grown since I last posted about my garden. Hopefully this weekend I can finish my planting:)

Look at those green onions!

My salad was delicious!!

Raised Bed Gardening.

Ever wonder how to grow your own veggies in town without making a mess of your yard? Raised bed gardening!

We are currently living in town, which makes it a little difficult to enjoy some of the perks that I grew up with. My Dad always, and still does, have a huge garden. His garden is as big as our backyard! I did a CSA share last year, which was wonderful, but difficult to pick up on the other side of town every Wednesday night. I really wanted to have my own little garden this year, especially since I'm preparing more raw meals.  I did some research on raised bed gardens. I also did some "selling" to my husband (he knows all about the business of sales so I had to "sell" hard) on what a great idea it was to have our own little "nice and neat garden." My hubby doesn't like clutter! I found these plans that I liked best! 

Home Depot, here we come! I picked non-treated wood of course. 

My husband needed a little help loading the boards:)

And I was feeling kinda weak so I needed pushing help!

I made sure not to get galvanized screws. I didn't want any chance of having chemicals in our garden. Crazy me!

Our back yard before the garden.

He measured and marked all of the boards for daddy! Note the color of our deck in this picture. We painted the garden to match it.

Almost together.

We painted ours to match our deck and trim. It will just help preserve the wood longer.  We actually ended up getting a stain with primer in it. It goes on like paint.

My dad brought his post hole digger since we don't have one. No one knew how to dig holes as good as Gabe:)

"good job daddy, keep working hard!"

Yay, now we just need some dirt. The dirt was our largest expense because I was adamant on getting organic soil. Our bed is 4 feet wide by 8 feet long and 1foot deep. We used 15 bags, plus my dad brought us some good horse "compost".  AKA: manure!

Mixing the dirt.

Almost finished.

Just a few finishing touches.

Voila!

It's too early to plant most things, so we just did butter crunch lettuce, onions, and carrots. 

I had to have my dad help with the planting!

I labeled my rows and keep a key inside so I remember where everything is planted. 

Completely finished with the bird netting added. We have lots of little rabbits that would love to eat from my new garden!

So, later on in the season, I'll be updating you on my veggie growing progress!