Back to Eden Gardening

Well....I'm finally back to writing on here....it's been a busy past year or two.

Now that the Mother Nature has finally started to cooperate and it's no longer so wet in the yard. I got the grass cut and started planting my garden. This year I'm trying the Back to Eden Gardening. It's a no till garden. A friend of mine sent me a link to a video at http://www.backtoedenfilm.com/. I watched it last year after I had already gotten most of the garden in. A brief summary.... is using cardboard or newspaper on an un tilled spot....then adding compost a few inches thick, then a layer of wood chips. Since my garden has been tilled for many years.....I didn't have to let it sit for a season. Last fall I did put newspapers, cardboard, straw......and I scavenged for leaves and grass clippings people  put out on the curb for pickup. Then comes the wood chips.....a few years ago we had the Derecho come thru and take out a large maple. The tree service chipped up everything and dumped it in another spot on the property. Last week I had a neighbor with a tractor lay all the chips on my garden. Yesterday...after fixing the fence (which a deer tore down last fall), I was finally able to start planting.  I did get in 18 broccoli (my 3 year old grandson's favorite veggie), 40 onion plants...which I still have about 100 more to go and 20 lettuce plants. I'm holding off on the tomatoes, peppers and such...due to the cold nights.

This type of garden is to reduce weeding and keep the soil moist...so less watering. Best of all you don't til. Wood chips tilled in the garden would zap the soil of the much needed nitrogen. Eventually, the wood chips breakdown and go into the soil. You then are suppose to add more when the old ones decay.

Aerial view of the garden

Onions

Broccoli

Lettuce

Lettuce planted.....Yeah the row isn't straight. :)

I've finally gotten my camera out of the moths balls.....

I've cleaned the lenses and am starting to take pictures again.

My dear neighbor and I try to walk a couple of miles as many days out of the week as we can squeeze in. After the main part of our walk we take a little stroll on their pier in the scenic Pomonkey Creek. The past few weeks this pair of Ospreys thought that the boat would be a great place to build their nest and lay eggs. After trying to discourage...Mr. and Mrs. Osprey won out. And they have 2 babies on the way. I think it takes about 5-6 weeks until they hatch.

Though I've watched ospreys I've never had a chance to watch them this close and this is such a better vantage point.

Yesterday, we did our normal walk on the pier to check on Mrs. Osprey. As you can tell she wasn't very happy with us. But she was able to provide me with a  wonderful photo op. :) .

Since the rain we had.....

The mushrooms have been coming up everywhere !

The year is passing me by

This year has been flying by at warp speed. I can't believe it's mid September already. Not wanting to be a negative Nelly, I don't feel like I've accomplished much of anything so far this year, yet I'm always busy (or I think I am...LOL).

I decided to dust off my trusty dusty camera and take a few pictures around the property. Here's a sign attached to one of our vine infested trees.

It's been 7 months.....

Wow ! It's been 7 months since I last posted anything at all. I thought after my move that I would have a lot more time to keep up with the blog among other things. Since the last time I posted, I've moved (only a few doors down), become a Grandma to an awesome little boy. When I'm not doing the 9-5 job,  I've been busy cleaning out sheds of my Dad's, repairing broken things, planting a garden (now picking in the garden).mowing grass for my mom and at my house, doing the occasional baby sitting and sometimes I even get a chance to get in the pool and cool off.

I'm finally getting back to taking pictures....I let my daughter borrow the camera for a while so she could take pictures of the baby....did I mention how adorable he is?? :) I've decided instead of doing the "picture a day" routine (which I'm terrible at), I'm going to do a "picture a week". Maybe just maybe, it will get me in the habit of 1. using the camera a bit more and 2. get me in the habit of posting again (not that I've been great at that either). Since, this is my first post in a very long time, I'm going to post a few pictures.

Laidback

Yeah...so I had to do a little Photoshop to the picture

September 2010 Sunset

Day 20 and 21 was a bust !

Well, I spent most of my weekend packing...I did take some pictures but never got a round to posting them. And, of course I forgot to bring my card with me today to post a couple of pictures. Hopefully, I'll be more on the ball tonight and or tomorrow morning get some photos posted.

Day 19 !

Last Sunday my family and I celebrated one of my brother's 60th birthday, Since he loves oysters...we decided to indulge in some. We enjoyed them 3 ways....raw, steamed and oysters casino......YUM !

I took this picture of the oysters while they were being washed off....thought it would be a great before and after.

Before

After