Fall and the living is easy...

After major changes in the past year, I am back! Change can be frightening, exciting, stressful, exhilarating - or all at the same time! In the past year I have retired from fulltime public school teaching, and am now a parttime online teacher for my state's public system. The complete joy and freedom of being able to make my own hour and take my work on the road with me after over 30 years of being tied to a firm schedule is mindboggling!

So what have I been up to with extra time? Staying busier than I would have believed... gardening, canning, dog shows, traveling and one of the greatest joys - actually having the time to kick back, sit on the deck and watch the birds and squirrels play. We are still enjoying the fall yard decorations we created for our son's rehearsal dinner for 50 on our deck and back yard - and the creatures are as well, using the straw bales, corn stalks and pumpkins for homes and play areas.

With fall here in force, I hope to spend some time sharing our favorite gardening tips, recipes, canning triumphs and failures, and life!

Back At Last... April 19, 2011

Retired and loving it - and back to blogging! The garden is taking shape for the summer. Tomatoes all in, onions and garlic up, and the last of the spring peas are going wild. The winter greens were delicious and I am still finding carrots we missed.

Yesterday we put in a 4 x 10 raised bed for our son as a housewarming present - what could be better to make a house a home than homeraised, fresh organic veggies? So simple to build a box, fill with good manure, topsoil and layer in straw, and get to planting! We started them off with tomatoes, squash, herbs and lettuce and soon will add peppers and eggplants. Perhaps an idea for young people in your family or neighborhood just starting out? Instead of more *stuff* for them to cram into their lives, how about a new garden they can enjoy year round?