Tons of outdoor fun for the boys!
We parked the car in town and walked to the Covington YMCA where I work. We were only going to a lunch there and walking back to the car. I strolled my youngest, my middle rode the scooter and my oldest rode his bike. It was hot, but it was worth it. The boys had fun on the walking trails the whole way there. The best part about the trails is that they are paved and pretty much completely shaded. It makes for a pleasant walk.
After our lunch, we went to Ace Hardware for a few things, including more wood shavings for the chicken coop. The boys love going into any stores like this. Of course, they are immediately attracted to the lawnmowers. They want to roam all of the aisles for all of the tools and more. It's always interesting with them in the store, but it's especially entertaining when we're in Ace Hardware or Tractor Supply, etc.
Next, I started to harvest the rest of the potatoes in the garden. All of the stems had fallen over, indicating they were ready. I pulled one row, which had 3 or 4 (some had 5) potatoes per plant. I had to stop after that because I ran out of time. However, the next day, my middle and youngest were more than eager to help me with pulling out the rest of the potatoes. They were barefoot and sitting in the dirt digging away with the biggest grins. My middle kept finding rocks and calling them tomatoes. I love having them in the garden with me.
Out of all of the potatoes we harvested, I made a big batch of Cheesy Potato Soup and froze it. I also made five dinners worth of vegetable soup, which had my garden tomatoes in it, and I froze it as well. It will definitely come in handy this fall when we have late soccer practices with the boys. I can have the soup defrosted and heating up in the slow cooker while we're at practice. This is such an easy way to preserve my harvest and have some dinners ready to go in the near future!
I'm hoping to extend my harvests by starting my fall garden seeds and prepping for the possibility of a winter garden. I started some seedlings, and I started a mound bed. The first layer of the mound bed is cardboard in order to smother anything below it. I added dead leaves, twigs, dirt and then eventually some compost. This bed will hold my winter greens. I intend to cover it with my greenhouse tunnel later this year. Here's to getting our hands dirty for food grown from our own backyards all year round!
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