Mike made me another small raised bed and we filled it with top soil and then mushroom mulch and now its ready for seeds! And we replaced all four of our red raspberry bushes because I didn't know that they do not like manure around them as fertilizer. Now we know.
Out of all the foods we grow in the garden, Ashlyn goes straight to this little herb that came up from last year. Fennel! We love fennel, black licorice tasting!!! We love the bulbs that grow in the ground and slice them and eat them. I could not figure out why the past two years our fennel plant got as tall as me but no bulb in the ground. Just roots. I know now that there are different kinds of fennel and this time I planted a few packs of Florence Fennel Seeds and hope they will be shooting out of the ground soon! For now, Ashlyn loves to eat the fennel leaves off of this plant and it will clean any mouth pallet as soon as you start chewing it! It's strong and delicious! Right now we are also eating butter crunch lettuce, kale, radishes and herbs. We are waiting to see the sugar peas grow into pods and the strawberries turn from green to red!!!! Should be happening soon!
And of course we found each other!!!! Miss Zayla is just the cutest little girl ever right now! She loves us and we love her! She cries when we leave her house. Ashlyn said this morning, after hollering out hello from the car window, when we picked up Hunter and Adrian for school, "I'll just get to see Zayla once today." It's the sweetest to see Ashlyn and Zayla be such good little friends! But's it's no wonder! We do so much of life together with these cousins. We car pull each day to and from school. We have field lanes to take four wheeler rides out to their house during the summer nights. Lena watches my kids and I babysit hers. Some are in the same class at school. We blend so well! It reminds me of when I was a kid and we lived right next door to cousins. We saw each other every day. Rode the school bus together. They swam every day with us in our pool. It was life blended well!
We came home from track n field day with a little tan and tired from the activities and sun! Ashlyn and I got some lettuce from the garden and made a refreshing salad! We love garden lettuce right now!
We are at the end of another school week and the kids are counting down the days left of this school term. Each year I think, "Wow, how did this school year go by so fast?" And I'm hearing myself ask the same thing this year. Finishing fifth grade and first grade are big accomplishments and Austin is now reading and Ashlyn just complete her last book report for elementary! Next year she moves up to middle school.
The house is quiet on this Friday morning. The windows are open and the breeze and birds chirping are the benefits! I'm enjoying the slow pace because the last weeks of school are usually crazy busy with all the end of the year things! We do have a busy weekend coming up but it's going to be so much fun! By the looks of the weather forecast, we might even be turning on the AC?
Just another reason why I love May ... it doesn't take much to add some beauty to the kitchen with fresh branches or flowers or hosta leaves!!! It's been fun all this month to create a fresh display of flowers for the weekend!
It's May! We are busy but we are loving life and thriving to finish up school strong and then start the lazy summer mornings!
Happy weekend friends!
