Dried zucchini.

I had read a food preserving book that said it was very easy to dry zucchini to make chips that you can snack on or throw into stews. I thought, "What a great and healthy way to save my produce."
Then I thought, "I wish I would have read that before I made the 15 loaves of zucchini bread."
Then my hiney thought, "Yeah, I wish you would have found a healthy alternative to all of the butter you bathed the zucchini bread in."
Then I told my hiney to shut up. It was not pretty.

Moving on, I decided to try and dehydrate the veggies in my oven. I had done so successfully with peppers just last week. So why should it not work with zucchini?

I began by picking some of the small and tender squash. I really wanted to go the way of my ancestors and cut the slices by hand. It just felt right and organic.


But then this happened. I was hurried along by my sleepy baby boy.


So the food processor went the way of my ancestors for me. Perfect slices. Why do I think more work is better? The processor did great!


I put a thin layer of slices on to parchment-covered cookie sheets. Then I sprinkled them with fine salt.


I had the oven preheated to 170 which was as low as it would go. They cooked very low for several hours and the moisture started seeping out of them.


Unfortunately, I forgot about them. I mean, it takes FOREVER! So I forgot, left home, and came back to slightly over-done zucchini chips. They weren't too bad! Kinda tasted like pumpkin seeds.


I am storing them in a canning jar to eat when we please. Isn't that pretty? And it was very easy.


Now to be honest. Some of the chips were so over-done that they had a burnt taste. I hate that so those were trashed. Second, I did oversalt them a tad. Okay, so I oversalted A LOT! They might just be a little gross. And I might just be throwing them away. Or maybe I will put them in an unsalted stew. YUCK. It's always sad when stuff doesn't turn out. But I will definitely try this again. They could replace potato chips for me! They really are that good. (When done correctly :)

A little announcement...

No I am not pregnant. Geez! Can't a girl make an announcement without people jumping to baby conclusions? Anyhow, most of you know that we are not homeschooling this year. Now before everyone exchanges bet money, this may or may not be a permanent decision. We really still believe in homeschooling. We loved so many things about it. It just became apparent towards the end of the year that I was not thriving in the environment. And that means that our kiddos just weren't getting enough schooling (by my standards.) I was very worn out and wasn't motivated to teach anymore. We took a lot of "off" days.

Now, they did learn. Asher is a reader! Jolie made progress on her math. We did lots of neat stuff. I evaluated them based on our state standards and they both did great. I just had very high hopes for my role as teacher. I feel like I failed. It was a bad year for me to enter into this daunting journey. Schooling two kids, (one who had to learn to read) entertaining a 4-year-old, and caring for a baby made for some long days! I know it's possible. Lots of moms do it. I just decided to take a year off, let my baby grow a little and give my kids the desire of their hearts and let them go to school. (I give em a few weeks before they are begging for sleeping in and school in their jammies.)

So I am excited for the new year and have already bought school supplies! I love school supplies. I know that the public school schedule will wear on us all. I know we will miss being together. We will miss having freedom. We might even miss mom being the teacher. I am praying for a growing year. I am praying that God shows us, as a family, what He would have us do next year. We believe in having control over our babies learning and want to have as much time with these little guys as we can. So we will see what next year brings.

I got a present!!!

My husband is such a thoughtful giver. He always surprises me with something I would never guess. For years, I have wanted a bike to ride with my family. This Mother's day my darling love bought me the best bike ever! This is not just any bike. This is a Cruiser. It is sweet. It even has a basket! Now admittedly, I will look like a dork riding it around but I DON'T CARE! I have already been pedaling through the neighborhood.


In other matters, I always feel nervous this time of year. My garden got planted yesterday. This is what it looks like.


Sad isn't it. I have a hard time imagining a lush and productive garden. It gets harder with the close up.

Poor tiny tomato plant. One day you will be strong and a glorious bearer of luscious summer goodness.

Take a moment to view one of my many failures. This is the sadness that comes from losing a transplant. Goodbye poor little plumb tree. We did not do right by you.


These are the other things I happen to be growing now...
Mounds of glorious taters!

Tiny carrots growing between the onions.

This is my favorite color of green.

Oh one pot of flowers to survive, how I love you!

But alas, this is what I love the most. Little stinkers.

My goodness.I'm in trouble.

Apparently I don't have time to run a good blog.

The days just get away from me. I think about blogging and then I continue on to my 5000 other things that I have to do before I sit down. Then when I finally sit,(at midnight!), I don't want to think. So I am sorry that I have not paid any attention to my blog family. I still love you the same and think about you often. Please don't break up with me!

I will update you on my little plant babies. They are growing and doing as they should. I am rather shocked! I have not been the best seedling mommy. I got brave and put them out in the sun one beautiful afternoon. I burned them. I wanted to cry. They were all sad looking. The healthy green color they had displayed had been replaced with bits of gray and withered edges. I prayed that God would restore His creation and it looks like He wanted the same thing. It's been a few days and they are all still alive and putting on new leaves!

Second, for those of you who don't believe in child-labor, I say, give it a try! (As long as the children belong to you or are borrowed from a source that you trust.) They can really do some good if given the proper direction. These little loves were helping to get all of the grass out of the garden so that we could lay a straw mulch. They did a great job! Of course they all trailed off one at a time until I was left alone. But it was good while it lasted.

These are my greatest flower success! They should be bright-orange marigolds here shortly!


This is lettuce! I can't wait to have fresh salads.

The garlic is on the left, onion on the right.

This weedy looking thing is the plant that grows from those little seed potatoes! I had given up on them but they finally came bursting from the ground.

Just pretty!

I love these little boogers! So glad to see them here!

My oregano came back. It was the only herb to return. Boo.


This is the jungle in our backyard. We are saving it for our little chickie-babies who will be here next week!


Wild garlic that has bloomed!


My own busy little bee!