Our Gardens this Year

 This garden has heirloom cucumbers, tomatoes and corn.

This garden has heirloom pumpkins, sunflowers and zucchini.

 This is just a fun spot in the garden with a little whimsy.

              This part of the main garden has butternut squash, zucchini, spaghetti squash and cantaloupe.

 This part of the main garden has peas, green peppers, carrots, lettuce, basil, dill, garlic, onions, radishes, more potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers, and cabbage.

This is our Garden Cabin.  It started out as our potting shed and seed starting greenhouse.  We now also use it as a guest cabin when we get visitors.

     This is how we did 18 beds of potatoes this year. they are in plastic garbage cans we cut into 3 rings.

This is another view of our main garden.

These are our grapes this year! It is the third year we have had them....but the first year they are big enough to eat!

Official Geocache in Our Yard

My husband built a rocket sculpture in our yard in Fort Edward, NY.  A local man involved in Geocaching asked if he could put a Geocaching box in our yard.  It is called 3,2,1 and...  (GC3KCB4)

 It is fun to see people stop by and take pictures of themselves next to the rocket after they write in the notebook and trade a trinket in the box.  We do not do geocaching ourselves, but I am sure it is very fun.  Check out the official Geocaching Website to learn more.  www.geocaching.com  

The Belairs Band of Schaghticoke, NY Concert with Mustang Car Show

This past weekend we went to a concert at a Mustang car show.  Our cousin is the bass player in the band. They are called the The Belairs Band from Schachticoke, NY.  It is the 50th year of the Mustang so this was a show in honor of the Mustang from any year.  I enjoyed listening to the band play songs from the 50's to the 70's.  It was a beautiful and relaxing day with great music!

My son and his new cousin

My son and his newest cousin!

My Vintage Patterns Etsy Shop

I recently opened an Etsy shop called OldPatternsAndMore. I have currently listed over 100 patterns from the 1950s through more recent years.  I love the look of the patterns with the styles from so long ago.  Check out the site and share with others who may be interested in old patterns.  I started my interest in the patterns when I saw a television show that talked about how vintage patterns were sought after by collectors.  I decided to start looking for them and have been able to find all of my patterns at yard sales, auctions or from relatives who just happen to have some in their closet.  I was getting more than I thought I would.  Rather than trying to sell them on eBay I decided to open a specialty Etsy shop with old patterns and related items.  It has been very fun to start.  I made my first two sales of 5 total patterns soon after I listed some Vintage Vogue Patterns and I have made two more sales quickly. I think I am addicted!   I do have some patterns that are missing pieces.  I have decided to make home decor craft projects out of the vintage package and pattern pieces.  I will share when those are completed.

Today's Harvest

We have been eating from our garden already this year. We got an early start with starting seeds indoors. We are on the second planting of radishes.  Today we picked a huge head of lettuce, peas and a gallon of black raspberries.  Lots of other things are getting close to being ready to pick. I love fresh fruit and veggies. Things always taste better when you grow them yourself!

Stormy Sunset

The sky this night in July was very ominous and gave the outdoors a strange orange glow.  It was beautiful!

Rainwater Collection for Our Garden

This is our "starter" rainwater collection system.  We collect the rain from our back porch and it fills this black plastic barrel.  My husband made the simple screen filter to put over the top to prevent leaves from falling in the water.  When it is full we use the faucet and attached hose to fill the sturdy gallon jugs (from iced tea)  We find they are much better than milk jugs, but they will work too.  We use the jugs to do watering of our garden at the base of each plant.  We still have to use the hose at times, but we are saving quite a bit by using what we can.  Eventually, we would love to have a bigger system and not have to use any water from the house.  We pay for city water by the gallon, so it is saving us some money too.