A Faith Value Project has Begun

Last summer, I went to Minnesota to visit family. Everywhere I went, everyone had beautiful gardens. These gardens were prolific with abundant produce. The gardens were green, and I was green - with envy. Each family member had a garden with a multitude of delicious veggies. I knew I was failing in this area. I came home and thought I'd give it a try. Florida has a longer growing period and so I went and got two tomato plants and two big planters. I got rocks and soil. I planted the tomatoes. They grew and grew. One plant flowered. The flowers died. It flowered again producing two tomatoes. One tomato rotted on the vine and the other was harvested and shared with friends on a salad. My gardening experience was an epic fail. I was saddened. I kept hearing stories of Mike and Jen harvesting so many tomatoes and making spaghetti sauce and canning it. I had one tomato.

My spirits were lifted when I read an article in the paper about hay bale gardens. It gave explicit instruction on how to do it. I cut it out and had Travis read it. We talked to the girls about it. I believe it was Roz that pointed out that on of the Value Projects for Personal Progress is to plan and implement a vegetable garden. So this past weekend, we all went shopping together. The girls picked out seeds and we got all the necessary items for our garden. I also bought one of those "topsy turvy" hanging tomato planters. We'll see how it works!! The girls helped and had good attitudes. So here is the beginning photos. I'll keep you all posted on the progress. We are starting small and seeing what works and what doesn't.

Here are the girls and Travis filling the "topsy turvy" tomato planter:

Here it is all hanging from a tree. It will be in sunlight most of the day. Our yard isn't very sunny so we have trouble finding spots, but this will be ok, I think.

At Home Depot, the girls found some catnip. We got a plant. Licky sniffed it out and then settled in for the "nom nom nom." Look at his ears all flat!! He really chomped on it and it was funny to watch him.
And here is Travis, Rozzie, and Maddie showing off the hard work. Morgan was off at a birthday party. Now we have to water the hay for a few days and let it "cook". Apparently the water activates all the stuff inside to start composting and the hay gets hot and literally cooks itself. After a few days it will cool down and then we start fertilizing it. Everyone is taking turns watering it.

I'll keep posting the progress, as I know a certain Concerned Citizen is always interested in certain techniques. We don't have high hopes, but hope that we produce something. The girls are pretty much in charge of it and they will all get credit for their Faith Value Project.