Busy, busy, busy!!

These last few weeks I feel like I have hit the ground running every morning and not stopped until late at night. I am sure this feeling is exaggerated, but it just seems like there is not enough time in the day to get everything done! I have been talking to my friends with TWO kids and I shudder to think of how much busier things can/will get when you add in the needs of another person. Especially when that new person is a newborn with zero self-help ability. Just the thought of it makes me tired.

One of the things I have been trying to do, in the midst of paper work for my job and play-dates for Camille, is researching seeds for this years garden. I am sooooo excited about trying out some cool seeds this year. Our (my mom and myself) garden was a stunning success last year. I am sure it has less to do with what we did, and more to do with the fact that we happen to live in an area that is known for the quality of it's soil. Last year was historically hot and dry and we still had a terrific yield. This year is supposed to be significantly cooler and wetter, which will mean a cheaper water bill and better crops. Vegetables know when they are getting rain and when it is the chlorinated stuff that comes out of the tap.

This year I am thinking that I really want to stick to the things that grew well for us last year, but experiment with different types of those things to improve our technique. For example, which variety of pepper grows best for us. We have a fairly big garden, so I am wanting to grow tomatoes, summer and winter squash, green beans, snow and sugar peas, cucumbers, okra, black-eyed peas, and peppers. This is actually way less than we tried to grow last year, but we realized that Texas in the summer is too hot for some items. With that said, hopefully we can do a fall/winter garden to do some of the veggies that do not tolerate the heat as well.

I have been cruising several different websites to decide on which seeds I want to try and I think I am going to order most of my seeds from Burpee. For those that need it, I am really wanting to start a lot of the seeds myself, instead of purchasing plants. We are lucky because Texas has such a long growing season that you can plant most of your veggies directly into your soil, but things like tomatoes and peppers do better if started indoors. Because of my ever-growing pregnant self, I feel kind of limited in what I am going to be able to contribute, at least at the beginning of the garden season, so I am glad that I can do this part.

If we are blessed with a good season, I also am hoping to do a LOT more preserving of the veggies from our garden for the non-garden months. Like I said, Texas' growing season is ridiculously long, so I should be able to store up several months of produce throughout that time. I am definitely planning on freezing a bunch of stuff, but the biggest project will be to tackle the art of canning. All this could go out the window if June rolls around and I have a fussy baby who does not discover the art of sleeping at an early age. I keep having visions of a cow in the freezer surround by bags of fresh frozen green beans, and jars of tomatoes in the pantry. I know it is possible, it just takes a whole lot of planning and work!

I would love to hear about other people's garden plans, experience with canning, hopes for happier, healthier meals. My desire and passion for this runs really deep, and I could talk for hours about how important I think it is to not only eat health, but to be able to grow food and be responsible about the stuff we put in our bodies. Also, I love the money saving aspect, because who likes dropping a fist-full of cash on vegetables sprayed with poison??