A Saturday spent in the garden

On Saturday our task for the morning was to pull up all of the potato plants to make room for something else.  The farmer, Reid, had never planted them before so needless to say neither of us knew what to expect.  It was actually quite interesting to see how potatoes grow.  Thanks to our friend Patricia, she had potatoes that had sprouted and we cut the potato into a few pieces and buried them in the ground.  We left them for about 9 weeks and I honestly thought that we weren't going to get anything because the plants looked terrible.  The plants began to wilt and come to find out that is when you know the potato plants are done!  Here is a picture of how the potatoes grow:

Needless to say you don't have to plant that many sprouts to receive a bundle of potatoes.  This next picture was taken halfway through the potato plants,  lets just say we have plenty of potatoes!

We were able to clear out this section along with an entire row of radishes and onions (we couldn't get these to survive).  We planted more green beans, squash and zucchini because these are our favorites.    Here is a few pictures from dinner last night where we cooked up fresh zucchini, squash and green beans from the garden, very tasty!

While working in the garden Reid heard a little chirp coming from under a tomato plant and look what he found:

Although he looks big in the pictures trust me when I say he was very tiny.  He was very weak and needed a little nourishment.  He sucked this down and was good to go and off the little guy went.

Fun with Friends

Over the past few weeks we have had the privilege to enjoy some great times with new and old friends. The end of May Reid had a good friend, Faris, come to visit from Kansas. We were able to take show him many different places, El Paso, Ruidoso, Elephant Butte, Lake Roberts, the Gila, and my personal favorite was White Sands.
Here is a picture of Faris enjoying his time in El Paso Saddleblaknet:

Faris being the gentleman he is:

We were able to see parts of New Mexico that I had not seen either, The Gila Mountains. We were all in heaven and did not want to leave:

Thanks Faris for some great times, we look forward to you coming back for another visit!

On Thursday night we went to a carnival with our friends Flint, Patricia and Stacey and enjoyed some great rides and some not so great rides. Yes Alice I did try some big kid rides! Towards the end of the night some of us wanted to check out the slide:



Lastly, we spent some time swimming with Patricia and Flint and Reid is learning how easily it is to get sunburned in the dessert. SUNSCREEN will be his friend!

Update on the Garden

The garden is really starting to produce now we picked 6 squash that we will enjoy with dinner tonight. Our green beans are producing so much it is hard to keep up with picking them...they are gonna need a good picking tonight. The tomato plants have quite a few tomatoes but not ready to enjoy yet. I am patiently awaiting my lemon cucumbers, they are my favorite and are not growing fast enough!
Here is a picture of the farmers and our produce:

The Plants:





I also have a beautiful flower garden that I can honestly say I have done all on my own...and it didn't die, woo hoo!

Rooster and Houla

Yesterday we took the boys, Rooster and Houla, to the do it yourself dog wash...and it was an adventure! Rooster is Reid's puppy that he got when he first moved to New Mexico and has been used to getting a bath but Houla is a different story. When we moved to Las Cruces we decided that we want to find a buddy for Rooster so he is not outside all day by himself, so we began looking for another dog. I was doing some research on shelters around town and found a dog that I showed to Reid and he liked him too so we made an appointment to meet him. Well, when we arrived to Safe Haven Animal Shelter told us that his foster om couldn't part with him and decided to adopt him. I was saddened by this news but we decided to look around the shelter since we were there. They showed us many animals and two that we liked. The first was a terrier mix which Reid really liked but I fell in love with the Catahoula, Houla. He was so loving and I knew we found our next pet. We brought him home for an overnight stay to see how Rooster got along with him, and they did perfect! Now they are best friends and are inseparable! Rooster is a chicken when it comes to water but Houla loves it and he spends his day relaxing in his pool. Here are a few pictures of our boys:


Here is Houla enjoying "HIS" Pool:

Houla taking a swim with my nephew Braeden:

Our Garden

Growing up I always had a dream of being a cowgirl and living my life on a ranch raising animals and growing my own food...well now i can say I have come very close to this life. When Reid and I moved in together we decided that we would try to grow some things. I really thought we would be unsuccessful since we live in the dessert with temps nearing 110 some days. However, I have been pleasantly surprised. Now you may ask what we have planted and the list is: 2 types of corn, 2 types of squash, 3 types of cucumbers, 4 or 5 types of tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, okra, 2 types of radishes, 2 types of carrots, sugar snap peas, green beans, lima beans, green chili, bell peppers, banana peppers and green chili.

When I lived on my own I was able to grow zucchini and cucumbers but was only able to get them to produce for a short time. So, I guess I did not have the best outlook on being able to grow a much larger selection of vegetables. On Easter weekend we planted most of the seeds and I waited as patiently as possible to see if things were going to grow. I can't explain the feeling I got when we had the first little green stems popping out of the ground. Reid told me that now the real work begins, and boy does it...watering, weeding, fertilizing, harvesting, watering, watering, watering, weeding, weeding, weeding, fertilizing, fertilizing, fertilizing, harvesting, harvesting and harvesting! For the first month we had to water by hand every day which was no small task since we have a very large garden. We finally got smart and bought soaker hose which was not fun to lay but oh so worth it! Now we can turn on the water and continue with other tasks around the house.

Picture 1: The garden just starting to grow in the side yard and back yard

Things began to progress nicely and we realized that it is very possible to grow things in the dirt...not just weeds!

Over the last 3 weeks everything has grown by leaps and bounds and now looks like this:

I am so excited to say that we have been able to eat out of our garden! We have had sugar snap peas, jalapenos, radishes and green beans...and they have been excellent. Tonight we will be eating squash from the garden! I am happy to say that our corn is silking and we along with our neighbors are looking forward to the corn!

The worst part of it all is the bug bites we get while picking the produce, but it is so worth it...maybe the farmer is turning me into a country girl!