Spring break!

 This week is spring break and about a week before it started all I was hearing was, "We never do annnnythinnng. It's soooo borrrring around here. I don't want to sit around the houuuuse all week. Other people do stuuuuuff. Let's do somethinnnng for sprinnng breaaaaak. So we decided to drag the kid to some of the local spots.

 Rainbow Springs:

 Chris took her to rainbow springs on his day off. They had a lot of fun. Hopefully we can go back and go canoeing when it's all of us. The spring waters here in Florida are crystal clear and are sought after by bottling company's but in the parks you could swim down to the spring opening with a bottle and bottle your own water. That's how fresh and clean the water is.



Small fish in the spring head.









Man made waterfall



Hontoon Island:



We sat down for a break.







Standing on the edge of the island.



On my day off I went and got Gramme and we went exploring on Hontoon island. Even though we didn't walk that far we could see an example of some Native American totems that were excavated. We talked to some people that were siting on the edge of the island fishing. They said the fishing was pretty good. We had brought a picnic lunch and it was a nice place for it.



The Beach:

Then finally we couldn't stay away... we went to the beach. The water hadn't warmed up yet and with the wind blowing, it  was too cold to do any swimming.



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Chris did some kite flying.

 Veronica tried to go swimming but it was just too cold.

This guy kept us entertained. We named him fatty. Looks like he's saying "Hey baby"




We harvested a cabbage!

The blue berry's have turned from flowers to berries. Can't wait for them to be blue so we can eat them.

 Our bushes are really loaded this year. Even though we just put the plants in the ground last year.

 Everyone said it take a couple of years before you get a good crop but I guess these berries just love it here and with all the cold weather we had this winter it must have really helped them out.

 We have pretty spring flowers growing everywhere. Chris has decided to let them grow for awhile because they are so pretty. The grass will just have to wait.

Last weekend we went to the Emeralda Marsh Conservation Area. Its the best place around for bird watching and we usually see more than just birds.

 Like this little three footer that was laying next to the road in the muck.

 It may look like a lush green lawn but underneath is water. The land is usually where the trees are.

 We love to spot the bigger birds like this great blue heron.

At this time of year we can usually spot some really pretty flowers too.

We stopped and ate lunch on the look out which is just about the middle of the marsh.

We finally decided to harvest one of the cabbages. We are going to cook it in the slow cooker with the corned beef.

The garden.

 Sundays are great for staying around the house and getting things done. The garden is planted. Mostly. Mostly due to Chris. He was great. He planted and planted until all the plants got put in the ground. Now I just hope we get some veggies from it. Our garden is mostly organic. We are trying not to use any pesticides that aren't organic but Chris has the seven dust on stand bye.

All plants so far. The seeded stuff will be next.

 We might need more room for some seeds. We've got peppers, tomatoes, onions,broccoli,cauliflower, squash,and zucchini. But I wants some carrots and potatoes and some radishes and lettuce. So...we need more room.


Chris making sure the garden has enough water.



One of the peppers already has flowers.

This is our orange tree, two feet tall and loaded with blossoms. The smell of orange blossoms wafting through the air is amazing. This time of year it is inescapable here in Florida.



These blue berry flowers are hard to focus on with such a beautiful sky.



This pansy is just a wild flower in the front garden. We love it.

Spring has sprung again! Things are blooming everywhere.

This weekend.

POW WOW!
We went to the Mt. Dora Pow Wow. We went late so we didn't stay long. It rained and became cold but we walked around and saw all the interesting stuff in the tents, ate a buffalo burger and had a good time. I must say that buffalo taste a lot like beef. There was very little differance I was suprised I expected it to taste wild and it didn't at all. No wonder everyone is eating buffalo now.

Interesting native art piece.

Setting up for the grand entry.

This eagle was a pet.

The beginning of a garden!

The Right Spot!



Garden went in a little to the right.



We spent the day digging a new plot for our garden. Last years garden turned out to be quite a disaster. The dirt was more sand than we could handle. So this year we decided to plant a little closer to the lake where the grass is greener. We have very few plants in our yard so relocating it isn't a problem.

The new spot.



You could definitely tell it is spring here by all the plants that are flowering and trees sprouting leaves. It's the perfect time to start the garden. The blueberries are loaded with flowers this year they must have really liked all that cold weather. I hope it makes them sweeter.

Blue berry flowers.

With every shovel we get a grub. In this case two in one dig. Why those water fowl that visit my lawn every day haven't picked it clean of these things I'll never know. Last year we planted sweet potatoes and they ate everyone so this year I hear a product called milky spore is supposed to get rid of them so that's what I'll be buying.



Two of the grubs from the new garden.



I've heard people in some parts of the world consider grubs to be a delicacy. They'd get fat in my back yard. We have found tons. I only saw one beetle from last year. I remember thinking it was so pretty.

Not now.



Chris rototilling.




  After we scrapped the grass off the top we broke out the old rototiller. It's much easier than digging and we realized we should have scrapped off more of the grass. Because as easy as it was we could have done a lot more. Under the grass is where we found the grubs. We didn't find any while rototilling. So it was pretty nice.

Me plowing with the tiller.

After a while Chris let me give it a try. It was shortly afterward that the tiller died. So we ended up digging it all by hand and decided we had enough dug up. I don't know how those pioneer people did it. It's hard work and we just did a tiny little space. We will have to find a lawn mower shop that knows how to work on old rototillers.


As you can see my ground, as my daughter puts it, looks like dirty beach sand. So we added some of that prepackaged garden soil. We mixed that in. Last year we did that and it didn't make a bit of a difference. But this year we bought some black cow. It's good stuff or so I'm told. I was also told just get some old cow pies and use that but I'm afraid if I go in a pasture the farmer will shoot me thinking I'm messin' with his cows.

This year we are going to try and make our own compost bin, again. Last year it didn't work and we have a trash can full of weeds still. They are dehydrated not rotted and full of bugs. And yes there is also water in there so I don't know how it happened. So any way this year we got some compost starter and hopefully that will work. Plus we plan to add grass clippings to it.

Look at that thing go!  Right before it died.

We still have these cabbages from last year. I planted them in October and they are about the size of a tennis ball. I've got four lovely ones. I plan to pick them and eat them for St. Patrick's day. Unless they look like they are going to go to seed. Then I'll have to eat them sooner.

So you'll have to wait till next time to see what all plants I plant this year. (Hopefully some of them live.) This is truly gardening from scratch. And no we didn't get the soil tested. We are pretty sure it's sand and anything we add to it disappears and turns into more sand so we will be going from there and assuming it must be pure acidic soil. I heard azaleas grow well in acidic soil. The fig and the blueberries like it. Just got to figure out what kind of garden vegetables like it.