in the garden

okay, okay, i have neglected our wee blog for months not because i dislike writing, but because i am in a perpetual writer's block. and it's not for lack of material; beazy mccheesy is just exploding with newness. i just have felt uninspired to write about it. so, apologies!

this morning is turning out to be another hot one (and boy, have we had our share of heat this summer!), and my little guy and i wandered out to the garden to inspect out crops. i'll catch you up to speed on my gardening venture: this year i was determined to have a raised bed garden and e made that happen for me on mother's day. it was not without it's... complications. we had originally planned for two 8x8 raised beds and ended up with a double stacked single 8x8 bed with a gap in the sides which allowed my coveted pumpkins, big max (50-100lbs!) and pie pumpkins, and my golden, as well as crookneck, summer squash to grow out the sides and away from my interior veggies. the only other things in my garden are sugar snax carrots and provider green beans, and recently new corners designated to my black seeded simpson lettuce. nothing overwhelming. i do have another corner bed next to our porch with some cucumbers which took very late and more summer squash. c and i spend mornings and evenings in the garden most days. he recently acquired mammoth sunflowers which are planted in his dirt bed. yes, dirt bed. nothing will grow there and we've allowed him to dig it up as he sees fit. he and his dad planted the mammoth sunflowers there this weekend. i am not convinced they will grow, i highly doubt they will even blossom, but it was a fun project for our little dude even so.

so out to the garden we wandered to pick snails off the leaves and watch the busy honey bees in their busiest hour. we find them here each morning while the day is still cool and the blossoms are open on the pumpkins and squash. beaz is so unafraid of bugs but i try to remind him not to touch the bees. i have no idea if he is allergic and i'm not really interested in finding out any time soon. i think i even prefer the spiders and other miscellany of insect he brings to me. i take a little time to poke around my beans, which we've been harvesting every couple of days, and the summer squash, which we have already plucked two fat fruits from and a third is nearly ripe. i have never been so excited to pick my own veggies. then again, i've never grown my own. sure, i spent some time in my dad's garden as a kid (not much time, unless it was on my chore list to do the weeding or it was green bean harvest time...), but i haven't had my own garden until now. amazing how satisfying it is. next year i will go bigger and expand the number of crops i plant, but even my limited crops this year are just enough to feel proud.

beazy is about to have a new cousin, essentially any day now, and we all feel so blessed to have a new baby boy entering the family. he's also enjoyed some time with his big cousin, emma, whom he greatly looks up to. he's been a bit jealous of emma's chickens and her new kittens, always talking about them! but this morning i found him reading his new dinosaur book his nana gave him to isa, our 100lb staffordshire, and i figured that will have to do for now. he's been talking so much lately that it has been catching me off guard. this month he will be 21 months old *nearly two!?* and he's got short sentences happening. when i entered his room this morning he asked me 'momma, drink of water?' like he's had his words all along. 'drink of water' is a new one. his sentences are still choppy, but a three or four words sentence is becoming more common. after he breakfast he asked isa, the aforementioned dog, to 'read dinosaurs me?' which i assume meant 'read about dinosaurs with me?' and he remembers everything! i can tell him something and days later he will remind me of what i said. whether it involves some imparted knowledge or something far simpler, he will remember and repeat it to me at a later date. he knows who lives at each grandparents' and aunt/uncle's house, who has what for pets, what he does at their houses... children are incredible sponges. i only wish i still had such brain capacity for learning. i feel i can hardly hold my own thoughts in most days.

a little secret: i am plotting second birthday themes already (did i just say that?). it's so hard to believe my baby boy is going to be turning two this year. but i do look forward to all of the adventures we will have with him as he grows and grows. for his birthday this year, think BUGS!