My garden bed tucked in, under the snow. This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Family Footprint!

I dug up the last of the carrots today, the remaining things in my garden. I actually forgot they were still in there, LOL. Today the temperature is supposed to go below freezing so I thought I’d get them out before the ground got hard. The ground was actually pretty soft still; I had no [...]

Here are some of my turnips, I finally had to dig them up. I basically just grow turnips for the greens, I ADORE turnip greens. The actual turnip, eh not so much. Most of my turnips were kinda small but a few were nice-sized. I usually mix them in with mashed potatoes, chili, and stews. [...]

This is a skirt I made inspired by one spaceimaginarium (fellow wardrobe re-mixer on flickr) has, check it out. I loved her skirt and as soon as I saw it I wanted to make one. I had a swatch of new pink fabric my daughter gave me, it was left over from one of her [...]

One of the sweet corn cobs I dried out so I can use the kernels for next year’s planting. It’s not quite ready to pull the kernels off, but soon. I forgot to save seeds from the popcorn I planted, so next year’s will be from store bought popcorn again. This blog entry written by [...]

We finally got all the tomato plants pulled!! The kids were a huge help with pulling the stakes, picking the tomatoes, digging trenches, and laying in the compost. I told them it would only take 30 minutes but it ended up taking a whole hour, but they were good sports about it. Surprisingly, my daughter [...]

A big goal for our family is to reduce our water usage. This saves us money and it helps community resources and the environment. Think about it…if you flush every single time you pee you are using a whole tank of water for what is usually a half-cup of urine. Think about all that goes [...]

I pulled half of my tomato plants today, as it is finally getting cold here in Northeast Ohio. I had lots of baby tomatoes and some beefsteak tomatoes in varying stages of ripeness. I will set the green ones in the window to ripen. They won’t taste as good as tomatoes ripened on the vine [...]

As you can see the plants are dying though. Photos were taken November 3rd, I just picked all the ripe tomatoes and will pull the plants this afternoon if I have time. I ended up with over 50 baby tomatoes from this morning’s harvest. Here are shots of a few big ones, I only had [...]

You may remember, While I was pulling up the corn I saw I still had some black bean plants that I’d planted way back in the spring between the corn. They were still actually putting out new beans! but most of the pods were old and full of mature beans. Total coolness! I’m saving the [...]

Some carrots right before being dug up. I love carrots best of all in gardening, because I always forget about them sort of after planting them in late spring. Then end of summer, early fall, they are ready and it’s such a surprise, this orange mystery that quietly grew underground beneath my feet. This blog [...]

I forget the name of this plant, but it’s so nice and friendly. yes, I anthropomorphize my house plants. This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Family Footprint!

Most of the lettuce has been long gone, here is a plant I let live out it’s life cycle up on the balcony. I’m trying to collect and save as many seeds as I can for next year’s planting…lettuce seeds are teeny-tiny though so it’s gonna take a bit of time and patience. Each puff [...]

While I was pulling up the corn I saw I still had some black bean plants that I’d planted way back in the spring between the corn. They were still actually putting out new beans! but most of the pods were old and full of mature beans. Total coolness! I’m saving the beans to plant [...]

Some lovely tomatoes! I planted sooooo many tomato plants. I pick almost daily and every day there are even more coming ripe, and the plants are STILL flowering, still putting out blooms! The cherry tomato plants are so tall and heavy many of them wore down their stakes. I think next year I’m going to [...]

Front view of the garden. What’s left now in this area is okra and tomatoes, and one little patch of carrots. In the space used to be more carrots. Side view of my garden, in this area I have turnip greens and carrots. In the space there were cantaloupes. We harvested those; ended up with [...]

The blackberry patch pulling in for winter. I’m still gonna prune it, it exploded in the summer with growth, it was crazy. I wouldn’t have minded so much if it put out more berries than last year, however the fruit yield was about the same. but maybe that means next year will be more? I’ll [...]

Tops of turnips…I’m going to dig them up this coming week, but not until after I harvest these greens yum yum yum This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Family Footprint!

I still have a few cabbage heads going, here is one. I’m going to try pickling some in a bit. This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Family Footprint!

This is where my corn was. We had a glorious summer of corn. This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Family Footprint!

Finally had time to dig up some more carrots! last round of pics got eaten during an upload to my computer. I started my carrots in newspaper pots rather than sowing them directly in-ground. I meant to separate them once the sprouts got big and steady, but of course I did not, I just threw [...]

These pic is actually from the last week in September…I pulled the corn stalks down in early October. It was a good corn season. This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Family Footprint!

I think it’s gonna be another mild winter, because not only is it blooming, I am still getting ripe okra in OCTOBER in Northeast. I live right by Lake Erie, too, so it gets cold here rather quick. Just a couple I pulled for my lunch: sauteed cut okra with tomatoes and basil over rice. [...]

A baby acorn squash and 2 big tomatoes in various stages of ripening. You know the carrots I pulled from my garden the other day? I put the tops in old wines bottles filled with water. They’ll stay fresh for a week or so. I think they are so pretty! This blog entry written by [...]

This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Family Footprint!

My Okra is still blooming!!! October in Northeast Ohio, I can’t believe it. yesterday it was almost 90 and today it’s going to be 86 I think. I will enjoy this weather as long as it lasts. It’s kinda freaky though. This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Family Footprint!

We still have a little bit of cabbage left; about 7 cabbage heads going. None of us are big into cabbage but I’m going to make some coleslaw and sauerkraut with the rest. I froze 5 big bags for winter but cabbage doesn’t freeze as well as dark greens…still, mid-January it will be welcome. I’m [...]

The cantaloupe, which has wound it’s way through the carrots and cabbage. Next year I will grow them up against a trellis. I spotted 9 little baby cantaloupes growing in the summer, here are 2 that were close together. I composted the heck out of the cantaloupe plants this year so I am anticipating that [...]

The cantaloupe, which has wound it’s way through the carrots and cabbage. Next year I will grow them up against a trellis. I spotted 9 little baby cantaloupes growing in the summer, here are 2 that were close together. I composted the heck out of the cantaloupe plants this year so I am anticipating that [...]