Seed Starting Time Again

All of my seeds finally arrived and yet again I bought too many!!! This year I decided to expand into starting more herbs which led me to buying from three different places - Seed Savers Exchange, Southern Exposure and Baker's Creek. Each year it seems that I need more and more space. I am going to go with 6 different types of tomatoes (16 plants), green arrow peas, bush string beans, I am bringing back the squash and zucchini, 1 sweet corn, 1 ornamental corn and 1 sweet corn, 6 type of lettuce, swiss chard, leeks, beets, peppers, cucumbers, butternut squash, 4 types of garlic, asparagus and 3 types of carrots. I am definitely going to regrow Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry as well as a new unusual cousin of the tomato - the Litchi Tomato. Supposedly it will grow in a pod and when the pod opens, it will reveal a small red cherry tomato ready for picking. Whats so unusually is it looks like a tomato plant with long thorns and the fruit has lingering hints of cherry......cannot wait for this one.....

We got hit with another snow storm one week after my last post. It dumped another 18 inches for an overall pretty snowy Feb. With a blanket of snow, it felt sort of weird trying to gear up for starting my seeds. Finally, once the weather hit 50 degrees (1 day after the snow) I realized I had to get going. This year, the kids started to tag along. With Jen being pregnant, I am trying to take the kids as much as possible to give her a break. For seed starting, it means Jackson and Charlotte needing to buy their own seed starting kits, seeds and soil. For my stuff, Jack helped fill the 200 peat starter pots with soil and I laid out the seeds. As always, covered them with the lids and sit back and wait. This year, the salad germinated first, followed by the chard and then beets.

Different this year are the herbs and heirloom perennials I am trying to start from seed. We are trying to start Borage, Lemon Bee Balm, German Chamomile, Peppermint, Lovage, Fennel and Dill. With 90% of the seeds now germinated or about to break the surface, I need to start thinking tomatoes and peppers. From a tomato perspective, I will have about 6 varieties equalling about 50-60 plants. The only varieties that I am sure of are Brandywine, Big Rainbow, Stupice, Dr Wyches, Mexican Midget, Charlies Mortgage Lifter, Wisconsin 55 and Nebraska Wedding. Peppers are a whole different story - I have hod zero, zilch, nada success with peppers here in planifield. If they grow, they produce little and what is produced doesn't last long enough to turn ripe.

Soon, very soon I will start digging outside - the garden is going to be rearranged a little, a pergola will be going up in April, bees are coming in May and I am going to Maui!!!

Food Harvested:
None

Things Planted:
Seeds Started - Greens, herbs, leeks, ....

Seeds Saved:
None

Preserved/Cooked:
Not too much

Things to Remember:
I can't remember

Summer's Conclusion......

Wow, it has been a long time for me in posting....I guess the purpose to blogging to to actually write something. With so much happening this summer and Jen feeling better from her last summer illness, time has disappeared and I put this blog in the background. I missed writing in it so here I start...again...

Things outside have been going relatively well. Although the summer is coming to a close, I still have plans of which is a huge patio project. We had a deer problem this year but it seems to have subsided; why I am not sure but at least some of my plants can survive now...I suspect, due to my ADHD, it will take some time for me to re-find my groove here and keep things up to date.

Tomatoes oh glorious tomatoes.....holy crap do I have a lot. Last year the kids ate them right off the vine and I barely had any left over every day from 12 plants. This year, in delirium, I convinced myself I needed 38 plants, some of which reached 12 foot tall!! Even with record spring cool temperatures and rainfall, I am hauling in 5-7 lbs of tomatoes a day; that is after Jack and Charlotte eat their fill from the garden. I managed 13 different varieties and again, Jen's favorite is Marglobe. There are some good ones this year that are new to me but I think the only one I would replant is the Italian Heirloom. It produced huge fruit (+1lb), a lot of it and it was the earliest to ripen. Next year, I think I will go with either 24 or 30 plants....

We have made some great things with all of the tomatoes...fried eggs, cheese and tomatoes on fresh spinach...tomato and mayo on toast.... homemade tomato soup.....even oven roasted tomatoes over fresh salmon in a balsamic reduction.

As for what my spring plans were, I did manage to put in 10 thornless blackberry plants. I chose Chester and Triple Crown varieties for the overlapping seasons. Although they are small this year with no fruit, I expect that next year there will be a decent yield as long as the deer keep away. I purchased both a 3.5' peach tree (Redhaven) and 4' cherry tree (Danube). Within 24 hours, both got mauled by deer which was the first sign of trouble. I managed to fence the peach in time but the cherry is really suffering. I will see if I can prune it back to health but I am not optimistic on that one. As a last second addition, I also put in 10 rhizomes of asparagus. They look rather weak but I guess that is to be expected as I have to wait 3 seasons before I can harvest anything.

Losses are not a great but still a disappointment. Deer managed to destroy 90% of my string beans and all of my beets. Funny that they did not touch my carrots. They got the first crop of Swiss Chard and managed to kill off the last of the snap peas. They took the Blackberries to the ground twice; thank someone that they are resilient plants. Overall, this is small in terms of the damage they can do.

Lastly for this post (kids are getting restless) is the pick-you-own apple farm. As we did last year, Jen and I took the kids for some picking. It started with over 30lbs of blueberries (of which I made 12 1/2 pints of jam) and 32 lbs of Honeycrisp apples.

The apples have made 4 apples pies thus far and as I am typing, I am taking 20lbs to make and can some apple sauce :) Will let you know how this turns out.....

Food Harvested:
Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes

Things Planted:
Sunflower Seeds
Peach Tree
Cherry Tree (may not make it)
Blackberries (10 of them)

Seeds Saved:
White Coneflower (Echinacea)

Preserved/Cooked:
Apple Pie
Apple Sauce

Things to Remember:
1. 30 tomato plants, not 38
2. Less number of grape tomatoes

Purely Garden

Too much rain!! We have had almost 2 weeks of solid rain without a break. Friday it finally stopped and I assessed the damage to my seedlings and garden. All sustained the weather rather well with the exception of the tomatoes!! Seems that they have all yellowed quite a bit and some have developed some fungal spots (Septoria I believe). I immediately isolated the spotted ones and have been monitoring the rest. I am hoping to see if the yellowing will subside with some organic fertilizer and a good drying out. As for the fertilizer, I will use some organic worm castings or possibly fish emulsion.

I did however manage to plant out 30 tomatoes. I chose the best looking plants and set them in my garden (extra defence to help isolate from the spotting plants). I am going to play with spacing to see what works best in a tight space. I have 7 rows 36" apart and 4 plants per row 18" apart. I also potted up two early tomatoes. Today I plan to pot up about 8 more plants.

I set up the bean trellis yesterday right behind where I seeded the carrots and beets. I put in a 5 foot x 15 foot trellis and set close to 50 bean seeds. My pea trellis is doing well and those plants are close to 8" tall now. The carrot and beets look as if they just germinated so there will be more to come on that front. The interesting thing will be the squash plants. I started 2 types of acorn, 1 butternut and 1 yellow squash along with 3 types of watermelon. I have no idea as of yet where these will go but I guess that is have of the fun.

In response to a comment on the PotMaker - This is a really cool tool that certainly has its place in my seed starting endeavours. It also certainly does not work in other areas. First, the pots are great and stable as long as you use two sheets of newspaper instead of just one. This makes them a little more rigid and they don't collapse as you water the seedlings. It worked great for my basil, peppers and salad plugs. It however did not do so well for my tomatoes and Swiss Chard. These plants grow too quickly and needed to be transplanted quicker. You can find the potmaker for sale in many catalogs now and I am starting to see it in some stores. I got mine from Seeds of Change for ~$15.00. I have also seen it in Jung's and Gardener's Suppply's catalog. Here is a simple visual on how to use it.

1. Cut paper strips about 10" x 3.5" (I prefer newspaper as I can plant them directly into the ground and they breakdown very, very quickly. The ink is also soy based so it is not adding anything bad to the soil
2. Wrap around the PotMaker, fold the edges down cupping the bottom
3. Press into the base
4. Done!

Food Harvested:
Salad - YEAH!!
My first French Breakfast Radish

Things Planted:
2 Types of Carrots
2 Types of Beets
Spinach
French Climbing String Beans
Dwarf Grey Sugar Peas
29 Tomato Plants (10 Varieties so far)
Lemon Basil
Peppers

Seeds Saved:
None yet this season

Preserved/Cooked:
Chocolate Cake

Things to Remember:

Apples Abound

With apple season starting, Jack and I went to a local pick-your-own farm on Sunday. One of the first apples to pick happened to be my favorite, Honeycrisp. Jack was so excited he could barely contain himself. He needed to sample every piece of fruit he grabbed which left about half the apples we brought home with teethmarks
(which is why applesauce was invented, I suppose). I always assumed that pick-your-own would be cheaper than buying in a store and I guess it is when buying small quantities but excitement overtook us and when Jack and I finished 15 minutes of picking, we filled a bushel. 1 bushel=20lbs x $2.50/lb = $50. In addition to this, we walked over the nectarines and picked 15lbs of some of the largest most delicious nectarines I have ever tasted. All done, we had over 35 lbs of fruit at the low price of $74.

Fearing the apples rotting before we could eat all of them, I decided to make and can apple sauce. Not really knowing what I was doing, I pulled a recipe from my canning book and Charlotte and I started . Next time I think I wont peel and core them as the food mill will take care of removing the skin and pits.

Apple Sauce

Apples - peeled, cored and chopped (about 8-10 lbs)
1/4 cup sugar
4 tsp Cinnamon

With a minimal amount of water, we cooked the apples for 20-30 minutes and then ran them through a food mill. Once we had apple sauce, we added 1/4 cup sugar and 4 tsp Cinnamon and brought back to a boil. After canning and processing, we had about 5 pints and 3 half pints of apple sauce.


Determining the ripeness of watermelons is more magic than science as I am finding out. First melon was underripe due to my over zealousness. Now that I am too cautious, two small melons went ripe and rotted on the vine. In checking the pigtails opposite the melons, they were still green and alive so out goes that trick in determining ripeness. In fear of losing the last large melon, I inspected it with a critical eye and noticed pitting on the rind. The pigtail just started to turn brown but was still mostly green. Although I wasn't sure, I picked to to prevent the pitting from getting worse. As a dessert to the lamb dinner, Jen and I cut the melon and it was ripe!!! Although it was not deep red as expected, it was extremely sweet, so much so that I ate 1/4 of the melon. This leaves me 1 more softball size melon on the vine.

As for garden itself as the fall starts, I finally did manage to build the retaining wall for the upper bed. 6 - 8 foot 4x6's and 16-12"galvanized spikes later with two helpers, the wall was in and the walkway was leveled. Jack and Charlotte took turns with my hammer and drove the spikes in. Jack gave me pointers on how to shovel the dirt and Charlotte ate all the ripe tomatoes she could find. Now, with the top bed done, I need 3 more 4x6s to build the edge of the bottom bed which will have to wait until the tomatoes are done. In addition to this, the old fence and gate broke yesterday so I will need to rebuild that as well.

With a few days of very cool nights and wet days, the tomatoes went into ripening overdrive and the cherry tomatoes started splitting. 3 plants have given up all of their fruit and what fruit is left is still small. The only exception is the cherry tomatoes. They seem to still be as loaded with fruit as they were in the spring. Radishes are beng picked almost daily and the beets are growing well. The golden beets however are still strugglingwth maybe 10% germination.

Slow Braised Lamb Shanks

2 lamb shanks - cut to bone at base of shank
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large yellow onion
4 celery stalks , rough chopped
4 carrots - unpeeled, rough chopped
1 Tbsp tomato paste ( i used one peeled, seeded garden tomato)
3-4 sprigs rosemary
1 head garlic, top cut off
3-4 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup red wine or sweet wine ( I used sherry)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In either a roasting pan or dutch oven, heat oil until hot. Mix flout, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper and dredge shanks to coat well. Braise shanks in pot/pan on all sides for 3-4 minutes. Remove from pot and set aside. Add onions, celery and carrots. Cook for 2-3 minutes stirring to ensure they don't brown or burn. Add back the shanks settling them in one layer ( if possible). Add chicken stock, wine, garlic, rosemary and tomato paste to cover 3/4 of the lamb. Bring to a boil, stir, cover and place in the oven for 4 hours. Every hour, turn the lamb and ensure there is enough liquid, if needed, add more stock.

Once done, remove lamb to plate and cover with foil to keep hot. strain liquid to remove all veggies, and heat liquid thickening to coat spoon for the gravy. Thickening can be done by blending some veggies or using flour whisking briskly as the liquid is returned to a boil.

I also pick through the veggies to pull out the carrots to serve as the vegetable. They are "stewed" and full of flavor. Serve with garlic mashed potatoes (garlic reserved from the pot).

Food Harvested:
Wilson's Sweet Watermelon
Radishes (red globe and white icicle)
Tomatoes (all types)

Things Planted:
None

Seeds Saved:
Wilson's Sweet Watermelon

Preserved/Cooked:
Canned Apple Sauce
Braised Lamb Shanks (from local farmers market)

Things to Remember:
1. Build new fence and gate into garden area
2. Ready cucmber area for SSE garlic planting
3. Devise way to walk in upper bed
4. Find organic solution to powdery mildew

Not So Ripe....

Jen and I have been going to the Summit farmers market for a few weeks now and one of my favorite stands brought watermelons this past Sunday. Knowing that I have not the slightest idea on figuring out when mine would be ripe, I decided to ask the stand. It was real interesting to see everyone at the stand shrug then default to the owner. When the question reached him, his initial reaction was a slight chuckle. He did tell me that 90% of the time, the tendril (pigtail) that is opposite of where the melon attaches will start to shrivel and die. When this starts, the melon should be picked within a few days. I was so excited that when I got home my curiosity got the best of me and I cut open the biggest watermelon in the patch...Much to my chagrin, the result was an under ripe, only slighty pinkish flesh. The kids tried a slice despite our warnings and made funny faces before spitting out the whole bite.
I guess I need to have patience with the last two melons.

With the nights uncharacteristically cool through the end of August, some of my tomatoes do not seem as happy as I would like to see them. Jackson and Charlotte seem to not mind as they tramp into the garden with me to pick about 5lbs a day now. Still tops on Charlotte's list is the yellow cherry and although Jack keeps pointing to them all as his favorite, I think if push came to shove, he would side with the yellow cherries as well. Jen has settled on the Marglobe for hers and I can't fault her. It is medium red in color and slightly smaller than a tennis ball.

Most of the radishes have sprouted. The coolness is however working well for the new seedlings. We should be able to start harvesting within the next two to three weeks. As for the beets and carrots, the Chioga have seem to germinate the fastest and closest to 100% whereas the carrots and golden beets still seem to be struggling to germinate. In the spring I was concerned that it was something I had done wrong but now, I am leaning more toward a seed issue. Next year I think I am going to expand my fall plantings to include chard and spinach. Early success here has made me want to plant more and more next fall.


Food Harvested:
All tomato varieties except the Golden Ponderosa
Round 4 of the sultan pea
Unripe watermelon #1

Things Planted:
none

Seeds Saved:
Marglobe Tomato
Purple Cherokee Tomato

Preserved/Cooked:
None

Things to Remember:
1. Next fall, plant more of a fall crop
2. Replace left over carrot and golden beet seeds due to poor germination
3. Teach Charlotte what ripe vs. green tomatoes are
4. Keep away from Orange Queen Tomatoes, although small and pretty, not much flavor for me.
5. Fence off watermelon area from deer.

Tomatoes Galore

Tomatoes are starting to come in now. Seems that they are about 2-3 weeks behind most other people's plants. I think I need to not winter SOW the seeds but start them indoors in Feb. and let them get some size before I transplant. The plant sizes are now mostly slowing down in growth and topping off at about 7 or 8 feet for most of them. So far, the best tasting tomato has been the Marglobe and Purple Cherokee. The Black Krim was good but a little bland, the black cherries were not as sweet as I would have wished but the yellow cherries are a huge hit with the kids. Although Jen is not much of a fan of Cherries, I will grow them for the kids every year, maybe even two plants. Their appetite for tomatoes is insatiable.

The radishes sprouted (both white icicle and red globe) and I also just noticed the Chioga Beets starting as well. Nothing for the carrots or the golden beets. With the Chioga starting as quickly as they did, I am not so quick to blame myself for doing something wrong. Once the garden starts to finish up, I think I have decided to buy some 4x4's and build up the upper bed to better define the walkway. Eventually I can do the same to the bottom bed and have a fully defined walkway where I can lay weed barrier and nice stone. I have to make sure Sam the Scarecrow is OK with it first though.

Jen and I discovered the Summit Farmer's Market which is 10x better than Scotch Plains and Westfield. There are about 10 vendors including fresh seafood, local beef /lamb/poulty, local cheese and the kids favorite, a pickle vendor. This past Sunday was our second time going and we managed to plan meals relatively well. We ate two local meals where nothing came from out of the state (except butter, sea salt, butter and olive oil). We have been eating a lot of red beets, chard and fresh eggs all from here.


Oven Baked Sea Scallops:

• 1lb Sea Scallops (about 12-15 scallops)
• 4 Tbsp melted butter
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large shallots, chopped
• 2 pinches ground nutmeg
• dash of salt
• 1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan Cheese (optional)
• Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Clean, dry and place scallops in a bowl. Add melted butter, garlic, salt and nutmeg and scallops and mix. Place in baking dish arranging to one layer. In a separate bowl, mix breadcrumbs, cheese (optional) and enough oil to see it START to clump (about 4 Tbsp). Pour evenly over the scallops and place dish in the oven for 45 minutes or until the breadcrumbs are browned.

Food Harvested:
Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes
Lemon Cukes

Things Planted:
Nothing

Preserved/Cooked:
Carrot Cake
String Bean Salad
Local Sea Scallops

Seeds Saved:
Nick's Yellow Cherry Tomato
Black Cherry Tomato

Things to Remember:
1. Use 4x4 to clean up the edges of the garden
2. DO not plant so heavily on the cukes
3. Move the tomatoes to the higher part of the bed
4. Tomatoes need more spacing

Scarecrow Sam

With Jen wanting a clothes line for the last few years and no real place to put a temporary one, I finally went to Home Depot for the 4x4's and pulleys for a permanent one. Charlotte and I spent about an hour getting different things and when we got home, Jack came running to the gate to tell me that I had to go pick something in the garden. To my surprise, Jack led me by the hand and introduced me to Sam the Firefighting Scarecrow. I think he will be a recurring permanent fixture in the garden. I particularly like the fire boots, fire hat, pearls and silver necklaces. He however did scare the bejesus out of me when later I was digging, bumped into him as I caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye; I really though it was someone in the garden with me!!

Tomatoes are starting to come in. Got our first Marglobe which the kids promptly split for lunch and a Black Krim. The Cherry Tomatoes are starting to come in regularly and Jen decided to try her hand at photography.....Next Year I want to try some different staking methods without cages. The cages became too much and were way too small. Most of the plants especially the Black Cherry and Nick's Yellow Cherry are approaching 8 feet tall and the Mortgage Lifter and Italian Market Wonder need much more support as they are prolific producers so far.

Fall planting from my understanding should happen about 6 weeks prior to the first frost. Since that would be now, I returned that upper half of the garden, flattened out the rows, removed all weeds and planted more like a square foot gardening method. I replanted the rest of the Icicle Radishes, heirloom carrots, golden beets as well as picking up chioga beets and organic red globe radishes. This will be my first attempt at fall cropping and square foot gardening methods so we'll see.

Last weekend Jen was not feeling great again. She decided to man-up and we took the kids peach picking. It is the beginning of the season in NJ so the only peaches ready were donut peaches. These are small but packed with flavor. Jack and Charlotte managed to pick just over 10 lbs in less than 30 minutes. Since they were not 100% ripe, into a paper bag they went for 2 days. The end result, I am sick of peaches but I managed to cook a peach pie that Jen and the kids loved.

Peach Pie

• Pie Dough - enough for a top and bottom
• 5 cups skinned and sliced peaches
• 2 Tblsn Lemon Juice
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tblsn butter
  
  In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients. Toss the peaches with the lemon juice to coat then with the dry ingredients. Turn into a pie crust. Break butter into bits placing on top. Cover with second pie crust and place little slits to allow steam to escape. Place into a 450 deg. preheated oven for 10 minutes then reduce heat to 350. Cook for 40-45 minutes or until bubbling. Let cool completely before serving.

New format for me stealing some ideas from other blogs I follow. To help me when I go back to older posts and as a reminder:

Food Harvested:
Cherry Tomatoes, Sultan Beans, Last of the Squash

Things Planted:
Golden Beets, Chioga Beets, Icicle Radishes, Red Globe Radishes, St Viceroy Carrots

Things Preserved/Cooked:
Peach Pie

Seeds Saved:
Yellow Yarrow, Harbinger Peas

Things to Remember:
1. Thinning of all things is required. I did not believe in this in the spring and I got very few small carrots, radishes and beets.
2. Prepare for larger tomato plants than your 3 foot cages will support.
3. Weed, Weed, Weed. Letting it go will allow it to overtake your garden
4. Start seeds for Toms and Peppers earlier - like January indoors.

One Tomato, Two Tomato, Three Tomato, Four

This past week we had a good amount of rain and many of the tomatoes were not doing well. All of the cages are 3-4 foot tall and most of the plants are starting to top 6 feet tall. Their weight and the small cages meant I had to make a trip to Home Depot to get stakes and spend an hour taming all of the bent and broken branches. There are still a few places I need to re-stake. I did however manage to get the seasons first four cherry tomatoes. 2 Black Cherry and 2 Yellow Cherry. Jen ate all 4 and the yellows seem to be her preference to this point. In the next week or so, there will be easily close to 50 tomatoes ready. For next year, I will definitely need more space and taller, more sturdy cages. Specifically, Mortgage Lifter, Black Cherry, Yellow Cherry, Black Krim, Italian Market Wonder, Marglobe and Violet Miclado all will need 6 foot cages.

The cukes are really starting to produce, I am getting about 3 or 4 picking cukes every other day now and the lemon cukes are just starting to take off. My only problem is that there are slicing varieties in there that are growing but not producing. I guess time will tell. As for the watermelons, I now officially have 4 small ones. One about the size of a quarter, one a golf ball, one a baseball and one a softball. I guess I need to figure out how long to let them grow, when will the be ripe, how to pick them.....I guess I have a few weeks yet to figure this all out.


Planting will start again this week. I need to clear much of the grass from the rows that are no longer producing and I am going to take a different approach for fall planting. I will try to no-till and use a version of the square foot planting method. I have not really decided on anything as of yet so all is subject to change. I am going to replant some more beets, carrots and radishes for the fall. The grass continues to be a problem and although I may be only keeping it at bay and not solving the issue, I am fine with that at this point. Most of the suggestions given have involved chemicals and pretty aggressive containment methods none of which I am comfortable with.

Last Wed was the talk at the library for Slow Food. Margret Noon was the speaker and although the format and presentation was not that great, the topic was intoxicating. I never thought I would call myself someone who cared where his food came from. To me as a kid, a garden was fun and the food it produced was no more than a bonus to what you get from a store. The more and more we read about eating local, being conscious of where your food is from and the benefits of local eating to your local farms, community and more so yourself, I think we we sold ourselves before we got there and decided that will end up becoming members of the North New Jersey Chapter.

Today I noticed my first tomato. I have been trying to give it a go at an organic garden and at the request of my family, I am starting to take the time to write things down. I feel a little strange starting with a blog but at least I am typing something.

Back to the tomato. Overall, I have 14 tomato plants none of which are the same variety. My first tomato is on the Mortgage Lifter and it has me excited.

Later as I took my camera outside to take pictures of all my plants, I noticed some very small maters on the Black Cherry as well. As fo the rest of the garden, I have Golden Cresent Beans, pickling/lemon/slicing cucumbers, Harbinger Peas, zucchini, yellow squash, 4 types of bell peppers, golden beats, mesculin salad, heirloom broc, watermelon, 4 heirloom apples trees and spinach.

Spinach went to seed as it got too hot to quick....did not turn out too well. Salad was wonderful but with the heat, the eating was short lived. My kids are loving the peas and the cukes/toms/beans are a few days away from being ready. Squash and Zuc were picked for the first time yesterday.

Kids are asleep, Jennifer is being creative....enough for now...