"I Hope They Call Me on a Mission"

That day has arrived!  

My oldest son decided when he was 4 years old that he wanted to be a missionary when he grew up. 

 Well, now he is "all growed up".

He sent his application in and we received his mission call about a month ago!

We invited everyone to come over (the kitchen was standing room only) to watch as he opened the envelope and read the letter telling him where in the world he would serve the Lord for the next 2 years.

We were so excited, as you can imagine.

I hope you enjoy watching the clip.

And in case you couldn't understand amidst all the hollering and cheers, 

he is going to Joao Pessoa Brazil!

KinderGARDENS 2- THE END

Tending a garden is a real blessing.

We have learned so much this year from our reaping and our sowing.

It was a lot of work to construct the bean tunnel.

We had to replant the purple beans because none of them germinated.

It is always so exciting when the first ones push through the earth!

And then the first true leaves are so encouraging!
We learned that the small leaves are the cotyledon.

We also learned if we watered more consistently
 we would get better results;  healthier plants = more production!
(Note to self- next year, drip hoses and timer!)

We love VOLUNTEERS at the Farrm! 

This year we found many and put them to use!

Princess found broccoli which had volunteered this spring!

She transplanted it to a location we wanted it...

...and it produced a wonderful head of broccoli!

IronMan built us a cloche to try growing our tomatoes in.

It was superb at holding in warm moist, air and the tomatoes grew well.

Japanese Trifele is a heirloom from Russia.
 (I know, I don't understand the name either!)

As you can see, the Japanese Trifele was our best producer.  This is one of several harvests.
We froze what we didn't eat.

This year was our first planting shelling peas.

These covers seemed to help keep the birds away.

I planted twice this year and the kids helped harvest.
Next year I will plant more.

Little Princess learned that peas are great fun!

Bear, Little Sister and Princess put a lot of work into their barrel gardens.

They hauled compost and dirt to fill them, planted flowers and seeds
and watered...

...occasionally...

...and weeded, occasionally...

...and their plants grew, pretty well...

not much was harvested,

and it was decided that with a bit more care they would have grown even better.
There is always next year!

Grandbabies are also part of our KinderGarden.

Watering is a very important job!

And popsicles are necessary for budding gardeners!

I'm pretty sure I forgot to show you all this wonderful addition to the salad garden:

IronMan fabricated these nifty hose holders for me. 

Now I don't crush my plants hauling to hose to the other side of the garden!
 

Look- I did take some time to ENJOY my garden this summer.
I sat, I read, I took some photos,
I listened, I smelled, I hid from the kids!

Last but not least, the rock stars of the garden this year were a bit late yet worth the wait:
Sunflowers!

Starting out slow..

The cabbages were ready to harvest and they were still only a few feet tall.

Then they were taller than the kids but still no flowers.
(Hey- where's Bear?)

Then one morning we looked out the window and saw the
sun in the west!!

Sun FLOWERS that is.

Finally they were all blooming and the neighbor girls came to check it out.

'Little' Sister really lives up to her name in her Sunflower house!

KinderGARDENS has been a wonderful blessing for the Farrm.  We have enjoyed
participating and getting to know many other gardeners from blogland and
watching your gardens and kids grow as well as sharing our own experiences!
I can hardly wait to start planning for NEXT YEAR!