Mark has this dream of selling vegetables on the side of the road.  No, seriously.  Actually I think he wants ME to do it.  He talked about me doing this while I was on maternity leave with Anna, and seemed to think that this would be a simple think to do with an infant in tow.  Mmmmhmmm…Now that Anna is staying home with him again.  I think he should do it!  We’re going to have plenty of melons and vegetables.  And it’ll be NO PROBLEM to do with a 1 year old!  She won’t mind hanging out on the side of the road in her pack-n-play in 90 degree weather…for hours at a time.  Right?  Oh, you think she will?  Hmmm…

Anyway, I guess because he secretly wants to be a full-time farmer, when it comes time to plant the garden, he goes a bit overboard.  This year was no exception.  I don’t know how on Earth he thinks a family of 3 will be able to consume this many vegetables!  I try to talk him down every year.  We really only need one squash plant, etc.  Well, we ended up with 4 squash plants and 2 zucchini plants.  We have a whole row of tomato plants (different varieties) and more than 1 row of pepper plants.  Oh, and that’s not all!  I won’t give you a complete inventory, but it’s a big job to stay on top of it all.  We’ve done better each year.  This being (I believe) the 4th year…though I really shouldn’t count the first year.  It was really, really a sad “garden” that year.  I think we harvested one inedible squash the whole season.  Last Sunday morning, we loaded up Anna (once again) in her Jeep stroller and she hung out down by the garden while Mark and I weeded the garden.  The thing about gardens is that they are in full sun.  It got hot fast.  We managed to get the whole garden weeded, landscape fabric under the melon plants.  Then we went and planted another garden.  Really.

On our back 25 acres (I so need a better name for that section of land), Mark had tilled a section about as large as our “real” garden.  So last Sunday, we planted that section too.  Pumpkins, butternut squash, acorn squash, gourds and corn.

That brings us to this weekend.  The garden needs weeded again.  AGAIN!  It’s not terrible, but it needs to be done before it gets out of control.  Thankfully the garden has decided to produce something to make all these weeding worthwhile.  Even if it it’s really only been cucumbers so far.  Oh, and 2 or 3 little squashes.  Is that the plural of squash, or is squash the plural of squash?  It’s just squash, isn’t it?  You get the point though.

It just occurred to me this morning that this is the last weekend I’m going to be home before Anna’s birthday party.  So I had to sit down and make a list of all the little things that need to get done.  It’s a long list.  We have about 20 people coming for the party itself, plus my family coming the afternoon before and staying until the day after.  It was never my intent to have  “big” first birthday party for her, but when your family is as large as mine, things get big fast!  I’m excited to have everyone here.  This will be the third time in the almost 4 years that Mark and I have been married that my family (sisters, brothers-in-law, parents, niece and nephews) has come to visit us on the farm.  The only year they didn’t come here we all went on vacation together in Florida.  It nice to have everyone together.  This year we’ll be missing one…my brother-in-law Wayne is in Iraq for a few more months.  :(   I know we’ll all miss having him here.  It’s never as fun when even one person isn’t there.

Next weekend I’m headed to Hendersonville to see my sister Laura and her 4 boys who are coming to visit (finally!) from Hawaii.  They moved last year just before Anna was born so they haven’t met her yet.  I can’t wait for them to meet her…and for her to meet them!

The weekend after that is the party.  The weekend after that Mark is going on a camping/fishing trip.  The weekend after that I will be sleeping.  Alot.  Maybe I should start now…I’m tired just thinking about it!  I can’t wait though!