Garden Update

Someday this cute white fence and gate will be all around the garden, all in good time
Rambo man extended the fencing to include the raised beds, AJ the beagle just couldn't help but do a little digging in the nice soil

Day ones thinning of the carrots, welcome surprise!

Gotta can tomatoes today, this is only 1/2 of

the tomatoes Today's project, clean out the refregerator

Today is preserving day, I need to can tomatoes and pickles along with dehydrating bell peppers and carrots The rest will be loaded up to take to the local soup kitchen, as you can see by the looks of the refrigerator I don't have a lot of room for anything else right now. Next week will be peaches, I plan on picking them up at our local farm, he brings them in from a friend down in SC. We did get 1 peach from the trees we planted this year but of course the squirrels got it yesterday when it was ripe and juicy. I wanted to go ahead and bring it in but Rambo man insisted he wanted to bring in the first harvest when he gets home next week, we both lost out:(

Our garden has done so well this year giving us more than we can use or preserve for the most part which is cool because now we can share big time with our local soup kitchen. I need to thin the carrots a bit more so whats left has a chance to get to a good size. I never got around to thinning them back when I planted the seeds so we are super excited at how large they are at this point since they are so crowded. I don't think we will have enough carrots to preserve to get us through the entire year but its going to be a heck of a good first try! I'm thinking of pulling the potatoes this week, the plants look really bad. I need to see what I can rotate into that spot for the fall or if it's to early to start the fall planting. The sweet potatoes are looking a little puny as well as the butternut squash, not sure how they will turn out. All in all with no more time than I had to devote to the garden and tomato patch I'd say it has been a super growing year.
Free motion quilting update; The ladies at the quilting store advised me I needed not only quilting gloves but also a "Supreme Slider" for the bed of my machine if I wanted to have any real success with stippling or free motion quilting. I had to trust their judgment or sign up for a weight lifting class to get in shape enough to fight the quilts. As always they were correct!! The combo worked like a charm, I was able to get 4 squares quilted on Kara's Christmas quilt in less time than I did one before and I was able to lift my arms afterwards!! I hope to finish all the quilting on her quilt today while I am waiting on the loads in the canner. My goal is to have all the Grands Christmas quilts done before the school year starts, it's gonna be close.

Here is a quick overview of our weekly spending, the fabric store was the budget buster once again however the majority of the fabric is all destined for Christmas gifts. I think I have all the fabric and material I need to finish the remaining 3 quilts I have to do and I was still $20.00 under the spending plan.

Weekly spending

Groceries - $4.19

Gas - $44.60

Christmas gifts - $20.00

Fabric store - $112.00
Total spent $180.00 under budget by $20.00