Preparing for Starters

With this fabulous burst of spring weather, the gardening bug has already bitten me.  I thought it would be a great outdoor activity for us to start some little seedlings, getting them ready for the raised garden beds in the back yard.

It felt good for everyone to get some hands in the dirt.

Of course there was a break for some power car maintenance with my always enthusiastic helper.

Eventually, a few of the starts made it to the sun spot on the dining room table.  There they will stay until hardened enough for the raised beds.  I do plan on getting some other starts planted this weekend, pictured here are only sweet peas, beefsteak, oh-boy tomatoes, I'm thinking we will be needing a bit more variety than that!  My husband's only request is cucumbers. Easy enough.

In preparation for maintaining, harvesting, and canning the garden, I browsed the isles of the Green Valley Book Fair with my husband, Mom, Dad, and babe in the Boba wrap and I found what I think are the basic essentials for gardening:

The Homestead Handbook: The back to basics guide to growing your own food, canning, keeping chickens, generating your own energy, crafting, herbal medicine, and more.

 Incredible Country Store: Potions, Notions, and Elixirs of the Past and How to Make Them Today

  God's Wisdom For Your every Need.

Yep, I think I'm as prepared as I'm going to get.  This is our first year of starting a garden of our own (we've always had a large family garden at my parents house, just not here), so I'm hopeful but humble.  I plan on fumbling my way through this planting season and I'll try to keep the blog updated with any successes/failures and what I think I did right/wrong.  Stay tuned...