The "Before" picture

Here's what the place looked like summer of 2006, for perspective. I think it was vacant for a year or more.

Garden memories, summer 2007

This was what our place looked like when the garden started taking shape, before the Great Zuchinni Uprising of 2007. They say every family should have an emergency back-up plan, and we did: we set up zuchinni grating stations in the front yard, as well as chopping stations. Our trophies are in the freezer.

We tried the unusual garden technique of leaving grass between our rows...an attempt to bring less sand into our home. Not sure if it worked, but it turned some heads on Highway 16! Especially when we mowed it!

We had snow peas growing along the fence all around. Solomon put in water hookups all over the yard early in the spring, so it was easy to water.

I kept covering the best parts of the garden through some of our early fall frosts. We had planted a second crop of snow peas in August (the summer heat killed off the original ones), and they were just starting to look good around October. Unfortunately, they had no bees around to pollinate them, so me and Bekah took to munching on the smallest tender leaves, telling ourselves they tasted like snow peas. I finally pulled them out in November.

Lately, the kids and I will make the comment, "I don't think we'll bother covering the zuchinni tonight." We have a foot of snow on the ground, and it hasn't been above freezing in nearly a month (even during the day!).