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At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

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June 24, 2011

Blogger Block Party! Fresh from the Garden

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Wow it’s hard to believe we are already on day 5 of the Summer Blogger Block Party! We have seen soooo many fabulous posts and there’s still three days left to link up! A big thank you to all who have participated.  The Block Party is taking the place of Inspiration Friday this week…but we’d love to have y’all come back next week to join us with anything inspiring you’d like to share!

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It’s hard to imagine a country home without a garden! When we moved on to our acreage in Kentucky we knew that at some point we would want to put a garden in.  While we come from a long ancestry of gardeners, neither Bama Boy or I had even had our OWN garden.  Over the last few years and through a lot of trial and error we have become seasoned gardeners in our own right!  We’ve learned how to build garden boxes, grow plants from seeds, how to get rid of pests organically, and how to can, pickle, preserve and otherwise utilize the bounty of produce we have grown!  It’s been a fun learning experience!
Because our soil is mostly lovely Kentucky clay we decided to build gardening boxes, so we could control the quality of the soil. It was no small feat to build all of our garden boxes but it was well worth the effort.

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Using left over lumber from a building project, Bama Boy constructed four large rectangular boxes down on the bottom part of our property.  We filled the bottom with rocks to facilitate good drainage. 

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We had a good quality of garden soil delivered out to our place.  Even though this can be a little pricey, it’s worth it in the long run to have a high quality soil to grow your plants in.  Then Bama Boy prepared the soil by mixing in several other compounds such as peat and lime to achieve the proper ph levels.. 

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Next we determined what we wanted to plant in which box.

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We tried to keep vining plants together such as our cucumbers and squash.

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We planted our trellised plants such as peas and beans together in another box.  These are an early crop, so we were able to rotate some later producing tomatoes and peppers in this bed when the peas were done.

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Like all good Southerners we dedicate an entire bed to tomatoes of all kinds!  With these I like to make tomato sauce and sun dried tomatoes as well as use them for lots of summer pizzas and of course the quintessential Southern sandwich…tomato, mayo and white bread! Winking smile

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After the beds were complete Bama Boy and his dad built a fence around the garden with a nice gate for us to access it.  Needless to say living where we do we have a large deer and rabbit population.  While we love wildlife out here in the country, it was not our intention to keep them fed off our garden all summer.  Along the bottom of the fence we ran a low voltage battery operated electric fence. This has worked well to keep critters…and children for that matter ha! ha!…out of our garden.   We also added a platform with a nice utility box attached to it to store all of our gardening supplies.  This has been so handy! It allows us to keep everything right where we needed it instead of hauling it over several acres down a hill. 
Our garden has given us so much pleasure over the last few years! Bama Boy has taken it over and has enjoyed it as a fun hobby and project. 



So what do you “DO” with all of that bounty once it starts coming in?

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Banana Peppers from our garden

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Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Squash, and Peppers from our Garden

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Okra from our Garden
I step in when it’s time to start harvesting and we spend many summer afternoons canning, preserving, pickling and drying. I have also enjoyed creating and trying different recipes using what we grow! 


The following have been some of our most productive crops from our garden.  
I thought I’d share a few of my recipes for each. Enjoy!



Tomatoes:


Homemade Tomato Basil Simmer Sauce
{Print Recipe}

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Make Your Own Sun Dried Tomatoes
{Print Recipe}

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Chicken Parmigiana with Tomato Basil Simmer Sauce
{Print Recipe}

Chicken parmigiana 1



Okra:


Okra Griddle Cake Sandwiches
{Print Recipe}

Okra skillet cake sandwiches


Okra Fritters
{Print Recipe}

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Peppers:


Homemade Pepper Vinegar
{Print Recipe}

Pepper Vinegar


Pepper Relish
{Print Recipe}



Grilled Stuffed Banana Peppers
{Print Recipe}




*All photographs are my own and from our garden!



Thank you for visiting our garden!  I hope you have a chance to try some of these fabulous recipes!  Even if you don’t have several acres to plant a large garden on, you can still grow wonderful things using containers or building smaller garden boxes.  There is just something special about growing, tending and harvesting your own food! Enjoying the fruits of our labor way into the winter and spring is a wonderful reward for our hard work during the summer!

Since it’s not a party without presents and in honor of all of you fabulous gardeners, our super-duper generous sponsor The Simple Stencil is offering a choice of one of the following stencils:

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You can choose your own color and any size up to a $30 value! A big thank you to The Simple Stencil for providing this giveaway! If you have a chance pay them a visit, you will be amazed at all they offer including custom stencils…

…and it’s just one of the 12 giveaways going on this week for the Blogger Block Party!

 

To be entered into the giveaway you MUST LINK UP (a summer related post) and LINK BACK! We are finding many people are not linking back to the Block Party in some capacity! Thank you to those who take the time to do this…it’s just polite party etiquette!

Here’s a coded button to make linking up super easy!


Now it’s time for YOU to share your garden posts with us?  Do you have a post about gardening? Have you recently put a garden in our built your own garden boxes? Have some great recipes, canning tips, etc to share with us?  If so, than it’s your turn to link up to the Blogger Block Party!

Don’t have a gardening post?  That’s okay!  There are three other FABULOUS themes today! Alison over at Stuff and Nonsense is hosting everything Summer “Sale-ing” Related! If you are a thrifty shopper and you’ve posted about your finds, head over and visit Alison and share your sale-ing posts with us!  Items like this:

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My fabulous Goodwill find that I turned into a Dining Caddy!

If you are a lover of all things Shabby Summer Cottage you will want to pay a visit to the lovely Courtney at French Country Cottage where she is sharing how she decks her cottage out for the summer! And of course we could never leave out our Vintage crowd! The fabulous Debra from Common Ground will be sharing how she celebrates summer in Vintage Style! See we told ya the Blogger Block Party would have a little something for everyone! And you’ve all probably figured this out by now but just in case…your link will show up on all 12 BLOGS participating as soon as you link up! Isn’t that cool? So read the rules, have fun at the party and link em on up!
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  • Link Up any post past or present related to this parties theme
  • Be sure to link back to your original post and not just your url (main blog address)
  • Please post the Blogger Block Party button (code located above and in sidebar) in your post so others can join in the fun! (MANDATORY)
  • Visit another guest. We love it when you party with our other guests!  Please take a moment and visit some of the other posts and leave some comment love!  This is what makes a party so much fun!
  • We’d love it if you’d share the Blogger Block Party on your Facebook Pages and Twitter (use #BloggerBlockParty in your tweet) (Not mandatory but we’d appreciate it!

And we always love getting new friends at the fence! We’d love to see your pretty face in our Google Friends list or send you free email updates.  You can join either in our sidebar! 

30 Comments Filed Under: Blogger Block Party, Gardening, Recipes

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Debra says

    June 23, 2011 at 11:44 PM

    Wow, you guys are pros, I’m super impressed! Your recipes sound wonderful, so yummy.
    xoxo Debra

    Reply
  2. Pam - diy Design Fanatic says

    June 23, 2011 at 11:54 PM

    I’m so jealous of your garden! We have so much shade and only a couple of spaces where we get sun. My tomatoes plants are finally producing and should be ready in a few days! Our potatoes should be ready soon, as well 🙂

    Reply
  3. Little Brick Ranch says

    June 24, 2011 at 12:30 AM

    WOW – those peppers look amazing! I cant believe how much you have already…I have nothing but, then again, I just redid the whole layout again!! We switched to raised beds and are trying out square foot gardening. ALL next week will be devoted to our new garden. Check in for progress pics! 🙂

    Reply
  4. Michell @ Girl In Air says

    June 24, 2011 at 12:42 AM

    What a wonderful garden!! I’m loving this party and looking thru all the wonderful links!!

    How FUN!

    Reply
  5. Haniela says

    June 24, 2011 at 12:54 AM

    Your garden is totally wonderful. we also have a garden and isn’t it the best when it is fresh and homegrown.Love it!!!

    Reply
  6. Jessica Lauren says

    June 24, 2011 at 1:27 AM

    wow what a fabulous party! It’s going to take me forever to get through these all, but there seem to be some great ideas based on what I’ve seen so far! Thanks to all of you for hosting!
    ~*Jessica Lauren @
    https://copy-cat-crafter.blogspot.com

    Reply
  7. Brandi says

    June 24, 2011 at 2:49 AM

    oh my goodness heather, your property is gorgeous. your garden is thriving beautifully. nothing better than fruit and veggies fresh from the garden.

    Reply
  8. Sherry says

    June 24, 2011 at 4:18 AM

    Oh, I would love to try sun dried tomatoes. on Pizza! I grew up in KY and had lots on tomato sandwiches! My husband from IL had not! LOL Thanks for the great party. Will spend some of the weekend cruising the posts.
    Sherry

    Reply
  9. Honey at 2805 says

    June 24, 2011 at 8:54 AM

    Your garden is certainly full of goodies!

    Looks like your party is a roaring success! I’ve been somewhat out of pocket this week and unable to particiate much.

    Reply
  10. Tanna at The Brick Street Bungalow says

    June 24, 2011 at 11:21 AM

    Heather, your post is simply wonderful! I love. love. love. your raised garden beds! And, every recipe you posted looks divine! You make my farmer’s daughter roots yearn for some soil to til myself. =( I’ll enjoy looking at yours and wishing! blessings ~ Tanna

    Reply
  11. dogsmom says

    June 24, 2011 at 11:30 AM

    I have only been through Kentucky once, well and barely tipped my toes in a second time, but love the cave tours! The scenery from the highway was a treat.

    Your raised garden beds sounds like the best way to go but you went far above and beyond the basics.

    Reply
  12. Kim @ Savvy Southern Style says

    June 24, 2011 at 1:10 PM

    Heather, we don’t have a garden. We really should do some of those boxes. My husband’s dad was an avid gardner, but him, no! I love fresh veggies and especially a good ole drippy tomato sandwich. My neighbor brought over a couple of tomatoes from their garden and we had a sandwich. Love them. You pictures are great. I thought they were from the web until you said they were yours.

    Reply
  13. Marcia (One Heart) says

    June 24, 2011 at 1:20 PM

    Heather, your garden is amazing and so inspiring. We grew some herbs in hanging baskets last year and it was so much fun. I never thought it would work with hanging baskets but they grew pretty quickly (which is almost impossible down here in South Florida) and we were able to use them for pesto and for our Thanksgiving turkey.

    I must admit; however, that my favorite part of your post is that ADORABLE dining caddy. So cute.

    Thanks for hosting.

    Reply
  14. Kelly says

    June 24, 2011 at 1:37 PM

    I’ve been waiting for this part of the blog party! So great! Can’t wait to visit the other links.

    Kelly

    Reply
  15. Jen @ Domesticated Nomad says

    June 24, 2011 at 1:37 PM

    Your garden looks great. We also have raised beds. I linked up my post about our new compost bin and I’m not sure that quite fits your Fresh from the Garden theme. Sorry if it doesn’t. I’m just most excited about that right now.

    Reply
  16. Tanya@takesix says

    June 24, 2011 at 3:02 PM

    We had raised beds at our other house. I really miss it!! Your is fabulous! Your recipes look so yummy too! Thanks so much for hosting and sharing!!!

    Reply
  17. Gracie's Cottage says

    June 24, 2011 at 3:12 PM

    Oh your fresh veggies look SO good!

    Thanks for hosting and congrats on an aMAZing party!

    Jan

    Reply
  18. Lakeshore Cottage Living says

    June 24, 2011 at 4:45 PM

    Wow! That is one fabulous garden!!!

    Reply
  19. Sherry @ No Minimalist Here says

    June 24, 2011 at 7:07 PM

    Hi Heather, There is nothing better than fresh vegetables from the garden. The first year we lived in our new home we planted tomatos and the dear ate them down to the ground! Smart move with the fence.
    xo,
    Sherry

    Reply
  20. Poppy says

    June 25, 2011 at 12:35 AM

    I love your raised bed planters… we have similar ones to keep animals away but yours look just awesome. I love how you made those trellis for your peas and beans and fenced in the area with the cute gate… lovely idea! Thanks for sharing these yummy recipes and the fresh veggies look so tempting especially those okras. Have a lovely evening!~Poppy

    https://withadashofcolor.blogspot.com/

    Reply
  21. Martha says

    June 25, 2011 at 1:15 AM

    Very cool partay! Thanks!

    Reply
  22. ⚜ ↁℯℬℬᴵℰ⚜ says

    June 25, 2011 at 3:47 AM

    Your garden is incredible. How delicious and fresh. Your photos almost did not look real..LOL. What a great party girls. I can’t believe well over a thousand links. It was great.

    Reply
  23. telisa@sugartotdesigns says

    June 25, 2011 at 4:07 AM

    um, i just posted to your link party as the whopping 1117th link!!! you sistas rock! i don’t think i have ever seen that much linky love:) and p.s. your garden puts mine to shame! love it!

    Reply
  24. Debbie@refreshrestyle says

    June 25, 2011 at 10:25 AM

    You make me want a garden, beautiful delicious food! I am going to bookmark this incredible party, there are so many talented bloggers out there and here they are in one spot! Thanks for the party!
    Debbie

    Reply
  25. Debbie says

    June 25, 2011 at 10:28 AM

    I can see in my absence from blogland that your block party was a smashing success!

    We made raised beds here as well. The Georgia clay on our lot isn’t the best for gardens.

    I plan to try your recipes for pepper vinegar and sun dried tomatoes. The husband will be thrilled to try that.

    Reply
  26. sell my car says

    June 25, 2011 at 10:31 AM

    I also planted so many herbs in my garden. Planning to plant mint, lavender, rosemary and the other herbs. These are beautiful flowers collection.

    Reply
  27. Diann @ The Thrifty Groove says

    June 25, 2011 at 1:15 PM

    Your gardens look fantastic as do the recipes! YUM! I linked up. thank you for hosting. Have a wonderful weekend!

    Reply
  28. Joani says

    June 25, 2011 at 7:36 PM

    An excellent turnout. Congratulations. Love your garden. Have a great day.

    Reply
  29. Donna, The Decorated House says

    June 25, 2011 at 11:14 PM

    So jealous of all your amazing veggies! It gets hot way down here so quickly. Good for swimming, tough for growing tomatoes like yours.

    Reply
  30. Ivy and Elephants says

    June 26, 2011 at 12:20 AM

    Wow, I absolutely love your garden. Chock full of veggies I would actually eat. You both are so inspirational. Now to get my husband to build a fence for the back yard so I can get started. ;-).

    Paula

    Reply

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Yesterday on the way home from school I had the ra Yesterday on the way home from school I had the radio tuned to my daughter's favorite station and a song that was playing had a line in it that really stood out to me. It made reference to a 'season of the sticks' which I think its safe to say must mean winter. I thought that was such an accurate, albeiet kind of depressing, picture of this time of the year.

While we definitely have more than our fair share of evergreen trees here in Oregon, we also have plenty of trees and bushes that are reduced to sticks during the cold months. But, this morning as I looked out my kitchen window, greedily sipping from my mug of coffee, I marveled at the beauty of the winter sunrise. The sky was all pinks and oranges with frost on the rooftops and a little bit of fog. And, I realized that part of why it was so amazing is because I could see it more clearly through the sticks. The bare branches allowed me a view that I wouldn't be able to see if those same branches were covered in leaves. Being stripped down to almost nothing revealed something magnificent.

We have seasons of the sticks in our lives too, don't we? Times when we feel as though we've been stripped bare and left exposed. It's easy to think that this is a place where all is ugly and dark. And yet, just like the winter sunrise was more visible because of the bare branches, the vulnerability we feel in the winter season of our souls allows us to get a glimpse of beauty that we wouldn't see otherwise. In the lush, warm seasons it's so easy to become comfortable. But in the bare, cold seasons we recognize just how much we need to rely on the One who placed the stars in the heavens and is sovereign over all.

If you feel like your soul has been stripped bare and you've been left exposed and vulnerable, may I encourage you today to ask the Lord to help you to see the beauty in this 'season of the sticks'.

“Answer me quickly, O Lord! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit. Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul." Psalm 143:7
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Here’s to beginnings. Happy new year friends! May you experience the majesty and sovereignty of the Lord in 2023 like never before! ✨
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