My own little piece of Eden

That's what I call the back deck and the back yard. I so love sitting on the back deck and listening to the birds and the water falling out of the pump while I watch the fish. It calms me and helps me to remember all the things that I have to be thankful for. Earlier this summer we bought three tadpoles from an aquarium store. They have since grown their legs, and here's one of my little froggies just sitting on a lily pad. Sometimes they sun themselves on the rocks around the pond.

And remember I told you about the garden boxes we built to surround the deck and the pond? Well, here's some pictures of the bounty of our labors. These are the pumpkin vines. They are starting to resemble something in a horror film, as they have climbed the fence and are attempting to surround my garden angel. So far, we have about 9 pumpkins. I was hoping to can some, but Rod wants to share with the grandkids and all our great nieces and nephews. I guess that's not such a bad idea.

Here's photos of the bean bed and the pepper bed. This is only one of the six pepper plants in this bed. There are also some strawberries and some cabbages. Can you say "pigs in a blanket" and stuffed peppers into the freezer for the winter?? My mouth is watering just thinking about them on a cold winter night!!!

The bean bed isn't looking so good. Don't quite know what's wrong. There are some more to pick,and we've already had one meal of ham, beans, and new potatoes. So I can't complain.

And now for the zucchini and tomato bed. We've gotten quite a few zucchini, but only a couple of tomatoes. At least the tomatoes have been yellow ones, which I love. We've had zucchini for dinner a couple of nights. Usually we fry it, but with my attempt at more healthy eating, we've been breading it, spraying both the baking sheet and the zucchini strips with cooking spray, and then baking it. It's not quite as crispy, but so much better for us. I want to grate some of the zucchini for the freezer so that we can make zucchini bread all winter. I love zucchini bread with creamed cheese. And it smells so good when it's baking!

We built the boxes to embellish the look of the deck, but they also made gardening easier because there was little bending, and less to water. And, as we get older, we can just add another layer (You know. . . for even less bending!!) And now you've seen my own little corner of Eden. Are you jealous???