Sucka!!!!

Most women find shoe stores to be a place where they lose their well-practiced self-control and give in to something that they want.  While I'm a total fan of shoes, I know how to contain myself.  If a sale isn't mindblowingly awesome, I walk away.  I don't like to buy shoes unless I can brag about how little I paid for them.  Besides, I probably already have a pair at home that would work just as well.  Every store on the planet is the same story for me.  Unless we really really need it, I don't get it unless the price is hysterically low. 

Except for one place.  Where I have almost no control over myself.  Where I could spend an entire day just looking around for ways to drop money.

The Farmer's Market.

I'm pretty sure that whenever I go there I must have some sign on my forehead (that I sure can't see) that says "Sucker" on it. 

Why yes, I will buy 40 pounds of your peaches that my son has already eaten 5 samples of.  Yes, I do need some blueberry bushes (after buying 6 of them on different occasions I'm starting to wonder if that guy might have our credit card number memorized).  Why yes, those flowers are gorgeous and would be easy to take care of in I don't know what place in my yard. 

It's sort of unhealthy.

After our trip this past weekend I told Ben that we're not allowed to go there for the rest of the year.  I mean, unless they come out with some VIP loyalty card or something...

So for now, we have 40 lbs. of peaches.  This is only half of the lot.  The others were frozen for smoothies.  The rest will soon be canned or freezer jammed.  At least they were cheap and are incredibly delicious.

As for our own garden, we're definitely still learning. Pretty much everything has started from seeds (except for the few plants that got killed by a frost and couldn't be replaced).  Our blueberry bushes are already giving us fruit.  So are our peas.  Our corn keeps getting taller and we're amazed that our potatoes are taking off and are already getting huge under the soil.  The strawberries on our porch are just starting to produce berries and the kids are completely enthralled.  It's like we live in an episode of Curious George or something. 

It's definitely been a learning process.  Some of the things we've learned are:

- Our tomatoes need nitrogen.

- Blueberry bushes need soil acidifier (i.e. azalea food) which you can either buy or use oak leaves if you have lots in your yard.

- You can change the color of your hydrangea bushes by adding lime to make them pink or soil acidifier to make them blue. 

Another thing I've learned?  Buying an Easter lily and a gorgeous red flower called "Lucifer" at the farmer's market and planting them next to each other is sort of ironic.  Crazy farmers making me do weird things...