Catching Crawdads

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     We were finishing up in the garden the other day, when Zoey decided she wanted to go walking with her dad. He always walks our property once or twice a day. I told her to go ahead while I dumped our buckets filled with garden weeds into the compost bin. I could hear them talking over by the creek, but, when I turned back around, Zoey was no where to be seen. Mike was pointing into the creek, and I could hear Zoey's excited squeal. What on Earth is she doing down in the creek? 

No it does not look like this anymore.
It is back to being a trickle with sides that are 6 foot high.

Like this... 

 
     This is what we are used to our creek looking like in spring. It is just a run off tributary that empties into the larger creek. Even it does not hold water all through out the summer months. 

     So what is Zoey doing down in the creek? Crawdad fishing! My hubby had spotted a few little ones while they were walking around. Zoey jumped in to see if she could catch a few. She called for me to come down. At first I said I would not come down into the creek and play in the mud! Then I thought about it.. Play in the mud for a bit? Why not? Off came my shoes, and I climbed down the embankment.      

She caught one with a bottle and another one with her hands. I actually grabbed the second crawdad up with my hands first. I have to admit, I freaked out a little and tried to sling it into the bucket. It missed and went floating down the creek back towards Zoey. She caught it and managed to make it into the bucket even though she was freaking out the whole time as well. :)

Can you see the crawdad?

Sitting on the bridge, talking about me freaking out when I touched it.
She admitted she was scared as well. 

No, Zoey, we can not keep them... 

Brother came home from work and walked down to see what all the fuss was about. 

He showed us there was nothing to be afraid of when holding it.

EEEKKKK! Get it away from me! 

See, it doesn't hurt. Just freaks you out at first! 

     Zoey and I got back in the creek to look for more. I'm sure us running around and splashing scared all the rest off. Did we eat them? NO! Not only were they too small, they are gross! (Okay, so I have never tried them, they just seem gross to me. Several of my friends say I am crazy and they are amazing, but I just... no... no thank you!) Our favorite Chinese restaurant serves them on their buffet. Alex loves them, I think Zoey has eaten them, but I just can not bring myself to try them.
     I guess in a survivalist situation, we at least know where another source of food is, right on our own property. Cool fact I read about is that they can not live in polluted water. If you see crawdads, you know the water is safer than most. Although, Wikipedia says there is a hardier species that can withstand more pollution than the others. You can read more about crawdads HERE. 




Crawdads? Crayfish? Crawfish? What do you call them? We love your comments!

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Time Well Spent

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     I don't think my garden has ever been more important to our family. With Mike out of work, we are going to need all the help we can get. My husband's work would not clear him for 'light duty' like the doctor ordered. He does not go back to the doctor until the end of June. Even if he starts work the following Monday, it will still be mid July before we see a paycheck form his job.
    My paycheck usually goes to groceries, gas in my vehicle and any odds and ends I feel necessary. The less food I have to buy, the more of my paycheck that can go to paying the bills. So far we are doing okay. Thank goodness I prep! We have been using the food I have tucked away for a rainy day. Well, baby, right now it is pouring! ;) Only problem is, my family is more of a 'Fresh' fruit and veggie type of family. We don't eat a lot of process foods. When you prep, you buy a lot of foods that have a longer shelf life. Unfortunately, most of those are processed.
     Until the garden comes in, I am buying a lot of my 'fresh' items from the grocery store and some from a local produce stand. I can't wait till the garden is in full force! 
     Biggest problem we have had is the rain. Good grief I wish some of it would save its self for this summer! By August, I'm sure we will be begging for this weather. For now, we are gardening in between thunderstorms and wading to the garden to get covered in mud. What we have managed to get in the ground is growing well. WE CAN"T WAIT!! Thought I would share a few pictures with you of the garden thus far. 
     

I saw mound gardening somewhere.. Thought it was a really cool idea. Just in case we can not weed fast enough, we can weed only the mounds and then use the weed eater to cut the grass around them. Crossing my fingers on this! 

This was supposed to be full of potatoes, but a sink hole created by the way the yard is leveled and all of the rain took most of the dirt and the potatoes seed plant under ground and washed them away. I planted some tomato plants instead. Regular sized heirlooms and cherry tomatoes. We have no money for tomato cages, so I am hoping these cut saplings help to keep them under control and out of the dirt.

Most of the garden is shown here. It is only about 20x20 feet. On our land, it is mostly clay dirt and this is the best place to put it other than in the very front yard. 

Our green beans and peas. In the background, what looks like tall grass is actually our corn growing. We never have much luck but we love corn on the cob and keep on trying. 

So we planted some cherry tomatoes in here.. but they didn't grow. So Zoey planted some more. Then they ALL came up. Believe it or not.. this is AFTER I have already thinned them out into other parts of the garden and containers. 

Last year we had lettuce, spinach and onions in here. This year I have cabbage and onions. We have almost eaten ALL of the onions already, I think will go get some more onion bulbs to plant. I like home grown onions a lot better than store bought. 

Not sure about tire planting, but we had one and needed another container to plant in. I have heard good and bad things about using old tires.. We will see. More Cherry Tomatoes. 

I have not grown cabbage in YEARS. My amazingly awesome neighbor gave me some plants a while back, so I thought, "Why not?" We do not eat a whole lot of cabbage but it looks like I will be selling the extras and looking for a whole lot of new cabbage recipes. For some reason, they remind me of Harry Potter...

Hard to tell here, but there are four tomato plants and a pumpkin plant here. If you look to the upper right, those are dandelions and other 'weeds' that my rabbits like to munch on. We let the weeds grow up on that side. 

We had to put the bucket Cherry Tomato plant into the ground. It just did not look healthy. We have been getting lots of rain, but the soil always looked dry. Maybe too many drainage holes? I hope we did not kill it, beacause, it is LOADED with cherry tomatoes. 

The new potato bucket is growing strong! At least I hope.. Sure looks pretty though. 

Remember last year? This spot was covered with the 'Mystery Pumpkin' plant. This year we have two tomato plants. We still have 4 more that need to get in the ground. Not sure where I am putting them though. 

     So there you go. A little tour of our garden. I am really loving all the time spent as a family to help grow us food. Even my 'I hate gardening' teenager and my injured husband are pitching in! 

Does your family garden together? We <3 your comments!

Disclosure: I am Amazon Affiliate and may receive a small compensation for including links on my blog. Buying through my links is not necessary, just appreciated. Amazon does not charge extra for linked items recommended by their affiliates.  I only recommend products that I use and trust OR plan on using in the future. Please buy responsibly and do your own product research before buying anything online.