I think I may have posted something similar to this a long time ago. I heard about the practice years ago so I started sprinkling raw milk on all my raised garden beds every spring before planting. I have no doubt in my mind that simple step increased the health and productivity of my plants. There was no comparison, really. I mean, how else are you going to pull in 12 GALLONS of carrots from a plot 4'x6'? Besides, what could be a more natural, organic soil amendment than grass fed raw milk? :)

Read the article. It's very interesting.

Well, I just picked my gigantic crop of Blue Corn from Seed Savers Exchange. I told Shawn that if we play our cards right, we might be able to squeeze one blue tortilla from my harvest! haha!

Pot au Feu is a big favorite with me. It's a simple French boiled beef meal. This particular recipe was from Julia Child and is a classic French meal.

I started by going on a picking extravaganza in my garden.

I wanted to post this great picture of rosemary my mom picked. I can't believe how well everything does, veggies, herbs, it doesn't matter, when they are planted in raised garden beds.

I love how huge everything can grow in my raised beds even if we don't have the longest growing season. I love being able to dry my own organically raised herbs for use throughout the year. It's certainly a lot cheaper!

This is a plate full of summertime happiness. A meal like this is exactly why I go to the trouble and work of a garden every year. There is nothing as beautiful as fresh produce from your own garden.

This meal includes fresh cucumber and tomatoes with basil, boiled beef and mashed potatoes with gravy, boiled green beans with bacon, and corn on the cob. Yum!

The variety of produce from my newly increased raised garden bed space is making me happy!

I was able to pick all this in one day! Broccoli, 3 kinds of carrots, a turnip, yellow zucchini, cucumbers, black hungarian peppers, green zucchini, black raspberries, peas, and gooseberries.

I had to share this picture of the first black raspberry from my canes. I could hardly believe the size of the thing! When my mom brought it in, I said, "The blackberries are ripe already?" Then when she told me where she found it, I was shocked. It was big, it was beautiful, and it was delicious!

I saw a couple bags of organic bing cherries in my local grocery store and I knew they were calling my name. :) I try to snag as many bags as I can each year to make into jam.

To start, all those cherries must be cleaned and pitted. Not a fun job, but thankfully I have a very helpful and loving mama with very nimble fingers!

This was the first year I’ve had enough of my own strawberries to make jam. I usually buy organic strawberries at the store and make my yearly supply from those. This year I didn’t have to do that. I was able to save up the berries by freezing them as they were available until I had 8 cups.

Here are my ingredients:

I’ve been working hard on building more raised beds this year. Every time there was a break in the weather, I’ve been outside building beds and filling them with dirt.

I built two long boxes this year. They are 1‘x8’. I’m going to use them for herbs near the kitchen door.

I also built a 4’x4’ box and two 4’x8’ boxes.