So gardening season has seen it's first casualties.

My cukes, cabbages and cauliflower have officially not made it. I'll have to buy the plants at the local nursery or diy store. They looked so good inside, but small, like everything else I've got. But the temps were right so I transplanted. Something "got" the cauliflower, I think the cukes and cabbages were still a bit small for whatever it was to get them. The cukes, I think, just blew their stack inside. When I had them inside, they looked fabulous, but by the time the weather cooperated enough for me to get them outside, they were pretty limp.

Right now, I've got tomatoes and peppers...and beans (green, black and pinto) still inside. The beans are huge and ready to plant. The peppers..aren't huge but they are pretty hearty I think, so they'll go out soon too. The tomatoes, my dear darling indeterminate heirloom tomatoes, the ones I want to work most of all...still look green and healthy, but they're so small. Only a few have their second leaves. They're getting enough water, light, they have adequate space...I don't know what's wrong. And I DON'T want to buy replacements because there's no way I'll find ones like these (most places just have hybrid determinates). I guess I'll just keep babying them and see what happens.

Potatoes are out and popping up like crazy. But I think we'll need to re-till the rest of that garden to plant the corn and tomatoes when they're ready. It's weed central. Since a lot of it was grass just a couple months ago, and with all the rain, the grass is trying to take over again. And succeeding I might add lol

Everything else is going well. Waiting on the roto rooter guys this morning because our second bath has overflowed...again. This will be, what, the fourth time in the last year? Whoever set up the drain pipes underneath (and hell, we can't remember who did what at this point...it was one of the two plumbers we had out last Spring) set them up oddly, and there's a point at which they keep getting clogged. Yeah, we need to have someone come out and fix that. Scott's got too much on his plate already. I think he's feeling overwhelmed at the "stuff" yet to do. I'm trying not to nag, but I don't always succeed lol

The kids are doing well. We've been discussing our different ideas about homeschooling around here. My heart wants to unschool, but honestly I just don't feel I do enough to help them cultivate their interests for it to be worthwhile. I have to admit that much as I just adore my kids, I'm not a "get down on the floor and play" kind of mom. And I do tend to let them do their own thing, especially the older kids. That sounds worse than it is lol what I mean is, I don't, and don't want to, hover over them all the time. Scott likes the unschooling idea too, but he wants to make sure the bases are covered and that they do workbooks and such. I just hate doing them myself, and the kids hate them, which makes it hard. I don't know which way to go with it. I know they're learning stuff, but my "public schooled brain" keeps feeling inadequate, like we're not "doing enough". I need to get past that I think. To be honest, I don't need to worry about whether or not they know the state capitals. I think things are going to change drastically in the way that we all live (hello peak oil) and when that happens, I think things that are important are things like gardening, living sustainably, knowing how to take care of yourself. But that's just me and my tin foil hat talking lol.

Well, coffee pot is telling me it's ready...really need some this morning.