If you’ve been following this blog for awhile now, then you know how eating well is important to us, which has led to us growing our own veggies and now our own fruits (with our mini backyard orchard culture). Well, we’ve been working on this garden for about 4 years now and it just dawned on us that we weren’t using a hose safe for drinking, thus not safe for watering our fruits and veggies! Our previous hose was not lead or phthalate free (probably filled with that junk!), so our water was running through those dangerous substances.

We garden because we want to feed our bodies and our kids with good things (and we really enjoy it) and here we were watering our garden with something that might not be so good. It was such an oh-my-goodness-we’re-such-dingbats moment. Ben immediately did some research (he researches everything!) and ended up finding a hose that is safe for drinking (and lead and phthalate free), therefore safe to use for our fruits and veggies. He ordered this Colorite Element hose, this Dramm sprayer, and this Dramm valve shut off to go along with it, and we like them all so far! Ben likes it so much that he will now drink the water from the hose when we’re outside working on the garden.

If you’re wondering, this isn’t a sponsored post (I’d tell you if it was), nor contain any affiliated links, but I just wanted to share it in case it might be an oversight on your part too. It’s something we just honestly overlooked and we want to be confident that we’re feeding our fruits and veggies with good things because those same fruits and veggies feed our family. We’re glad we finally got our hose on the right track.

P.S. If you look on the sidebar, where the categories are (right under our photobooth picture), I now have a category up for gardening! It’s a big part of what we do together as a family, so I thought it was about time it got it’s own section. Thanks Joy for helping put that up!

This was our first time growing fennel. Ours didn’t grow too big, but they were still yummy and I used all of it in one dish, so there was that. It grew and we ate it, end of story. We love fennel! It’s also good roasted with carrots… yummy! Do you guys like fennel?

P.S. My hearts go out to those in Boston. This pain (and evil) is so real and I’m praying for healing for the hearts and bodies of all those affected. It’s so sad that things like this happen.

This week has been filled with days outside in the backyard, lots of cooking, lots of homeschooling, and mama project completing. I’m particularly excited about my project completing (my project lists never seem to end) so I can take the girls field tripping. I kind of miss being bored.

The week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

Soul loves swimming! At home, she wears her bathing suit all day, every day.

Glow can now say, “May I be excused please?” When she’s done eating and wants to leave the table. Well, it sounds more like, “May-I-B-Cue-P?”

True’s been reading one Junie B. Jones book a day! That girl loves to read!

I just bought Me & Mr. Cassidy’s new EP release here. So good!

My girls love pretending they have an iphone with an old calculator, so I know they would definitely love this wood phone a lot!

Kiwi Crate sent a box over and we can’t wait to try it out!

This parody on Taylor Swift’s 22 is funny! Made Ben and me laugh. Thanks for sharing Joanna!

I wear this necklace almost everyday. It goes with everything!

I really like this post by SF Girl By Bay about the pressures of social media. I like to be as open as I can be in this space because I never want to deceive anybody. Online lives are definitely very much edited to mostly show the pretty, so never think of yourself as inadequate compared to what you see online. Rachel also did a really good real life post here. And well, you already know about my f-bombing day too. Blogging is such a weird phenomenon.

I’m really thankful for the weekend. I love the weekends!!! Don’t you?

These girls are crazy and funny. They get the crazy from me and the funny from Ben. The end of the school year is coming and I can see how True is becoming a second grader and Brave a first. Despite the grade difference, they do the exact same curriculum at home with slight changes to accommodate each of their skill level. It’s mostly in reading level where they differ, but Brave is really excelling in her her writing and reading these days, so it’s just a matter of time when they’ll both be at the same place.

When I picked them up from enrichment classes this week, their theatre teacher told me that both of them went up to the front to say their poems. I was so proud. Both girls, especially True, are so shy, so this was a big deal. I’m hoping they grow out of this shyness. Actually, all my girls are pretty bashful, so I think that’s what keeps them sort of behaved in public. The bad thing about it though, is that when meeting people it can come across rude. It takes them about 30 minutes to finally warm up to someone, so they’re pretty boring for the first 30 minutes of any play date.

on true: shirts, misha lulu. pants, gifted from grandmama. shoes, thrifted. on brave: shirt, misha lulu. skirt, misha lulu. shoes, gap kids.

p.s. the new misha lulu spring/summer line is adorable (check some of it out here and here)! don’t you just love brave’s a-line skirt (pictured above)?!

We’re uprooting our winter garden in preparation for our summer one and look at all these pretty carrots we got! Some of them came out pretty funny looking too. The girls were having a riot with all the funny shaped ones. Of course, I think the coolest part are our radishes because I have never seen a black radish before.

We honestly didn’t upkeep with our winter garden as much because the focus has been on getting the mini orchard started. It is definitely work to maintain and grow your own fruit and veggie garden, which makes me appreciate the farmers out there who help bring the farm to our table. We love growing our own food, but it does take time and money to do so. It’s definitely worth it though. I love being able to go to our backyard and pick out some things to eat. It’s such a good feeling.