This year I made a special little spot for my garlic where they can just grow and grow to their little heart’s delight until they are nice and big and become part of my dinner.

I picked an out of the way spot and moved a garden box into place, I used the soil from my onion box (which I had just harvested) and was ready to plant.

I bought a bag of garlic from the grocery store, I am not picky with garlic, but if you want something special there are many sources on-line for speciality varieties.

Prepping the garlic for planting is as easy as separating the cloves from the bulb.

I placed the cloves, blunt side down into the soil about 3 inches apart.

Then covered the bulbs with about 3 inches of soil.

They are all tucked in now for a long winters nap, and hopefully in a year they will be gracing my stock pot with flavor and healing powers.

The afternoon right around our evening meal seems to be prime time for a lot of activity. Everyone is home and going here or there, playing with friends or each other and I am busy preparing our meal. It would be easy to get ornery (which I often do) but I have found that if I look for the beauty and peace around me it helps to calm my frazzled nerves.

The other day I stepped outside to pick peas for dinner, I then sat at the kitchen table to shell them. It was nice and relaxing to sit and slowly prepare food for my family.

I couldn’t help but notice how pretty the bright green looked in my white bowl. The afternoon sunlight streamed in my kitchen windows making for a peaceful scene.

I also got a handful of green beans out of the fridge from when I had picked them the day before and snapped them too, to go along with the peas.

There is something so satisfying about providing your own food.

The Pea Pods and the Bean ends will be fed to our compost pile, to later become nutrients for future vegetables.

The Peas and Beans will fill our tummies!