Clara Jane Karkoski

Introducing Clara Jane Karkoski, born this morning weighing 7lb 13oz and 21.5 inches long. Clara and Mom are doing well and she can’t wait to meet her big sisters. I’ll try to add a family picture once we take one. 

  

Kale Day

Today is apparently National Kale Day. I didn’t celebrate by eating kale so I’ll do the next best thing and post pictures of ours from the garden with lots of new growth from all the rain we’ve had over the past two weeks.

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Homegrown Watermelon

Here’s the first watermelon we’ve successfully grown in our home garden after previous attempts either never fruited or rotted before they were ripe. We planted them directly in the garden in mid-summer and let them snake through the shade of our peppers.

We ended up harvesting two personal-sized watermelons, with the one below being the first that start growing and the smaller of the two at 3 pounds while the other came in at 4 pounds and is waiting in the fridge when this one is gone. Now if only we had better weather to enjoy the watermelon in than the 50-60s and persistent rain we’ve been stuck in for the last week here in piedmont North Carolina.

Before

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After

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We plan to pickle the rind and toast the seeds as we’re trying to use more parts of the fruits and veggies we’re growing rather than tossing them in the compost pile.