New Days with the Dogs

Yesterday marks the start of a new journey for our dogs. Imagine the shock of possibly never eating dog food again? I'm sure they weren't thinking too sorrowfully about it yesterday morning when they were munching on the raw chicken leg quarters they were served.

Most people may think we are a little extreme or bizarre, but after spending almost $100 a month on a special dog food that our dog with sensitive stomach could handle, the realization that feeding our dogs all raw would only cost $50 a month was the final push to take the step.

We have been having difficulties with our dogs being too skinny for a while, and when Sage began to have stomach problems, we knew something needed to change. The vet switched the dogs over to a more meat-based food, which was also a LOT more expensive.

I began to do research on an all raw diet for the dogs, and I soon came to the conclusion that it would probably be the best move I ever made for our pups. It took a lot of research and a small amount of common sense to tell me that dogs were indeed created to be carnivorous, and feeding it grain and veggie stuffed dog food could do a lot of long-term damage to their systems.

As always, I had thought feeding our dogs all raw would be too expensive. But after a little more research and calculation it became clear it was more within our means than the dog food we were buying. It felt very good to watch our dogs eating stuff that I knew God created their bodies to eat. I'm looking forward to seeing positive results from this change.

This has really opened my eyes into looking at what is really good for our critters, and I'm starting to look more into feeding natural diets to the rest of our critters as well. I don't know if anything will come of it, but at least I'm having fun doing the research!

Veggies to Plant in May in Louisiana

I know that I missed putting this list up last month, but hopefully I'll be able to keep up from now on.

Collards

Cucuzzi

Eggplant

Hot Pepper

Luffa

Mirliton

Okra

Peanut

Pumpkin

Southern Peas

Squash

Sweet Potato (slips)

Heat-tolerant Tomatoes (Start seed for transplants)*

Cantaloupe

Watermelon

*A few heat-tolerant heirloom tomato varieties are:

Arkansas Traveler

Costoluto Genovese

Green Zebra

Quarter Century

Sioux

Super Sioux

Some Progress, Some Harvest!

I was not able to plant the garden I dreamed of this year, and I did not get to do much in the garden this spring. I had some health issues, as well as a hectic schedule and as a result, not a lot got done. We were able to plant some corn and beans, as well as some tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumber, and cantaloupe. We had to use one of our garden spaces for goat, thus were not able to plant as much this year.

This is the swiss chard, lettuce, and garlic. 

Garlic is a first for us this year, and I can't wait to see how it turns out! We were blessed with some cloves by a neighbor who has had the same garlic passed down for generations in his family. It's so lovely to get a heritage along with a seed!

As you can see, we are beginning to get some little tomatoes. I am very excited about them!

It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord can take one tiny seed, and grow it to become a large plant producing pounds of fruit! It kind of reminds me of our faith. When we first come to Christ, our faith is so small, and seemingly so insignificant. But God takes that seed of faith, as tiny as it may be, and carefully cultivates it to become a growing, thriving plant producing wonderful fruit for His glory!

And, for those of you who tease me about all veggies and no flowers, here is proof that I've planted flowers in my garden! I admit that the purpose was to help deter pests from my vegetables, but they are flowers none-the-less! I'm sorry, but unless it serves some profitable purpose, it probably will not end up in my garden! 

Here is a glimpse of some of the fruits of our labors. Our strawberries did pretty pitifully this year compared to the ones we planted last year, but we are getting some berries, so we are thankful for that!

My trial-run of growing carrots was a success! We were so excited to harvest the crisp-smelling roots. Believe me, I had help to pull them up! To the girls, pulling up carrots was as much fun as digging potatoes!

"And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation; And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase." ( Psalm 107:36-37 )