This year Jimmy and I went all in on growing our own vegetables and herbs. My  nephew Ben built us three more raised beds. Jimmy built us two big urban garden frames. We had a custom 6-foot fence installed around everything.

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With all of this and lots of rainwater, effort and love, we grew our own tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, basil, parsley, garlic, cucumbers, green beans and winter squash.  We even grew native milkweed, Joe Pye weed, larkspur, bee balm and butterfly weed, using the winter sowing method, and planted them in a border on the inside of our garden fence. We were ecstatic the day the first monarch butterfly emerged from its chrysalis on our milkweed and flew away. 

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I spent the summer and fall canning and preserving what we harvested from the garden, the wild and the nearby Amish farms. That's how our 2023 Kepner Homestead creations came to be. I hope they make you happy. 

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Love, Cheryl

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