Weeds next door

This morning I dressed in my oldest, messiest clothes, plunked my wide-brimmed hat on my head, and went out into the garden at about 8:45. It had been long enough since I'd been out there. It was time to let the plants know I hadn't forgotten them.

My mission: weeding. Rain has been pouring down nearly every night for over a week, and the weeds have really taken off. Some - many - were as high as mid-calf. Not in the beds, of course, but in the paths between beds. There the soil is harder, and the weeds less-noticed... until they get out of control, like they were this morning.

I wore through one finger of my left-hand glove, muddied my clothes up to my knees, ground dirt into my arms until I looked like I had a sudden tan, and landed hard on my rear more than once when a stubborn weed gave way suddenly.

I pulled them up by the roots; the small young sprouts, the slender, easily-removed shoots of grass, the four-leaved weeds that have a red tint, the spinach-like weeds with the stubborn root system, the wild violet leaves that have no flowers, and the short maple saplings, slender like grass. I pulled dandelions, too, but most of the time the root stayed in the ground. Those things are strong.

I worked until 11:00, so I had lots of time to think. I asked myself, why am I pulling weeds from the path? What does it matter? I reminded myself that weeds that went to seed near the beds would surely end up broadcasting seeds into the beds, causing dozens of miniature versions of themselves to spring up among our precious crops.

That's a lot like life, I thought. Who would want bad seeds nearby? If a bar opened next door, you would want to close it down. But what about more subtil influences? What are things that I don't count as "in" my life, but are near enough to influence me? Am I taking active control of my climate?

Someday I hope to be a parent. Then I'll really have my job cut out for me, making sure the influences surrounding our home are wholesome and godly.

When I was finished in the garden, I had a pile of weeds that looked like a small green haystack - roughly 2.5' in diameter, and 2' high.

And I had a lot of thinking stored away in my head.

I'll plant tomatoes, but I refuse to war with ants.

It all started out so pleasant. I was sitting on our back porch, potting the flower and herb seedlings I've grown. The cool dirt, the smell of spring, and the sight of bright green baby plants were all relaxing and invigorating at the same time. One by one, the row of potted balsam rose plants grew, and I looked proudly at the line.

Dad asked me to re-pot some of the tomato plants when I'd finished with my flowers and sweet basil. I was happy to help, hopeful that we will soon find good homes for each of the tall Italian trees. With over 2 thousand plants at our home, we are eager to get rid of some, much as we like them.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term "re-pot," it means to take plants growing in small containers out of their current containers and put them in bigger ones, so their roots have more space to grow.

I finished my flowers soon after that, and I moved across the porch to where the Italian Tree tray sat waiting for me. I pulled the container of potting soil after me, and settled down in a camp chair to do my work. The tray of plants sat in a plastic holder, and I removed the tray to where I could reach it easier. I put each finished plant in the empty plastic holder. I had potted three plants when it happened.

I noticed that several tiny ants were crawling over my box of potting soil. They seemed to be coming from the tomatoes. I wondered why they where there, but didn't give it further thought until I set my third tomato plant down in the tray.

The tray was moving. I looked closer and saw that it wasn't the black tray that was moving; it was the surface of the tray that was moving.

Ants.

Everywhere.

I saw that almost all of them were carrying eggs, and I immediately knew an ant colony had been disturbed. A moment later I realized that they had built their home between the tomato tray and the plastic holder.

"Daaaaaddy!" I shrieked, but he was out of hearing. I'm not afraid of an ant, but I do have a problem with 6 thousand ants.

I shivered, moved the three pots out of the tray, and stood up to shake the ants out of the tray, hitting it against the deck railing. Ants went flying.

Whoops. I backed into one of my pots. Dirt spilled onto the porch boards, and the proud tomato plant flopped sideways. I tossed the tray aside, and moved to pick up the pot. Whoops. There went my other two plants. More dirt spilled on the porch floor.

I was standing where the tray had been sitting. I looked down, and couldn't help myself; I began to stomp madly everywhere. They were so tiny....I didn't know if I was actually squishing them or not.

I guess not; they crawled up my feet. I was only wearing flip flops, and I could feel their tiny legs on me. I slapped at the tiny creatures madly, but as fast as I got rid of them, more climbed on.

I must have been a sight; stomping, slapping, dancing, and stopping every now and then for a squeal of disgust.

When the torrent finally slowed to a trickle, I took a deep breath, double-check my seat for critters, and sat down to do some more potting. I reached for the tray of plants and picked up a pot. I squeezed the bottom of one of the cells, to loosen the plant inside.

A handful of eggs and ants fell into my palm.

I shrieked, brushed them off in a hurry, and ran inside the house. I love tomato plants, but don't ask me to fight World War III with ants.

Now I REALLY know spring is coming.

I did my first planting today!

Dad has been planting things for weeks now; the marigolds are budding, and our tomato plants, under grow-lights in the basement, are nearing a foot in height. But I have remained an observer and water-er and light-turner-on-er until today. Today I planted something myself!

I planted 144 cells; 36 sweet basil, 36 balsam flowers, 36 moss roses, and 36 African daisies. All of these flowers are new to me. I've grown sweet basil before, but never successfully from seed. I always "cheated" by getting transplants from the store when my starting-from-seed attempts flopped. (Of course, using seeds that were several years old just might have had something to do with my lack of success...) And all the flowers are ones that I've never grown before. I'm planning to grown bachelor's buttons (I've tried that one before, with Dollar Store seeds that didn't do very well) and....oh boy, what's that other one?....well, anyway, another flower. Oh yes - mixed wild flowers for cutting. And Zinnias. I still have to buy those seeds, but after last year's success with them, I know I want to grow them again! (6' high instead of the package's predicted 3'-4'!) But those three kinds of flowers grown better if they're sown directly in the ground outside after all danger of frost is past, so I'm waiting on those.

My heart is jumping up and down as I picture what our home will look like with all our bare flower beds overflowing with color this spring. I'm usually more of a vegetable grower than a flower planter, but Dad bought the seeds for me this year, and since there wasn't any vegetable planting to do today, and I was in the mood to plant, ...wala! Planted flower seeds!

We have flower beds on every side of our house, but there's never been a year (in my memory) when they have all been filled. Buying that many transplants from a nursery would have cost half a fortune, and none of us ever took the time to plant that many flowers from seeds. If it wasn't for the scattering of perennials in our beds, we might never have any blooms around our house!

And yet we all love it when the beds are full and looking pretty. So maybe this year will be beautiful! With 108 transplants, plus more seeds for direct sowing, we ought to have plenty of flowers! And if we have too many, Dad plans to sell the extras in his gardening business. So either way we can't lose. :)

The seeds will sprout at different times, but by the end of two and a half weeks or so, they all ought to be up. I can't wait!

What about you? Are you getting ready for spring? Started any seeds yet? Or are you still pouring over seeds catalogs in your area of the country? Trying something new this year, or sticking with old favorites? First-time gardener or long-time lover? I'd love to hear about what your gardening plans are!

My First Vlog!

Is it "Vlog" or "V-log"? I don't know which - all I know is that I wanted to do one. I still sorta do. I'm still sorta glad I'm posting my first one. If I could just get over being mad at my computer.

Note: I wrote this post yesterday, but my computer was being finicky (still) and I just turned the thing off without publishing the post. But today has been love-e-lee, and I think I've got my stock of patience restored, so I decided to try again. Hence you get to enjoy this post a day late. :))

It's been one of those days.

I hate spending all day on the computer. What I hate even more is spending all day on the computer and not getting anywhere.

Don't worry; I didn't spend all day working on a blog post. That was only one of many things I was trying to do on the computer today.

(Notice all the italics and bold lettering? I must still be mad. Sorry.)

On Saturday I recorded my Vlog clips, and spent several hours in the afternoon playing around with them on the video-making program on my computer. I love that thing (the program, not the computer, remember?) I had such fun, adding music, cutting and editing what we had filmed, adding photos, special effects, ...even title and credits! I could do that for a living, ...I think. :)

There's only one problem. I should have known; it happens every time I design a video with this program. It turns out great, but when I try to save it, the format it saves in is....really strange. So strange that no other program can play the video. Not even Windows Media player.

And not even Blogger.

You know what this is leading to.

Yup; I can't upload the video!

Soooo, I'm offering you the very basic clips; un-edited, without music, and certainly no title and credits. Sigh. Just plain old me.

You know what else I did that makes me mad? I uploaded these videos backwards. It comes in two parts, and part 2 is on top. Make sure you watch the last one first. Make sense?








And because it's against my principles to leave my readers feeling as discouraged as I do, I refuse to end on a sour note. Computers are, after all, only machines. And frustrations and bad days are just that; "light afflictions," as the apostle Paul would call them. They don't compare with eternity! Time spent in God's Word does wonders for a bad day. I'm so glad He never changes! Let's praise Him!

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Refrain

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

Refrain

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings. Wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

Refrain

Sour Cream and Chive Biscuits

I really do love Taste of Home's recipes. My sister Heather got their "Family Collection Cookbook" out of the library on our last visit, and I've enjoyed browsing it the past few days. Does anybody else out there read a cookbook like a novel - front to back, every page?

I copied down 3 or 4 recipes that I want to try, and the only one I've made so far is this biscuit recipe, which went nicely with supper last night. I snapped it up at first because I saw the word "chives." This is our first year having fresh chives available to us in the back yard, and I'm having fun learning about all the dishes they can be used in.

The above picture is from the Taste of Home website, and I used it because the biscuits really turned out looking like that. That's what I love about ToH - I've only ever had one of their recipes flop on me! (Those of you who are regular readers know that such a status is indeed worth something!)

Of course, I didn't leave the recipe "as is." I tweaked it to use unbleached flour, and butter instead of shortening (ick!), but other than that the recipe remained the same.

...Except, of course, that it did not make 12-15 biscuits. I rolled the dough more like 1/2" thick instead of 3/4" thick, and got eleven biscuits. Oh well. These are so good.

It took me about 10 minutes to chop the chives, and I still finished these well in time for supper. Sitting out there on the wooden edge of the garden bed, black kitchen scissors in hand, chopping chives, I was very happy. The white 1/4 measuring cup was balanced in my lap, and I held the scissors so that the little snips of chives fell right into the cup. The pungent odor of the chives mixed with the more subtle scent of the rosemary next to my knees. My fingers got slightly sticky from where the chives mashed a little between my fingers, and I held my hand up to my nose for a whiff. Wonderful.

The evening sun was hot on my head and arms, making tiny beads of sweat run down my skin, but all I kept thinking was "who else could do what I'm doing - putting ingredients straight from the ground into the measuring cup?" I know other people grow their own food, but right then I felt like a princess with a monopoly on pleasure. God had made me supremely happy by the simple - yet complex - gift of a clump of green chives.

Here's the biscuit recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (King Arthur flour gives best results!)
  
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 butter
  
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup minced chives

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. With a fork, stir in sour cream, milk and chives until the mixture forms a ball.
On a lightly floured surface, knead five to six times. Roll to 3/4-in. thickness; cut with a 2-in. biscuit cutter. Place on an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. Yield: 12-15 biscuits.


Tips:
~ Save about 1/8 cup of the flour called for in the recipe, and use that when you knead the dough, instead of adding more flour. Otherwise your dough might get too dry.
~ When kneading, try to make "layers" as you fold the dough, and don't roll the dough out so roughly that you pack those layers all the way together. Let them be lightly stacked - you'll have flaky layers in your biscuits that way.
~ Cook these on a pre-heated baking stone! A real help in achieving that perfect crisp outer crust.
~When you place your biscuits on the stone, turn them upside down, so that the part of the biscuit that touched the table when you cut it out now forms the top of the biscuit. I read somewhere that this practice will make your biscuits rise more, and this was the first time I'd tried it. It certainly does! Very nice tip.

Joy, Plants, and Patrick Henry

Tomato plants (near 8 feet tall!) Heather is standing.

"I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." Isaiah 61:10-11

Me with our beet harvest. The herb bed is behind me on the left, and behind me on the right you can see the zucchini plant leaves.

And one more, because I can't resist. This is my over-6-foot-tall brother next to the tomato plants. These pictures were taken awhile ago. The plants are taller now. The corn you see in the foreground is bearing ears that are ready to be picked!

It's not just the dirt. It's not just the plants. There's something about a garden that invites God to speak to your heart. I know not everyone gets "in" to gardening, but I can't help that. I really think there's something to be said for the fact that God put the first man and woman in a garden. I can't explain it, but there's something about a garden that makes me want to cry and laugh at the same time. Some of my happiest hours are spent there.

Now you know why my posts aren't coming as regularly. :)

No, actually, I can't give that excuse. Summer in general is my time-thief, and yours as well, I'm sure. I hope y'all had a lovely Independence Day on Saturday.

Does anyone know where I can find an online copy of the speech Patrick Henry gave to the signers of the Declaration of Independence, just before they placed their names on that historic document? I heard it read for the first time in church yesterday, and it moved me to tears.

If such a speech, decked with references to the Almighty, and dripping with love for freedom and fellowman, read aloud 230-some years after it was spoken, can create the response it did yesterday in our church building, I can't imagine the way it moved hearts in the hour Henry cried it. I would love to share it here, but I don't know where to find it. Can any of you help me?

Reflections on the VA 2009 Homeschool Convention, Part 1

I've decided that every day is busy, so I might as well get on with that blog post I keep putting off until "things quiet down a little"...so here I am!

On Saturday my brother Curtis graduated from high school. My grandparents were in town, and we celebrated Father's Day together. Tomorrow is my father's birthday, and in this "in between" day we have green beans to can, sewing to do, and all the little things that make up a busy household. Life is life!

But that isn't the blog post I keep planning. Today I want to share some of my notes from the VA homeschool convention we had the pleasure of attending last week.

When I hear people talk about "sharing their notes" I often prepare myself to be bored, but I hope that these fragments of what struck me during the workshops will be of some help, amusement, profit, or encouragement to you. I don't take notes like most normal people - I don't really write down the main points of the speaker (usually). Instead, I write down things that I want to research when I get home, interesting trivia tidbits, and the like. So please bear with me, and just take whatever bits of this interest you.

We were blessed to be able to spend two days at the convention, and there were three workshops each day, plus a keynote session which everyone attended. I volunteered during one workshop, so I listened to five speakers plus the keynote speaker. To avoid hard choices, I'll simply share my notes in the order I attended the sessions:

Workshop #1: "Finding Hope in the Valleys of Life," by Mr. Steve Demme

My brother Curtis and I attended this workshop because it was our first chance to hear Mr. Demme in person. I wasn't sure what exactly he'd be speaking about, but the title sounded good, and I knew I wanted to hear him speak. For those of you unfamiliar with his name, this is the founder of the math curriculum, Math-U-See - a program I only used my last two years of high school, but which I fell in love with and plan to use with my own children some day. I knew Mr. Demme was an excellent math teacher, but through this session I got a glimpse into his personal life. He has a special-needs son, and this session focused on what to do when life gets tough. I had been having a very hectic and emotional week, and this was a breath of fresh air. You can see from my notes that I did a lot more listening than I did writing.

Notes:
~ The wise man and the foolish man both got rain. (This may seem simple, but it was the first time this thought had presented itself to my brain. Profound!)
~ "God does not exempt us from suffering - He transforms us in it."
~ Learn how to breathe! Just let go and let it out. Psalm 55:22
~ When in the valley, we need three things: we need the body of Christ, we need to pray, and we need to read God's Word.
~ Note to self: check out thefamilythatstaystogether.org, joniandfriends.org. and "When Robin Prays."

Workshop #2: "Building a Family Based Business"

This workshop was geared more towards the business man or engineer who wants to work from home, as opposed to the cottage industry family, but we still were able to take some nuggets of profit away. You'll notice I have more of an "outline" in these notes, because I was basically just copying things off the screen instead of writing my own thoughts down.

Notes:
~ To build a business, you must UNDERSTAND the customer
~ Entrepreneur Guidelines/Steps:
* Define your business views, principles, values, etc.
* Define your own skills, gifts, passions, experiences. List them.
* Evaluate your resources; money, time, physical, family
* Know what you're aiming for - think about the future, how the business might grow, and what that will mean for you.
* Analyse the following: Industry, Financial, Operation, Product/Service, Customer
~ Identify unmet needs, services to meet those needs, and resources to help you.
~ Are you going to buy a business, build a business, or franchise?
~ DO IT! Try, adjust aim, try, adjust aim, and try again. Don't spend all your time aiming and never firing!
~ Write a financial model. Talk to experts in your field.
~ Write market strategy.
~ Check out NewVentureLab.com

Workshop #3: Days of Old Herb Farm

This was a lot of fun. The speaker is a fairly new business gardener; a man who lost his job and turned to his hobby (gardening) to make a living. He now sells books he's written and travels to a few places to speak. I was impressed by his combination of knowledge and humbleness and eagerness to learn and try new things. I loved looking at the photos of his backyard in the presentation.

Notes:
~ A website about a family who produces a $2,000 worth of food on 1/10 acre: pathtofreedom.com
~ If I plant pea seeds and get only 2 or 3 pods, I'm dissatisfied - what about spiritual seeds? Am I happy with low production?
~ Compare prices; grow the most expensive stuff, buy the cheap stuff.
~ Check out Bill Mollison
~ Raise In-Demand Dogs for money
~ Plant corn in circular heaps - the way Indians did
~ Check out John Jeavons "How to Grow More Vegetables."
~ Hexagon planting spacing
~ Have 2-4 hens in a "chicken tractor."
~ Check out "Victory Egg Garden" by George Lansing
~ Use "water glass" for preserving eggs. (This point really fascinates me. Anybody have experience with using water glass? I'm all ears.)

Keynote Session to end Day#1: by Voddie Baucham

Our favorite sessions were those by Mr. Voddie Baucham. Being encouraged academically is great, but being lifted spiritually is so much better. God's hand was on these sessions. My notes don't do it justice; I was too busy listening. This was our first time to hear Voddie Bachaum in person, and we loved it. We even got to speak very briefly with him afterwards.

Notes:
~ Luke 6:40. The disciple will be like his master. (This thought, this promise, holds so much thought packed into one phrase. I will be like my master. This is good if my master is Jesus; it's an encouragement to not give up, and to remind me that He is faithful to complete what He starts. But this is also a warning; those whom I treat like my masters I will become like. It's also a sobering thought as I look ahead to being a parent someday. My children are going to be like me. Whoa! I'd better be following Christ!)
~ People make the right moral choices "not because they heard sermons on this topic, but because they have a biblical worldview."
~ The three foundational skills in education: Read! Write! Reason!
~ Worldviews are formed:
* Informed
*Uncritically
*Inter-generationally
*Intra-generationally
*Over time
~ Elements of a worldview:
* View of God
*View of man
*View of truth
*View of knowledge
*View of Ethics

That sums up my notes from day 1 at the VA 2009 Homeschool Convention. I wanted to share both days in one post, but it's getting late, and I don't have the time to do day 2. I'll have to try again later. I guess you have plenty to digest in this post for awhile. Hope you enjoy at least a little of this!

Beans, Herbs, and Pea Pods

I'm back from the Homeschool Convention! ...Sore body and all. (I guess my tumble was harder than I thought - I had an extremely sore body over the weekend. :):) )

The convention was absolutely marvelous. I know I said before we left that I was hoping to meet some homeschool graduates - I didn't, but I met several very nice other people, and was blessed very much by the speakers I heard. And it was lovely to be able to just spend some time with my family.

There's something odd about me; I have a terrible time taking notes. Perhaps it's because, as a homeschooler, I didn't grow up listening to a teacher talk all day while I took notes, or perhaps it's just my personality, but when I hear someone speaking and know I'm supposed to take notes, I get overwhelmed. I want to write down everything they say. Then, of course, I can't even focus on what they're saying! It took me until I was well into my late teens before I got the hang of note-taking. But even now I don't usually take notes. I prefer to cram it in my head.

But at this convention, I took notes.

That's how good it was.

I hope to share my notes with you over the next few days. I'd like to share some tonight, but I also want to tell you what I did today, since that's freshest in my mind. (I have to organize my notes anyway.)

I canned green beans!

Four quarts, to be exact. All by my lonesome, too! Mom usually does the canning here, but she had something she had to do today and, as any gardener knows, beans don't wait for anyone.

So out I went, around 10:00, to sit in the bean patch and pick. I was thrilled by how heavily the beans have come on - in the two days we were gone, they went from pale purple blossoms to plump green beans. The picking was very easy. I was using a 5-quart ice cream bucket, and I filled it twice. Lezley had gone out and picked before me, and she filled a 4-quart bucket. I was very pleased with my little sister's determination and hard work!

Then I sat and snapped all those beans. Is there anything quite like the smell of fresh raw green beans, the fuzzy rough feeling of the beans snapping between your fingers, and the taste of beans in your mouth, to tell you that summer is on its way? Snapping beans always brings back so many memories for me. It's almost as good as looking through an old photo album.

Mom was out of the house, and as I snapped, a plan formed; what if I was to finish these beans before she got back? What if I was to can them all alone? The adventure attracted me...and so the challenge began. I poured over Mom's trusty Ball canning book as I finished the beans, and then headed out to the kitchen to try my hand at canning. I've watched Mom do it so many times....

I won't bore you with all the details, but I actually canned my first 4 quarts of beans! Mom got home before I had the jars in the canner, but she let me finish them. ..Except I had to run out, so she watched them while they cooked. And Dad helped me fix the canner just right before I started the jars in it, so I guess I didn't do everything. :) But it was still fun.

I also dehydrated my first herbs today. My basil plants have grown like crazy, and I picked a whole colander-full of sweet basil leaves. They filled the dehydrator to bursting. After supper, the leaves were dry and I started crumbling them into a glass jar. The pungent smell of basil hung in the air, and the leaves were sharp against my fingers.

You know what? Not only had the leaves shrunk as they dried, but they continued to decrease in volume as I crumbled them. By the time I was done, the green pile didn't even rise an entire inch above the bottom of the mason jar.

I stared at the little heap. So much work. So much fragrance. And my fingers condensed it all to this little pile. All the moisture removed; only the body of the leaves remain.

What an illustration, I thought to myself. How many people go through life piling up pleasant things, working hard for things they see as huge and important? And how much of what they pile will last through eternity? Will it crumble away? When their life is sifted through at the judgement seat, what will be left? A little pile? What will be left of my life? How much time do I spend on things that don't matter? What will be the size of my pile? When the moisture of worthless things has been dried away, what will be left?

That reminds me of something I heard at a gardening workshop at the convention. I'll leave you with this one thought from my notes:

"You plant seeds expecting to get more in return. If you planted peas and only got one or two pods back, you would be very upset. You expect a big yield; lots of peas! So why are you content with such small yield spiritually? Why is it okay to grow only a few spiritual pea pods on your plant? You would be upset if your garden plant did that poorly. Why aren't you upset about your lack of spiritual pods?"

I cannot answer this question to my own satisfaction.

Virginia Homeschool Conference

Are any of my Virginia-resident readers planning on going to the annual Virginia Homeschool Convention in Richmond? We'll be there, Lord willing!

Yes - the day after I finish farm-sitting we'll be heading off to Richmond. This year we'll actually be spending the night and staying for both days of the convention - something we've only done once before.

To tell the truth, my family has only been to the convention twice in past years. I find it amusing that I've lived all my life in Virginia, been homeschooled through all 12 grades in Virginia, and only went to Virginia's homeschool convention once while actually in school. After this weekend, I will have gone twice while out of school.

Many of the families who go to the convention are younger, just starting out on their homeschooling journey, but there are some families there who, like my own family, have members who are out of school and yet come with their family because they have younger siblings who are still in school. Though I love meeting people of all ages, I have to admit I'm hoping to get to meet some other homeschool graduates at the convention - and isn't making new friends one of the best parts of travel?

And of course it will be delightful just to spend time with my own family as we travel together - 'specially after such a busy two weeks. I've had moments in the past few days when I felt as though I hadn't said "hello" or "good morning" to half my family before it was time to say "goodnight!"

The speakers at the convention this year (Vodie Baucham will be there!) and the topics of the sessions all seem to promise a time that is not only fun but also spiritually-lifting and educational - many of the sessions are focused on entreprenurialism and family-run agricultural home businesses, which I am really excited about. My parents are excited about those sessions, too. :)

I wish I had time to update you on our garden; the tomatoes are around 5 feet high, the corn is almost waist-high, (except for the plants we had to replant), the squash bores seem to be visiting again this year, the beans are loaded with blossoms, the brocolli is almost finished, the peas are yeilding better than we thought they would after collapsing the trellis under their own weight...lots of stuff going on.

But I really don't have time to go into all that. In a little while I need to go finish spray-painting another layer of paint on a trashcan I'm dressing up. I've been cleaning my sewing area and I wanted a brightly-colored trash can to match my red-and-white theme. My sewing area sure needs the makeover! I considered taking before and after pictures to share with you, but truly didn't have the nerve to share "before" pictures. It was that bad.

But it's starting to look good now! Maybe I'll have it done before the convention.

Maybe.

Making Strawberry Jam

I know y'all haven't heard much from me in the past few days. I'm sorry about that but, to tell the truth, I haven't had much time to even think about my absence here. I've been happy when I got time to sit - and since it takes even more energy to think than it does to sit, thinking really wasn't on the to-do list! (I'm joking, of course.)

Not that being busy is bad - it's life. I love the times during spring and summer when I feel like I'm outdoors all day every day. It sure beats cabin fever!

I've been sunburned twice in the past two weeks, and May isn't even over yet! Some years I can go all summer without a burn, so if this is a sign of things to come "our light little Amber will be a brownie by the end of summer," as Mom says.

My brother Curtis and I have been asked to work at a farm a handful of days every month through the summer - that is where the sunburns have been coming from. The lady who owns the farm opens it up to field trips, and our job is to help with some of the different activities. I help the children plant flower seeds, while Curtis gives pony rides. (I like to help with the pony rides when I can. Much more fun! :)

But I've also been in the garden quite a bit - another good place to get sun! Our tomatoes have gotten tall enough to tie to their stakes, and the peas are blossoming like crazy. I expect to be freezing them anytime now - after we eat our fill of fresh ones, of course.

I looked back through some of my records, and realized that last year on May 23rd I was freezing strawberries and making strawberry jam. This year I'm ahead of myself, for that's what I've been doing the past two days, and that is one reason I haven't touched this blog. Twenty-four pounds of strawberries takes awhile to put up!

I wish it were FORTY-four pounds of berries, since they are my favorite berry....but I don't think I'd have the energy to deal with them. I'm just glad I finished twenty-four pounds! Mom, Heather, and my three youngest siblings did all the picking yesterday morning while Curtis and I were working at the farm, and I volunteered to do all the preserving when we got home.

Going from the hot sun all morning to the hot kitchen all afternoon, and then mid-week church service at night, is a great way to fall asleep fast at night. Yesterday was packed with activity! Today hasn't been exactly slow, either. *grin* But all the berries are finished! I made about 6 quarts of jam and froze the rest of the berries whole. I wish I had pictures, but....you know...too busy to find the camera. I tried 3 different recipes, and I guess we'll see which one will set the best.

Strawberries are almost always the first crop we preserve. This year we grew some strawberries in our garden, but we only picked about 15 so far, so I'm glad we have other places to go picking. Broccoli, lettuce, and spinach has come in from our garden as well, but none of that has been enough to preserve. Now that we've actually frozen some food I feel like summer has begun!

Okay - strawberries are done. That leaves:

~ Blueberries (go picking in June? Or do those come in during July?)
~ Beets (Canned)
~ Carrots (Frozen - if we don't eat them all fresh)
~ Potatoes (No need to touch these - just dig them up and put them in crates!)
~ Peas (Coming soon!)
~ Tomatoes (Lots of sauce!!!)
~ Corn (I can almost promise you that none of this is making it to the freezer!)
~ Cucumbers (pickles!)
~ Squash and Zucchini (I think we're dehydrating it this year, except maybe freezing some shredded zucchini.)
~ Beans (Canned)


Nope - I don't think there's any danger of my becoming bored this spring and summer.

Thank you, Lord, for such bountiful, beautiful, blessings!

Two Heads are Better than One

We have finally started harvesting something besides lettuce and spinach from our garden. Today we split 6 strawberries between the 8 of us... SO sweet they are! One bite was simply not enough - but it will have to be until more ripen. We hope to go berry picking at an actual strawberry farm this week and get enough to preserve. That will be fun!

We also picked our first broccoli today. We probably could have let it go a bit longer, but we were so eager to pick it! We've never had such big heads, and we all agree that the fermented compost tea we've been feeding the garden gets the credit for such lovely yields:

Mom and I showing off the two broccoli heads Dad harvested today.

If you'd like to see more pictures, check my Dad's blog.

A Walk Through the Garden

God has blessed us with downpour after downpour this week. Today was the first time I could be out in the sunshine, and it was so good to feel the warmth of the sun on my face! ...Even if the air still is humid.

Of course I went straight to the garden. I've been making short trips out in the fog or drizzle to see how the plants are doing, and have been amazed at the way they're shooting up in such a short time, but seeing them in the sunshine they look all the more taller.

How good God is, to bless us with land to work! Today is a national day of prayer, and though this day causes me to ponder much, and though I grieve for the way my country has for te most part forsaken the Lord, I can still go out in the bird-filled quiet and peace of my backyard and see beauty made by His hand. It reminds me that there is still a God on the throne, and that He is completely sovereign. Life will go on, no matter what each day brings forth. Not only that, but life will be continued to be filled with good, because He is working out His sovereign will.

Anyway...let me show you some of the fruit of our hands;

My herb garden. Such little things, my basil plants are right now! Chives are in the upper right corner, and oregano off to the left. I have two kinds of oregano - the darker green is Greek, and the lighter green Italian. This year is my first time growing Italian, and I love it. Such a scent! Rosemary is growing above the oregano, and on the far left asparagus goes to seed amongst elephant garlic leaves.

Here is my favorite bed - isn't it beautiful? This is how all garden beds should look; orderly and in rows. :) Broccoli, carrots, and beets grow here. I wish I had something in the picture for scale, to show you how big everything is, but just know that this bed is 12 feet long, and 4 feet wide....so those broccoli plants you're looking at are nearly 2 feet wide.


Here is a tomato plant, with nourishing clover growing beneath it. All our tomatoes were grown from seed this year.


Here are the bean plants, newest addition to the garden, but doggedly growing fast! Don't they even look energetic?


And last but not least - "my" lettuce. We've been eating from this bucket for weeks now, thanks to the greenhouse it started in. This variety is called Buttercrunch.

I'd love to chat more, but the sunshine calls, and I think I shall go for a walk with my sweet older sister!

Our Beans Are Up, and An Announcement

Yes sir, our beans popped their round frisky selves out of the ground several days ago, each bright green head struggling to toss off her shriveled brown bonnet. I love the suddenness of bean seedlings. One afternoon the soil is brown and bare - the next morning tiny green bumps are everywhere.

The garden sure is coming along well. We have something in every bed now, and we've been eating lettuce and spinach for weeks. The potatoes are easily a foot and a half high, the broccoli looks to be forming heads any day now, and we just ate our first sweet basil and oregano yesterday. (Fresh herbs on pizza is totally off the taste scale!) I could go on to tell about the tomatoes, corn, beets, carrots, garlic, cucumbers, squash, and such, but I don't want to make those of you north of me too jealous.

If you are, like me, love dirt between your fingers, the smell of tomato plants in your nose, the touch of breeze on your face, and the all around charm of gardening, I think you'll be interested in a bit of news I have for you.

If you in any way have enjoyed getting to know me through The Fruit of Her Hands, and have wondered what the rest of my family is like, you might also want to hear this bit of news.

The announcement will also be of interest to you if you like frugality, and are always looking for ways to save money. Or if you like free resources. Or if you're interested in homeschooling.

All this can found at one place: Growing It Organically. From children to plants, if you want to raise it naturally, check this place out!

Please be aware that the site is fairly new, and much info is still to be added. But several blog entries are there, and check out the cool header on that site - see the man on the right? That's my Daddy!

That's right - I and my sister are no loner the only folks of our family in Blog Land. My Dad has entered the blogging world! I'm so excited to announce his blog to you. We've always told him that he knows so much about so many different things - particularity gardening - that he ought to write a book, or start a website, or teach a class, or some such thing. Sharing knowledge is so much in his blood that if he's talking you can be pretty sure he's teaching something. I love living under his roof!

Sharing knowledge - that's what Growing It Organically is all about. Its focus is primarily gardening but, Dad being who he is, side topics are unlimited.

Please, jump over to Growing It Organically and take a look. I think you'll be glad you did. And let us know what you think - that's the cool thing about seeing a site when it's brand new and you know the owners; you can make suggestions and tell us what sort of info you'd like to see on a site like that. Feel free to ask any gardening question you like - my Dad thrives on questions! Or just leave a comment to let him know you stopped by - it'll please him immensely, I know.

Hope to see you there.
Amber

Rosemary

I planted the first of my herbs today! Rosemary.

Though it is the first herb I've planted so far, I didn't think I would actually plant this herb this year. It was on my wish list, but I intended to start with oregano and sweet basil, since I've grown them before, and get to rosemary, chives, and dill if I had time and money. But a kind new friend gave me a cutting of rosemary today, and I've just planted it out in our garden! Incidentally, the Internet says April is the best time for planting rosemary. Perfect.

So....now I need advice! Any care suggestions, or - more exciting - suggestions for how to harvest and use this lovely-smelling plant?

Oh yes - the scent. I'd heard great things about the fragrance of rosemary, but couldn't imagine what it smelled like. Today I got my first whiff, and I'm hooked. What a wild, tangy smell! I like it!

Spring, Spring, Spring!

These are the pictures I was complaining about losing the other day. They were taken on one of the first nice days of the year. Can't you smell the pollen and feel the sunshine and dew on your bare feet?

Heather's pansies waiting to be planted. She's the "flower pot" girl in the family, while I take care of the stuff in beds. These beauties are now in pots outside our front door - all except one of the boxes, which went to a family at our church.
Don't you like the brick background in this picture?

I was walking from the garden toward the house, ready to go inside, when I happened to look up.
I just had to run inside for the camera, and that's when I took all these pictures. This was what made me want to; just look at that blue! Can you imagine if you were standing at the base of this almond tree, as I was, a faint breeze kissing your cheeks, pink and white petals littering the ground around your feet, sun pouring down on your lifted face, and this blue, blue, blue sea of blue creating a gigantic dome over your head. The vastness and the deepness of the sky simply blew me away.

Here are my "babies." First lettuce of the season. They are planted in a tub - NOT a pot. :) - in our green house. They have almost doubled in size since this picture was taken.

Oh yes, our greenhouse!!!!! Here it is, completed except for trimming off the extra plastic hanging down on the sides. (But you can ignore that, right?) It is so nice and warm in there on brisk mornings. Behind the greenhouse, you can see the layout of our garden this year.

We are so happy to have all the beds built. Dad has been making a few beds each year for three years, and they are finally all done. Now we can set up a rotation system. We are really looking forward to this gardening season!

Here is the garden from the opposite side (The edge of the greenhouse is at the far left of the picture - or, it would be, if the picture were over a few inches.) Our compost bin is against the shed on the right in the foreground.

I've written the names of the crops we'll be planting in each bed directly on the picture, but you'll probably have to click on it and enlarge it to be able to read the words. So far, we just have potatoes, broccoli, beets, carrots, spinach, and strawberries in the ground - and we've put peas in all the other beds, to fertilize the ground until the weather warms up. Maybe we'll get a pea harvest too!

Has spring moved into any of y'all's areas yet? Any gardening going on?

Oh MUST I?

Dad goes in to his workplace in the early morning hours. Sometimes I feel a little jealous of families who get to have their father at home for breakfast, but because of Dad we have a special tradition that those other families can't have.

For as long as I can remember, Dad has called us at home around breakfast time to say good morning. It is a lovely habit. When we were little, we learned how to answer the phone politely by practicing on Daddy. Even before we could talk, we heard Dad's voice on the phone in the morning. We know he will always ask us about our day; what we have planned, how we've done so far, etc.

Quite awhile ago, I decided to make a point of asking Dad every morning if there is anything special he wants me to do that day. At first he would say "just obey Mom," but as time went by he added to that; he would sometimes give me special assignments to carry out. I'm sad to say that I don't always complete them before he gets home that afternoon, but I sure try! It thrills me to do something Dad specifically asked me to do.

Most of the time.

Not this morning.

This morning, ....

...I'm not thrilled.

Phone Conversation:

Dad: "...you can go ahead and set those seed potatoes out in the sun."
Amber: "Okay."
Dad: "Oh - and that alpaca manure we got yesterday..."

At this point I gulped mentally. Alpaca poop...It's great for the garden...but we discovered that the batch we got is full of white grubs. Those are not great for the garden. Dad says the one thing to do is go through and pick them out.

Dad: "...I dumped some of it into your garden bed before we saw the grubs. You can go ahead and go through it."
Amber: *makes funny noises*


I am hoping something really important happens, so I have an honest reason to delay going out into the garden until Dad gets home. Then maybe he'll show me a easier way to kill those...things...without going through the soil with my gloved hands.

Grubs.

Yuck.

In which I talk about a lot of different things before I finally get down to the point

For those of you who were feeling jealous that I'm already talking about gardening in February:

It snowed here on Wednesday.

Really hard.

For about 20 minutes.

*grin*

Actually, it's been....well, like winter here lately. (Surprise!) I did do some garden work yesterday without a coat on, but this morning the temperature was below 20 degrees again.

Ahhh, yesterday....

...Yesterday was lovely. You know those perfect days you dream about? I had one yesterday.

It all started when I actually woke up early enough to pray, read, and study my Bible for over an hour. I aim for that every day, but lately I've been hitting the snooze so many times that I might as well have not set my alarm.

So I had a lovely devotion time. I was wrapped in my red bathrobe, cozily snuggled on the couch with my Bible, my journal, and the concordance spread out beside me. The house was quiet with dark corners, and I had time to pull myself together for the day. That quiet hour helps so much. I don't know why I hit my snooze button.

Breakfast was beautiful. Like out of a magazine. Blueberry Baked French toast, with whipped cream on top. A tall glass of orange juice. A cup of hot tea, sipped from my delicate blue and white teacup (gift from Heather last Christmas). I wanted so much to take a picture. It was all so perfectly arranged; from the blue and white teacup and shiny silverware, to the vibrant colors of the food. I enjoyed every bite and sip.

I started the day dressed to my shoes, with hair fixed pretty but practical, and clothes that made me feel "nice," but ready for work. Nothing like feeling prepared to give one energy!

I had made out a "To Do" list the night before, and I felt so ready to cross things off. First I tidied my bedroom. I dusted my precious bookshelf and the photo frames on top of it. So nice to have things clean! The glass in my picture frames now shines.

I paused to spend some time with my little sister. I combed Lezley's hair for her, listened to her practice piano, and just enjoyed being with her.

Then I spent the rest of the morning in the kitchen having fun. I made up a batch of bread dough, in preparation for supper, and then had the delight of creating a new recipe. This time it was for coleslaw. I'd been craving that for a long time. I'd never made it before, so I just put whatever smelled good into the bowl, tasted, and added some more. I love that kind of freedom! It makes me feel so rich.

After lunch, (yummy coleslaw!) I spent some quiet time in my room doing computer work. I've volunteered to help a homeschooling-family-run business that's based here in our town, and I had some research to do in relation to that. I felt like quite the secretary.

Then I livened up and cleaned the bathroom from top to bottom; toilet, tub, sink, floor. Sparkle!

Then I could no longer resist the call of the garden. Dad was already out there working, and I just had to join him. We spent an hour out there digging. We're preparing the soil for when our transplants are big enough and the weather is warm enough. The soil is so rich and black this year! The green manure crops that have been growing all winter are now ready to be turned under. What hard work that is! But so satisfying, too.

I turned under the soil of my little herb bed, then moved to a larger one; 16'x4'.

Put the spade's blade on the earth; stomp on it! Lean onto the handle; lift it! Turn the spadeful over; smell the richness of the dirt! Repeat 20 times. Pause. Put a hand over your heart and feel the powerful thumping. Lift your face and see two hawks flying between you and the vast blue expanse above. Notice the lazy clouds drifting by. Watch Dad shoveling near by. Take deep breaths of crisp air. Bend over the spade again. See God's hand everywhere.

The hours spent in the garden are the loveliest of my day. I take great satisfaction in them.

But I came inside at 4:00 to get some sewing done. I was feeling very inspired. I have 2 projects going already, and I had just had ideas for 4 more! I searched my stash and found cloth for my new projects, fingered it longingly, and turned to work diligently on my current project; a white dress for spring. The design is my own, and it was giving me a lot of trouble. I gathered up all the wit and skill I have to throw at it, and rejoiced in the effort.

At 5:00 I went back to the kitchen to make supper. I love it when Mom lets me take over a meal on short notice. I made what we call perogies; golden brown bread filled with sauce, sausage, and cheese. I made them look like little tarts this time, baked in muffin tins. We had peas, too, and of course that got us starting talking around the supper table about the time - fast approaching - when we will be eating our own peas.

Garden-planning on paper after supper with Dad....Family Bible Time in the book of John...chit chat in the living room...a warm shower...soft pajamas...cozy bed...turning through the pages of Psalms for one last thing to think on as I go to sleep...being blessed by Psalm 65...reading it again...and again...flipping off the lamp...a dark bedroom...whispers with a sister...drifting off to sleep. The perfect end to a perfect day.

Oh well. Enough about yesterday. Let me get to the point of this post. (You thought I was just giving a history-in-the-life-of-Amber-lesson, didn't you?) :)

For those of you who live in the cooler regions of this planet, and aren't able to get out in your dirt yet. :( Poor you! ) Here is something you can do; plan crop rotations!

Planting the same crop in the same place year after year can be very harmful to your plants. Diseases will build up, pests will always know where to look for their snack, and the plants will miss out on the benefits they could have had from things that are left behind in the soil when other plants grow there. Any old farmer will tell you that you need to switch your crops around; crop rotation. Here are some tips I found in "The New Organic Grower" by Eliot Coleman: (if my explanations seem redundant and annoying, please forgive me. I'm talking to myself.)

Crop Rotation

~ Legumes are generally beneficial preceding crops (They will help whatever you plant in that soil next year.)
~ Onion, lettuce, and squash are generally beneficial preceding crops.
~ Potatoes yield best after corn. (Plant them where you had corn last year.)
~ For potatoes; peas, oats, and barely as preceding crops increase scab. (DON'T plant potatoes where you had peas, oats, or barely last year.)
~ Corns and beans are generally not greatly influenced in any bad way by the preceding crop. (Plant them wherever the "dangerous" crops were last year.)
~ Liming and manuring help, but do not totally overcome the negative effects of the preceding crops.
~ Carrots, beets, and cabbage are generally detrimental to subsequent crops. (These are the "dangerous" crops.)
~ Sweet corn is one of the most beneficial preceding crops for potato.
~ Tomatoes and potatoes are close cousins and should not follow one another. (Don't plant tomatoes where you had potatoes last year, or visa-versa.)
~ Beans are a good choice to follow root crops, such as carrots and beets, because the are apparently unaffected by them. (Plant beans where you had "dangerous" crops last year.)
~ Squash is a good predecessor for root crops. (Plant squash where you plan to put "dangerous" crops next year.)
~ Growing potatoes one year, then squash the next, us even more beneficial for a planting of root crops planted the third year .

What! Planning three years ahead? Sure! That's what a gardening notebook is for! If you aren't able to get your fingers in the dirt (or clay) yet, why not sit down and at least plan where you'll put everything when the weather warms up enough? It's quite challenging, but loads of fun! It will probably increase your crops, too.

Hurray!

Gardening time is here!

Yesterday Dad, my brothers Justin and Curtis, and I were out together in the garden, working. That wasn't the first time Dad's been in the garden this year, but it was my first time getting out there. It felt soooo good!

60-degree weather, ...no coat, ...the scent of moist dirt, ...the sound of shovel load after shovel load of dirt being turned, ...the sight of dozens of fat worms wriggling as they are exposed to the air, ...discussions about where to plant what, ...I love all of it.

Yesterday I was turning under the green manure that's been growing all winter in the beds. Then I helped Justin move the compost pile. It's coming along nicely! We haven't turned it very often all winter, but there's a layer of rich black earth on the bottom. ....Well, it's all churned up now, so it's not on the bottom any more.

We hope to get some alpaca manure to put in our garden soon. Did you know that alpacas are some of the most efficient digesters there are? Their manure doesn't even need to compost - you can put it right in the soil. And it's rich in nutrients, too. If you are blessed, like we are, to have an alpaca farm in town, go beg some manure from them! ...If you have a garden, that is. :)

I can't explain the way gardening thrills my soul. I delight in being surrounded by growing things. I love being independent, growing our own life-sustaining food. I like the competition; always trying to do better than last year. I love cooking with fresh foods.

I only ever completely relax when I'm outdoors. I often think that if I ever have to talk with someone about anything really important, I'd best do it outside, because it's there that I think clearly and calmly. Being outdoors does something for my spirit. And one of my favorite outdoor places is our garden.

Depending on where you live, you may think it's a little early to be talking about gardening. I'm so glad to be living in Virginia! ...Yet even here some folks think this is way too early.

Not Dad. He's always planning how we can start earlier and earlier every year, and grow longer, too. He and I start drooling over seed catalogs right after Christmas. :)

Actually, we're a little late this year. I looked back on my gardening journal and found out that last year my first day in the garden was Feb. 8th, not 11th. *grin*

Today I planted 20 broccoli seeds, and 72 marigolds. The broccoli is downstairs on our gardening hot plate, and the marigolds are out in the greenhouse we built for Dad this Christmas.

If any of you remember my marigold plants from last year, you might be interested to know that - for the first time in my life - I saved seeds from a plant I grew, and planted them! Yup, the seeds I planted today were my own!

I keep track of these dates and such in my gardening notebook. I love this thing:


Contained in this notebook are layout plans, notes from gardening books I've read, my garden journal, and recipes for preserving the harvest. I started my gardening notebook this year, and it's already come in handy.

Are any of the rest of you starting on your gardening plans for this year? Want to share details? I'd love to hear!

Another plea for help

All you gardeners out there, let's have a cheer for the time of year when we're all choppin' at the bits, wishing we could toss aside the seed catalogs and go out and scoop up a handful of moist warm dirt!

I like winter. I'm glad for changing seasons. I like cozy sweaters and crackling fires. (Though we don't have a fireplace, so a crackling heater will have to do!)

I enjoy winter.

Until the end of January.

After January, I'm done with cold weather, thank you very much. I'm quite prepared to usher winter out the back door and welcome spring through the front.

This year is no different. Well, in small ways it is, because we're always planning new things for our garden. This year it's 15' high tomato plants and compost tea. (I hope to write in detail about those plans sometime soon!)

Also, Dad's given me a 4'x5' space to experiment with on my own this year. I think he wants me to try out mostly herbs, though I'm free to do whatever. Since this past year was the first time we've tried herbs (and we only grew oregano and sweet basil), I'm really starting off ignorant.

Tomatoes? I've helped grow those since the time I could walk out to the garden with Daddy. Cucumbers? Yup. Green beans? I've had those coming out my ears. Lettuce? Beets? Squash? Fine, fine, fine. Been there, grown those.

Herbs?

Uh....no. Don't know a thing about those. I don't even know a thing about cooking with those!
But I want to learn.

I'm thinking about planting rosemary, dill, lavender (is that an herb or flower? TOLD you I was ignorant!), oregano (I'll be transplanting that from last year), sweet basil, and anything else that sounds good and useful.

So those of you out there who know anything more than I do about herbs... (and that would be any of you that have grown them or cooked with them!)... Are there any things I should avoid? Any plants that cannot be grown together? Special ways to use the herbs? A very useful herb I've forgotten to mention? Special soil likes or dislikes? Importantly - how do you harvest? Do you pick the top leaves or the lower ones? Pick heavily or lightly?

ANY help would be very much appreciated.

On an aside; have y'all started praying even now for the Lord to bless your gardening efforts this year? Knowing that He controls the rain and sun and wind is such a restful thought, but it also motivates me to pray that He would see fit to bless us with an abundant harvest and good weather ...and a will to work! I know that the best climate in the world won't yield a thing to a sluggard! I'm awfully good at getting excited in the spring, but I know I'll need God's grace to get out in 90* weather to turn compost in the middle of summer!

A Strange Friendship

After several weeks of doing little but work on sewing projects for others, it felt great to be working on one of my many projects today. I don't mean to sound selfish, but that big stack in my sewing room does have to be attacked at some time or another. Today I worked on a brown corduroy jacket. It will be lined with a pretty red floral.

I also made bread for the first time in ages! I made up a new recipe that uses molasses, olive oil, and flax seed. May sound strange, but it turned out really tasty. I also made Tizza for lunch.

Oh - I suppose I ought to explain what Tizza (tease-ah) is. Well...It's our own family name for my creation of "tuna pizza." I make the crust like for regular pizza, top it with a sauce of cheddar cheese, mayo, butter, and anything else that sounds good, and then add canned tuna and onions on top. Baked until the crust is crispy, it makes a great lunch.

Anyway...it felt good to be back in the kitchen after an absence of several weeks. I had made a few dishes during that time, but not really done real cooking.

I also stepped out to visit the garden, which I'd neglected to do for several days. I discovered that frost has finally gotten my hardy marigold plants. Remember this?
This was what my marigolds looked like back in May. They were the first things I've successfully started from seeds. What a feeling - to nurse life out of tiny specks! Out of fifty seeds, about ten survived to be transplanted to the garden, and only two plants survived the drought of this summer. They were small and scraggly.

Several weeks ago - maybe a month - Dad removed the tomato plants from the garden. The marigolds had been planted at the shady bases of the tomato plants. When the shade was removed, I was thrilled and surprise to see my two plants abound forth in new growth. (I think there's a lesson in there somewhere, don't you?)

Before they 'passed away' this week, the two plants were each about a foot across, and had 50 or so blooms between the two of them. Brilliant orange and deep green lit up that little corner of the garden. They were absolutely gorgeous.

Those marigolds taught me something this summer. They were out there every day, and I could see them growing and changing before my eyes sometimes, ...or suffering and dying at other times. They were beautiful. They were hardy. They started small. They depended on me for water.

I can't quite put my finger on what it was they taught me, but I know I'll not soon forget my first experience with seedlings that I grew myself. I kinda developed a special feeling for those little plants. They were mine. ...Yet not mine. They were gifts...from Someone I know.

All in all, I'm gonna miss them.