Tidbits

I'm back. My friend's wedding in Colorado was perfect. I cried and cried I was so happy for her ( to those non-criers out there--please note: all strong emotions, even anger, make me cry--it is as annoying as it sounds!). I felt like a proud mama, beaming with pleasure at how she is living her life and excited about the wonderful man she married. I wish I had a picture to share, but I left the camera here, on purpose. Above you see one thing I've been up to. My yard is small, and trees around here are so old, there isn't much sun. Hence, my 4'x25' garden. I use the square foot gardening method which I love. It looks so organized. And even though it doesn't matter, I grew most of the tomato and pepper plants from seeds this year. I love being in control of the entire process so I know the whole history. Maybe I'll start using my own seeds too.

And Tom, when he isn't coaching soccer or teaching, is working on that tree house. Since the last picture I posted, it has gained shingles, a deck, a ladder and a door. All that's left on the outside is the siding. We scored a toddler basket ball hoop from the neighbor's garbage and the girls like to play basketball--from the deck of the treehouse!
The above picture is from the spring program at Kempton. Kassy's preschool class sang cute songs. But in this picture, I mostly admire the lovely jump. See those pointed feet? I guess she learned something in ballet.
Kassy graduated from preschool a week and a half ago. Here she is walking the bridge to Kindergarten. Her teacher put on a fancy show complete with gowns and the cake below. Next to the cake is Kassy's plate of gluten and dairy-free cupcakes. Orange-vanilla flavor. Yum.
Last weekend was Kassy's ballet recital. I still don't approve of all the money parents pour into those things. But Kassy did a great job. She remembered her dance and for once she smiled big on stage instead of looking so somber. And gosh did those girls look adorable.


Ok, here's why I left the camera at home this weekend. Hadley and Tom had a big soccer tournament, see the team above. They had a tough schedule. A game at 8 am, 11am and noon. We knew the noon game could be a tough team; we hadn't anticipated the 11 am being a tough team. I had to leave for the airport after the 11 am game and I knew when I left that our team needed to win the last game of the morning by two to advance to the semifinals. They only won by one, which meant we tied with another team. Because both our team and the other one scored the same number of goals in the morning games, they had to look had how many goals were scored against us. For us, it was zero. Our team advanced to the semifinal. I was on a flight to Denver. We won the semi final round (5pm) and took the final game (7 pm)into double overtime. A goal in the last minute of the second overtime prevented a kick off. And yes, this year, Tom and Hads won. But I think Tom was more excited than Hads. Upon my return, one of the moms told me she didn't know 8-year-old soccer could be so exciting.

Rainy afternoon post

Oh I've been anticipating today all week. Warm weather. Warm dirt (and yes, Smart Aleck, it smells like worms!) It was one of those mornings I wished every one would quite eating so I wouldn't have to stop to care for such needs. I had a garden to prepare. In fact, everyone in the family had big plans today, though none of the plans included fasting. I got the garden cleaned up, but the soil isn't prepared and won't be until that nasty 1 pm downpour and subseqeunt rainshowers dry up. But before that oh, it was nice, warm, and I even felt a fondness for the returning humidity. All the fun came to an end before the day was half over, thanks to some dark grey clouds. I didn't manage to capture a few treasures to share.

Do you remember the base (above) Tom built last spring for a tree house? It has been sitting in the back of our tiny city lot, waiting. All last season we were waiting for a neighbor to tear down a garage so we could get free wood. When he finally did, it was too deep into the school year and soccer season for anyone to attempt building the tree house. So this morning, the wood came out of our shed, I mean garage, and Tom started the tree house platform. Next weekend Grandpa Chris will arrive with tools and serious progress should be made!


Sorry I didn't turn this picture, but guess what I found in my garden? Carrots! In Montana, I knew a lady who planted carrots in late August, covered them with hay, and dug them up in the spring. On a cold November afternoon last year, I dumped a bunch of leaves on my garden, hoping to encourage more worms, and maybe pick some of the not-yet-ripe carrots in the spring. I didn't really think the leaves would be sufficient, but here they are. We washed them, peeled them and yum!
Surprise number two this morning. I was getting ready to dig up this brilliant green clump of grass. I got half way done when I realized they were chives. Oops! The parsley and thyme also reseeded themselves and are already growing strong and healthy clumps. Yippee!
The girls think warm weather means it is time to entertain the neighborhood by putting on princess clothes, running everywhere and singing loudly. I just wanted you to know that though they may be 5 and 7 now, their core values are still the same. LOL. After I took the picture, I told them to get out the tree until the leaves come out.

Finally, I need some expertise. These little flowers (about 6 inches tall) have all the markings of the mum family. They are growing on my the south side of my house. I have three plants like this. I've never heard of a member of the mum family blooming in April. Do you know what they are?

Long Day

I woke up every half hour last night. Tom was tossing and turning and waking me up so I finally went downstairs. My stomach felt weird. I threw up twice and then had a fever. I missed my Bible study. And I spent most of the day on the couch drifting in and out of sleep, trying to get the doctor's office to advise me on what to do when I couldn't eat and my blood sugars were high (it took three phone calls and a total of eight hours to get an answer). Hadley has a cold. That girl likes to sniff her snot back up her nose rather than blow it. It drives me crazy.

Saturday is supposed to be beautiful. I hope to be better, hope no one else is sick,and hope to finish prepping the soil in my garden. I wish I had a compost bin, but not now so a little manure and some blood meal since I know our soil is low in nitrogen should do the trick. Ohh growing season is getting close! Next week I can plant some of the cold tolerant plants: lettuces, spinach, peas, carrots. I have trays of seedlings growing in the playroom: herbs, peppers, tomatoes, broccolli, and some flowers. I like to lift the clear cover on the tray when the sun has been out for a few hours (which is rare lately). The smell of the warm dirt is delicious. Oh I am ready to get dirty! The last frost date here is unbearably late: May 31.

I Heart Gardens

When I planted my first vegetable garden, I never suspected the little seedlings could supplant my love for flowers. I love my garden. It's little. It can't be made bigger. And I won't get enough of most vegetables to freeze or can. I made some mistakes like not properly preparing the soil and planting tomatoes on the south side. But I love it ( Have I mentioned this before?). If I could ignore housework and children, I would spend the hours sitting in the garden, carefully inspecting each new bud, pruning the crazy tomato plants who think leaves are more important than red fruit, plucking dead or ugly leaves, mulching, training vines to climb where I want them. I sit and stare at the garden enough that earlier this season the backyard neighbor yelled, "Do you think they will grow faster?" I feel nourished after gardening even if I haven't eaten any fruit. And now, now the fruit is coming. I love showing the girls the seeds and splitting open the soft pea pods and watching them smile and declare the tiny peas to be like candy. I love letting the neighbor kids pick food and eat it. My family has yet to enjoy green beans at the table, as someone(sometimes me) always swipes them off the plants. I don't mind. They are eating good food, just as God made it. It's probably true of the kids what Ms. Erna (neighbor to the south) said of the bunnies, "In this part of the city, the rabbits don't know they like gardens because they've never tried them." Yesterday I handed my girls and a few neighbor kids sprigs of rosemary and thyme. They carried them around for a while saying,"Mmmm." And I can't wait for the tomatoes, I can't wait to eat them everyday with salt or sugar or plain. And then to give the bounty away to my many neighbors who have no gardens. The ultimate triumph will be the day in about one week when I can make a complete salad all from my backyard: lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes. Drying the herbs will be next. I wish I had a kitchen with rafters so I could hang the bundles all over and let the smells permeate the air. And then clean-up in the late fall. Not my favorite part, but after that, oh joy, planning for next year! Maybe I "need" a compost pile now too...

Garden Solutions

Nitrogen. I know its chemical symbol and know it's present in the Earth's atmosphere. Garden books always have whole chapters on soil (not dirt) and how to make sure you have good soil. I didn't read those chapters. I lived for ten years in the heart of Iowa and anything will grow in the dirt (I mean soil, I don't think that state has any dirt) in Iowa. I thought that if dirt was black and had some worms in it, it was probably healthy and could be called soil.

Puzzled by the high failure rate of the many seeds I have planted in my garden this year, I decided to get the soil tested. A neighbor lent me his soil testing kit and my dad did all the little chemistry for me. Here are the results. PH 6.5, maybe a little acidic but not bad, phosophorous: adequate, Potosh: good, Nitrogen: depleted, maybe completely. What causes such a thing? So maybe I have an answer to my gardening woes.....a solution is in the nearest garden store, but I probably need a spreader and I hope it isn't too late.

FYI: there are little peppers and tomatoes on some of my plants!

Garden

Seed packets are deceptive. They give you you just enough information so you can imagine the pretty picture growing in your yard. This will be my second year of vegetable gardening and I still feel like I am guessing all the time. I read somewhere that when picking a seed packet or variety of plant, pay attention to what isn't said. For instance on tomatoes, it might say "compact, robust producer." But it doesn't mention that it is not disease resistant, it also doesn't say, "known for its superb taste" which means it only tastes so-so or worse. Or green beans, no matter what variety you choose, it never tells you that soaking the seeds for a few hours will help them sprout faster or that beans don't like a lot rain prior to sprouting (so much for the beans I planted last Thursday!). It puzzles me, one would think the garden-related industries would want us to be successful. Is there some intiation you have to go through to be privy to the secrets of the garden-world? I definitely haven't been privy.

My garden is all planted now and all I can do is pray and wait. I committed several garden mistakes: I rototilled a garden with live grass and didn't spray it with anything before planting, I planted spring/fall veggies now as it gets hot ( I read about the different seasons after the fact). My friend Candy told me about a book called Square Foot Gardening. I love the method of dividing the garden into square feet and being able to fit more plants than in a typical row method. It was time consuming to set up and if it doesn't stop raining and storming those little seeds will all get washed away and nothing with grow anyway. It was nice to have a strategy as opposed to the first year's method of "what spot looks good for this veggie." I wanted the girls to help me more in the planting. They have each helped a little but what overwhelms me is when they both want to help at the same time. I get all panicked with so many little hands and little tiny seeds (like carrots). In Montana, I planted carrots: the first planting never grew because the seeds were too deep (1/8 of inch is almost setting the seed on top of the dirt and sprinkling for cover). The second planting never had greens on top because the prairie dogs ate all green things not in the squash family. I hope this garden is more successful. I still suspect those rabbits are biding their time 'till the lettuce is sweetest. FYI those posts in the very back of the yard are for the tree house and the area in the very front with the tiny pot is reserved for the girls to dig in!

The Lift of Love

Do you ever have moments where something is so exciting that all those cheesy phrases about the bliss of being love suddenly make sense? I know, many of us experienced those moments when we first started dating someone, or for the first day, week, month, or year of your marriage (everyone's bliss dissipates eventually, or maybe it was popped). But have you had such moments since then? I am having one today. I feel like I could fly on wings, like I have a splendid secret in my pocket, like my heart could sing (I know, enough already). And guess why? This old, fat man in a white t-shirt with suspenders and a Santa Claus beard came to my house today. He has a lot of hip pain and was excited because today social security checks get deposited. He trusts people and let me pay with a check. I paid $25. And it was so worth it. I now have a 4 ft x 21ft space, freshly rototilled and just waiting to grow things. It is so beauitful. Can you hear my song of rejoicing? It sounds better than my real voice. I feel like tomorrow is Christmas and I can't believe I won't have time to open my presents (seed packets) until after lunch. And I suspect it would have taken me more than four hours to dig such a space, probably more because I never have four hours without interuption to do anything.

I wonder why gardening excites me so much. Can it be passed on from one generation to another? Can farming run in our genes? If my diabetes didn't prevent me from drinking champagne, I would lift my glass, and say, " Here's to this year's gardening season. May the praire dogs of Montana not be replaced by the rabbits and squirrels of Michigan." Thanks God for the joy of watching things grow (and then picking them!).