Garden Planning, also, I'm not really a girly girl

This is the pretty part of gardening.
The lists and pretty packages and lovely doodles and neat handwriting.
The flowers plucked from a bed of disarray, brought in, tamed, displayed in glass on doily.

The is the truth of gardening and me:

I'm really not such a girly girl.
I have garden gloves, but rarely wear them.
I wear open toed sandals in the dirt and let my feet feel the earth squish up and around my soles.

It's hard work, of course.

But oh, it feels good.

My list of good things:

 Her and her.

safety in storms
breezy picnics
garage sale with friends
free stuff
deals
finding just what I needed
and a few things I didn't
bikes all the right size
motors that start after sitting idle for a season
asparagus that planted itself, put proper in its row
things reorganized
study guide I don't have to write

Other thoughts of mine on gardening:
Meeting in the Garden
A Warm Healing

sharing this list with others who count....

A Warm Healing

I snip the herb down to the last leaf pair,

and fill a basket with my cuttings.

The smell of lemon lingers.

Dreams are cut down and gathered up by others.

What is left, but a whiff of what once was.

I fill the dehydrator.

It blows hot air, a gentle furnace,

and soon leaves are ready to be crumbled.

What was green is dry, crisp, dead.

Tired ambitions. Brokenness.

A soul, fired as clay.

And yet, the essence remains.

The jar is fragrant, full.

The herb has yet a purpose.

It has a use.

A pot is filled, and boils,

steaming, whistling happily.

Poured out, it covers the dried up herb.

It becomes a warm healing. A soothing tea.

When Living Water is poured out and in and around,

broken things, crushed people, are fragrant, full.

They are a soothing cup to another's need.

 ~

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 

who comforts us in all our troubles, 

so that we can comfort those in any trouble 

with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

For Tuesdays Unwrapped today ~

Goodness Gracious Green

While I edit photos of our romantic getaway to Duluth, and attempt to put a few thoughtful sentences together, consider this green harvest. Instead of doing laundry and putting away suitcases, I've been slaving in the kitchen and pondering my abundance of zucchini.

Explain to me why I planted three hills? I do know better. I also know better than to turn my back on them for four days or my reward will be monster squash. And my freezer has no room for monsters. Even the green variety.

So, I dusted off my problem solving skills and began chopping and dehydrating zucchini. For soup. Because I dislike slimy, mushy, frozen-and-then-defrosted zukes. And you know what? It worked! I re-hydrated the dehydrated chunks in a zesty chicken tortilla soup, annnnnd: success! No more mushy slimy soup zucchini.

My zucchini is saved and so is my freezer!

Next up: Pepper jelly.

Taking liberty with the theme and unwrapping the gift of good ideas. :) For Tuesdays Unwrapped.

And I'm also linking this post to DIY Day with Kimba at A Soft Place to Land, because I just can't help but share that fabulous idea. :)

Firstfruits

Firstfruits.

After waiting and pruning and transplanting and trying to pick a handful in a mosquito storm, a cool breeze blew enough bloodsuckers away that I finally braved the raspberry patch.

Old wood lay low, laden with scrumptious fruit. It finally offered a gift.

I ate each slowly, savoring the firstfruit.

This fact of nature holds true for me, too. With maturity comes fruit. Old wood bears the best fruit.

And He who planted me and prunes me, savors my fruit.

Meeting in the Garden

There is something about gardening that is holy.

It began in the beginning.

Creation ended and the whole world began with a man and woman in a garden. They were to enjoy the beauty, eat from fruit (Gen 2:9) and care for the land (Gen 2:15).

Gardening was our first profession.

There seems to be a misconception that the work of gardening is a result of the curse sin brought. I don't think gardening was meant to be considered work, but a place of fellowship with our God. He walked the garden looking for Adam and Eve.

He finds me in the garden, too.

His work grows before me, each sprout a miracle of His hand.  I can work the soil, fertilize, water. Yet, I cannot make anything grow.  He brings life to each tiny, dead seed. He defines the natural law that makes it produce abundantly.

As I work the soil, it stains my hands, roughs them up. Pruning scars them.

My Father is a Gardener too (John 15:1). There in my garden He finds me, reveals Himself. He breaks up the hard soil of my heart, bringing life from my dead places. He binds up my wayward branches. He prunes me, causing me to bear fruit. It's rough work.

His hands are scarred too.

Red Ladies

After a winter of dead ones in the window sills, and an early spring of them waking from their slumber and crawling on my window frames and curtains.

After vacuuming hundreds and giving up, and cursing the fool who brought them here.

After smelling their rank odor and explaining that they do not bite but rather pinch and that those piles of dead bugs may not be dead after all, but hibernating.

And after saying how many times that they are Asian Beetles, not Lady Bugs.

After all this, I was thrilled today to see the elusive red ladies instead of their prolific impostor.

Finding gifts on Tuesdays for Tuesdays Unwrapped at Chatting at the Sky.

A little of this and that

Wow! It's been 10 days since my last post! I've no great reason for my absence. I have a few things on my mind to write about, my thoughts are just not yet complete.

I went to a conference over the weekend, had a fun night away in a hotel, and I've been processing...I may share here eventually. This has not so much to do with the content of the conference as the experience of worshiping with a more charismatic group of people. Liturgical charismatics at that. Good stuff. :)

Next week wraps up my Bible study on the Fruit of the Spirit, Bible quizzing, and Jump4Joy. Our family is looking forward to more evenings together as a family. Long evening walks, coming soon!

Robb has been crazy busy, too. He has moved our business storage to the barn here on the farm, and his office has moved a few miles closer to home. He is enjoying being in a business condo in town and looks forward to an increase in friends stopping by for coffee.

The kids and I are wrapping up our school year strong. Besides the warmer weather, this is probably the biggest reason for my blog absence. As much as I love sitting here and sharing deep thoughts and not so deep thoughts, my kids, their education, my husband, and even my dishes come first. Sorry. :)

I did get out today and took some pictures of the garden....

...this makes me sooo happy!

I had a couple friends over this afternoon, and though I cleaned my house and set the table with candles and flowers and tablecloth, I couldn't stand the thought of sitting inside on such a beautiful day.

So we had a picnic, complete with iced peach tea. Under the crabapple tree.
See the hint of red on the grass? That's our blanket.

 While we chatted, our kids turned on the hose and made a river run down the driveway. And threw mud balls at each other. Whatever. Just as long as they don't ever throw mud balls at me...

I am so happy for spring.

Later this week: a visit to my favorite source for herbs. And digging. And tilling. And planting. Can't wait!

photos: asparagus, green onions

Kitchen work

I'm in that funny time of year when I can't decide if I should be planning school or canning garden produce. Thankfully my garden isn't humongous, so I'm not completely overwhelmed, but still the urgency remains to preserve the food that my small plot grows. In my old fashioned farmhouse cellar, shelves are slowly filling with hamburger and bread and butter pickles, apple pie filling and applesauce. My freezer, also, receives weekly deposits of green beans, jalapeno peppers, green peppers, zucchini, and tomatoes. It feels satisfying. Yet I know these productive kitchen days are nearing their end. Soon the canning jars on my kitchen table will be replaced with Language Arts, Math, Science and History books. Thankfully, I use curriculum that requires little planning, so I'm gonna can away!

Hired Help