Goals for My Future Pantry

Many goals for this time of my life revolve around my own physical health.  I have renewed my vigor, if you will, for working on a healthier lifestyle, being more active, and eating more close to the source for maximum nutrient value.



In accomplishing these goals, I have begun again to take Glucosamine Condroitin(GC) for my joints, mainly my knees so that when I walk regularly I don't have as much pain with the lesser portion of tissue in my right knee to help with cushioning.  As a strange (to me) and interesting twist, my left knee is now giving me some problems due to favoring my right knee for so long.  So, hopefully the GC will help with that too.

I have finalized my garden plan for the front yard, due to necessity, and beautification as well.

I will certainly document the process for everyone to see.  😎

All this while keeping the house and everything else juggled!  I would love to do all kinds of vegetables and melons because I just love all the jars in my pantry.  There isn't a greater satisfaction than being able to go to one's pantry and gather foods that one has processed in a healthier way, using salts that are good for high blood pressure. Fortunately here in GA, there are at least 2 different time frames where we can grow food.  I'm so thankful!!! 

I miss my pantry! 😉

 Have a Blessed Day!

Learning, Planning, and Growing

"Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established." 

(Pro 16:3)

My clematis on the trellis in Pennsylvania with vinca vines trailing on the ground behind.

I love my flowers, but living in Georgia and observing how my potted plants have done this past year (including forgetting to water) has given me cause to rethink and plan how I'll be able to have my lovely flowers year around and enjoy them.

As I think and plan, I pray about how to do things.  I have subscribed to a F*cebook page called Georgia Gardener and I've been pouring over ideas and gleaning wisdom to implement with my raised beds for our vegetables as well as for my flowers that I love.  I knew to a certain extent that things would be different here in Georgia than in Pennsylvania.  While the growing season is much longer, there is the heat in the summer to think about and try to overcome.  I've seen some people shading their plants in a variety of ways from burlap sacks propped up over the top of 5 gallon buckets, to simply having raised beds in a more shaded area of the yard.  As I plan and think on these things, I'm considering a pergola of sorts over the raised beds to create some shade, then adding some sort of vine on it for added shade.  I'm thinking of just simple posts in the ground with cross beams, and lattice across the top to make it more decorative because it will be in the front yard.  I'm thinking and praying over this idea more and more because it seems like a good alternative.

The shade provided by this trellis is exactly what I was thinking about.

The placement of these raised beds is almost exactly what I was thinking with a couple exceptions.  The star in the middle wouldn't be there and the beds along the side would connect making one long "edge" of raised bed.  Of course there would be more room due to the dimensions of our raised bed area being 24' x 24'.

I'd like to add the split rail fence and wire fence around the exterior due to wild animals and stray dogs in our area.  The placement and "ground" in this picture is very close to how I'd like to put my raised beds.  I have everything sketched out on a grid for future reference.

The pergola idea with flowers.  I was thinking of something like this or a non flowering vining plant due to bees being over head.

Of course watering everything has been largely on my mind as well, so I thought of soaker hoses in this fashion.

The thought behind this would be to simply turn the hose on and leave it on for an hour in the evening and an hour in the morning to completely soak the roots without putting water on the leaves of the plants.  I don't want to burn the leaves of the plants with the Georgia sun shining on water droplets.

 What is the purpose of all this praying, planning, thinking, researching, and observing?  Of course this is a wonderful question!  We have always grown something, whether flowers, gardens, or both.  In the height of our gardening years, we canned over 100 quarts of tomato products with 55 quarts being just sauce, 20+ quarts of salsa, stewed tomatoes, chili sauce and anything else we could find to make with tomatoes.  We canned pickles, jams and jellies, all sorts of combinations of veggies, as well as blanching and freezing 12 dozen ears of corn, pumpkin, zucchini, and everything else we could.  We pressure canned green beans, chili, chicken soup, sausage, venison, potatoes, and whatever else we could.  We dehydrated hot peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, basil, oregano, chives, and anything else we could think of to preserve.

There is so much satisfaction knowing where your food comes from.  The health benefits knowing that there is sea salt instead of iodized salt in your green beans for help with high blood pressure gives so much more peace of mind when preparing these foods for yourself and your family.

This is why we do the work to tend to our family.  It isn't just that it saves us money because the initial investment in the preparation of the raised beds, hoses and so forth is the biggest monetary investment.  But the pay-off is well worth it in the long run.  

This is the area where we will put the raised beds and pergola--4'+ away from the windows.

We certainly have our work "cut out" for us.  This work will begin in January, shortly after Christmas ends and everything is put away.  I will certainly share the progress with everyone, along with pictures.  The beginning of the process will likely be the pergola, then the plastic and then raised beds.  I'm hoping to have lettuces and so forth planted by the end of January since they are cool weather plants.  We will likely have tomatoes and peppers in by the end of February.  We have a 24' x 24' space where we'll plant everything.  Considering the longer growing season, we'll likely be canning and preserving things close to year around, with the exception of canning in the summer months.  I'll freeze everything in the summer to be canned when the outside temperatures are cooler.  

How are you planning?

Have a Blessed Day! 

Considering the Future

My husband and I are beginning to consider what our lives will be like once our young folks sprout wings and leave our nest.  We are looking at downsizing our home, even though we just moved here last year.  We are looking at possibly having more property, even though it means more work to do the things we'd like to do.

We're realizing that we are limited with how much activity we can participate in at church living almost an hour away.  The special things that happen on days other than Sundays and Wednesdays simply cannot be attended because it isn't just a short jaunt over to the church or to a Couple's Night with our dear folks in our Sunday School class whom we've grown to love.  So we pray.  We'll find out soon enough what the Lord's will is for this as we lay this at His feet.  There is a lot to consider and even still, we consider the necessity of selling our current house when the time comes too.  Lots to consider.

We're realizing that we will be physically limited with how much we can accomplish on a daily basis due to the fact that our young folks will be out of the nest.  I mentioned to my husband that we could get him a good tractor (not to be confused with "new") with accessories that would help him do the work that is needful without needing one or more of the kids around to do it.  But, the other things, like putting up fences or things like that, if course we'd ask the kids to come help.

We're realizing that we'll need a house with 2 master bedroom/bathrooms just in case there is a need for one of our parents to move in with us.  Additionally, we're looking at building an apartment over a garage just in case our oldest son needs a place.  That will give him his own space and as much autonomy as possible.

We've talked about "puttering" with our days on the property.  We've talked about having a garden and having fruit trees and selling the produce.  We've talked about going to different festivals with things that we make to sell.

It's a sweet thought for us to have things like this in mind for our future.  I don't want anything ornate, but simple and all one level, but nothing too big.  I want to be able to have family and friends over to love on them.  I want to bless others and serve the Lord with my husband.

"Ponder the path of your feet, and all your ways will be established." 

(Pro 4:26)

In Christ,

Humbled and Content

Tonight as I read blogs of my friends, I read things about contentment, emergency surgery, gardening, essential oils, Proverbs 31 women, and the list continues.  There are many many people on my subscription list from all over the world, all walks of life, and all stages of life.  I am so very thankful.

As I read about everyone's flower gardens, I allow myself to dream.  I dream of all the beautiful arrangements, flower and vegetable beds, and yard sale finds I hope to find in the future.  It truly is a blessing to visit everyone's blog to get such wonderful ideas of how I can redo the blank slate in our front yard, side yard with overgrown weeds, bushes, and trees, the enclosed back yard with the pool and deck.  I dream....

I want to start with my mail box.  I know this seems rather silly, but my mailbox in PA looked like this:

My mailbox here will resemble this with the Black-Eyed Susans, but a little different due to life circumstances.  We had to throw up a quick mail box, so we bought the materials locally, nothing decorative, but simple.  It filled the need.  So now, I'm looking at it as a blessing.  It is a basic box with wood to hold it up.  I've seen mailbox wraps to make it pretty with the changing seasons, so I'll consider those when I see them again.  I like Mary Englebrett designs, so we'll see if I can find something along that line. ;)  It will probably be a while before I do anything along that line because I wait until I can find it at the lowest price possible. :D

Along the front of our house is a lovely railing.  In some places it needs to be replaced, but it is simple and I love it.  

(The railing in the above picture along the front porch.)  

The railing pictured here shows what I mean.  It also shows the blank slate of the front yard.  We're going to have fun planting and watching things grow.  :0)

We'll replace the bad parts with new, repaint it and put up some window baskets.   The ones pictured below are the ones I'd like to put on the railing.

These are the ones from our PA house that we planted about 4 years ago.  

I'm excited to gradually get my flowers back and add to my collection.  For now, I look back at pictures from my flower beds in Pennsylvania.

For now, I am choosing to be content with empty whiskey barrels, no veggie garden, and the blank slate.  We are still getting doctors testing done, establishing ourselves in practices in the area and getting to know the seasons.  We're researching many things about the area too, with regard to flowers and growing, pest control and things like that.

I am humbled that so many folks have taken an interest in our daughter's story in God of Wonders Beyond Anything and Everything I Ever Knew or Understood and Resting on the Promises, in His Wings of Love.   We are currently in the midst of neurological testing, EEG, Neuro-Psychological testing, MRI/MRA and getting appointments for all those, as well as establishing ourselves with a new dentist.  Why all this testing?  Why now?  Well, in Pennsylvania we were told that once something came up, to pursue testing then.  We've had rudimentary testing done on her, but nothing extensive, giving us a picture of her brain.  So the Dr's down here in Georgia are using this opportunity to get all that done.  I'm thankful for that too.  Now we can see what's going on and if there is further treatment needed for her. There is no need to worry.  Nothing is "wrong" with her, we're just taking this opportunity to get all the testing done that we can so that we can get a better picture of her brain.

As for me, I had an MRI of my right knee done and found I have a complex tear in my miniscus, degraded cartilage (bone-on-bone), and arthritis.  The Dr plans to "clean house" addressing all the issues in one surgery.  The therapy is to just walk.  Wonder of all wonders, it's amazing!  The very thing I've been wanting to do for such a very long time, but can't due to this hurt knee, I can now do after my surgery.  Hooray!  Remind me of that when I am trying to get out of bed or a chair after my surgery and it hurts.  ;)

God has lessons for each one of us, on our own levels, adjusted to each of our own needs.  I am so very thankful He loves me to prune and grow me more for Him.  

God is Good!  

Blessings,

Summer Before Summer Time and Open Invitation

The past few weeks we have been enjoying temperatures in the upper 80's to mid/upper 90's.  I'm told this continues well in to September.

I know this sounds very difficult to many, but for us these temperatures are lovely.  Some days when we walk outside it is humid, but not so oppressively humid as we had experienced in Pennsylvania.  Even on the hottest, most humid days here, it doesn't last long.

Everyone's gardens are well established; their yards are manicured; they are adjusting their schedules to get their yard work done super early in the mornings.  Then there are those of us from Pennsylvania who, although we've adjusted our schedules too, continue to struggle getting the young folks to understand getting their yard work done early is the best thing they can do for themselves.  I have to laugh though.  In Pennsylvania we always did yard work after 10AM due to allergies.  Here it done long before 10AM because the temperatures could be 85+ degrees by then.  They are learning and they are understanding more of the "why" now after a couple days of needing to finish a project.

This is our house last August, before we moved.  It looks a little different now with things trimmed and the grass mowed.

The swimming pool has been open and (giving us fits) being used daily.  The previous owners were not able to care for the pool and after getting the water tested we've found that it has Mustard Algae in it.  We are having a difficult time getting it cleaned off the side walls due to the toughness of this particular algae.  We've done everything suggested and continue to do everything suggested,but the algae doesn't go away.  I'm not sure what the solution is, but I'm not going to worry about it because that's my husband's department.  I don't know much about pools.  I go out and skim every other day for half an hour before I swim.  I'll do whatever is asked of me other than that, but I have no experience or understanding of pool care.  My Mr. G has worked in this area about 23 years ago, so this is his arena.  My area is inside the house.  

You can't see it in this picture, but the deep end has a lot of mustard algae.

Looking to the south on historic state route 41

My husband is a shutter bug.  He loves taking pictures of clouds and weather formations as they come across the land.  He's done this for years.  When he hears of some awesome storms rolling in, he heads out with the camera as you can see in the above picture.  :)  Now he has me doing it!  LOL

I walked out of a W*lmart neighborhood store and found this!

The Lord met me at the door with this beautiful sky when I walked out of the store.  I stopped and took the picture while everyone around me looked at me funny.  It's ok.  I enjoy stopping and taking pictures of the beauty God blesses me with.

As we continue our new lives here in Georgia, the learning curve is still there, still steep at times, but still there.  We are adjusting, adapting, improvising, overcoming obstacles and making changes as needed.  The Lord has been so very good to us.  We've had some obstacles that has caused us to question whether or not we're supposed to be here, but the Lord has brought us reminders many times over that "Yes!" we're supposed to be here, right where He's brought us.  We greatly miss our Pennsylvania friends, church family, work friends and the area and life we knew.  We are working currently to make a place for guests to stay when they come this direction, even just for over night.  We're only a mile off the interstate, so it's very easy to get to our house.  Those of you who are traveling south are more than welcome to stop by for dinner, over night, or just stop and stretch your legs and visit for a bit.  We have lots of room!

God Bless,

2016 Cometh

As I sit here writing, 2015 only has 20 minutes left in it.  We're watching "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" as the truest of nerdy folks would be, unless it is just us who are ultra nerdy and this is the movie of choice on New Year's Eve.  LOL

The labels you see at the bottom, yes, go ahead and page down, those!  Yes!  Those are already established *goals* that are in place from year to year, month to month, week to week,  and day to day.

But!

(You knew there had to be one! LOL)

I want to infuse my home with whimsical things that make me and others smile.  I'm not a stoically serious person, but I take joy in lots of silly things, and so should everyone who steps foot on our land and in our home.  Yes JOY!  The Lord Himself created laughter, and for goodness sake, aren't we ones to give him a GOOD chuckle by telling Him our plans, so by gosh and by golly, we're going to have some whimsy around here!  LOL

Why don't I make resolutions?  Because they fall away as soon as the end of January rolls around and things get boring or hard.  I'm right there right now with my own weight loss, so I beat the punch by a month!  LOL  I know the holidays have been around, and I know I can rejoice in this fact, but in spite of the holidays, my Wii says I gained .4 pounds in the past 2 weeks.  LOL  Yes, I laugh at that!  I can't believe it has only been .4 pounds!  So, I"m going to look at it this way:  I've had my breakfast and coffee, so that's where the .4 pounds came from!  So, I didn't gain anything!  I stayed the same.  Woohoo!  LOL

You really need to laugh more my dear readers!  I really need to remember that myself....to laugh more.  A merry heart makes good medicine!  Well, I need to remember that!  :)

Well, it has taken me 11 minutes to get this far, so I'm going to sign off and bid you all a warm farewell.

See you next year!  Which will happen in about 9 minutes!

Happy New Year!

God Bless,
Regina

Little Weeds

The newly established flower bed as seen from the front porch.  I have Shasta Daisies, Lavendar, Hybiscus, Irises, and some other small flowers that I can't remember their names, but they're perennials.

This wonderful new flower bed has given me fits with the little weeds that have popped up over time.  I know that with more mulch and pulling weeds more often, this flower bed would do much better.

Isn't that always the way it is with our own lives as well?  Give us more "quality" food and pull the "little weeds" and we'll grow exponentially.  I don't know about you, but my "Miracle Grow" comes in the spiritual form.  In the past 2 weeks, I've had the awesome pleasure to worship in Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, GA as well as First Baptist Church of Clarion, PA.  Both places were filled with spiritual food beyond anything one would begin to hope or desire.

But what about the daily "weeds" that spring up?  I love to garden.  I love to compare any portion of life to gardening because it really hits home and many people can understand the meaning of what you're trying to say when comparing it to gardening.  I love that Jesus made many word pictures for those he taught in the Bible with gardening symbols.  One of my personal favorites is in John 15.

John 15:1-9

(1)  "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

(2)  Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

(3)  Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

(4)  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

(5)  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

(6)  If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

(7)  If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

(8)  By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

(9)  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

I love how the Lord directs us to remain in His love just like the branch is remaining in the vine.  What about the "little weeds?"  

The little weeds, much like the ones you see in my picture above are sin.  Sinful thoughts, deeds, words, against our bodies, our husbands, our children, parents, anyone really, are what those little weeds represent.  Much like "little foxes" spoiling the vinyard.

 Song of Solomon 2:15

  "Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom."

Although the little foxes are full of mischief and want to eat all the good luscious fruits off the vine, we can compare little foxes that spoil the vinyard to weeds as well.  When a vinyard hasn't been tended to, it gets spoiled with wild and sour grapes.  

Proverbs 6:6-11

(6)  Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.

(7)  Without having any chief, officer, or ruler,

(8)  she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

(9)  How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?

(10)  A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,

(11)  and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

Once again, the Lord uses not just gardening, but also the example of an ant in how to work hard without being told in the appropriate season for the work given.  So should each of us work in each season as the Lord has given us to prepare for our families' needs, weeding out the "little weeds" as we go along.

How do we weed out the sin in our lives? 

When a weed takes root, it is much easier to remove when it is little.  If we allow the weed to get larger, the roots will have taken hold and are much more difficult to remove and once visibly removed, the roots could grow back.  

Keeping ourselves 24/7 in the word of God, worshiping always, praying on our knees always--ignoring the needs of our family is not what we are called to be doing.  In my own opinion, we need to be taking our walk and relationship with the Lord much further, talking of God's goodness, having a thankful heart and mind throughout our daily lives, while giving, working, and learning and growing together with other family members.  It is important to share with one another, to talk and encourage one another and at times, help one another to remove the little weeds of sin by willingly being accountable to one another with our own weaknesses.  

"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul 

and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be 

on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk 

of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when

 you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, 

and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the 

doorposts of your house and on your gates." 

(Deuteronomy 6:5-9)

I think this is the key, "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when  you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."  as well as "and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes."  It is imperative for us as "weeders of the garden" to be deliberate in our lives, gain a vision for what our lives would be like if we continue diligently weeding, then think of what it would like if we did NOT diligently weed with consistency and deliberateness.  I shudder to think what my life would be without deliberate consistency.  Most days I fall and fail with some weeds, but the next day they are right there staring me in the face, needing attention with that same deliberate consistency.

How about you?  How do you handle those weeds?

God Bless,

What's Up?

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I've blogged!  I've certainly been busy and just plain filling my time with lots of lovely things to do.

We've had a couple birthdays--my sweet daughter's and mine.

She's decided she likes her hair red, so we dyed her hair last Sunday.

She loves it! :)

As for me, I've been reading and reading and reading when I get a free moment.  I finished Dave Ramsey's EntreLeadership book, I'm working on two more books for Sunday School and Wednesday night Bible Study, then in my free time, I'm re-reading Dating vs Courtship.  I am super excitedly waiting to be able to buy Trim Healthy Mama because I've heard so many good reviews/reports about it.  

I continue to look at curriculum and make note of things that I need to purchase and/or change about a few things in our home schooling.  That's one of the things I love about home schooling is the flexibility to stop where you are, switch gears, and go another direction.  Well, we're there now with our oldest son.  We need to do some rethinking, nothing major, but a different direction nonetheless.

We began our year at our home school group, called "Co-op".  For those of you who are not familiar with it, we meet twice a month.  Every parent volunteers to either teach or help in the variety of classes offered each year.  Every parent is placed on a "team" to help with the various extra duties that need to be tended to--like setting up and tearing down after our group has been at the church we meet at, communications team (newsletter--which I write...hence much of the reason I haven't blogged in a while), support team (much like nurturing the group through prayer and sending cards to those who need it, among other things), events team (field trips and performance night), academic team (standardized testing, academic fair and more), and I know there is more, but I can't remember.  Anyway...I get to teach the 8th grade Physical Science Lab which is based on the Apologia Physical Science curriculum.  I also get the privilege to help in the Kindergarten/First Grade Literature class.  I absolutely adore this age, so this is right up my alley!  Over all, with all the activity, by the end of the day I'm exhausted.  The kids on the other hand are needing some quiet time to process their day.  They're not exhausted like Mom, but they need some "down time" nonetheless.  This last Monday Mr. G had off work and had an absolutely TO DIE FOR scent wafting out to the driveway when we came home!  He made us a wonderful delectable pork roast with all the trimmings for dinner while we were gone.  He's definitely a keeper!

I have also finished the pieces to a Bolero I've been working on for my daughter.  I have to wash and block them, then sew them together and knit the edge ruffle.  I probably won't get to it until Monday since Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle A are coming for a couple of days over the weekend.  I'm not sure how long they will be here, but I'm hoping they'll be able to stay for a bit.  

I guess that's about it for now.  I'll leave you with this lovely picture of my daughter's beautiful flowers she grew from seed.  

I won't be canning any more for this season.  The deer decimated our garden, so my youngest decided to take the sickle to it.  Here are the culprits~

They brought all of their friends one evening!  We had 7 of them in the back yard!

Guess who is having lofty thoughts of building a nice fence next Spring?

Home Making Blessings

I am absolutely enjoying the smell of my house this week.  I have trays and trays of Oregano dehydrating on the hearth in the dehydrator. 

 It smells like an Italian eatery in here.  This is our second batch this week.  We are going to try to dehydrate a couple jars full, if not more.  I missed doing this last year.  We just went out and picked it fresh to use in the kitchen, neglecting the dehydrating.  I had so few trays (the others had broken) it would have taken so very long to get a couple sprigs of it dehydrated that it wasn't worth the time.  At the end of the season I found another dehydrator, so we're dehydrating as we get it coming up.  Next up is Chives! :)

 Loveliness!

Thanking God for His provision, both from the ground and from unexpected sources...

A friend of my husband called and asked if we would like their refrigerator.  We were extremely blessed with this "new to us" one.  It takes up less space, has more shelving and drawers than our old one and it fits perfectly.  God is so good!   This is our 2nd refrigerator.  Our upstairs kitchen refrigerator is much bigger than this one, not the biggest on the market, nor a new one, but it functions just fine for now.  

What a blessing!

In Christ,

In The Garden

This Spring has been warm, then very cold.  Cold enough to frost heavily.  We've waited in years past until Memorial Day weekend to put the garden in, but even then the threat of frost was greater.  As I type this, I'm sitting under a blanket with the temperatures having dropped to the 40's through the night.  Yes, in June!

Today we'll finish getting the garden in and the plants surrounded with newspaper to keep the weeds down and to keep the ground moist.  In a couple weeks we'll get some hay to further mulch the garden to keep the ground from drying out.

Why?

I'm glad you've asked!  Last year our well pump decided to give up the ghost, so we're watering our garden from city water, as needed until we find a viable solution.  I know the solution seems so very simple--just buy a new electric well pump.  It isn't as easy as that.  We're trying to rethink some of the electrical systems here in our house due to the way the original builders wired everything in the 70's when this house was built.  To say it wasn't up to code is an understatement.  So my husband is seeking counsel from others on how to deal with this.  We may put in an old fashioned hand pump on our well to water the garden with.  It would work, but we're researching and making sure that would be the best option at this point.  We're not in a hurry.  Sometimes these things take time.

So, in an effort to save water, we're putting down newspaper and eventually hay to preserve the water we put on the plants or the water God provides from the heavens.

Now, I'm off to get the garden finished.  I'll post pictures later.

From last year...

Until later, 

Summer Plans

One of those things we have not really ever done is taken a vacation during the summer.  We've stayed locally to where ever we've lived and done day trips and outings, but nothing on a grand scale.  We've pretty much kept our vacations and trips away during the late fall, early winter or late spring.

Our summer plans are very simple.  When we return from whatever trips we take in the spring, if any, we get to work like busy little beavers on our yard, garden, flower beds, herb beds, transplanting, pruning, planting and tilling the dirt.  We generally do not put anything in the ground until June 1st.  We know full well that in most cases, June 1st is so very late.  However, we live in an area where we JUST had frost last week!  Yes, FROST!  We just put our plants in the ground on June 1st to make sure the danger of frost is past.  So, with that said, it doesn't make sense to concern ourselves too much with things until then.  Once the weather breaks from the winter weather, but it is still cold, we usually plan to go on vacation.  Why wait when we can go south where it is warm while we wait for the warmth to come to PA?  LOL

I spent quite a bit of time outside planting my flowers, pruning and weeding today as well.  My youngest son came out and just started helping me weed.  What a wonderful time working side by side with him!  We talked about the Rapture, science and when technology makes so many mind boggling advances that it's the sign of the times when Jesus comes again.  We need to be ready in our hearts for His return, but still busy going about our daily tasks and the work He has given us.  What a wonderful time of fellowship!

I plan to do bunches more tomorrow in my herb bed.  I plan to dig up shoots off my thyme, oregano, and chives tomorrow to swap with others who have perennials that I'm looking for.  If anyone wants any other perennials, I'll dig those up as they request because the others are a bit more transplant "shocky" so it makes more sense to get them out of the ground and back in to the ground quickly complete with lots of water for about a week. Black Eyed Susans and Purple Cone Flowers are that way.

At some point, we'll be waiting on the garden to yield it's lovely fruit.  What we plan to do is take the camper to a campground for a couple days, then come home to tend to things, kind of like a "mini-vacation".  Nothing overly spectacular, it's nothing overly expensive, just a couple days at a campground.  It should be a nice time away.

In July we plan to help as a family in our church's VBS.  This is a first for us since my  hubby will be joining us this year.  What a blessing!  He'll be doing the games, I'll be teaching Kindergarten and the kids will each help where they can.

After VBS, I'll begin my lesson plans for teaching Physical Science Lab for 8th graders in preparation for the 2013-2014 school year with our home school group.  I'll be canning in between everything, picking blueberries and freezing them, making all kinds of jams from our own black raspberry bushes, peaches, and whatever else I can get my hands on.  I'm hoping to can 3 batches of salsa this year.  We ran out of salsa in April, so it's time to increase how much I make.

I'd like to go down to Georgia for a few days in August this year, but I don't think that is going to happen, unfortunately.  It's a long story as to why, and it's one that I don't understand well enough to explain--since it is vehicle gear related [and that's all I know]--so suffice it to say that we'll try to get down there soon!

August is also the time of year when we settle in and begin school in earnest.  I count school days from July 1st because we're learning every day, but book work and computerized school work will start in August this year.

Of course, we'll have our Family Birthday Bash in August and have fun with everyone then.

Then, there are the festivals, yard sales and chicken barbecues that we'll attend.

I'll make my sauce again this year, Lord willing.  We've got green beans coming up in the garden that we'll can as well.  I hope to get even more to fill our shelves this year.  Take a look at the side bar and see what's in the plans for this year.  I'll begin dehydrating very soon, if not tomorrow!  :)

Golly!  I guess we're just a little busier than I originally thought.  LOL

What are your summer plans?

Gardens

For the past couple of days, with the new year turning it's page, I've been thinking of gardens, pouring over catalogs that have come in the mail and thinking on some of the beautiful flower gardens I've seen.

Country Farm Lifestyles

Red Dirt Ramblings

Cornell University Flower Gardening Basics

The pictures remind me of the scripture--

Song of Solomon 4:12  "My sweetheart, my bride, is a secret garden, a walled garden, a private spring;"

It amazes me how much literary symbols appear in scripture.  I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise since God is the author.

I absolutely love beautiful flowers, tending them and enjoying their scent as the days go by.

Of course with any garden, you have the clowns.  LOL

Here is another one I find it interesting to consider:

Song of Solomon 2:15  "Catch the foxes, the little foxes, before they ruin our vineyard in bloom."

from Dino Boff

Little foxes?  Yup!  We must be very careful not to let those little foxes in to ruin an area or two in our garden.

Below is a wonderful book that explains the relationship between the garden enclosed and a Godly marriage better than I ever could~