Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The Things That Grow at Our House

Isn't it amazing that something this small can grow into a giant of a thing producing 25+ zucchini? I am still amazed at how God created the world to work. Small things producing such bounty. Makes me feel like I can make more of a difference in the lives of others with just my small gifts. And it has been so, well for lack of something less dramatic sounding, spiritual to tend our garden, our little piece of earth that is our responsibility to tend. I am probably more contemplative this year than last since I have motherhood in mind. I hope the seeds I plant in my children will come to fruition, but just like the garden- sometimes it is up to the plant whether or not it will bear any fruit or survive. Ultimately it's out of my control, even if I do everything I know to do. Thank you God for this lesson in parenting. And thank you God for our blessing of a garden. We feel very blessed to be in a home with a large space to grow and experiment, and we even have an apple tree and a grapevine to boot!

We have had much success with our garden this year. We got planning early this year and already have had plenty of "harvest" so far:
  • 42 cucumbers (lots of pickle making going on at our house :)
  • 10 zucchini
  • 5 green tomatoes
  • 1 jalepeno pepper
  • 64 apples from the apple tree
  • several salads worth of lettuce, kale
  • and also fresh basil, mint, and rosemary out the wazoo
Here are some pics of how we gathered our apples. We were very red-neck about it. David got a rake and we spread out this blanket. He would shake the tree with the rake and we would move the blanket around the yard to try and get it under the apples that might fall. It was fun. And now I have plenty of apple butter and applesauce :)

In other news, I came home the other day and there were these new curtains hanging in our dining room:Yes, my husband sews! He did a good job. Just made roman shades with some old fabric we have had for a couple years, an old pair of corderoys, and some supplies from Lowe's. I was so amazed that he just threw them together while I was gone to work. He is a man of many talents :)

Also, random, but I wanted to post some pics of Easter. We got to go to Memphis for a couple of days and visit with some fam. Look @ how long David's hair is. It's much longer now. I married a hippie ;)