Spring has Sprung!!!!

My Garden is Started!

 I have had a garden for the past 20 years.  Some have been successful and some a total failure.  More success than failure I must admit.  I don't usually start my garden until after Good Friday.  I don't really remember why but that has been my rule.  MOMD has not had a garden before and has been really anxious to get it started this year.  He is so willing to do the heavy work in the garden, tilling, toting soil, weeding etc.  My son (the carpenter), built my raised bed the spring after we moved in in 2004.  I live in a garden home community and I have a rather large lot but I didn't know if my neighbors would be happy with me planting a garden so I tried to make it a little  nicer than just digging a hole and putting a plant in it.  My plan is to increase my garden yearly adding more area to plant until I have it the size I want it.  I have tried a few experiments over the past couple of years that have not worked so MOMD tilled up a plot to double the size of my raised bed.

This bed will take a little more work to get it up to par but this is a great start.  MOMD tilled the area several times to break up the lousy soil that is there.  We have amended it with some garden soil and manure.  We also put some worms in it to help aerate the soil.  We have a little more work to do before we can put the rest of the plants in but we have potatoes and onions already in the ground.  

We also put worms in the raised bed as well.  The soil in the raised bed is really rich and has been prolifically producing for six years now.  We have radishes, lettuce, sweet banana peppers, jalapeños and tomatoes planted in there.  We may add a couple of things like carrots or herbs but this bed is essentially finished.  

We have been composting since October and the compost has been going directly into the garden but we wanted a separate compost pile so we built a bin.  I don't know how successful it will be, since I have never composted before but we are enjoying the process.

The compost bin is built from a wooden pallet, found in the garbage, and fencing wire.  We don't have trees on the property so we walked down to the fishin' hole with two garbage bags and gathered leaves to place on the bottom of the bin to get started.  We lined the bottom of the pallet with a thick stack of newspaper before putting the leaves in.  We also added manure and soil along with some grass clippings and composting from the kitchen.  We are still tweaking the container but we are having fun learning.  Problem solving is the best learning tool!!!

We will be adding more vegetables in the coming weeks.  I will keep you posted on the progress.  Do you have  a garden?  What do you plant?  Do you have any tips?  Post a comment and tell me all about your garden.  I would love to see it.

Gone Fishin'

When the week-ends are pretty, MOMD (man of my dreams) and I like to walk down to the fishin' hole near our house and spend a few hours fishin' and laughin' and talkin'.  One Saturday afternoon the temperatures rose above freezing and we headed out.  Poles and "stuff" in hand.  We even took the dog!  Yikes!  

We have a walking trail that borders our neighborhood and we like to walk back there often.  The trail follows a creek and that is where we like to spend a few hours fishin'.  We have our favorite spots.  Spots where a tree has fallen giving me a place to sit and read or rocks we stand on and cast.  We usually hit them all trying to find a place the fish are bitin'.  This day the sky was so blue and the temperature was around 68.  It doesn't get any better that that!  We walk to our favorite hole and MOMD baits my hook.

The water is so clear and beautiful.  I was sure to catch a fish.  If I don't get a bite in about ten minutes I have backup.  I always bring a snack and a book!  I tied the dog to a post and went to fishin'.

Emma was watching and hoping I would catch something she could play with.  I didn't.  I tried for at least half an hour.  No luck!  I got out a snack and a book and settled in to watch MOMD fish.

I am sitting on a fallen log, leaning on a tree for support and in heaven listening to the sound of the water gurgling by.  MOMD is catching really small fish and enjoying every minute of it.  We walk down to another fishin' hole to see what's bitin' there.  I don't get a bite so I lay down on some rocks to check out the sky.  It is an amazing color blue.  

I am lazing around watching the clouds roll by and thinking about how wonderful my life is and thanking God that He made such a beautiful day just for me to enjoy when a flock of birds came and filled the trees above me.  They were all talking at once and I was desperately wondering what the fuss was about. Were they fussing at us for being in the area?  Were they just chatting with each other about the beauty of the day?  I kept laying on the ground watching and wondering.  

Emma was watching too, but I think she was hoping one of them would come and play with her.  Or was she wondering what one of them tastes like?  

I'm not certain.  Either way, we packed up and walked home.  Life doesn't get any better than this!!!!!

What a perfect day!

Is this Your DAILY Prayer?

I try to read a devotional book along with my Bible every morning to get my spiritual heart moving.  It has the same effect my cup of coffee has on my physical heart.  I just need it.  When I don't get it I miss it terribly.  

 I have been reading Charles Spurgeon's  Morning and Evening lately.  I think I have had this book for 15 years and I have read it along with my Bible off and on consistently that long.  But it seems fresh every time I read it.  It's like it is the very first time I've read it.  The Bible is a living Word and it does that to me too!  I have read it over and over again all my life yet sometimes I will read a scripture and it speaks as though it is the very first time I have ever seen it, knowing full well that I had read that time and time again.  I love that!

 I have a prayer that I try to pray every morning that is like my dedication to the day and to the Lord.  Is this your Daily Prayer too?  I encourage you to write it on a note card and place it where you will be reminded to read it every morning:
"Lord, help me to glorify you.  I have talents; help me to extol You by using them for You.  I have time; Lord, help me to redeem it, that I may serve You.  I have a head to think; Lord, help me to think of You. You have put me in this world for something,  Lord, show me what that is and help me to work out my life-purpose. I cannot do much; but as the widow put in her two mites, which were all her living, I cast my time and eternity, too, into your treasury.  I am all Yours. Take me and enable me to glorify You today, in all that I say, in all that I do, and with all that I have."  AMEN!


"To HIM be glory both now and forever"  2 Peter3:18


I hope you have an inspired  day!