Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Confessions and Contests.....

I have a confession to make....last year I made a bad decision. Actually, I am not sure it was really a decision .....more of a giving in. I did not cover crop our garden area. Normally I sow Austrian peas, winter rye and crimson clover into my beds and then till that in come late February or early March. Last year, due to this trial in my personal life, I just let it go. Sometimes we just have to let things go to get the more pressing things done. I wish, at this point, I had chosen to let something else go - or made time, even if it was the middle of the night, to get this job done. The boys and I are paying for it now! I hope you will all learn from my mistake!

We have been busy trying to turn this:

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Into this:

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It is slow going and with every weed we pull, I feel regret! I am in the "if only I had..." place. Guess I'll be there until we finish :)

Along with trying to get our 20 raised beds back into shape and planted...I am working on the herb garden that borders our garden. It is in much better shape but definitely needs weeding. Thankfully it goes much faster.

What started out looking like this:

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Is quickly turning into this:

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There is something special, relaxing and peaceful about being in the garden. I believe it is where the Father wants me to spend much of my time. It is quiet, I am surrounded by His creation.....both in sight and in sound. It brings peace to my troubled soul. Apparently this year, I need more of that peace and am finding myself in the garden more than usual. The boys and I are usually there together. At this time of year we reverse or normal routine and garden in the mornings and school in the afternoons.

We are almost finished with schooling for the year and I am thankful for that. It will free up many more hours in my day. Josiah has worked hard to finish early - he will take a spelling test today and if he does well, he is finished with school for the summer. The other boys will be working on math for a bit longer. Math seems to come easy to Josiah - his mind and his way of thinking are very mathematical and he grasps the concepts easily. I pray that this continues as he moves closer to Algebra! The boys will read all summer - I have a list that they must complete over the summer each year but find that they add many more books of their own accord. I am thankful that all of my boys love to read.

When I haven't been in the garden I have been busy making soap. I have been trying to re-build my inventory and bring you all some new soaps...many of which have been requested by you, my readers! This burst of soap making, over 600 bars in the last 2 weeks, was made possible by my Father! He prompted a dear friend of mine, Jan, to offer me all of her soap making materials when she decided to stop indulging in this hobby!

Jan called me early one morning to tell me that she wanted to give me everything.....and I mean EVERYTHING connected with soap making...all I had to do was to come and get it that day. I went! This generous gift included all of her base oils, essential oils, lye, pots, spoons, thermometers, measuring cups and even a stick blender. Such a generous gift! And this gift has allowed me to create some new recipes! Of course, you know that I will need help coming up with some names! So stay tuned tomorrow for contest rules, pictures and a hint of what is curing on my shelves right now!

2 comments:

  1. I can fully feel your pain, frustration, regret over not doing what you should have done in the fall. I spent 4 hours rototilling and creating raised beds last week~~~I'm still trying to recover from it. I hope things go better for you in the rest of the beds.

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  2. Hi Cheri,
    Our family neglected part of our garden area last fall as well, and this afternoon it took me 2-1/2 hours just to weed and clean out 1 row of raspberry plants. Thankfully most of the rows aren't all this bad. What a job, and I agree that there is something healing about working with my boys and being out in the garden. And now after doing all that -- they are predicting snow flurries tonight! Haven't had much time to do herbal related things, but thankfully quite a few of my herbs came up again this spring, and we have more to plant when we can finally trust the weather.

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