pretty busy 'round these parts...

an early spring?! oh, goodie!

This seemingly early Spring is really causing us to pick up the pace this year. If I recall correctly, last year Spring didn't come until the end of March sometime. I really don't mind. I'm lovin' the clear blue skies and warm coastal breeze. Not to mention being happily barefoot and having leave from my inside chores to spend as much time as needed in the garden - yep, that's real nice.

native flowers herald spring!

began blooming only a couple of days ago...
just look at that gorgeous deep blue sky!

aren't the blooms purdy? i was trying to get a photo of a bee
but the iPhone camera wouldn't focus right... i was so excited to see the bee, though!!! :D
oh, and yes, that's my finger. and shadow.
not an expert photographer... my clever way of focusing... {nod}

i'm mighty proud of this photo. absolutely NO editing, and it's so very vivid!
just screams spring. {of course, i can't really brag because it was a blind snapshot:
sun was so bright i could hardly see the screen...}

raised tiers

I haven't posted any photos yet of the raised tiers that my Daddy and Jasco made in the garden... they finished this about a week ago:

thanks Daddy & Jasco! :D

It's made out of cedar to help ward off some of the bugs. {Anyone know how this works?} It'll be devoted to our sweet peppers.. {are bell peppers considered sweet?} Daddy's hoping I'll fill the entire top tier with banana peppers. He's addicted to those things. ;)

I've been preparing the soil beneath the tiers {they made them removable - so smart!}. I began by laying down a couple layers of newspaper to kill the grass. I wet that down pretty good and added compost. After watering that, I added a layer of hay and then a layer of dried leaves. It's not very built up as of yet, but Daddy's planning on bringing a truckload of good soil to fill up the tiers. That bottom layer is for the purpose of attracting worms. We'll add some more compost and dried leaves in the layers closer to the surface for the plants' sake. {In any case, it looks a whole lot better now than it does in the photo above.}

he was so excited to bring that basket home to mom!

native chives

My little cousin, Luke Eli, and I had a good time the other day harvesting native chives together. He pulled at least half of the contents in this basket for his mom. He's actually really good at it. Four years old and can pull a chive without ripping the bulb off the stalk. {proud} 

I've been harvesting all I can before Daddy gets the hankerin' to mow. I dried some in our little toaster oven on low the other day and put them up to use as seasoning. {Daddy's not too fond of bites of onion, so I try to get the flavor without using the bulbs fresh in our stir-fried meals.} What I didn't dry, we're going to hit with the food processor and then put up in the freezer so we can have fresh chives all year round!

recommended book & website

During the scarce moments of down time, I've been working my way through this great book. It was actually the book that encouraged us to get a garden in the first place a few years back! The author makes gardening look waaay less intimidating, especially with her great organic methods that shave off a whole lotta time. Check out Lasagna Gardening.

a moment to read...

I've also been spending even MORE time reading through the Dervaes family blog: Little Homestead in the City ® . I've started at the very first post in 2001 and working my way to the present. It's been educational and inspiring, to say the least! Y'all should check it out! 

screenshot of the blog: Little Homestead in the City ® 

seed came in!

It seemed to take forever {I ordered over a month ago} but the seeds from Heirloom Acres finally came in. 

I purchased:

• amish paste tomatos {read they were great for pastes and sauces!}
• beefsteak tomato
• delicious 51 cantaloupe
• straight-8 slicing cucumber
• muncher burpless cucumber
• long purple eggplant
• pink eyed purple hulled peas
• red malabar spinach 
• black zucchini
• golden summer crookneck squash
• kentucky wonder brown pole bean
• yolo wonder bell pepper {green}
• sweet banana pepper 
• keystone resistant giant pepper {red}
• orange sun pepper
• anise 
• sweet italian basil
• summer savory
• dwarf jewel nasturtium 
• german chamomile  
• fenugreek
• purpurea echenacea 
• vera lavender
• orgegano
• peppermint 
• rosemeary

All organic, non-GMO, heirloom seeds. <3

I was pressed for time and quickly purchased all we needed one afternoon in early January. I really wanted to order from Urban Homestead ® Supply but I just ran flat out of time to try and juggle two carts. {Urban Homestead ® Supply doesn't have the largest selection, but they're growing!} 

I also wanted to try out Baker Creek. I've ordered from Heirloom Acres before and I've always had trouble with the loooong wait for shipping. I received a Baker Creek catalog in the mail in the Winter and I just loved what I saw! Only problem was, it's lost {or a friend/family member brought it home and conveniently forgot to tell me.... ;} and I forgot the name of the company when I was ordering. 

Ah, well. I didn't have great success with germination from my Heirloom Acres seeds this Autumn, but it could most DEFINITELY have been my own fault (planted when it was still way to warm and dry). However, everything I got from  Urban Homestead ® Supply germinated despite the heat. Hmm... 

new mini green house!!!

So, I've been talking about transforming Jasco's fish tank into a seeding box. 

Daddy overheard me, and a couple of days ago he and Jasco made a huge weather-proof seeding box. What's more? The lid is made out of some wavy plexi-glass stuff that makes the seeding box double as a mini green house! I'm really excited about it. Before planting, I loaded the box with seeding pots and set the mini green house in the sun. In only an hour, the soil's temperature went from 50° to an average of 75°.  Awesome for planting...

i love it!!! :D

past week's to-dos

So, I've been looking forward to showing off my completed to-do list to y'all today. :) So I've been working like crazy to get it all done. 

On the to-do list:

• make 40 newspaper seeding pots

check!

• make signs for seeding pots {or ask Jasco to... whatever works... ;}

ran out of popsicle-sticks, so jasco cut some narrow
pieces out of some junk wood we had laying around.
at first i considered just going to the store for more popsicle-sticks
but this was more frugal and resourceful... i know it's small -
but i'm glad i'm starting to think outside-of-the-box more
check!

• fill up 40 seeding pots

• plant tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, squash, zucchini, bell peppers, banana peppers and cayenne

i woke up this morning to find that the table i set it
on collapsed in the middle of the night. i think we salvaged most
of them.. had to replant some. that's why it's a mess anyways.
check, check!

• move compost bin into the sun

we purchased this compost bin online
it works well, but it's a little small for the amount of compost
that we really need. talking to the family about making a
compost pile somewhere..also caught some family members
throwing away some compostable items in the kitchen. naughty, naughty
i hope i put a stop to that one with my passionate ten minute lecture ;)
check!

• make edging for the future herb garden

I was VERY close to just announcing failure of completion on this one yesterday, when my conscience began scolding me for the planned procrastination. 

So, at 5 o'clock yesterday without any ado I just got right outside and started using that shovel. 

In two hours, this was born:

{satisfaction} oh, aand the grass pieces I dug up have been planted in the once-very-bare ground of the dog kennel. Daddy's hoping I'll get the hankerin' to edge somethin' else so he can have some more plugs for the future chicken coop. I told him I'd see what I could do. ;)

To-Do List Status: Complete. {woo!}

what's next?

And I've gots to share our to do list for the upcoming week. I have exactly 8 days to try and get the bulk of the Spring garden tasks out of the way so I can focus on our family's online store {coming soon?} So, here goes:

• at least locate broken concrete/rocks to use in herb garden edging
• lay down newspaper to kill grass in herb garden
• trim evergreen hedges behind herb garden
• trim {prune} fig tree...
• learn how to prune a fig tree {heh - I think this one should come before the preceding... ;}
• purchase lattice for malabar climbing "spinach"
• prepare containers for malabar 
• remove weeds around fig tree, pomegranate tree, privacy hedges and flowering shrubs
• finish weeding/plowing veggie garden
• harvest more native chives
• research more about planting herbs 

So much to do. Why am I still writing this blog?!

Soli Deo Gloria,

showers of blessing...

{Credit: Starling Hope Photography}

"I will cause the shower to come down in his season; 

there shall be showers of blessing."—Ezekiel 34:26. 

HERE is sovereign mercy—"I will give them the shower in its season." Is it not sovereign, divine mercy?—for who can say, "I will give them showers," except God? There is only one voice which can speak to the clouds, and bid them beget the rain. Who sendeth down the rain upon the earth? Who scattereth the showers upon the green herb? Do not I, the Lord? So grace is the gift of God, and is not to be created by man. It is also needed grace. What would the ground do without showers? You may break the clods, you may sow your seeds, but what can you do without the rain? As absolutely needful is the divine blessing. In vain you labour, until God the plenteous shower bestows, and sends salvation down. 

{Credit: Starling Hope Photography}

Then, it is plenteous grace. "I will send them showers." It does not say, "I will send them drops," but "showers." So it is with grace. If God gives a blessing, He usually gives it in such a measure that there is not room enough to receive it. Plenteous grace! Ah! we want plenteous grace to keep us humble, to make us prayerful, to make us holy; plenteous grace to make us zealous, to preserve us through this life, and at last to land us in heaven. We cannot do without saturating showers of grace. 

{Credit: Starling Hope Photography}

Again, it isseasonable grace. "I will cause the shower to come down in his season." What is thy season this morning? Is it the season of drought? Then that is the season for showers. Is it a season of great heaviness and black clouds? Then that is the season for showers.

{Credit: Starling Hope Photography}

 "As thy days so shall thy strength be." And here is a varied blessing. "I will give thee showers of blessing." The word is in the plural. All kinds of blessings God will send. All God's blessings go together, like links in a golden chain. If He gives converting grace, He will also give comforting grace. He will send "showers of blessing." Look up to-day, O parched plant, and open thy leaves and flowers for a heavenly watering.

-Charles Haddon Spurgeon

{Credit: Starling Hope Photography}

------------------------------------------------------------

How wonderful it is to discover the the beautiful parallels between God's earthly creations and His grace. It makes the garden transform in one's spirit from a carnal source of chores and food to a classroom filled with an overabundance of spiritual and practical lessons and blessings. 

Think - when you're working in your garden, you are engaging in the very work that God gave to man before the fall (Genesis 2:15, 3:23). Granted, the scope of taking dominion (Genesis 1:28) was intended to stretch beyond the Garden of Eden (Psalms 115:16) but there is something very special about this undertaking. So many times God refers to gardening/farming in His Word - references wherein the full meaning is best grasped when one understands the dynamics of agriculture. 

{Credit: McCauley}

I think it's pretty amazing that my quiet time with the Lord can legitimately be spent on my knees before a raised bed garden in meditation on God's precepts and prayer. I loved what I read in an article in Challenging Femininity where I first learned of the Dervaes family:

"How has your lifestyle enabled you to grow closer to the Father and living out his Torah?
Living off the land helps us get closer to nature and the Creator. We had to learn the lesson that we aren’t in charge and we don’t always get what we want. By putting ourselves at the mercy of the harvests, the land, and the weather, we have to rely on blessings from God. It takes a family to run a project like this and we have to rely on each other and support one another.

Living this way puts one in touch with God’s plan: He put man in the garden as caretaker of His creation. The guidelines for living are spelled out in the Old Testament, as well as demonstrated in the agrarian festivals that directly connect us with the land and harvest times. Our family keeps the Sabbath, tithes our first fruits and observes the 7 Holy Days.

Our father has said it’s enlightening to point out that a gardener’s position is almost always on his knees."

Mmm.. that one section was the spark that ignited my passion for sustainable living. I encourage you to visit Little Homestead in the City, the blog by the Dervaes family that has done so much to kindle that passion and educated me in the process.

Soli Deo Gloria,

new life ... reminders of an old one

Ah, there's nothing quite like taking a stroll in the dormant garden grey with winter to find a tinsy bud bursting forth and declaring gaily, "Spring is coming!!!"

As I was weeding out the bean rows this morning {more like plunging my hands into a forest of grass and tugging the roots free of the soil we can't afford to waste...} I unknowingly harvested this pleasant little surprise:

The smell instantly brought back dozens of colorful memories of a time when I ran barefoot and carefree with a bundle of these native chives in my arms to my next-door-neighbor's backyard. There my best friend and I sat cross legged and knocked the mud clumps off and carefully rinsed the tiny bulbs for hours at a time. We were aspiring to begin our own onion business, setting up a little cardboard stand on the side of the road and selling a bundle of chives for $1. Just think of the profits we could have devoted to Starbursts and A&W Root Beer! Of course, these piles just ended up on our kitchen countertops being chopped finely and added to that evenining's supper as we stared wistfully on, watching all our hard work being thrown into bubbly soup. Of course as soon as we tasted our mothers' creations, sharing crackers on the balance beam that separates our yards, staring up into summer night sky laden with an overabundance of stars and feeling the warm Summer breeze on our cheeks - all wistful sighs were replaced with blissful ones.

Makes one kinda miss those kid days...

Happy Gardening!

Soli Deo Gloria,

gearin' up for spring 2011!

Spring is already looking bright for the little Thomas homestead here in Garden Acres! Finally rolling up my sleeves to join in and embark on Daddy's vision last Autumn and then reading, reading, reading all Winter has really made me eager to help out this year. Daddy has given me charge of the researching, planning and purchasing as well as good amount of the daily chores.

Brand new kennel - put up just two days ago!
Don't let his puppy-dog eyes fool ya,
you should have seen the mess he's made.
{sigh}

I quickly drafted a tentative garden layout last month, however everything changed as soon as my Daddy made his way out back a couple of weeks ago. With a new giant kennel for our hound finished {thank heavens, that dog was tearing up everything!} and a chicken range underway, our yard schematic was rearranged to accommodate these exciting additions. Daddy's ingenuity in the veggie garden by adding two tiers in the middle of our veggie bed means even more adjustments.



I've spent a good part of the day measuring structures {thanks for your help, Jasco!} and creating our first complete accurate-scale schematic for our homestead. It isn't finished as of yet, but I hope to get it posted soon. :)

The dill that I planted in Autumn 2010 grew splendidly -- well, at least I think it did. As my first successful herb, I was pretty ecstatic when I reached 2ft tall in December {although they say it's supposed to get up to 4ft... hm...} I did get two nice-sized cuttings off of it before the frost in late January!

Aaaand my cabbage is gorgeous! Well, one of the heads is. The other is workin' on it. Um... yes, you read that right. There are only two. Hush.

The parsley didn't grow half as well - and I know why. I really didn't pay attention to my garden after planting it until mid-January. *innocent whistle*

We won't even mention the lettuce.

I really do have a good reason, though. After I planted in late October, we had quite the heat spell and a mild drought. I waited for about a month, and after seeing no green sprouts, I kind of gave up on it. It was all too easy with my baby sister being born in September and becoming a weekly maid for a not-so-near-by homeschool family.

So, the Winter garden of my dreams turned out like this:

One would think we sowed grass in place of
our winter squash and spinach... =/

But we did get an entire carrot to grow!!! ^.^

I'm going to stop now...

*sigh*

Well, there is always Spring 2011. New year, new priorities, new schedule and a clearer vision. I'm really hoping to focus on gardening this year. I want to become excellent at growing things. I most definitely did not inherit any green thumb genes. It's gonna take some research and a whole lot of diligence to master this skill. With Daddy's guidance, Marmy's enthusiasm, Christina's attentiveness, McCauley's energy, Jasco's strength, Gracey's refreshing adorableness and every single Wednesday off from chores and outside jobs to focus on the garden and this blog -- I'm thinking this year looks pretty promising.

However: no matter how diligent I am, no matter how well I plot and plan, no matter how much I know -- the harvest is from the Lord. If vegetables grow, it is not because of me but because the Creator chose to bless. Even this garden is of Him, through Him and to Him. If the bounty is plentiful, blessed be the Name of the Lord. If He chooses to withhold prosperity this Summer, blessed be the Name of the Lord. Our family's journey to gaining skills and strategies in self-sufficiency is for His glory alone. We pray to be faithful stewards of the land and resources which He's already provided to us.

On that note, I want to encourage my fellow gardeners to seek the Lord of the Harvest in the process and to bring glory to His Name in success. Return your first fruits, and use the entire experience to further God's Kingdom.

Soli Deo Gloria,