Thursday, June 27, 2019

I've been busy nurturing after the storms...

There were a few storms-- some tornadic-- with very high winds, and it beat up some of my less-established container plants pretty worse than I previously assumed. I've been playing catch-up, and I've spent hours outside in the humidity nursing them back to health or meticulously pruning them to get them back to some facsimile of good health. Some of my plants were turning yellow two days after their leaves and branches were tattered and mangled (one of my tomato plants was knotted around itself!)
I have come to think of these living things as partly my babies and partly extensions of myself. I couldn't just let them fight on their own when they did nothing to cause this. It wasn't bugs, fertilizer overdose, or even fungus that attacked them. It was a storm system--TWO storm systems-- that caused them to basically go into shock. 
The tops of them were strong and pretty and green. The root systems were strong. There were still pretty blossoms on the plants... but that was a facade. The plants from the road looked alive and well, even producing some fruit. But they were dying because they couldn't weather the storm alone. 
Two were blown over, and my husband and I went out in the fierce rain and lightning to rescue them. We got drenched picking these heavy plants up and putting them in a safer spot (not completely safe) on the porch.
And that made me think. There are storms in life. We can be rooted, grounded, producing fruit... and somehow the storms can still come out of nowhere and blindside us. Put us in shock. Make us give up because after all the preparation and planning, we still got beat up.  
We may have friends who will go through hell and high water to help us, but in the end, it's us who have to pick up and somehow survive. And we need nurturing. We need pruning. We need that someone who will risk a lightning strike to help us.
And He did. He is there. Sometimes when things are at there best, we can forget that He's still there giving us water, regular fertilizer, regular pruning.  It's not until the storms come that we remember to ask for His help.
Let's not forget to thank Him for the good times also, not just for rescue in bad times.

Thursday, June 20, 2019

What I did on my birthday

For my birthday a few days ago, I made the 4 hour (one way) trip to the Arkansas farm. Is that garden really worth the 8 hour round trip just to get a few pics and videos? 

I really believe it is. I do container gardening where I am in Tennessee, but that isn't really enough for me. Well, neither is one garden plot. My dream is to have at least a 3 acre garden. Yes.  THREE acres!
But my family can only be two places at once (ha ha), so the container gardening and the smaller plot garden will have to do for now.  

Take a look below!











To see more pics of Heidi and some of her buddies, click here!




Monday, June 17, 2019

Just a little ditty!

I spray my plants that have root trails on their stems with a low-grade fertilizer twice a week. I also have slow-release fertilizer or worm castings in the soil. I firmly believe that every day we eat, the plants should eat.


Saturday, June 15, 2019

Great Value Sugar Snap Pea Stir-fry

This is super easy to make, and if you're an aspiring vegetarian or vegan, this may be something for you! When I make it for the kids, they like a tablespoon of brown sugar to throw off the heat I put in it. (I make three bags in a wok when I make it for them, because I can eat an entire bag by myself!)

Friday, June 14, 2019

My Salsa Bucket Needs A New House!


I have seen tremendous growth in my porch container garden.


I switched planners, you guys! I was using an Amazon "Classic" planner, which was very simple and had three prioritization blocks per day. I needed more categories and something that was already decorated without me having to break out too many markers and stickers.

See my Youtube Flipthrough of The Happy Planner here!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJX7hj1u_W8


Translate | tercüme yapmak | traducir