Spring Gardening

We've been busy this spring trying to get our garden in order. We don't have much in the way of natural soil here so we have to make our soil. We've been using contained raised beds for years but several years ago the system we had gave out. For the next few years we made "lasagna beds" but found that we lost a lot of square footage at the top of each bed so this year we are making a return to wooden raised beds. Chris and the boys generously made me four of 4'x6' beds. One is for Marissa's strawberries, one we have in spring crops, one has row cover over it for tomatoes (it is still 4 weeks early for our growing season), one is still in process, and they are making a 3'x6' one for rhubarb and what ever else might fit with that. The other beds will continue to be uncontained for another year. Those will be home to pole beans, peas, dry beans (black and red), and onions. Here are some pictures of the garden as it is today.

Scott is updating our orchard, making the wells bigger for the growing needs of the trees and doing the annual fix on the trenches that allow water to flow from one tree well to the next.

I've still got a lot of work to do. I'm determined to get my raspberries moved to where I want them but have yet to improve the soil where they are going. I also need to get a fence system up to contain the raspberries. They get really tall and then lean, making it difficult to get in to harvest. My blackberries have been neglected for years and it is time to tend them a bit.

All said we are having a great spring (minus the wind) and enjoying spending so much time outdoors.

Sorry there is no rhyme or reason for the order of the pictures. I have no idea how to do this blog thing, which is why I don't post (well, that and time). :-)

Happy Spring and happy gardening.

Leaves Change, Snow Falls, Flowers Bud, and People Move

I'm moving folks! Ok, don't have a heart attack. I haven't decided to move up to Moscow or anything, I'm just moving over a couple blocks to my own blog. Click here to head on over and check it out!

Hope to see you there!

Adventures in Moscow, Idaho!

I aways have great ambitions to keep up our blog better, but as many of you have probably noticed it hasn't been working so well. I know there are many people eager to hear about my trip to Moscow, Idaho. All this could end up being more than one post, stay tuned. Ok now, let me see, where does this start? I'll start with Christmas break.

Curtis and Caity were home for three weeks for Christmas. We all loved having them home for more than a week! We spent lots of time together playing games, talking, relaxing, watching movies, shopping, etc. Dad, and us olders drove down to Ruidoso, NM to visit our grandma and some cousins. On Christmas day we spent the morning as a family celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, and there were joined by our pastors family for Christmas dinner and an evening of fellowship and continued celebration. New Years, though not spent in Ruidoso as usual, was fabulous. We had a week filled with dear friends, games, great conversations, lots of laughter, cooking and eating delicious foods, late nights, puzzles, and wonderful fellowship.

Early morning of January 10th found Curtis, Caity, and I loading the car and beginning our journey northward; Curtis and Caity for the purpose of returning to college, and me, well, I just went to tag along in Moscow for a while, experience the "college life" as well as a non-college student can do, and just spend time with my siblings. We split the 21 hour drive into two days, stopping the night on the north end of Salt Lake City, Utah. The long, cold, snowy miles were passes listening to lots of music, talking and laughing, listening to audio dramas, and a bit of sleeping here and there.

I was in Moscow, staying with Caity, for three and a half weeks; the longest I've ever been away from my home and family. I won't go into the detail about every single day, I'd lose your attention after day 3 (if I haven't already), not because the first three days were boring, but because 1) a lot of day-to-day things were the same, and 2) because lots of the details have all meshed together and I can't differentiate between all 24 days. =) So in stead, here are some of the highlights.

I attended classes with Curtis and Caity (music theory and choir being my favorite), heard both Pastor Doug Wilson and Pastor Toby Sumpter preach, met many wonderful friends, sang at a nursing home each week with a group of students, studied in Bucers Coffee shop (got a couple coffee drinks too, of course), One World Café, and the Tyndale Library (NSA library), went swimming with Caity twice, played soccer and frisbee, went to a swing dance =), had pinkeye for about 48 hours, passed out once, spent time with friends, stayed up with my own studies, went to a couple Bible studies, played games, watched a few movies, cooked in Caity's kitchen (mostly making cookies for Curtis), walked around downtown Moscow, and talked Caity's ear off every chance I got. =) It was an incredible trip, a highlight of my year for sure (yes, I am aware the year has just started), one that I will always have great memories of.

Even though I had such a wonderful time and so thoroughly enjoyed my time in Moscow, I am glad to be back home. I missed my parents and brothers, my church family, and the structure of a normal routine. As per request, I'll be writing another post shortly about what I love about being home which I will tie into my post-high school plans, which many people have asked me about.

God is so good!

11. for God's faithful provision long before it was needed

12. daughters whose hearts long to be at home

13. the joy and blessing of being a keeper at home

14. beautiful blue skies

15. the promise of spring

16. scented candles (don't they just look happy too!)

17. labrador retrievers

18. a bag of just cinnamon and spearmint gum drops (thank you dear daughter!)

19. industrious sons

20. children who love to learn, even when life is hard

Tonight's Menu

Tonight we had spicy meatballs with BBQ sauce, egg noodles, peas, and home made applesauce. You'll notice I used the meatballs from one recipe and the BBQ sauce from another. It all went together anyway and everyone really enjoyed it.

Now for a Civil War video. I love family time.

Maning Up

For a month now all six kids have been home. When everyone is home life is smooth and easy. Many hands working together to make light work. Today the three oldest kids headed north. Curtis and Caity return to college and Marissa went with them just to experience their world a bit. Today we have six fewer hands.

The little boys have really "manned up" though. On this, their first day back to school, they worked diligently, completing all their work in the allotted time. They cheerfully loaded up all their stuff to head to piano, only to realize that we are all sick with something that is clearly contagious and we couldn't expose the teacher and her family (what was mom thinking?) so we just headed back to more school. New subjects added, no problem. Take down the trash for early am pickup, "let me". Extra chores to cover for those older siblings, "I'd be glad to!" What a blessing these sweet boys have been, making happy an otherwise sad heart.

We've been reading "Boyhood and Beyond", if you have aspiring young men in your family ( in the 8-15 age range), I'd highly recommend this book. You, too, may be amazed at how your little guys start "manning up". :-)

Gratitude

Yikes, it's been a long time since we posted. We'll try to get better at that.

In my daily Bible study time I use TableTalk by Ligonier Ministries (I highly recommend it!) Anyway, today there was this quote from The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton (pg 463, just in case you have that book):

" I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought: and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."

For quite sometime I've been trying to be more aware of the many ways God blesses me and my family. We write down blessings on a white board in our laundry room to make note of them. If you read Caity's blog then you know she is keeping a record of her thankfulness there. I thought we should start recording them here too. I know some people post these on a certain day of the week, and perhaps we'll get to that as well. For now, I'll just be happy that we are posting them at all and hope that they are an encouragement to you to see God blessing you in many ways as well.

Here we go:

1. A wonderful Christmas break with all 8 of us together at home.

2. Children who love each other.

3. Older siblings who take the time to teach, train, instruct, and nurture their younger siblings.

4. A faithful and dependable husband!

5. A great start to our 2011 school year.

6. A dishwasher that cleans well.

7. Earl Grey tea from Mountain Rose Herbs (really, it's better than any others I know of)

8. A wonderful church family.

9. A warm fire in our wood burning stove on a cold day.

10. Godly parents who taught me to love the Lord.