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Category Archives: spring garden
Like most seasonal transitions, it begins slowly and quietly…tiny little shifts in the air, the plants, the sky, the soul. It might seem odd, but spring has never really been my favorite season. Maybe it’s because I’ve always lived in the south, but I usually prefer the shift from summer to fall. The cool weather and the harvest; the feast days and the rich, earthy colors. But something about this spring has just really inspired me.
I think that it may have to do with the way that the seasons have really aligned with my life events in the past months…the reaping of what had been sown in the fall, the cold, dark winter (the only light in the dark being the celebration of our Savior’s birth) and now, finally spring. With Lent leading up to it, it feels especially like a season of newness for me. Filled with hope and rejoicing in a God who came to save us. I’ve noticed every little part of the shift, every honey-toned ray of sunshine saturating patches of neon green grass. Every sweet bloom that has opened so slowly, and so quickly fallen away. The smell of rain and freshly turned soil.
It’s truly spring in my soul right now.
I’m going to miss my dad’s back yard and garden, it’s always felt like a little oasis to me. Asher and I spent countless hours in it the year that Dash was deployed and we were living here, and although a lot has changed since then, this backyard still feels like a timeless little slice of heaven. It’s such a treat to watch spring unfold in it, the trees and vines and annual blooms, the birds and squirrels and of course, the garden. Back in the fall we planted a new little strawberry patch and it has been growing beautifully so far. We have been picking plenty of lettuce and herbs lately and peas are already starting to bloom and set. I’m thankful that a northward move will mean a long spring for us this year, extra blooms to behold, and the possibility of having time to plant another garden of our own.
I’m feeling confident that we will join nature in beautiful bloom, once we are finally planted.
Wow, is June already come and gone?
There are so many times I want to jump on here and blog. And then I just don’t get around to it.
I’ve also found that when life gets tough, I need to keep my head down, keep the prayers going up and just take care of myself and my people. And things have been a bit more “tough” lately- busy with the kiddos, a new job and really the whole new world of life outside of active duty Army. It’s not all bad tough either, there is a lot of good in there. But I find it hard to balance the extra work, attention and prayers that life needs during tough times with the quiet time I need to reflect and recharge. The quiet time seems to be scattered throughout the day in little bits grabbed here and there and for some reason I just have trouble spending my time here in little bits, so instead a knit a few rows, read a few pages, catch a few winks.
Like I always say, living life trumps writing about it.
But I have to post at least once this month! Time flies and I am more often reaching for my iphone camera than the fancy one, but, I do make sure that I pick it up and purposefully capture my kids at their current ages. I can hardly believe that my baby Oliver is coming up on five months old. He has become the heart of our family. Like the hearth we all gather round when we need a bit of extra warmth, he is always there with his sweet baby cheeks, kissable lips and gummy smiles. Boy is he ever loved. Dash and I think he is our prettiest baby yet.
4 months old, lookin for a fist-bump
And these other two crazy kids. They keep us busy these days. They are best friends.
Amelia at 2.5, on the left is the usual face I get when I point my camera her way. The right is the rare occasion of a semi-fake smile. She is still her mama’s girl, but when she gets hurt, she needs Dr. Daddy.
Asher at 5. Currently on a haircut strike and a learning streak. I can’t believe he isn’t even a pre-schooler anymore. We are officially starting K in the fall and we are super excited to be doing it here at home.
I am loving these summertime kids to the moon and back.
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June garden!
And while I’m here (cause who knows when I’ll be back! ), a quick peek into the garden! Everything has taken off and the harvest is rolling in these days. Tomatoes are doing the best, the beans are doing pretty well too, but for some reason, everything else seems to be moving a bit slow and looking a bit small. I have a feeling I may have added a little bit too much cheap compost to the beds and not enough rich/sandy soil. Or it could just be the high heat we have already been getting coupled with the bugs that never fail to plague. We have picked a few peppers, squash, eggplant, tomatillo, okra and even cut a few of the zinnias that are finally starting to bloom, but I do have to admit, I was hoping for better. Each season brings new lessons though! The weeds are getting a bit crazy out there and I will have to get out and do some serious weeding here soon. We will be starting some pumpkin seeds soon and planning a few more things for the fall. I’m feeling like a good clear out in August and some more work on the soil will get us in shape for a better fall harvest. For fall we will shift gears to plants like brussels and broccoli, carrots and beets, corn and squash, beans and new herbs and of course pumpkins. For now, we are enjoying and preserving our bountiful tomato harvest! Maybe soon I will have to post more about how we preserved our tomatoes.
 
Happy gardening. Happy summer!
Posted in adventures in gardening, days of summer, garden journal, my babies, spring garden
Tags: amelia, asher, garden, garden journal, gardening, june, oliver, tomatoes
I’m starting this new post series in the hopes that it will help me keep better track of our gardening adventures!
The garden has been a half-nurtured place this past fall and spring. Between planning for an overseas move that ended up not happening to welcoming a new baby into our family (and planning another move- hopefully closer to Austin and to daddy’s NEW JOB!), that beloved space back there just hasn’t gotten the attention and investment that I really dream of giving a garden. But given that fact, I think things are still looking pretty good out there.
Since constructing all of the raised beds, I decided to keep all of the herbs in pots. Hopefully I will find a prettier way to place them about the yard, but for now they are just sitting in a row along the side of a raised bed. Basil is looking and smelling great and we are getting lots of ripening cherry tomatoes-perfect combo! We’ve got lots of different tomatoes growing and looking good out there right now- we purchased them all from starts, but maybe in the fall we will actually start our own seeds.
I am also really missing having a compost pile right now. We had to buy compost/soil to amend beds and I hate spending money on dirt So far we haven’t seen too many pests, but this morning I noticed that something seems to be chewing tiny little holes in everything. I may try a simple soap/water spray before going for the neem oil stuff.
The seeds that I did directly sow were in the ground a bit later than I would have liked, but they are coming up and looking good now! When I added soil to a few of the beds, I got a little bit too much compost and not enough sandy loam type soil, so the seeds were having trouble coming up at first and I had to amend the soil a bit more. It’s also probably due to the fact that I bought the cheapest bags of organic compost that I could find.
The growing list right now includes about 10 tomatoes, 8 different types of peppers, eggplant, okra, tomatillo, green and yellow beans, yellow summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, salad greens, lots of chard, calendula and zinnia and tons of different herbs including lavender, tarragon, oregano, basil and more. It looks like we even have a volunteer cantaloupe that has popped up. We still have the tree citrus trees, but for some reason that I cannot figure out, they aren’t looking very well. The mandarin tree, which gave us a few fruits this past season has some healthy new growth toward the bottom, but after blooming well up top the branches are all slowly losing leaves, turning brown and dying. I’m suspecting some sort of fungus or blight? Both the lemon and mexican lime are doing the same and although all three bloomed beautifully, no fruit set. I have checked my watering methods and have been sure to fertilize and add good soil so, I just don’t know. We are in a rough area for bugs and blights I have learned- it’s sad. We also lost our pear tree to fire blight The peach tree is doing great though!
I’m content with what we have out there for now because as I mentioned before, we have another move on the horizon! Hopefully headed to the Austin area to be settled in a place that will allow us to put down some more garden roots and to at least have a small flock of chickens again!
May 2012 garden (with one last bed to be weeded, soiled and planted- hopefully with some roots like carrots and beets!)
How’s your garden growing these days?
To the garden. Days at the park. Bare feet and water guns. Into Spring!
This past Saturday I spent the entire day out back building the rest of my raised garden beds (I now have six 8×4 ft beds!). It was 85 degrees, the kids were frolicking (and hanging out in the bouncer seat), I broke a sweat and got a sunburn. It. was. glorious.
I always feel like this come February/March and getting out to enjoy those first warm, sunny days really renews my spirit.
I am still riding the vitamin d high (which is good because today is cloudy and cool and the kids are whining to fill up the plastic pool with water again).
This Lent has been a good, productive season for my spirit and now that we are in the midst of Passiontide, I am trying to be extra mindful that I don’t lose focus and thinking that some of my new Lenten prayer habits should remain permanent.
Aside from some fun and busy weekends we’ve had lately, the weeks have been calm and SEVEN of them have already passed since Oliver’s birth. I’ve been seeing TONS of this lately…
Our Mr. Oliver is quite a smiley guy. His eyes are always big, bright and inquisitive and his lips are possibly the most kissable lips I have ever seen on a baby. And he is not lacking in those willing to give kisses either His big brother and sister always make him smile and sometimes they can even get him to talk to us. We’ve been having so much fun as a family of five and blessedly, we have all been getting some pretty great nights of sleep as well. I know that the great sleep is not always permanent, but I’ll take it and be grateful for it while I can!
Life is so very full of blessings right now, even amidst our struggles and trials. I am grateful for pain which helps me see beauty in even more vibrant color.
Winter is over. Spring has arrived.
Posted in adventures in gardening, days of spring, lent, living the liturgical year, spring garden, we are catholic
Tags: baby smiles, garden, gardening, lent, oliver, sibling love, spring garden
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
-W.B. Yeats
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I checked “The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats” out from the library this week (my one selection from the ten we are allowed, my hungry little readers had a hard time narrowing their own selections down to only nine) and as I lay in bed last night, sipping hot tea and reading, I rediscovered this little gem. I’ve read this poem before, but reading it now, wow, it just sings to my heart.
I’ve been in a bit of a reflective mood lately. It’s part of why it’s been more quiet around here lately. Sometimes it’s good to take a few steps back from the online world and just let the soul be quiet (just as it’s good to write and write and be inspired by others).
I have also been feeling really wimpy about the heat lately. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I am a native Texan! But seriously, a week of one hundred degree highs has really got me down. I feel tired and sad when I look out the back window at 3pm to see all of my plants hanging their wilty heads in heat exhaustion. After library trips, art projects, early-morning playground runs (which are still sweaty), quiet time with books, letter and number writing practice, short stints of backyard play including slip n slides, pools and popsicles, and yes, finally even resorting to afternoon tv or a movie, my ideas for “cool” entertainment are exhausted and the kids end up destroying one or both of their bedrooms together- that is if I can even convince them to go play together at all.
At the end of each day, the house looks as if a tornado has ripped through. I am trying to enjoy it and go with the flow, but God help me. It’s not even technically summer yet…..
Of course, in between the moments of sweat, boredom and messes there are the moments. I can never forget that they are fleeting and that a summer will surely come some day that my sweeties will be content to sip iced tea and read books all day with me. Then I’ll miss their baby faces, the duties of wrapping “hurt” arms up in doctors bandages (20 times in 20 minutes), or appeasing a request to snuggle and nurse for a few sweet moments.
These are, of course, the moments that pull me through the less fun, 102 degree ones.
:: It’s been at least three weeks since I’ve changed a dirty diaper. One day she just decided that she liked the toilet more than the diapers and she hasn’t looked back since.
those little bruised legs are evidence of how hard she climbs and plays. i am constantly applying arnica salve.
:: We walked down to a field full of wildflowers the other day and snipped a bundle to bring home. We also brought my cheap tripod, which broke, but luckily I caught the camera and we got this one snapshot.
:: Despite the heat, there are still new sunny faces blooming around the yard. Sometimes you just have to bloom where your planted.
:: We picked the first cantaloupe and called it a sweet success. This a new addition to the garden this year and will definitely go in again next.
:: I love making this breakfast for Asher. I hope he never stops requesting it.
:: It’s so hot at the playground, especially if it’s not before 11am. I feel so lame complaining, but after ten minutes I already find myself wishing to go back to an air conditioned location.
:: Hangin with Uncle Kyle for the last time in awhile. He has officially moved to San Diego (lucky!).
Asher always has fun hanging with Lolo and Lola’s pups, Otis and Spud. Otie is such a sweet boy and watching Asher with him almost makes me want to adopt our own pup. Almost.
:: With the amount of watering we have been doing in the garden and using to fill up the little pool (which we empty onto the garden and potted plants via water cans in an effort to conserve), there is almost never a moment that the little space below the water hose is not a mud puddle. It drives me crazy.
but how could you not smile when walking out to such a scene?
:: We enjoyed a quiet weekend of relaxation and sighed a big sigh of looking forward to the end of this busy year Dash has had in command. Only a few months left…
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So, now I’m in need of some toughening up, for one, but also some summer entertainment ideas for when we are around home. If you have one, I’d love to hear it!
Hope everyone is staying cool out there- summer is just around the corner.
Posted in adventures in gardening, days of spring, lovebites, my babies, spring garden
Tags: cantaloupe, flowers, hot weather, lake isle of innisfree, messy kids, mud, nap with baby, potty training, uncle kyle
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by mamabrit
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