Crop Report

September 24, 2019 at 10:20 pm (Uncategorized)
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Crop Reports are for reporting crop conditions, development and progress. Well, here is mine for this summer garden season.

First of all, Tony expanded the walkway around the garden so it would be easier to get to the plants. I love this!!

This year I planted, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, green beans, tomatoes, onions, peppers, squash (summer & zucchini), and cantalope. We also planted an “orchard” of 2 peach trees and 2 apple trees. It will be a year or two before we see fruit on those.

The spinach and lettuce did well. However, I didn’t harvest it all in a timely manner, so we didn’t get the full advantage of that. We did have some nice salads, and I shared some with friends. Here’s some of the early bounty:

Broccoli. Not.so.much. First of all, broccoli is a cool season crop. I should have planted it earlier in the season. One plant did grow fairly well, but was overtaken by bugs. Cabbage loopers? Ugh. Not one head of broccoli.

Green beans – they got nice and bushy, but didn’t get the water they needed to produce nice plump beans. Then they suffered from spider mites. Ugh.

Tomatoes – They produced pretty well. We had several varieties, from cherry and grape size tomatoes, to plum tomatoes, and the beefier Celebrity. I was able to make about 4 quarts of tomato sauce, plus some salsa. I froze the sauce, and canned the salsa.

Onions – Planted onion sets, and most of them grew very well.

Peppers – I planted several varieties: Jalapeno, yellow bell, red bell, green bell, and the little mini peppers. All of these did very well, and produced LOTS of peppers!! In fact, it is the only thing still growing in the garden – probably about 3′ tall. I made some “Cowboy Candy”, which is basically candied jalapenos. You don’t even want to know how much sugar is in those….

Summer squash and zuccini – Usually these are prolific producers! Not this year. I got maybe 1 or 2 of each. Very disappointing.

Cantaloupe – I try these occasionally because I love cantaloupe! I only got 3 this year but they were very tasty! This second one was a little more difficult to enjoy though, as it grew between two layers of fencing!!

Oregano – My best growing herb! Mounds and mounds of it! So I dried a lot of it, and crushed some for storage, too.

So, overall, not my best gardening year. I seriously think some of my bug problems were grasshoppers. They seem to be everywhere this year. Also, probably my watering this year was not as regular as it should have been. We got a lot of rain early in the season, so I think I got complacent…

Lots to learn here. If we consider the parable Jesus told of the seed that fell on good ground, or rocky ground, or the garden path, we can see the perfect examples in my garden this year. (Matthew 13:1-13) Some plants did not do well because of lack of nourishment; water. Some were choked out by weeds. (ok, I tried!!) Some were overtaken by the enemy (bugs! ) So I did the planting, the fertilizing, and even the bug spraying, but I can honestly say that I didn’t give it my best effort this season. What you sow is what you reap. Or maybe it’s “what you sow, and water, and tend to, is what you reap”. Why am I not fruitful in some areas of my life? Am I seriously putting the effort and time into improving those areas?? Do I ensure that I am not allowing the cares of the world and troubles to get me off track?

Sometimes our season is not fruitful because we haven’t put the time and effort into our goals. Sometimes we just can’t control the outside forces that interfere with our goals. Sometimes the enemy sows weeds to attempt to choke out our goals. But Jesus promises that He will sort all that out in the end. Matthew 13:30.

Some of our garden guests….

So in order to reap a good harvest; to attain your goals; to be fruitful in your job, your family:

  • Don’t allow the enemy to snatch away your dreams.
  • Don’t allow the cares of the world to choke out your fruitfulness.
  • Don’t allow trouble or heartaches cause you to drift away from your goals.
  • Tend to your garden, your goals, your dreams!

“You will reap if you faint not!”

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

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New Life

June 12, 2019 at 9:13 pm (Uncategorized)
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Though we are a little past spring now, this topic has been front and center to my life lately. The most exciting thing is the birth of our first grandson, Gideon! How amazing it is to be a grandmother!! I never thought I would like being called “Grandma”. Of course he is not talking just yet, but I don’t mind hearing that moniker so much anymore! Gideon is now 3 months old, and we couldn’t be more in love with him! Even Grandpa Tony is smitten!! He even wrote a book for him!

New Grandma and New Life!
Isn’t he precious?!?!?!

Of course spring brings new life back to our dead fields and lawns, and for me, a call to planting my garden! Isn’t it so incredible that a tiny seed will not only produce a plant, but also fruit! And many times, in abundance! This year we planted our typical tomatoes, peppers, green beans, lettuce, spinach, and squash. I also threw in a few sunflower seeds for some pop-up color! Tony expanded the garden with a pathway around the perimeter. So we moved the fence a couple feet away from its previous boundary. This should make it easier to work around the plants and collect the harvest. (More pictures to come when it’s finished.)

We also planted an orchard!! We planted 2 apple trees and 2 peach trees. One of my friends wondered if that could be considered a real “orchard”. However, the definition of an orchard is ” a piece of land that has fruit trees on it”. So yeah, ok. I’m not sure how long before we will harvest from those trees, but it’s exciting to have them in the ground. We also surrounded them with an electric fence to keep our nosy neighbors (cows) away!

I kept seeing a bird sitting on my front porch rocker. One day I went out to check on my hibiscus tree and lo, and behold! There was a nest inside! With 5 eggs! So I kept a close eye on it and recorded their progress. One day I checked on the birdies before I left for work, and when I returned home, they had all flown the nest! It surprises me how quickly babies in the animal kingdom are pushed from the nest to fend for themselves. I’m so glad I had more time with my babies!!

It seems that Tony and I have entered a new season of new life also. It feels like we have been coasting, in the shadows, for some time. To be honest, I have felt like we had lost our purpose. Almost feeling useless. But we feel a renewal in this year. There are many things that seem to be coming together for a new season. We are so excited that God uses seasons in our lives.

Seasons of growth, seasons of challenge, seasons of rest, seasons of abundance.

I am ready for a new season, a new freshness and challenge for what God has in store.

Psalms 1:1-3  Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,  but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.  That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

If you are in a season that maybe you are not enjoying, just remember that fruit comes forth “in season”. You may feel like you are not being fruitful, but I just read this week, “when a plant grows, the last thing to appear is the fruit”. First there are roots, to go deep. then a stalk for strength, leaves to gather nourishment, flowers to receive pollination (which creates more life), then the fruit appears.

If you are in a tough season, remember this, “The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit.”

Praying for blessed seasons for all of you!!

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