PS - My goodness! I know I've blogged since the 16th! I wonder if I forgot to save... well, I hope I can be forgiven. I got distracted with a commitment that was not very well thought out when I made it... National Novel Writing Month. Yep, the goal is 50,000 words in 30 days. I don't know if it's a virtue or a vice, but when I've committed to something I do it, doggone it. I am within a few thousand words, and should finish up tonight or tomorrow. It won't be a whole book, but it's a start! Here's the website for nanowrimo, as it is affectionately called, if you want to put it on your favorites and maybe try driving yourself crazy and neglecting all your other obligations next November! Happy writing!
Well, the weather in southeastern Pennsylvania can be rather unpredictable. We can have mild winters with only a handful of days under 25 degrees and almost no snow, or we can have ridiculous snowstorms, like last year, blanketing us for months, though that is quite rare. Nonetheless, white Christmases are very unusual, so you can imagine our surprise at a white Thanksgiving! It was very nice, though. Great big flakes, enough to cover the ground but not enough to affect driving. It was gone by the middle of the afternoon, but not before Anna-Grace ran out and made this little baby snowman! So cute! Given our goofy winters, it may be the biggest she manages to make this year, or it may be the tiny prototype of some massive mommas to come, like last year. Considering last year's 70-some-odd inches of snow began with an early December snowfall, I'd say we may be in for another doozy...
PS - My goodness! I know I've blogged since the 16th! I wonder if I forgot to save... well, I hope I can be forgiven. I got distracted with a commitment that was not very well thought out when I made it... National Novel Writing Month. Yep, the goal is 50,000 words in 30 days. I don't know if it's a virtue or a vice, but when I've committed to something I do it, doggone it. I am within a few thousand words, and should finish up tonight or tomorrow. It won't be a whole book, but it's a start! Here's the website for nanowrimo, as it is affectionately called, if you want to put it on your favorites and maybe try driving yourself crazy and neglecting all your other obligations next November! Happy writing!
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Autumn has given us a few more days in the 60s, and I just couldn’t let them go by. I hate the cold, and do not like being out in the wind finishing up those last garden chores. But so many little emergencies arose (not the least of which was a backed-up septic system) that I did not get out until 3pm. By then I was feeling rather down, and I’d almost talked myself out of it, but I knew I would feel even worse tomorrow if I wasted the WHOLE day today, so I went out, more out of duty than desire. So there I was, cleaning up my cutting garden, thinking very negative thoughts. "I’m too old for this. Maybe I should just let this garden go back to grass. I can’t handle all these gardens by myself. Maybe I don’t want to sell flowers any more." Not positive self-talk! Because I had made a few paths out of cardboard, and had held the cardboard down with sticks and rocks, I now faced the prospect of bending over and picking up all those small objects. Ugh. Then the solution presented itself – my two youngest daughters came into view. They’re already close to the ground! I thought. So I called them. "Girls!" They came dutifully. "Yeah, Mom?" "I need your help. Can you please pick up all these rocks and sticks in the pathways?" Christina offered an excuse. "But, I was just about to make a picnic lunch and we were going to go out to the woods to eat it." Sure, she knew Mommy would like to hear that. "Come on, you can help me. Make it a game. Why don’t you pretend you are an assembly line? Anna-Grace passes it to you and you put it in the pile." Anna liked that. "Yeah!" she giggled, and passed a rock to Christina like a robot, stomping. "Doomp, doomp, doomp" with each step, she placed the rock jerkily into Christina’s hands, then went doomp-ing back to the next, as Christina swiveled mechanically and dropped it in the pile. That got them going! Once they had done the sticks and rocks, I gave them each a section of weeds to pull. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, and I was feeling a little better. When Anna-Grace’s little friend came to play I had them both yanking. Anna-Grace grabbed a weed by the stem, her friend put her hands above hers, and together they yanked, tumbling backwards, landing on their bottoms, weed in hand, and giggling frantically. What a wonderful sound! The best in the world. In the meantime, Christina was swinging the "manual weed whacker" (I don’t know its real name) and I was digging up lamb’s quarters that I had unwisely allowed to grow 5 feet tall, just to see what would happen. Now I know. I won’t let them grow that large again! After a period of cheerful weed whacking, Christina, almost perpetually bubbly, hung her head. "I’m sorry, Mommy. I lied." I waited. "I said we were going to have a picnic, but I just thought that up on the spot." "So you could avoid helping?" She nodded. "Well, that’s not good. You need to resist that in the future. But thank you for telling me." Ah, Catholic guilt! It’s a good thing. Did I ever mention that I have the best children in the world? Soon Anna-Grace took the big shovel from me and began hopping on it to get the roots of a big weed. "Hop on it! It’s fun!" she said to her friend. The little neighbor looked at Anna-Grace, then at me, back and forth, shyly eye-ing the shovel stuck in the ground. "Hop on it!" Anna-Grace joyously commanded. I held the shovel and smiled at her. She put her hands on it and looked back at Anna-Grace. Her feet wanted to step; they moved slightly, she looked at Anna again, she bent down slightly.. "Go ahead," Anna-Grace encouraged brightly. The little angel stepped on the shovel lightly, one foot at a time. Naturally, nothing happened. "Aww," Anna-Grace moaned in cheerful disappointment, and showed her friend how to HOP on it. She tried again, with a little more gusto, and got it to go down a little – she was very pleased with herself! Anna-Grace finished it up, and out came that pesky root! Soon the little girls were finished, and running off giggling, leaving Christina and me to finish whacking down the flower bed. She stuck with me the whole way. At one point I dug out a pokeweed, whose root came out surprisingly well for being so large and bulbous. "Ah! Look at this beautiful pokeweed root! Pokeweed is a plant that is very good for you, up until it’s about 10 inches tall. After that it gets gradually worse for you, until it can make you really sick." "Like junk food!" Christina declared. Ah! I am doing something right! Christina moved over to the zinnia bed and began whacking them down, as well. I called over to her. "Christina, look what we accomplished," sweeping my hand around to display the cutting garden. She smiled wide. "Do you want to save that bed for tomorrow?" It was beginning to get a little chilly. "No, thanks." "Are you getting tired?" "No." "Well, those stalks may actually be too big to rototill over. Maybe we should pull up the big ones when you’re done." I began putting away the tools, and when I came back she had finished whacking and had begun pulling. I started at the other end. "Let’s meet in the middle," I said. "OK! First one to the middle gets a nickel!" she answered. She was really enjoying our time together. That’s one of the best things about gardening. The time that we spend together. When we both reached the middle, I gave her a hug. "Thanks for helping me, honey. Let’s leave the mess for tomorrow." We walked back to the house and, since I'm a workaholic, I immediately got to work on other things. About 20 minutes later, Christina came in. "Mom, where do you put those sticks?" "Well, some will be burned, and some need to be put in the barn, so I will have to look at them tomorrow in the daylight. And the weeds can’t go in the compost until it is turned." "oh." Her voice sounded dejected. "Why?" "Because I put all the weeds in the wheelbarrow. And in a black thing, because there were too many." "OH! Thank you Christina!" I gave her a hug. "Go get me the little Skittle container." Sometimes I gave them skittles for random acts of kindness and obedience. She shook her head. "No, thanks." "Why not?" "Because," she replied in a tender voice, "I just wanted to do something for you. You always do things for us." And she walked away. Did I mention I have the most wonderful children in the world? Just a note to my daughter in Rome, who turned 21 today! We all hope you had a joyful day with your friends. I wish we could have been with you on this special day. (Check your email and phone, Miss!) Love, Mom
PS - History lesson - what major event was breaking in the newspapers the day my first child was born??? The Berlin Wall fell!!! Look it up! November 10, 1989 (actually, it may have been the 9th, with the time difference, but still! Pretty cool!) Dave at The Home Garden has a great project going: bloggers post pictures of autumn in their area, send him the link, and he posts them so people can see autumn all around the country - even the world! (northern hemisphere, anyway!) I think Southeastern Pennsylvania can hold its head high when it comes to autumn color. These pictures are from a couple weeks ago, before the peak - I've seen amazing views since, but I've been driving! Ah well, there's always next year! These shots are all around Lake Nockamixon. This is what I caught with my dinky little one-step, so imagine how much better it was in real life! As I drove around the last couple of weeks, running my children around and doing my errands, I swooned at many beautiful sights, wishing I had my camera. But one beautiful day last week, when I had a chance to work in the yard, I looked back behind my own house and saw beautiful scenes literally right in my own back yard! Funny how sometimes we look for beauty farther away, and forget to look close to home? I think there's a life lesson in this... Walk with me back through the yard and field as I pan around the tree line, focusing on a few spots and ending with a distant barn... I hope this wasn't too long! I enjoyed it so much that I am going to do another, with close-ups on the beautiful flowers autumn is still giving me in my gardens. (Kathy at Cold Climate Gardening just did this, and it was lovely!) It is a bittersweet season, since it ends in gray and cold, unlike spring which ends in green and warmth. But this project has helped me focus more on what this beautiful season offers than what it does not. Happy Autumn!
Just a little note to encourage people to check out my oldest daughter's blog! She is spending the semester in Rome, and has been posting some neat things. She is artistic and philosophical, and has a terrific writing style. Check out what she has to say about Rome, scorpions, and life at her blog, Art, Truth, Crime, and Me. Well, the gardens are not always wonder and awe for my children, because sometimes I have to conscript them to help me! This past week, when I started digging up the front gardens, I called the girls out to help me. Though none was thrilled with the idea, they all came out, but with differing levels of acceptance. "How long do we have to stay out here? What do you want me to do? Can I take a break? I have to get ready to go out soon! Look, now it’s going to take me so much longer because I’ll have to do my nails over! I don’t even know if I can get the dirt out from under them!" Most of the complaints came from the same indentured servant, after which I announced, "The more you complain, the longer you stay out here!" And I did it, too. The youngest wasn’t really able to do much, but she tried. (Why is it that the most willing are usually the ones least able to do much?) She got an early break. The next two were silent after my announcement and diligently completed some important jobs. They were dismissed after about an hour. The fourth stayed for a good hour longer, until she had gotten the point. I mean what I say. Help around the house. They have inside chores, but they need to help outside sometimes, too. All play and no work makes a spoiled child, and if my children act spoiled or whiney, they get more work. (If they complain about dinner, they get more dinner! They’ve learned not to complain…) We recently watched the absolutely beautiful and moving film, Captains Courageous, made in 1937 (Spencer Tracy got an Oscar). That was one spoiled boy in that movie! Good hard work is what turned him around, and the satisfaction of a job well done. This, too, is something that I want to teach my children. Not only will they experience awe and wonder at the beautiful world, but grow in maturity as well. We can learn great lessons from the soil. Today's collection, still in the bucket The autumn garden is still providing lots of bouquets – smaller, perhaps, and every week there are fewer varieties, but one can still find plenty of blossoms. But, ask yourself, how do the gardens look? Vibrant and colorful, or sad and struggling? Well, I admit, most of mine are the latter. So, now is the best time to evaluate! Then we’ll have winter to research, and spring to plant. Here’s what I’m doing. First, I’m taking pictures of every garden. I already have garden maps, laid out on grid paper (which are particularly handy when I need to remember where I put dormant bulbs!), which will help me as I plan, but if you do not, now’s the time, before the plants disappear. I am also looking at gardens as I drive around. What looks good? What doesn’t? Not surprisingly, few people have particularly nice gardens. Most people just stuff some newly-purchased mums in a row like soldiers, and think that looks nice. Well, better than weeds, but I prefer a more natural look. Some people have nice BIG mums, which grew throughout the summer and are cascading onto the lawn and walk. Now THAT looks cool! (Nonetheless, mums should be cut back in the summer to control their growth and delay blooming until fall.) Some annuals still look nice, as well – impatiens, marigolds, alyssum… but few people have taken the time to really design beautiful autumn gardens. That’s what I hope to create. So, now I am beginning the research, which will continue into the winter. Some bushes I intend to remove this fall, and some I decided on over the summer will be put in. I WILL make the front of the house look nice this fall! But most of my new garden decisions will take place over the gray winter months, bringing color into my heart during a generally drab season. But for now, I still have flowers to play with! (Click on the pictures to see them larger.) These are the bouquets I made with today’s collection: with one I went with a cool color theme, and with the other I used warm shades. I am of the philosophy that, like a story or a poem, a bouquet should have a plan and purpose, but also an unexpected element. In the cool bouquet, I have added touches of red to create spark, and sprigs of the silver foliage of lavender. For the warm bouquet, several old sunflower seed heads add an unexpected twist. Flower arranging is so much fun!
Hello, friends! Just wanted to post a quick note to let you all know that today is my husband and my anniversary! Twenty-two years of wedded bliss (most of the time!) and six wonderful children (most of the time!) - what more can one ask for except more of the same? (yes, even more children, but we're too old now!) We have a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, clothes on our backs, and love in our hearts - and a loving God Who gave His life for us, rose for us, and watches over us with loving care. We are truly blessed, and I will pray tonight that all my readers will also be blessed. Have a wonderful night! Rain The rain is raining all around, It falls on field and tree. It rains on the umbrellas here, And on the ships at sea. by Robert Louis Stevenson The autumn rains have come, and with them cooler weather. This is soup season, don't you think? I love soup. I used to be really lousy at making it, because I was trying to make soup without adding salt. I tried lots of odd seasonings, but nothing was quite right. Since we eat soup several times a week in the cool months, the older children can remember my first miserable attempts. My son, then maybe 7 years old, expressed his displeasure in a most decisive manner: "When I grow up, I'm gonna ask a girl, 'What do you cook?' 'Soup.' I'll say, 'I don't want you.' Then I'll ask another girl, 'What do you cook?' 'Spaghetti.' 'I want you.'" OK, OK! I gave up trying to make soup without salt. Since then I have developed the skill of making Friday's "leftover soup" tasty and special every time. I just pull everything out of the fridge left over from the week, figure out what else I need to make it taste great, put it in a pot, and, voila! Good food. While making your soup, don't forget to add some friendly "volunteer" garden greens. Lamb's quarters, amaranth, and dandelion can still be harvested, chopped, and thrown in the soup. Let them simmer for a while, and no one will be able to tell them from spinach. Their fabulous nutrients will permeate through the broth and enhance the overly-processed, overly-hybridized supermarket fare we are forced to use, turning your soup into 'soup-er food!' (sorry, couldn't resist!) Well, I just couldn't resist! I should have been inside taking care of important paperwork, but it was just too beautiful. I didn't get out until after 3pm, when I was done teaching my children, cleaned up from lunch, and had figured out dinner. That left me only about 2 hours. So I changed into my jeans (I only wear pants when gardening), grabbed a semi-willing helper, and out I went! First, I practiced my golf-swing! It was time to hack down the sickly-looking peonies, so I set Christina to doing that, but first I had to show her how. I don't really like golf (sorry, Mom), but whenever I get that manual weedwacker in my hand, I just can't resist. Christina tried it a few times, but said she preferred just taking baseball swings (although, that would mean practicing going for the low-balls, which you're not supposed to swing at! Whatever works.) While Christina did that, I weeded around the back walkway one more time for the year, finding some last purslane, sorrel, and lady's thumb "weeds" to add to the salad. I also determined it was time to move my pulsatilla out from under an encroaching bush, and to dig up my rosemary and pot it to have inside for fresh rosemary through the winter. I think I'll try to turn it into a topiary! Here's my happy pulsatilla. Pulsatilla is a wonderful plant, which I will give a description of in upcoming months as you dream about your future gardens in the dead of winter. Peonies, too. In fact, I may start with that one, giving the pros and cons, and what work goes into them. I think it will be a very helpful feature, and I hope you like it! After all this work, we turned to collecting flowers. And boy, did we collect a lot! The beginning of October, and still they are going strong. In this bouquet, set out on our chair-shaped stump to take advantage of the waning sunlight, I focused on wild offerings and filled in with late summer garden blooms. From the wild I collected goldenrod, red amaranth, lady's thumb, lamb's quarters turning pink with seed, and various attractive grasses, then added such everlastings as statice, globe amaranth, hydrangea, and hyacinth bean. Zinnia, aster, ageratum and cosmos fill out the arrangement. I ascribe to the philosophy that every arrangement should have something a little surprising and unexpected in it, and for this one it's the huge orange rosehips right in the middle! In this bouquet I focused mostly on everlastings, primarily in quiet tones, creating a globe-like form. For this one, the surprising element is two hints of orange next to deep purple hyacinth beans. In this bouquet, the fuschia themselves are the surprising element! Aren't they fabulous! They don’t last long in a bouquet, but for a special evening, they’re terrific. More pinks, several soft pink roses, and purple to bring out the purple in the fuschia finish it off. A close-up of this unique flower. And, finally, a bouquet of late-blooming edible flowers to adorn the weeds, veggies, and lettuces in the salad. I will also be providing lists of edible flowers through the gloomy months, so that you can incorporate some into next year's gardens. Yes, it was a lovely and productive afternoon. PS – If you like my blog, please pass on my website to friends and family, gardeners, homeschoolers, and the nutrition-conscious. Thanks! |
AuthorWelcome to Growing Goodness! This website is dedicated to growing good things, both plants and children. It's a gardening blog with maternal overtones, as I discuss the goodness and value of plants, both wild and domestic. In the process I hope to help you pass a love of nature on to your children. Happy Gardening! Archives
August 2011
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