The End of a Season

Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. ¹⁰ But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. ¹¹ To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 5:9-11

Wow! It's been a busy summer. My Garden of Weeden was a smash success! It was a bit overwhelming at the end, and between time with pain and lack of time without pain, I ended up losing a lot of produce. I just couldn't harvest, clean, peel and preserve everything within the time I had before they rotted to get it all done, so a lot of veggies rotted. All in all, I still had a bountiful year in the garden. I canned I don't know how many jars of tomatoes, I made homemade salsa, and canned it for this winter. My husband and kids said it's addictive and better than they buy! (HUGE coming from teenagers!) I froze I don't know how many quart bags of pepper pieces, strips and halves. And I made pickles for the first time ever too. Wow did the pickles turn out yummy! I made both sweet and dill to see which kind my family enjoys most, and it seems they like it all this year! I made strawberry jam this spring, and I may still make some apple sauce, apple butter and try my hand at apple peeling jelly. It's a recipe passed down from my grandma who hated wasting any part of anything, and could only make so much apple cider vinegar each year, so she mastered this recipe. It makes a pink or green jelly that has such a yummy apple flavor! But we'll see. I have pumpkins to can yet, and pie mixes to make. My new grape vines produced 2 bunches of concord grapes...of course neither bunch developed into anything I would eat. 

The really amazing thing in my garden this summer was the marigolds. I have never really grown marigolds from seed before, so I am not positive how big they normally get, but I am a 5'6" tall lady, and those marigolds came up to my CHEST!! They were over 4ft tall. I can't say this is not normal for marigolds, but I have never seen them taller than a foot or two tall in the past. I was completely in awe at these flowers. The flowers themselves were at least 4inches across! The colors were bright and vibrant, with the yellows, red and oranges providing a beautiful way to manage insects. It worked too. Other than garden spiders, droves of bees, a brief  infestation of Junebugs and one toad who lived under the leaves of a cucumber plant, I did not have a problem with insects this year. I did see one little green snake, but my dog did his part to help me keep that problem at bay, as well. All in all a very healthy, pest/insect-free gardening season. Next year I will plant a row of marigolds all the way around the garden sites as a fence of sorts.

Since we are planning to move soon, I decided not to plant a late harvest or winter crop. I have never done so in the past either, so it's something for me to look forward to next year. My husband tilled the garden under for me, after I cut all the vines down. We smoothed it out, covered it with organic compost and smoothed it out again. Then I added a layer of hay to add more composting material (and earthworm attractions)  If we had trees mature enough to provide us with enough leaves to use as mulch this winter, I would have used those, but since I didn't, I used hay. There is usually a healthy supply of worms in my composts, but I may hit the bait store and buy some more nice healthy earthworms to throw out there, so if the next owners decide to have a garden, great....if not, they have a nice healthy plot of ground to landscape to their desire.

I am already planning my gardens for next year. I don't know exactly where we will be living, yet, but with cold boxes, and early seed starting and containers, I have a good chance of growing everything I want regardless of what or where we are living.  I ordered a LOT of seeds. I ordered them early this year. In the past, I always wanted to wait until after Christmas, only I tend to go a bit nuts at Christmas, and it tends to leave me broke until at least February when it's too late to order and I am stuck with whatever Walmart offers. I did save some of the heirlooms I had successfully grown this year, but I am not positive they will grow, so just in case I bought more. I read that when trying to grow heirloom seeds, to only grow one type of each veggie in each plot to prevent cross pollination, but I am wondering how so many of these seeds survived generations of women's gardens before knew to keep them separate. I just hope that if I do have some cross pollinated seeds next year, that I have the knowledge to see the plant is different. Although, if I do this, wouldn't I simply end up with a cross of the plants I currently have? I have some learning left to do this winter, before planting time.

 Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He (Jesus) went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. Mark 1:35
Oh well. Enough about my little Garden of Weeden for now. I overdid it this summer, and hurt myself several times while working in my garden, but I survived and it thrived! No pain no gain right? I truly didn't mean to ramble on about things, except to remind everyone the most beautiful thing about my garden was the time I spent with God out there. I spent my time out there in prayer mostly. It was a quiet place, and every time I got frustrated or angry or upset in any way, I could go out there...spend a while in the quiet solitude, and pray. Within minutes my pain issues, my frustration and my anger would fade away and I was ready to face the giants again. My hope for you is that you find your quiet place to hide when the world seems to be too much to handle. You will better for it in the long run; your stress will go down, your mood will improve and, if you're a blessed as I was this summer, you will even be able to make yourself healthier in the process.

Remember...This day was made with beauty that only you will see: be Glad and enjoy the beauty. Talk to God. He loves that face of yours (He made you in HIS image so what's not to love anyways?) and you will be better for it. But most of all, as always.....GO BE PHYSICAL TODAY! Tomorrow is not even promised to come. Today is our gift. This moment in time is all we a guaranteed, so live like this minute could be your last.