Around My Garden in April

I love spring time. I love watching as my flowers bloom. Here are a some photos from around our yard I took this weekend that I want to share with you.

I was so excited when I saw the above photo of the bee – notice he is in flight!! What a perfect photo!

Square Foot Garden Planner

Are you planning your garden? This morning as I was thinking about planning the “grid” for my Square Foot Garden and decided to create some planner pages to help me in my nearly overwhelming task. I created two different pages, so whether you have 4 x 4 or 4 x 8 raised beds, you will find a grid to help you plan.

My Square Foot Garden Planner – 4 x 4
My Square Foot Garden Planner – 4 x 8

And if you haven’t read the book All New Square Foot Gardening, you really should order your copy or check it out from the library!

I hope you enjoy these planner pages!

Newspaper Pots

I wish I had seen this before I started my seedlings. Well, actually, I am pretty happy with my egg cartons for starting the seeds. But, I am definitely going to make a bunch of these! Some of my seedlings will be outgrowing their egg carton cups soon.

How to Create Seed-Starting Pots From Newspapers — powered by eHow.com

Stocking Up

I have mixed feelings about stocking up on food and supplies for the time of trouble. I believe that God will take care of my family and even send us food to eat if we were hungry. He did it for Elijah. He can do it for us as well. I think that if we stock up on food and other supplies that we will risk having others take the supplies from us by force.

On the other hand, we have no way of predicting when the “great time of trouble” will actually begin. There could be a depression like the Great Depression before the real “time of trouble” begins. We just don’t know. I have been praying about it and asking God what I should do to prepare for my family.

I feel strongly that I need to do what I can to prepare for an uncertain future. My first priority is to prepare my heart and the hearts of my children for the return of Jesus. They are ready! I praise God for this. My five year old loves to pray at meal time and during family worship. She always ask Jesus to come back soon. I am so thankful for my children who love the Lord and are anxious for His return!

So, what am I doing to prepare our home? In order to come to terms with my trust in God – believing that He will take care of us, I know I cannot rely on my own means to care for my family. I have to do what I can in the here and now to make sure that we have the supplies we need, but also be prepared and prepare my family with the knowledge that our home, our food, our belongings do not really matter. We need to be ready to walk away a moment’s notice and leave all of our earthly possessions behind. I actually cannot wait to see Jesus, so I am definitely ready! How exciting this time we live in is! Like the great hymn… It’s a Grand and Awful Time.

So here is a list of things that might be important to have. This is my own list, you might find a better one some where else. You might want to add to it, or take away from it.

1. Water. They say 1 gallon of water per person per day. We don’t have that much – there are a lot of people in our family and keeping 20 gallons of water per day for even a month would be too much space – that would be 500 gallons a month! We get our water free from springs here in Harlan County. The spring we get our water from is about 30 miles from here, though, so we would need another water source.

2. Rain Barrels. If you are not able to store enough water, rain barrels are a viable option – if you live in an area where it rains on a regular basis. This water will not be pure so you will need to have some way to purify the water. Boiling, bleach, or filters will work. In the event of an emergency, you can rig a tarp to catch water and drain into a barrel or large bucket. For every inch of rain, 1 square foot of space on your tarp or roof will yield about 1/2 gallon water. So, a 10 x 10 tarp could produce about 50 gallons of water for every inch of rain. That’s a lot of water!

3. Activated Charcoal. We use activated charcoal on a regular basis in our home. We use it mostly for stomach/ intestinal upsets. Once I drank some water that was contaminated (I didn’t realize it until after I drank it) and I took charcoal then. Activated charcoal can be used to purify your water if you need to. You can actually just stir in a teaspoon into your water and drink. Activated charcoal is tasteless and odorless. You can mix the powder into your water and drink or you can fill gelatin capsules with the powder, or you can buy it in tablet form. I prefer the powder. We use the Millard & Wilson Brand of charcoal. You can probably find this in your local health food store.

4. Toiletries. Think about the basics: toilet paper, feminine products, soap. You might want to invest in cloth feminine napkins, or have supplies on hand to make your own. Cleanliness would also be an issue – how would you wash cloth napkins if there was no pure water source? If there is no water running in your house, toilets would not be operating. They teach us in Pathfinders to dig a hole and bury it and to not “go to the bathroom” within 100 feet of a water source. If you have a baby in the house… what about diapers? You should have a stock of cloth diapers (about three dozen) on hand – and not the really nice thick ones. If you are needing to wash diapers out by hand, thin birdseye cloth diapers would be ideal – and they dry quickly. These are available at any Wal-Mart.

5. Cleaning Agents. In this country we are so used to having running water (in most places – here in Harlan County where I live, 1/3 of the county still does not have running water!) that we have no real idea about what it means to have to haul water from the nearest source in order to clean ourselves and our homes. A large pot that would be suitable for a fire pit would be good to have on hand. And some of the basics – vinegar, baking soda, borax, plain soap, bleach, and a wash board. I have a large sink in my basement that has a washboard on it.

6. Medicines and More. What would happen if the economy collapsed and you had no way to get your medicines? And then there are the basics: Tylenol, aspirin, cough syrup. If you had an injury you might need: hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, peroxide, bandages, bandage tape, guaze, burn ointment, calamine lotion. In our house we rely often on herbal medicines. We make our own tinctures and ointments. I recommend that everyone have on hand: Cayenne Tincture, Dried Ginger Root, Lobelia Tincture, Garlic.

7. Food. We can’t live without food, right? I suggest you stock up on things that will last. Dried beans, grains such as rice, oats and wheat, cornmeal, sugar, TVP, popcorn kernels, powdered milk, canned foods. There are some great websites about food storage that I have recently found. One of my favorites is the Food Storage Made Easy. This group of ladies teaches you how to store what you eat and eat what you store. Maybe I am the only one, but I didn’t know that the Mormons have always stored up food for the time of trouble! On Food Storage Made Easy, these ladies have even provided a handy worksheet for helping you plan a 3 month supply of food for your family. Again, remember that if you have a baby and you do not breastfeed, you need to stock up on formula. Food grade buckets with gamma seals are ideal for storing food. If you do decide to stock up on a large amount of food, you need to rotate your food and keep your supply updated regularly. Eat it or by the time you need it, it may be no good.

8. Lighting. If we have no electricity, candles and solar lanterns would be really good to have on hand. My son has a neat flashlight that you can shake and it recharges itself.

Like I said before, I am preparing for the worst with the idea that if/when I need to “flee into the wilderness” that my heart is also prepared for that. I am going to get a topographical map so that we can learn more about our area.

Jesus said, “But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.

“For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.” Mark 13: 14-23 (emphasis mine)

Seed Planting Chart…

for the Lazy Gardener. How cool is that???

I just found this wonderful automatic seed planting chart at You Grow Girl! You just input your last frost date and it calculates it all for you! Such as 20-MAR-09 – if you don’t use that format then it won’t work. I figured that out the hard way. I hope you have as much fun with this as I did!

My Seeds Have Arrived!

They are finally here! I was so excited when I opened up the mailbox and saw the package. My girls and I took turns pulling out seed packets, making it a game until the package was empty.

In the next week or two we will begin our seeds indoors, staggering out planting somewhat. Today I went over to the library and checked out books like All New Square Foot Gardening
and Great Garden Companions: A Companion-Planting System for a Beautiful, Chemical-Free Vegetable Garden.

I also went to the Extension Office and picked up a copy of Home Vegetable Gardening in Kentucky. I read that one first. Lots of valuable information. Although, the list of pests and diseases was daunting to say the least. I am praying and will continue to pray that God gives me wisdom to make the right decisions and to know when something is wrong so that I can catch it early.

Valentine’s Day Goodies

Well, we ended up not being able to celebrate our Valentine’s Day on Friday (yesterday), s0 we will be doing that tomorrow! However, throughout the week, I received a number of goodies! How lucky can one girl get???

The beautiful and very fragrant, potted (living) flowers above were delivered to me from my Daddy who lives in Atlanta, GA.

My husband, rather than buying me flowers that would fade and die bought me some things that really made my heart sing…

Grapevines!!! 4 different kinds no less!

1 blueberry plant (I plan to get a few more of these!)
10 strawberry plants
80 red onion seeds
80 yellow onion seeds

A toaster oven. Now, you may be thinking, ‘Who wants a toaster oven when you could have diamonds!’ Well, I really don’t wear much jewelry and it isn’t practical… and I am a practical kind of girl. My other toaster oven died about a year ago. I like this one better.

Okay, this one was funny! It is amazing how so many things about married life are universal.

Again, you may be thinking, “A Tractor Suppy Company Catalog???’ Yes, well, I was thrilled – you see I don’t get out much and this way, I can sit at home and shop! He also brought me a TSC bucket for use hauling dirt and other stuff for the garden – Only $2.50! And two galvanized pails which I just adore. And then, the biggest surprise was the stack of magazines pictured below. He almost never buys magazine off the rack. And they were on one of my favorite topics!

So, what did you get for Valentines Day?

Ordering Seeds

About two weeks ago, I finally placed my seed order from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I can hardly wait for the seeds to come! I literally spent weeks pouring over the catalogs. Originally, I had planned to order from Seeds of Change or Seed Savers Exchange but upon receiving the new Baker Creek catlalog – gorgeous! – and finding that they were a family owned, Christian company, I decided to primarily order from them.

The sheer number of delightful, tempting heirloom seeds – oh my! It was soooo hard to choose which ones. I ended up with around 110 different seeds and spent nearly $200.00! This means that I have no choice but to make this garden work! Otherwise, my sweet, loving husband will never let me hear the end of it!!

So what did I order? Obviously, more than I can list here in one post. Since these were heirloom seeds, I looked for ones that were originally from my home state of Kentucky, first. I figured this would be my best bet. The very first seed I wrote down in my notebook was:

Old Homestead Kentucky Wonder Beans

I ordered seeds of everything we typically like to eat… which is a lot. Our family is vegetarian and vegetables are very important to us! I also ordered enough with the hope of being able to put up a large amount of food for the winter.

I hope to be able to document our journey to learning how to grow our own food with lots of pictures and notes. Our garden will be in more than one place. I will have at least two raised beds in the two sunniest spot in our yard here at home. We live on a mountain with many trees in our yard and most of the yard is too shady to really have a large garden. We will also have a garden in the raised beds that we used last year at my MIL’s house just down the road from us. And, the largest part of the garden will be again in raised beds at my step-daughter Julina’s home which is on top of the mountain with lots of sunshine.

The weather has been so nice the last three days… such as respite from the cold, nasty weather we have had over the last two months. Although, the snow was fun! Anyway, the warmer air and the sunshine have me itching to get out and start the garden. As soon as the seeds arrive, I will be working on starting some of the seeds indoors. I can hardly wait!

Goals for 2009

As I said in my earlier post, I don’t usually set New Year’s Resolutions. However – this year, it just feels right. I have spent a lot of time figuring out what it is I want for my life – it’s funny how this changes somewhat over the years.

I realized just a month ago or so that part of the problem I am having has to do with the fact that my son, James, is turning 18 in two months. At first I couldn’t figure out why I had this feeling of desperation when it came to all those “ideals” I have had that have not quite been realized over the years. I want to hang on to the time we have left – desperately. I have four girls at home ages 14, 12, 8, and 5. I always knew the time went by fast. When my second baby was born, I realized how quickly my son had gone from being a little baby to a big three year old. I have tried hard to savor the moments over the years. I take lots of photos and document our family’s life by scrapbooking each week. But as our lives have become ever more hectic and crazy, that time to really savor the moment is fast disappearing. So… there are changes that need to be made now – not when they are all grown up. My goals for this year have a lot to do with that – some are less obvious than others, but they all have to do with creating the life of peace and simplicity that I so desire.

1. Have family worship twice a day without fail instead of once a day.
This has always been on my schedule, but for some reason, it doesn’t always work out that way. Things get in the way, people come over, we are at church a lot, etc. I don’t want anything to take the place of family worship.

2. Live a sustainable life.
This has been on my mind for months. I have been planning and planning… and planning. We are currently pouring over our seed catalogs and composting and getting ready for our large garden this year. I have not done much gardening over the years, but I finally have space to have a large garden. My goal is to get to the point where we don’t have to purchase anything from the store except for staples like flour (or grains), sugar, vinegar, TVP, etc.

We are vegetarian so living off of a garden is not totally out of the question. I began a food journal on January 1 and have been writing down everything we eat. I plan to keep the food journal for the entire year to give me an idea of how much food we really eat. Our family of 7 (plus 12 other family members that I feed regularly) eats quite a bit!

My husband is building a large raised bed in our backyard for me to have an herb garden as well. I hope to grow all of the herbs I regularly use – using the fresh while in season and harvesting them to dry for over winter use.

I also plan to preserve everything I possibly can. I canned large amounts in the fall of 2008 and kept a journal of what I made. I plan to chart our usage – as we use a canned item, mark it as used and see what our habits are, and how much of different items we are likely to use in a given year. Of course, I will be using what I have and doing my best to plan my meals around what I have in my pantry, but what if I found that we enjoyed two jars of homemade pickles a week and I had only made enough pickles to last half the year? The following year, I could plan a larger crop of pickles and put more up.

My step-daughter and I (along with my children) are planning to do the garden together. We are ordering our seeds from Seeds of Change and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds because they sell only Heirloom and Open Pollinated seeds, which means the harvested seeds will produce fruits and vegetables. We plan to harvest our seeds and thereby reduce our need next year to purchase seeds. I do realize that this is our first garden and it will be a learning experience. I doubt we will be overjoyed with our results, but I am giving this garden to God and letting Him have the control.

We harvested several bushels of hickory nuts this year. I hope to be able to do this every year and reduce our need for store bought nuts. We also have lots and lots of blackberry brambles on our farm and are looking forward to those this summer! We also have three apple trees which produced abundant and delicious crops this past fall. We have plans to plant a good number of blueberry bushes, a male and female kiwi plant, more fruit trees, and more.

We plan to have a nice little flock of chickens this spring and hope to have lots of fresh eggs. We are in the process of looking for a good horse for my girls. They have literally dreamed of owning a horse for years, and this is something I desperately want to give them before they are grown. We are learning everything we can about horses. Thankfully, my girls have some experience already.

And, if I had my way, I would own my own milking cow… maybe one day. But we will have some goats in the near future – maybe a milking goat?

3. Make all of my food from scratch.
I already make the majority of our food from scratch. However, I know of a few areas that I could improve on. I used to bake my own fresh bread, but stopped due to health reasons. I want to begin this again, this time being very carefully not to eat fresh bread right out of the oven, but allow it to sit for two or three days before eating it.

I want to make my own homemade mixes. Things like Taco Seasoning and Self-Rising Flour. We have used King Arthur flour for years. I believe it is the best. They do not add aluminum to their Self-Rising Flour. But it has become increasingly difficult for me to find the flour in our area. I’d like to learn to even make my own flour and corn tortillas.

I also have a Wheat Mill, that I would like to use more often.

4. I want to work on Scripture Memory with my children.
I have not been nearly as consistent about this as I should have been. I want to incorporate this into our Family Worship time.

5. I want to spend more quiet time with my children.
My girls and I like to scrapbook once a week – currently Thursdays. This is a really fun time for us. I want to have more time in the evenings to just sit with them and teach them to sew or do other quiet activities. Our evenings over the last couple of years are generally very hectic and with our schedule being what it is, there are periods of weeks where we are at church every night. But on those nights when we are home, I want to create a quiet routine so that there is no rushing, no frantic pace. I want to spend more time snuggling up with my girls.

6. I want to reduce, reuse, and repurpose.
I am slowly going through every closet, every attic, every storage bin, every drawer in our house and purging as much as possible. I simply do not want to have more than we need. I want to buy less. I want to live a practical, ordinary life. I want to find ways to make what we have work. The older I get, the more I realize how futile “stuff” really is. The only treasure I can take with me to heaven is my precious, sweet family. Nothing else matters.

7. I want to spend more time outdoors with my family.
We will be gardening a lot this year. So, we will be outside more than in the past. But I want to spend even more time out in God’s creation exploring the world around us. I want to take more hikes. I want to plan a week long backpacking trip into the wilderness with my kids. I want to go camping every chance I get. If I had my way, we’d plan a camping trip for every month, but I suppose I will have to settle at this point for once every two or three months. I want to spend more time studying nature with my children. We have done quite a bit of this over the last couple of years, but I want more! I want to work on my nature journal/ field guide that I started last summer which has sat unused for months now.

8. I want to paint more.
My little girl Hannah has been asking for a week now for me to teach her how to paint with watercolors. I want to find the time to watercolor with my children. We gave each of the girls a really nice art set with watercolors and bought four easels this year. I want to nurture their creativity.

9. I want to spend more time playing the piano.
I have been taking lessons for six months now, but I struggle to find the time to practice. I am learning in spite of this! My goal is to be able to play for my churches by the end of the year. I also want to teach my children to play the piano.

10. I want to learn to play the guitar.
You can’t take a piano on a camp out, but a guitar can go everywhere!

11. I want to paint two or three more murals for my churches.
In reality, I may only get around to doing one this year and one next, but I want to see it done.

12. I want to make the Sabbath even more of a blessing to my family.
In our home, we keep the Sabbath from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. During that time we refrain from secular activities, we do not buy or sell, we don’t go out to eat, etc. We spend the time focusing on God, going to church, and spending quality time for family.

However, Fridays are often so busy that my Sabbath preparation is rushed. Cooking for Friday and for Sabbath is often overwhelming because I am too rushed or feel like time is running out as the sun slowly makes its way behind the mountains.

I want Fridays to be solely focused on the Sabbath preparation. I want our thoughts to be turned wholly toward how we can make the Sabbath special and sacred. I want to feel like I have time to prepare a nice Sabbath dinner for Friday evening and cook a good meal for Sabbath afternoon. I want to find the time every week to set the table and light our wonderful Jewish Shabbat candles and enjoy our Jewish Challah bread instead of hit and miss. I want to find new ways to make the Sabbath really special for the children. I want Sabbath to be something that my family remembers as more than just special. I will post some of my ideas in a future post.

13. I want to see A Virtuous Woman grow and reach and serve more women than ever.
I have had a great vision for this ministry for many years now. I spent the week talking to some women that I know who are all pastor’s wives. We prayed together over this ministry and I have a greater peace than I have had in over a year. I know God is working and in His perfect time, things will be better than ever!

I could share more specific goals I have for my children, our homeschooling, our worship, our local ministry, but then this would go on forever. I believe this is going to be a good year. I am looking forward to every minute!

Plant a Journey North Garden This Fall…

I received this in my email… looks like fun!

Get Ready to Track Next Spring’s Journey North
It’s time to dig in! This fall, plant a Journey North Tulip Garden so you can proclaim the official arrival of Spring, 2009 in your community. By sharing observations over the Internet, students across North America will follow the wave of spring as it moves northward and measure its pace from distant places.

A Study of Plants and Climate
These gardens are the focus of an annual international science project in which students investigate the relationship between geography, climate and the arrival of spring. Plants reveal the effects of climatic factors as they develop and grow. Through this study, now in its 16th year, students can explore real-time maps and climate data and compare their results with others in a long-term database.

Join The Fun!
Classrooms of all grade levels can participate and teachers can enjoy learning with their students. How will Spring 2009 compare to earlier years? Let’s find out!

How to Participate
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/tulips/AboutFall.html