Thursday, March 5, 2009

If only there were 30 hours a day....

When one of my children was a little bity, he would ask me at the table , "Can I please be full now?" I always thought that was funny. Although irrational, it made perfect sense. After this week, I want to ask, "Can I be full now?" I was sure it was Tuesday all day today. I even took my son to the wrong therapist. I concluded that it was I who needed the therapist....or, just 6 more hours in the day. Where does the time all go? Oh yea, hours upon hours looking for a car, another few hours having the new car serviced for a squeaky belt, Art masterpiece, driving 80 miles alone today, volunteering at the school, ball games, track meets, carpool, etc. You all know how it goes. I am constantly amazed at the demands of life. I just want to stay home and make bread. That was the plan today, and yesterday....and....the day before. Another day my children will go to school with rolled up ham, no bread for a sandwich. I really should have just scrapped the whole idea and bought a darn loaf of not as good bread, oh, one thing....no time for the store. There's my pity party. So much on the list to do, so little crossed off. But, one big thing that did get done, my garden. I feel relieved. The more I read and learn about what is in these genetically modified grocery store produce and how the world is not producing enough since farmers are wanting to all switch to corn and soy for bio fuel, the more I know that we all need to do this. However small or grand, we all need to start. It is all part of that "self sufficient" thing. We can't rely on others to provide for us. If you haven't started one yet, there is still time. Grab a grow box, planter, whatever. Plant at least one tomato plant. One of something. It will hook you. You will feel like you made something amazing. Here is how we spent our Saturday.

The Hired Help, aka, my husband. He works for favors. He was the mulch guy, digging out the organic mulch we have been brewing for the last 10 months. Yummy.


The Harvest. All hand made, beautiful, delicious.





The kids in action, a few of mine, one recruited neighbor. Their job: Pea Pickers.The vines were pulled out and they had to find the peas and harvest. Thanks boys!





The new garden is in. This was the first year I used my own hand made mulch from my mulch bin. I have filled that thing up 20 plus times. It is amazing that it just keeps shrinking down and made some great soil. We emptied it into the garden and were able to fill it up with the old garden vines and scraps. I felt so "GREEN' that I didn't have to use any garbage bags and loved that I didn't have to put cow poop in the garden for organic matter. It smelled much better. I expect a great crop this year! I can't wait for the fresh tomatoes. I have planted tomatillos, romas, early girls, red bells, chilis, onions, several herbs, green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, lettuce and potatoes. Hurray for me. Now, for all of you who are waiting on return emails, I apologize. I will get to you, except for the few of you who I accidentally erased the letter. Try again if it has been a while. I am sure that I am loosing it a bit. If only it really was still Tuesday. I could use a couple extra days this week. And, this Saturday will be a perfect day to put in a garden. Just keep that in mind.

6 comments:

Taryn said...

I am excited to plant our garden in the next few weeks. We had planters built and my husband (hopefully this saturday) will be running sprinklers with a drip system into those planters.

What tips do you have for organic gardening? My garden was ok last year but my roma tomatoes got some sort of infection and died. I don't know what was wrong as I am still a novice. We too have a compost bin and we are slowly building that up.

Melissa said...

You are amazing...you organic gardening expert!

I would love to have any ideas, recipes, anything from you! Thanks for offering(:(:(:
I'll let you know when we get the test results back.
Thanks

Eric said...

We used our "home made" compost as well this year. An intersting thing happened when I spread this new compost on top of the soil I used to plant our new orange tree...We have some sort of squash product coming up next to the tree. We use a lot of acorn squash and throw the seeds and pulp into the compost. I have other plants coming up in areas where I used compost as well. So, don't be surprised if you get some "uninvited" guests.

Toby said...

I too would love to hear about your organic gardening!

Where did you get your compost "bin"? What did you include in it? How did you keep your kitchen scraps until they were emptied into your outdoor bin?

I can't wait to hear how it grows!

Marilyn said...

Hooray for you! I have been blog "stalking" you for awhile and I love your blog. I too just pulled out the peas and planted the spring crop of veggies. (we live in the Valley of the Sun too) Our new gardening goal this year is to compost also and we have a new compost bin just waiting for us to put it together. Please keep us updated on your gardening successes.

Terri Burges Hirning said...

I am right there with you sister! So many things to do and not enough time. We need a mom's sanity break! ;) One day while Stacey is working with the kids you and I need to sneek off to a quiet spot and just sit and chat! That is if our to-do list lets us not use that time for errands! ;)