Deal With It Quickly

I don't have much time to post today.  I have a list of things to do that I can not put off.  I wanted to come in and update my vast audience on a few things that might prevent some heartache down the road.

I got a terrible case of powdery mildew on my vining plants recently.  The stuff is awful!  I really thought mildew was a damp climate issue, but evidently that is not the case with plants. In fact, the hot dry days we have so many of out here seem to be the cause of the wretched stuff. It seems to love, but is certainly not limited to vining, big leafed plants, particularly cucurbitaceae.  


I had no idea what it was to begin with. It starts out in small, round patches and can be easily overlooked.  Well, I guess I should say that people relatively new to gardening,  as I am, can easily overlook it.  It spreads quickly and soon covers the whole leaf.  At that point the leaves become brittle and crush easily.  From what I've observed, when it hits that stage it is all but over for those poor plants.  

My cucumbers were hit hardest and first, and I didn't realize what it was.  Actually, I thought maybe it was heat and sun that caused it, but I thought it was burning them and drying them out, not causing mildew.  Like I said, I thought mildew was a damp climate problem, so I did not look into it until it got so bad that it was too late for some of them.  I got a few cucumbers, but quickly the damage got to the severe stage and the produce was stunted and, well, unappealing.  Sadly, it is a total waste. I can not compost any of the plants that have any mildew at all on them because it will infect the whole compost bin. 


I researched it a bit and found that there are two effective ways of dealing with it organically and inexpensively.  First, no matter which method you choose, you have to remove the leaves with mildew because it spreads so easily you would never get rid of it if any were left.  One is a mixture of water and milk of all things, mixed at nine parts water to one part milk. The other is baking soda and water mixed one tablespoon to a quart off water. Supposedly either will work better than any 'store bought' treatment. Although the information I found said the milk is actually the best treatment, I sprayed the plants with the baking soda water mostly because I happened to have lots off it and only a little milk.  I will let you know how it works.


There are fungicides you can purchase.  I can not use the oil  that some people recommend because I have read it is unsafe for the plants in climates where the temperatures are over ninety degrees. It doesn't seem like that leaves too many places where it can be used!  

My best advice after having gone through this:  BE AWARE!!  I think if I had seen it early and known what it was and what to do, I might have been able to curb it considerable or possibly head it off entirely.  If you see it do not wait to treat it.  That's probably one of the big lessons of this gardening season; keep watch and whatever it is, deal with it quickly! 

I do not know yet what I am supposed to do to treat the soil  to prevent it from coming back year after year.  If anyone knows, please tell me.  I would  like to keep it in the all natural/organic realm if at all possible.  I  must admit, though, I would be willing to cave in and use a chemical just this one time to treat the soil for this menace, if there is such a chemical and that were my only effective choice.  I will work on rebuilding it and overcoming the effects of the chemical later on if I must.  I do not want to do this again!  It is really bad.


On a good note, I have some girl pumpkin blossoms!!  I have had watermelon, cantaloupe, and a lot of gourds coming on their vines for a while now, but no pumpkins until now.  I'm very excited.  I love pumpkins.  I bought a variety that is supposed to be good for pie and hopefully pumpkin butter, which I've threatened to make for years and never have.  If I never made a thing I would still grow them if I could  because they are so beautiful.  I usually make a nice beef or elk stew in the fall and bake it in a pumpkin.  That is a family favorite, and almost a tradition now, so I need at least one nice, fatty for that!


The corn is corning, and the cow peas are peaing (LOL).  The tomatoes are amazing, delicious, very productive, and as tall as my head!  I am having onions now although they are a bit small.   I was sort of unclear on how to deal with them and I think maybe I should have thinned or separated them early on.  Yeah, okay, a no brainer, but lesson learned.  I did not handle my potatoes quite right either, I don't think.  I have yet to check up on them. I may do that later today.  


On that note, I leave you with a favorite quote:

“Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to it’s liberty and interests by the most lasting bands.”

-Thomas Jefferson

Be blessed!

Free Food!

  

Well, free of charge, but I've worked for it.   For the record, I've loved every minute!  I loved all except for the failures of a beginner, the decimation of my lettuce by some kind of a critter, and the withering away of my squash and some of my cucumbers due to, best I can figure, lack of pollinating bees.  I learned too late for the spaghetti squash that I could go out and pollinate them myself with a small paint brush or something.  They had already quit producing anything and withered away.  I'll know next time and head it off at the pass.  I  love it.  Love my garden. 

The green beans have been a disappointment.  They looked fairly nice but they didn't give us too much to eat.    The melons are suddenly growing like crazy.  They must be heat lovers. The gourds, too. They are climbing and beautiful.  The potatoes are still just sitting there, pretty, green and growing.  We'll see how they do one of these days, I guess.  They are taking longer than I realized they were going to take. I'm getting impatient!  The blackberry is beautiful.  It should produce something for us by next season.  The  onions are great, the chard is great. The whole thing is beautiful!

I think planting our tomatoes in the "mass" turned out to be a blessing.  The greenery and the fact that they all grew together is actually protecting the fruit from the harsh sun.  We have been getting anywhere between three and maybe eight tomatoes a day out of there.  In the past they would  burst on the vine before they had a chance to ripen, but this year we've had some wonderful, red tomatoes.  I'd say only about a third have split, and not too badly.  They are ripe and delicious!

The mass is getting really big, so I went out with some tomato tape to raise up some of the heavy, sprawling branches. I picked up this tape at the hardware store and it's a bit like velcro, for lack of anything better to compare it to.  It sticks to itself, and it's reusable.  It's also very handy, I might add.  Anyway,  when I raised them all up and taped them to the supports I could see bunches and bunches of green tomatoes!  Lots!  Dozens!  Maybe a hundred or more!  That's so exciting!  We are all huge tomato lovers here.  I doubt any will go to waste.

My corn is getting big.   Some of the ones that came up volunteer early on are probably as high as my shoulders.  I planted two more rows,  both on the same day, and for some reason one row is about hip high, the other only to my knees. It could be that one row gets just a bit more shade than the other.  I'm not sure.  I think I  have a cat coming over the fence at night and getting into them, too, because I wake up many mornings to some of the stalks leaning heavily to one side or the other.  I just prop them back up with dirt and so far it seems to be okay.

I'd say we have a 'trickle' garden. I get a little of this and a little of that trickling in every day.  It makes for a wonderful snack or addition to our dinner, and something fresh to eat every day!  It is absolutely wonderful, but I am beginning to wonder if there will ever be a big 'harvest day' for canning and drying and freezing.  It's probably just as well until we move, because I have such limited space here, and no really good place to process anything.  If I actually do get a sudden burst of produce you can bet I'll figure out how to handle it, though.  I have a couple of small dehydrators and quite a few jars; more than I'll use for a garden this size even if it all comes in at once.  I have a water bath type canner. I will need to get a big pressure canner, but I was just hunting an excuse to go get one of those anyway.

So, on that note, I'll leave you with a little funny I heard once:   

"My grandma used to can a lot when I was growing up.  I never could understand why she did it during the hottest part of the summer, though."

Be blessed!

A Few Lessons from a Rookie

I haven't been very faithful to blog. I meant to, really I did, but my schedule is odd; off.   I have a little time here and there, I think.... I just can't seem to find it when I am looking  for it. 

I did want to get in here and  post a few pictures of our garden. I'm no photographer, that's my husband's gig, but the pictures I got should give an idea, I suppose.   I thought maybe I could tell a little bit of the tale of our journey from the beginning of what looks to be our first successful garden to where we are now, and maybe talk a little about what we plan to do next.


I'm really proud of the way things are going.   We've struggled for years to get anything to thrive in this awful dirt.  We added things to it for years to improve it, manure, compost, bags of store bought soil, until finally we've gotten it into decent enough shape to sustain life.  


I enjoy gardening so much.  It's one of my favorite things to see the tiny new plants break through the ground.  I'll be honest and tell you, though, I really didn't want to start a garden.  I hadn't wanted to for several years because it's been such a source of disappointment to me for many potential growing seasons.  It's one of the worst feelings to tend them only to have them wither away despite all my best desperate efforts.  I wasn't up to trying it again.  


Last year in late summer or early fall I had a few cloves of elephant garlic that I had forgotten about, and they started to sprout.  I decided to stick them in the ground just to see what would happen.  There was nothing to lose in that.  They sprouted a tiny bit, and then sort of 'went away'.  I figured they died. I didn't read up on when to plant garlic, so I figured I did it wrong and chalked it up to experience.  Well, along about February this year, Lo!  They poked their little greens up through the ground again, and it was all I needed to get the fever. I decided to try some early growers; cool weather crops.  I thought maybe I'd have better luck with my garden if I did it before the really hot weather settled in.

Before I knew it I had planted my whole garden area full.  The problem was, I had no room left in my garden spot, and I hadn't planted tomatoes yet, so I started working another area for them. One thing led to another, and soon I had plants of all types in the ground.  Now I am excited about it again, almost as much for some serious on the job training as I am for the harvest.  I've already learned some lessons, and I can see more on the horizon.


Lesson 1: Irrigation


The first thing we had had to contend with was the water situation.  Being smack in the middle of the Mohave Desert means that water doesn't stay put out in the sun for very long.  I was getting out early in the mornings and watering everything heavily, and I thought that was good enough, but  no matter what I did, the plants wilted and looked bedraggled by mid-day. My husband knew it was lack of water,  so I added a nightly watering, but still, they just wouldn't 'perk up'.


He decided we needed to do something, so we went to the hardware store to buy all of the regular drip irrigation stuff everyone uses, but instead we found some really small soaker hoses that attach to a black irrigation hose in the same way standard drip lines do. I'm here to testify that they are well worth the time, effort, and money that they cost us, all of which were minimal.  My husband laid us out a nice irrigation system in just a couple of hours.  We put the soaker lines down each row and covered them with mulch to keep the water from evaporating right off of the hoses, and so far, even on the hottest days we've had, they are doing the trick. I've had to increase the water pressure a bit as the plants have grown, but it's still much more economical, as far as water usage, than the hose ever was.


I wish we had photo/video documented the process. It would have been fun, and maybe there are others out there that are as novice as I am that could  have benefited from it.  If that's you, take my word for it, it's easy and nearly fool proof.  Give it a go!


Lesson 2: Row/Plant Spacing


If the seed package says to plant the seeds 12 inches apart, that's what they mean. Just because they are itty-bitty when you get them out of the envelope doesn't  mean they are going to fit in closer quarters later.  I know that sounds silly,  but I was trying to optimize my limited garden space, so I pushed my luck, and now I'm sorry.  My tomatoes have become sort of a giant mass of green with blooms and tiny tomatoes all over it.   That could be to my advantage in that they could actually protect themselves from the sun a bit as the summer wears on.  On the other hand, I'm already having a hard time working in them and they're only going to get bigger.  It's likely that it's going to be near impossible to get into the middle of them by the time they reach full size.


Lesson 3:  Sunlight


Again with the instructions?  If they say full sun on the package, what do you suppose they mean?  Yeah... full  sun.  I thought to protect them a bit since the lions share of the growing season here is near a hundred degrees, give or take, so I planted some things where they would get some sparse shade.  It's not exactly 'shady' so I thought it made sense.  No.  

All of this instruction reading business leads me to think I might have had better success with some of my other things if I'd started them indoors earlier in the season, like the package says.  


Lesson 4: Protection


Fencing was necessary.  My dogs thought the fresh greens were just for them.   I put some chicken wire around the two garden areas, and that worked for awhile, but it got mashed down and we had to re-enforce it with more posts.  Not a big deal, but it did get me started thinking about what to do when we are in a more rural setting. I don't have much of a pest problem here.   We're in city limits and it's just not an issue, but it will be.  I have applied some of my on-line time to researching lots of different methods to protect our garden from critters.  Only time and testing will tell the story there.  For right now our big problems are sun and wind.


The wind just beats things to pieces.  By the end of the summer all but the heartiest of the plant life out here is wind whipped, torn, and just plain worn out. Support cages and structures may help the plants over all. but the exposed areas take a lot of damage.   Honestly, other than erecting protective walls I'm not sure what can be done to prevent it.  

The sun is plentiful, and obviously necessary, but out here it's also destructive.  The difference in the daytime and night time temperatures is so drastic that lots of things just burst on the vine.  So far we haven't done anything to ward off it's effects, but we're going to have to soon. This is going to be a trial because it will require some kind of sun screen, and the desert sun's partner in crime, the wind,  tends to destroy or shred anything erected to shelter things from the sun.  


I don't plan on erecting anything permanent.   We're planing to move soon, and frankly my heart's just not in it.  I considered using conduit and bending it to sort of arch over at least the tomatoes, and then screw some shade cloth right to it, but I don't want to go to the expense and effort for all of that, especially considering I really only plan on using it for one last season.  The shade cloth will hardly last any longer than one season anyway.  I think what I will try is to just fasten it to fence posts on four corners, and 'stitch'  it to the back fence with wire. It should hold through the hottest months.  I will post as we go.   


Lesson 5: Compost


A.  It's pretty hard to mess up compost.  No meat/meat products in the compost bin, and I've heard no onions. Anything else is a go.  Coffee grounds, egg shells, the bag of almost liquefied vegetables that got shoved to the back of the fridge, last years leaves, tree trimmings, grass clippings, just pile  them up and keep them moist and  voile!  All of it miraculously turns into your best friend: dirt!  I decided to try layering everything into the  pile.  A layer of dry, such as old leaves and sticks, followed by a layer of wet, such as kitchen scraps and plant material, followed by a shovel or two of dirt.  I hose it whenever I'm out there and think of it, and it's coming along very nicely.

B.  Re-think what you are throwing away.  So much  of what we throw away can be added to the compost bin. It gets to be a habit quickly.  I catch myself when I'm shopping looking to see how much of the products I'm buying can be composted and how much is actually going to be wasted as garbage.  No, I'm not an environmental nut, green crazed Birkenstock babe, I just love watching the process, knowing the source, and getting it free and un-taxed. 


Those are the most obvious lessons for this year to date.  It's really more of an information gathering season than anything to us anyway. My husband and I are learning all we can about what has come to be called permaculture, which is just a fancy word for a more natural, self sustaining agricultural, ecological system.  It is really very interesting and the more I learn the more it all seems to be a logical and intuitive way to do things.  Maybe my rural upbringing helps.  I remember a lot more than I realized.  All combined we are getting a picture in our heads; the pieces are coming together.  Even though our little garden patches in the desert are small and flawed, I think we have learned a lot and dialed a little closer in to some more important things that maybe we wouldn't have understood otherwise.  


I'm wanting to cram too much into this blog. I want  to go into detail  about some of  our plans, the property we've found and are considering, our great off-grid ideas, and so many other things that all tie together and make such beautiful dreams,  but I think I'll save that and make it the subject of a different blog.

At a Snail's Pace, We're Off and Running!

I've decided this blog is now going to be dedicated to success.  This is the Success Blog of Rhenda, the Representative.  How you view success is up to you, but to me it's a matter of living my life; working to live, not living to work or working for a living. How do I do that?  Well, that is going to be our ongoing project, and the subject of this blog for the next months, and possibly years.

My husband and I are adjusting our lives and changing things.  What are we working towards?  Are we working toward anything at all or are we merely existing?  Are we working just to stay afloat?  If we manage to, then what do we have? Lets say we are doing well in this world.  Perhaps we have all the trimmings that most people only dream of.  Is that what we wanted?  Is that the success we dreamed of?

I for one have determined that it's a bad trade to exchange another minute of precious time spent with the ones I love for a buck or two extra just to keep and sustain some 'things',  perishable things, trappings (aptly named).  Money, you can spend it, you can earn it. Percs, you can use them, you can earn them.  Time?  It's gone, my friends, once it is spent.  We might be smarter to stop right here, this minute, now, before we've spent it all, assess our circumstances, and make sure it's spent wisely and that the exchange is worth what we're paying.  I answered myself and said, no. Not a good trade.  Not at all.

Are you working toward a nice home, nice things?  There's not a thing wrong with wanting them or having them, just remember, it requires 'X' number of hours on the job to pay for gadget or gizmo 'Z'.  We have to work 'X' number of hours more to buy the electric to run and maintain the gadgets and gizmos we accumulate.  We could possibly, in fact we probably will have to expand out homes, or perhaps buy a new, larger home to accommodate our things.  When the gadgets and gizmos are old or obsolete, or maybe we've had them for so long that we're just tired of them now and they seem dated and boring, we will be replacing them, which will require exchanging more time on the job. We have to put up with the noise they create in our lives, and the time they steal from our relationships and what could have been family time; the 'real' goal and measure of my success.

What about retirement?  Are you working toward retirement?  Good.  Maybe that will work out for you.  It's good to plan and have clear goals. What do you want to do when you retire?  Relax and enjoy yourself?  Travel?  Sit on a beach and read?  When?  At sixty-five?  At seventy, or even seventy-two?  The age of retirement changes from year to year, and with the state of the economy, the job market and social security being what it is, I'm not willing to gamble my life and future away on a crap shoot that the government is in charge of.

Can you see where I'm going with this?

I have had a re-discovering of what I think success is,and a redesigning of my dreams of the future.  I have re-assessed my life and it's goals and ambitions.   I'm going to 'cheat' a bit and repost a part of something that I wrote a few years ago.  It was a turning point for me.   Things are not a lot different in theory than they ever were.  I've always sort of lived life by the seat of my pants, and 'gone for the gusto', but somehow now it is different in it's intensity, it's sincerity, and it's urgency.  It's what drives me.



January, 2008

As much of a done deal as all of my recent semi-traumatic experiences are, the over all effect has been pretty intense.  I'm a pretty intense person anyway, and I tend to take anything in my life that's a big eye opener and back up, apply whatever it was to the everything past and present, and re-sort the lot of it.  I've done that with all the major events of my life.  I can't help it.  If something happens that causes me to see things with new eyes, I look as far back as I can and re-evaluate everything.  I have new information now.  It needs re-evaluating if I'm going to make good decisions in the future.   It sounds weird in the telling, but it makes sense to me.

In this reorganization I've come to a few conclusions.  My priorities have been way off.  I started out rambunctious, energetic, curious, inventive, pretty carefree, and impetuous.  I have listened to the powers that be talk about what you need to accomplish in life.  I've been educated by the same system as most people.  "Sit still and be quiet!  Don't touch that!  Calm yourself! Clean your plate!  Finish what you've started!  Stay between the lines!  Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!"  I have similar ideas about what life is for.  We're supposed to grow up and behave, get educated, be "successful," don't make waves, work hard towards retirement, blah, blah. blah...  Over time all of the spontaneity and creativity was beaten out of me.

Nobody ever once told me to plan to enjoy my life.  Ever.  Enjoyment is something you can "worry" about when the "work" is done.  Then when you're old and grey you can say to yourself what a fulfilment work has been for you, right?

You know what? Most people you ask don't like their jobs.  Many of the same folks, if you ask them what do you want to do, they couldn't even tell you.  Most of us think, someplace in our minds, in the box in the back, I'd love to be a "you fill in the blank."  We don't address it because it would mean we have to address all the reasons why we aren't, and worse, why we aren't even trying.  So we work on at our mundane lives, putting one foot in front of the other for "the cause" yet to be named.

What exactly are you working so hard toward?  "Retirement."  Well, what do you want to do when you retire?  "Relax and enjoy myself."  That's not very specific, but even if it was, at 65?!  In this culture?!  Ha!  Are you serious?  Most of the retirees in this country are to preoccupied with their therapy because they're so miserable and their Xanax and their Prozac aren't helping any more.  They can't get too far from good medical care, just in case.  They base where they are going to move for retirement upon whether or not there's a decent hospital in the area.  They sit over morning coffee and a stack of pancakes, and discuss burial plots and blue cross/blue shield.  Who's on what meds, their bad backs, their blood pressure, cholesterol, who gets up the most at night to pee, on and on and on!  They try to "out drug" each other.  They compare doctors, brag about the new stuff they got, and if it's new on the market, well, then I guess they're king of the hill for today's breakfast anyway.  If you dare say to them that they should take some modicum of control to try to get healthier and get off some of the meds, take off some weight, get some exercise, they either say they're too old for that, that I just don't understand and I will when I get older (NOT!), or they get mad!  Yes, really!  They defend their misery.  Keep it, then.  I'm out.  Miserable!  Whether you're miserable in small town America, or in the French Riviera on a balcony soaking up the sun, miserable is miserable.  So scratch that argument.  I'll take a pass onwaiting to relax and enjoy.

What do you want to do?  "Well, maybe work towards a nice home and nice things."  Fine.  In ten years it's all dated and you'll either want a new one, a bigger one or you'll want to spend sixty grand adding on and remodeling it.  Try again.  "Well, I'm working to send my kids to a good college."  Good!  How noble!  All the while you pawn them off on a failing school system.  You yell at them if they make noise and disturb you while you're relaxing.  You "buy" them off to get them out of your way, and teach them to want nice things, then tell them they need to learn to work hard and save for the future to have nice things.  You huff and sigh if you actually have to get up and do anything.  You can't be bothered to actually go look at what they've been doing.  It's just child's play anyway, and "After all, child, I've worked all day, and I'm tired!"  That's nice!  You don't deserve kids.

Let's be more specific.  What would you like to do?  "Well, that doesn't matter right now.  I have plans and goals that aren't met.  I'll do what I like later on!"  Well, when and if you get that far, what will that be?

If you actually pin someone down about what they like to do, what is fun for them, what do they enjoy, half of them can't answer!   I guarantee those same folks when they're seventy, eighty years old are going to tell you what they wish they'd done.  They almost always say they wish they'd spent more time with their families.  They say they wished they'd not taken things so seriously, and just had more fun.  They wish they'd had their priorities right.  We've all heard them, and we've all ignored it.  It's cute, if sad, when an old person says it, and we say to ourselves what a good fore warning to the rest of us, but we completely ignore them.  Let anyone say something like that during their "productive years" and they're unstable, irresponsible, dreamers, can't keep their feet on the ground.  They tell you "I can't, I don't have time."

Where is it written that you have to constantly be working toward some nebulas thing in your future? Where does it say that once you've started something, no matter how horrible, no matter how futile, you must continue and finish?  Why stay in a career you hate?  For money?  What a few grand more over forty years?  A few hundred grand?  Well, is forty years out of your miserable life worth a hundred grand?  Because you are selling your life, friend, not pawning it.  Plain and simple.  You can't go back later and redeem it.  It's gone.  No home, car, monthly bills, retirement plan is worth that.  Just ask the old guy that did it.

It's a fear thing.  People are scared.  Scared of change, new things, failure, catastrophe, accidents, judgement from other people, commitment, just the unknown in general.  Be ready!  Plan for the rainy day!  Expect the unexpected.  Don't let your guard down.  Get all your ducks in a row.  Hey,  some of that's fine and good.  I get ya!  But come on!  Learn to roll with the punches!  You can't "be ready!!"  It's not possible!  I dare you to stop planning and do something.  Anything.  You don't need an itinerary to skip rocks or jump in mud puddles with your kids.  Dirty clothes wash!  Just GO!  You know what?  It might not work.  OH!  Then what?  Well, nothing.  You will live and not die.  You will in fact be just fine.  Guess what else? It might work.  Either way, the next day will come and you can do the next days business.  "Well, you're just impulsive!"  You bet, and thank God.  If having a sense of adventure and the nerve to live means you're impulsive then, by golly, you're right!

People understand this in the business world.  Everyone loves the free thinker at work.  He creative.  Everyone loves the guy who isn't afraid to take a chance.  Everyone loves the guy who can make a decision, and can speak his mind.  It's because more often than not, that's the guy who's work pays off.  It's the most productive way to work.  Why not live like that?  Life is not fragile.  You aren't going to irreparably damage it if you make a mistake.


What a privilege to be able to trust in God.  You folks who have a secularized idea of who God is and think it's just a weak man's way of coping or whatever Hollywood has sold you, you have no idea what freedom is to be had in living this way!  It's like a little kid crossing a busy street with his dad.  Dad's got a firm grip, so the child is just looking around and enjoying the sights and sounds, oblivious to the dangers and possibilities of failure.

I'm not going to waste any more time doing terrible, time wasting things.  I'm not going to remain miserable in anything anymore without making some changes. I'm planning to enjoy my life now.  I'm going to enjoy my kids and my marriage.  I'm going to make memories while I'm still able to remember.  I'm going to make decisions.  What's the worst that can happen?  I'm going to change my world today, and again tomorrow if I need to.  It's not up for a vote, and I don't care what you think.  I'd rather be a happy homeless person than miserable in a mansion.  But the best part is that neither is a permanent place.  None of it is permanent.  Ever.  From one minute to the next you can change your whole life! Don't think so?  Who cares what you think! HAHA!!  How would you know?

Watch me!

Some of the most successful people don't follow the outline.  They weren't afraid.  They were the wild cards, the loose cannons,  "impulsive" until they "made it", and then they were creative, adventurous, risk-takers. entrepreneurial!  So think... what do you want to be when you grow up?  A fireman, an astronaut, a movie star?  Take a step.  TAKE A STEP!  You cant steer a bicycle until you begin to pedal the thing!  How can we be too afraid to live?

There's a story in the Bible about a guy who leaves the country for awhile and he leaves his stuff with his servants. He gives a portion, in different measures, to three of his guys.  When he returns, he goes to each of the three to ask an accounting of their portion.   The first two guys told him, look, we took some chances, invested your money, and have good returns.  Here's twice as much as you gave us. Of course he was pleased with them.  He told them so and invited them in.

The last guy was steady, a careful planner, unwilling to "rock the boat."  He was working toward a comfortable retirement so he could finally relax and enjoy.  He was playing it safe.  "Lord, I knew that you were a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter.  I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the earth. Lo, you have yours."  His lord answered and said to him, "Evil and slothful servant! You knew that I reaped where I did not sow, and gathered where I did not scatter, then you should have at least put my money in the bank, and coming, I would have received my own with interest.  Therefore take the money from him and give it to him who has doubled his money."

Matt 9:29-30  "For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will abound. But from him who has not, even that which he has shall be taken away from him.  And throw the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

You'd better invest this gift of life.  When the owner asks an accounting of you, all of your hard learned skills your responsibility, your planning, all of your stability and hard work wont add a single second to your life, and only you are responsible.  Not the circumstances, not the culture, not your upbringing, the environment, the Democrats or the Republicans, not your education, your race, your age, not the devil.  Just you.  Don't waste your life!      

One More Step on a Long Road

My garden is started, and I'd say it's coming along fairly well. I haven't gotten everything in yet, however, and I'm hoping it's not to late to plant a few more things from seed. Out here things need to be started pretty early in the year because of the long growing season and the extreme hot and dry days coming up later on.

I took some pictures at different stages and I will try to post a few soon. I uploaded all of my recent pictures to my old computer last week, but since then I got an amazing new laptop that I have been using almost exclusively, so I don't have immediate access to them. My other computer is very old and is really having some serious problems, but I'll try to get over there and get a few of them up.

So far, this is what I have already growing in my garden: potatoes, red onions, sweet onions, elephant garlic, which is actually more of a wonderful leek, basil, dill, lemon balm, rosemary, a few green bean bushes, spaghetti squash, some early girl tomatoes, because they reportedly do fairly well out here, a few other heirloom variety tomatoes, and a pot with some cherry tomatoes to sit nearer the house. That makes them handy for snackin', and if it gets too hot I can move them out of the heat.

There is some sort of volunteer plant coming up over against the fence. I don't know what it is, but it's thriving! It's a remnant of a bygone garden attempt, and therefore probably either a squash, cucumber, a melon, or a gourd. I think that is all I would have planted near the fence. It's a section of fence that we erected in order to keep the dogs away from a newly planted tree so that they wouldn't chew it off at the ground. Ten or twelve or so years, many feet of tree growth, and several dogs later, it's only purpose for years now has been to support climbing garden plants. I don't think I would have planted anything else over there.

I planted a blackberry bush at the end post of that same fence. I'm very happy about that! It seems to be pretty content in it's little spot. I am hoping to find a raspberry bush to plant near it, on the opposite end post. Eventually I would like to have rows of berries. I don't think I can ever get enough. I love berries.

I bought some strawberry starts, too, but they are still in the little six pack they came in. My husband thinks I'm trying to kill them by not getting the poor things in the ground, but actually I'm trying to gather some containers and fix them to my fence like hanging baskets. I think I'd rather have them there. I don't have a lot of garden space yet, and I would like to better utilize what I do have by growing things in it that need the space. Some of the things I want to grow will probably do just as well in planters or baskets as they would in my garden space, so I am planning on pulling a rabbit out of the hat and starting chard, lettuce, radishes, and my strawberries in those kinds of containers. I have a ton of big ideas, but if I don't get them underway I'm going to miss my opportunity.

I seeded a few zucchini plants along another stretch of the same old fence. I have some watermelon and a few decorative gourds planted in hills along the back of my garden as well. I hope they come up soon. Almost immediately after I planted them it turned unseasonably cool, and the wind blew so hard it probably dried the hills out, so right away I start to wonder if they will survive it all. I tried to keep them wet. We shall see.

"The farmer sleeps at night and is up and around during the day. Yet the seeds keep sprouting and growing, and he doesn't understand how." Mark 4:27 (CEV)

I still have cucumbers and cantaloupe seeds to plant. I've run out of fence to plant them near, so I'm going to have to rig some sort of trellises for them. I also found some brussel sprout seeds, but the cool weather came and went, and the chance to plant them, or any cabbage or kale, slipped unceremoniously past.

I have some green pepper seeds someplace around here, and I think I'm going to throw a few of those in when I find them. To me, a garden isn't complete without green peppers. I think they will do alright. I have quite a bit of mulch to cover things with once they get up and growing. That will help keep the moisture in, and that's really the biggest concern. The blazing sun is always an issue when it hits, whether the plants are big or small. We have talked about erecting some kind of a sun screen to protect things, but we never have. Maybe this is the year for it.

I get a little aggravated with gardening out here. I know once I get everything up and running it will be fun and wonderful and everything I was hoping it would be, but with all the expense of constructing shelters and shades, and for all the extra water and everything we have to do to make it work, we would be almost as well off to pay for produce at the store! I do take comfort in knowing that the food will be actual food, and it will be more nutritious for the family, and that every year that we make improvements to the garden areas will serve to make it more and more self sustaining until someday it wont be necessary to buy any more props or artificial aids from the store. Meanwhile, I guess I will continue propping it all up.

Hopefully I will have a successful garden this year and will have plenty to put up. I haven't canned in many years, but I think I remember how. Between me and google, we got it! I have a water bath canner, but my next acquisition should probably be a pressure canner. I would like a nice, big, stainless steel one. I found one at Amazon for $99.00, and that is really a pretty good price. Maybe by the time I need it I will have found a way to get it.

I'm scanning yard sales and second hand stores for pressure canners, too. You never know, I might get lucky. I'm really hoping for two. I want the one big one for canning, but I would also love to have a smaller one to cook in. I can remember my grandma cooking in one. It was a long time ago, but I remember the food being good, and I remember her talking about how fast it was. I can't remember the cook times, but I can remember the fork tender pot roast and back bone. I know you can start food from a frozen state and still cook it quickly. That would be quite a bonus around here since we don't use a microwave and I'm notorious for forgetting to thaw the meat.

Last week end I picked up six cases of Ball jars with the rings and lids at the church yard sale. I got them for two dollars a case! I was so excited. I already have several cases of large jars in my shed. Now I can add a few more, and several cases of smaller jars to go along with them. There were some tiny wide mouth jars among them. I think I may try to make a few pies in them. I saw a recipe for some tiny fruit pies that are made right in the jars, and can be frozen and later baked or reheated in the same jars. I think it would be a fun thing to try. It would be a handy snack for my husbands lunch box. Maybe I will get enough blackberries to make a few pies out of them.

We haven't completed the patio, but it should be done soon. It's all ready to go, but it is on hold until my husband gets a few days off back to back. We have to get some sand and then set the cement pieces in, but I don't think I'm strong enough to move them all on my own. Once it is finished, I'm going to set some containers on the south end with lettuce and chard in them. That will not only save space, taste good, and be handy, but it will look nice, too.

We have acquired a nice, big table to use in the work area. I don't have a potting shed, just a shady area under a tree, but perfect for a nice table and for a staging area for whatever I find myself doing out there. I have to pick it up this week. A good coating of polyurethane or some other sealer is all it will need to be in full time service. Meanwhile I have a big piece of plywood propped on two sawhorses, all things that could be put to better use elsewhere. The plywood is about ready to be turned into a set of shelves in my kitchen. That is a plan that's been put on hold for far too long. It will be the biggest single improvement to the inside of my house and to improving my daily life and schedule in many years.

We still haven't done anything concrete about setting up any water catchment. I inquired after a few large containers but I haven't heard anything back about them. I'll follow up on that tonight. We have researched it a bit and know fairly well what we plan to do once we get the big containers. It will be a huge thing for us to be able to water our garden from rain barrels. That is probably one of the projects that is working it's way to the top of the priorities list.

I am learning as I go. I am planning to start saving seeds, composting on a larger scale, making small structural improvements, and marking what did and didn't work well. I'm going to can and dry some of the produce, if we get enough and it's not all eaten. I plan to get a few laying hens. I have a little roost and an area that could be pretty easily and inexpensively changed over and prepared for them. I'm not sure when I'm going to do that, though. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew at the expense of the chickens. I'm doing well to keep up with what I have, if you can call what I'm doing 'keeping up'.

Well, that's the update. I will post when more happens. I'll probably post when more doesn't happen. ;-)

Success!

I read this in a wonderful blog this morning that spoke straight into my heart:

A rich industrialist was horrified to find a fisherman lying comfortably beside his boat, smoking his pipe.

“Why aren’t you out fishing?” asked the industrialist.

“I’ve caught enough fish for the day,” said the fisherman.

”Why don’t you catch some more?”

”What would I do with them?”

”Earn more money. Then you could have a motor fixed to your boat and go into deeper waters to catch more fish. That would bring you money to buy nylon nets, so more fish, more money. Soon you would have enough to buy two boats, even a fleet of boats. Then you would be a rich man like me!”

“What would I do then?” The fisherman asked.

”Then you could sit back and enjoy life!”

”What do you think I’m doing right now?”

I was actually formulating a blog of my own, and having difficulty putting into cohesive thoughts when I read this, here:

Is Hard Work Good or Bad?

Gloriosity! I am not alone!

My family is full of people who have been successful in business. Many are college educated, and many who were not were still 'hard workers' who climbed the ladder of success and have all of the rewards one would expect from such a life; nice homes, nice cars, kids in college, exotic vacations. They have made their lives into what they had always wanted them to be. For them, they are successful.

They are a generally kind bunch of folks, loving and all, but several of them have never understood why I was such a comparative failure. Why is it that Rhenda could never seem to progress? Why couldn't Rhenda ever get ahead? Why didn't Rhenda ever 'straighten up'? Because Rhenda was cut from the fisherman's cloth. I have wonderful news, friends and family. I am a raging success, far surpassing my hopes and dreams! I am set on the path that my heart would keep and I'm squarely in the middle of the will of God for my life. I am crazy successful! Be happy for me!

My husband and I have arrived at an age where we are considering our retirement. We are not old, but plans must be laid if you are to achieve the desired results, and I just ca not help but chuckle a bit when I think of what kind of reactions I might get from my family if they knew my plans. I would never cast them in a light that makes them seem haughty or judgmental. They are not. They are wonderful people. Given enough time to explain myself they would, in fact, understand, and probably be very happy for me even if they did think me a bit odd. That wouldn't be anything new.

There are many people out there, however, that presume to understand all there is to know about life, progress, happiness and success, and how one achieves them, who would not understand. Their lack of understanding would make me wrong and somehow substandard in their eyes. Some would try to force me to change. Maybe they'd send me for counseling or medication. Maybe they'd try to raise my awareness and send me for some kind of re-education. Some would just seek to legislate against 'me and my kind' because it's not normal and they can not abide my presence as it is.

I remember a news show I saw once. It was on FOX news' Bill O'Reilly show. Now, I don't think Bill O'Reilly is an evil man. There was a similar magazine type of a program by Diane Sawyer that gained a lot more notoriety, so I suppose I should mention it as well; spread the wealth. It just happened to be during the Bill O'Reilly piece that I began to put things together in my own mind.

Mr. O'Reilly was absolutely repulsed by the lifestyle that the Appalachian mountain people had chosen for themselves. 'They' were poor, and lived in hovels! 'They' needed care! The government was going to have to step in to help 'those' poor souls! 'They' lived in shacks out in the mountains and 'their' culture hadn't progressed for generations. Oh my! It was going to cost tax payers money for the government to go in there and change 'those' people, protect 'their' children and bring 'them' up to a more acceptable level.

Acceptable to whom? Bill O'Reilly? Diane Sawyer? The federal government? They did not ask for government help, so save your money. Their lives were of their choosing in a place and style that was traditional, comfortable and quite acceptable to them, but the government, and Bill O'Reilly, evidently, decided it wasn't a life worth having. So, as big government is wont to do, someone waltzed in and tried to put an end to their chosen lifestyle. I never heard the end results of their mission. Were they successful in reforming these unfortunates?

If it were any other established people group the liberals and bleeding hearts would be appalled! Can you imagine going into a traditional Native American village and forcing them to live like 'the rest of us decent people'? You would be on the front pages by evening and probably walking the plank by the next morning; that is, unless you are a medical volunteer who is stepping in and forcing them to receive pharmaceuticals that they have deemed necessary 'for the good of the community'. But that is a whole 'nuther blog...

Different is not dangerous, it is right! Leave them alone, for God's sake! The view and judgement of the powers that be and lack of understanding is nothing more than short sightedness on their part. They are the first people to tack the label of narrow or closed minded on to others, and most guilty among them. Take a deep breath! Take a nap! Take a hike!

I didn't mean for this to become a rant, but I guess it was one. Actually, I am very happy today. I am just hopeful that 'polite society' will allow me to pursue that goal.

Dead Reckoning

I've been making a lot of plans in my head. I've been collecting things, learning skills and trades and crafts and lots of 'needful' things for as long as I can remember to go along with these nebulous plans of mine. I get frustrated at the lack of forward motion and obvious progress. I can be very self-critical, but after a half century of life I have come to a brilliant conclusion. That does not solve anything or even help. So I stopped myself and thought, what would my advice be to someone else if they were thinking about the things I think about and facing the same circumstances. My advice to me is this: I think it's about time I get something down in writing.

I have heard that for years, literally. I have asked people how they accomplish things and they have told me to set goals, make lists, get a planner. I have listened to speakers or teachers that I have respect for. They all say prioritize. People have told me unbidden, which indicates my issues were obvious, that a clear plan helps. I have taught these things myself, and taught them properly and I think I taught them well. I just don't think I have ever kept them in practice long enough in my own life to actually see the results of a deliberate, well organized plan. What a shame. What a waste, and what a loss of a blessing, to not experience the feeling of real accomplishment.

I was told that it was my artistic nature that made me that way. I was a free spirit, the creative type and all that mumbo jumbo. Actually I was told that many times, which served to make it more believable. That was my best excuse for many years to come. What a bad bit of 'encouragement' that was! Of course I realize now what a detriment that mindset has been to me in my life. If I can organize my thoughts long enough to get these creative ideas, plan them out, start and finish them, then obviously it can be done in any area of life even if I am the 'artistic' type, whatever that was supposed to mean. Besides, God told me to be a good steward. I must be good with my talents, my obligations, my finances, my home, hobbies, habits, relationships, my time and whatever else He has given me. It may be easier for me to be a good steward in certain areas, but that does not excuse me from being a good steward in the areas that are not so easy.

For me the problem has always been that I didn't know I didn't know until I did know, and no amount of telling me, teaching me, nagging me or even threatening me could cut through the fog and make me know it any faster. I just had to get it on my own. I'm a relatively busy person and I have always known that it does me a world of good to put things in order and look at them on paper, and to re-arrange them until they resemble a plan. I know that. A simple list of errands shows me that. I do it when I write sermons. I do it when I write lesson plans. Yet in bigger issues of life, in areas that can become overwhelming or things that stall out and frustrate me, I do not do it without being prodded or otherwise made mindful that it should be done. In the past, when I finally would make an attempt at it I tended to misplace the list or set it aside for issues more pressing at the moment, but typically it would never make it back to the top of the stack.

There is no excuse for me to have been so discombobulated all these years. I could have saved myself tons of time and energy if I had determined to do this way back when. Plain for others to see, I didn't see it. I just did not. Now I do.

Thankfully, I have one redeeming quality. Once I know, I don't let any grass grow under me. There's no time like the present to make the changes and get it done.

So, I scolded myself well and committed to myself that with so many big and wonderful changes in my life, so many new horizons, I should make this sort of thing a priority in my life. Organization, list making, and prioritizing are all things I would and have counselled others to do, but have been so pathetically lazy about in my own life. I'm not even sure how to start, or where, but start I will.

I will at the very least begin a list, or a plan, or whatever I will call it, and start sorting my ideas. Maybe once I have a cohesive outline I'll share it here. I'm actually pretty excited about it all. With a fix on my present location, and with occasional recalculations and corrections for unseen roadblocks and detours I think my course is set. I feel better already.