the would-be gardener

my garden in July 2011

I want to be a gardener.

I've sort of fallen in love with the aesthetics of it.  The sunlight, the nourished roots digging deep into that soil.  The water droplets clinging to green leaves.  I love the idea of growing something worth having - all beginning with a mere seed.

I'm not very good at it, though.

This year marks our second attempt at a garden at this home.  Last year was terribly hit and miss, and this year I vowed to do better.  I planned with great care and enthusiasm.  I painstakingly decided what should go in full sun, part sun, etc.  I bought organic seeds and starts.

But I planted too soon.

During a sunny week in the beginning of May I let my enthusiasm get the best of me.  And then, it got cold and rainy.  It was too cold, too wet.  I turned out to be a fair-weather gardener.  Almost none of my seeds came up.  My starts are surviving at the moment, but oh...the cucumbers and the basil I'd so hoped to be harvesting by now have not grown at all.

We had snap peas for a while.  I have some lettuce up at last, though it's been a bit nibbled.  Happily, the blueberry bushes (which I don't really count as being in the garden, they're so effortless) are still producing beautifully.  And my darling tomato plants are about to take off, much to my delight.  I don't really think there's such a thing as too many tomatoes.  And if I should find myself with such a thing, I shall make many, many batches of Roasted Summer Tomatoes.  There's nothing like the taste of summertime "in the bleak midwinter."

But that's all.  That's it.

No oodles of pickling cucumbers.  No cucumbers at all, in fact.  And certainly no basil.  Sadness.

I'm sure there are still things I can plant, even at the beginning of August - but I'm unsure of myself and my region.  I don't trust the weather; I don't trust my meager knowledge of gardening.  As I told my oldest son just yesterday, I'm still figuring this stuff out.

But I'm determined to get there.  One day I shall have a flourishing garden.  I shall have an abundance of produce which I can offer to my neighbors.  I shall have this, that, and the other thing.  I desperately want to figure this out: to learn how to use the earth - sun - water - air...to feed my family.

our snap peas, May 2012

So I will keep trying.  Perhaps failing, but hopefully getting a little better, wiser, more experienced each time around.  Because honestly, I do.  I can't help it -

I want to be a gardener.

my sweet addiction

I have a tiny little problem.

I'm pretty sure that I can stop whenever I want to.  But the thing is, I'm not sure that I want to.

Stop, that is.  I'm absolutely sure that I want to jam.

Is it proper to use "jam" as a verb?  I'm not sure.  Usually I care, but not in this case.  Right now, I've thrown caution to the wind.  Grammar rules be scorned.

I am hooked on jamming.  Or jam-making, if you prefer.

Strawberry jam.  Raspberry jam.  Marionberry jam.

Sweet and summery.

Soon there will be blackberries to jam, too.

Frankly, I cannot wait.  

Jam, jam, jam, jam, jam.  

All through the year, on cold rainy days...let us eat jam.

(If you're curious, the recipe I use for honey-sweetened freezer jam is HERE.)

a seasonal jackpot

summer squash, zucchini

I was hugely bummed to miss the first three weeks of the season for the CSA (Community  Supported Agriculture) baskets we purchase in summer.  As it turned out, the very first one was to be delivered on the day we drove out of town.  What timing!  My neighbor kindly offered to receive them and reimburse us for the produce - part of the arrangement of the CSA program is that the consumer commits to buying from the farmer for the growing season.  I hated the idea of paying for three weeks' worth of produce we'd never see, and I also hated the idea of asking for a refund for those three weeks.  This program is built to support the local farmer; that's one of the many reasons I love getting seasonal produce in this way.

kohlrabi

Well, we got home on Saturday and I discovered that my neighbor had sweetly put the perishable vegetables away in my kitchen.  When I poked around to see what there was, I was amazed at the quantity!  Three weeks in, and we are rolling in produce.  Let me take you on a little tour of my refrigerator's crisper, if I may...

beets

green onions
cauliflower
kohlrabi
beets
lettuce
cucumbers
red chard
green chard
English peas
snap peas
carrots
cabbage
zucchini
yellow summer squash

cucumbers

Did I score, or what?!

to Oz and back

‎"Home, the spot on earth supremely blest, 

A dear, sweeter spot than the rest." 

~Robert Montgomery

I have been to "Oz" and back.   It has been wonderful and taxing, fulfilling and stretching. It has been a blast.

I loved going back. Seeing how things have changed and what's stayed the same.  Hugging people dear to me and introducing my kids to them.  I  thoroughly enjoyed visiting the old haunts.  There is so much more I would have liked to see and do, but there just wasn't time for everything.  Even so, we packed a lot into those three weeks. For the most part I think we made good choices with our time.  We certainly did our best.

This trip was empowering.  After accomplishing (and enjoying!) this feat, nothing seems impossible to me now.  Outings which used to intimidate me, taking the kids out, seem like nothing now.  If we survived, even thrived, during three weeks of living like a nomad family, we can deal with much more than I thought.

I will always treasure this time with my husband and children: the memories made. What we did, where we went.  I am so glad that we did it.

And I am so glad to get home.  

Bringing this traveling series to a close, I leave you with this thought: 

the heart & soul of this operation

We would never have done this thing apart from my husband. His enthusiasm, his excitement, and his faith that it could in fact be done...they have been the driving force behind our Big Trip from the very beginning.

When Jeff suggested this venture last summer, I told him it was crazy.  I put him off, saying "Let's wait and make sure that the baby is born healthy, and isn't too colicky..." Part of me thought he would forget about it. I mostly hoped he would.  The very idea made my stomach churn.

A family of seven? On the road for three weeks? With a baby in tow?

Insanity.

I joked that we would need to budget a massage or two into our financial planning. Probably a few sessions with a therapist. I told my friends that I expected to come home with a new twitch. Time after time, he told me,"Think positive! Focus on the exciting things about all this." And I tried, I really did.  But my heart quailed within me, and my knees were like Jell-O.

He was right. With a lot of prayer and the grace of God, it has been a phenomenal trip.

My husband excels at the practical things as well.  It was his idea to pack "hotel suitcases." Genius.  And when it comes to loading our vehicle, he has an amazing gift.  Spatial organization it not my strong suit; it is most definitely his.

He brings bags into our lodgings each night. He hauls the cooler full of lunch goods to our rest stop picnic table.  His servant heart blesses me each and every day.

He is the brains and the brawn; he is the heart and soul of this adventure. We never, ever could have done this without his self-sacrifice and vision.

I am blessed to call this man my husband!  Even with the cow-tipping t-shirt.

travel: how to drink filtered water on the road

Brita water bottle (left)

Remember when I mentioned filtering water bottles in this post?  We bought this green Brita bottle while we were in Texas. In fact, we bought two of them!  You can check them out here.  They have been so handy while traveling.  You just never know what you're getting with tap water around the country, and in some of the places we've stayed, it's tasted downright nasty.  I'm so very glad we made the investment.

Just so you know, I'm not affiliated with Brita in any way.  I am just really enjoying these bottles. We put water in them and then fill our regular water bottles through the filter.  Easy peasy!

Happy Trails!

Gabe's Journey

Today Gabriel, who is seven months old, shares his perspective on this journey of ours.  Here it is in his own words.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They say I won't remember any of this.

That may be true. But from where I sit, it has definitely been an experience.  I've seen, done, lived a lot.  And who knows? Maybe years down the road I'll somehow keep the memory of this time in the recesses of my mind. Maybe it will be stored deep in my bones, some knowledge and strength to be drawn in unknowable times to come.

I've seen things I never knew existed.  Rugged countryside, the wide, free plains, blue skies stretched tight from one  horizon to the other.  I've seen places I've only heard about in family legend. 

Places where almost all the guys wear purple.

I've been to little country churches, parks in brand new (to me) cities, neighborhood swimming pools, and more houses than I could count (if I could count). I've met people who had only seen me in photographs. Napped on the shoulders of people I didn't know.  I learned to sleep in a room with six other people - in a new and different place most every night.

My mama played a lot of white noise for me, at least until the other kids were asleep. 

I played in the sand by the Gulf of Mexico. My parents dipped me in the warm salt water there (so different from the Oregon coast!). I sat in an auditorium and listened to worship music.  I examined other kids' toys and spent a lot of time grinning at my uncle.  A lot of time.

I've explored hotel rooms, houses, grassy rest areas and faces as unique as the snowflakes flurrying on a mountaintop.

So yeah, I've seen and done a lot of new stuff.

But I have had a lot of familiarity too.  I've been between my brother and sister every day we were on the road, looking into their faces, erupting in giggles when they were being silly.  I've sat on my mama's or daddy's lap for meal after meal: smelling their scents, feeling the comfortable curve of their bodies, listening to their voices.   I've had a lot of extra snuggles lately.

I've slept in the portable crib I know from home, snuggled with my blanket and played with my monkey rattle all the way down to Houston, Texas.

I have been with my family. On a big adventure.  It has been exciting and challenging, enlightening and enriching.

So even though I may not end up remembering this journey...I wouldn't have it any other way.

~Gabe~