Spring, springing

The first signs of spring in our yard: daffodils!

I adore hyacinths.

 Children always look beautiful when the sun is shining on their hair.

Studying worms in our square foot garden!

Pea shoots.

Enjoying the sunshine - it was nearly too warm out for jackets!

tomato harvest

This was today's haul of tomatoes: October 11, 2012.  Tomorrow the rain is supposed to begin.  Will it be our last harvest, I wonder?

our square foot garden(s)

I know. It's a little late in the summer to be blogging out the garden. But in fact, here in northwestern Oregon, summer has been a little slow in getting started. So while some plants have run their course, others are just revving up.

Regardless, I thought I'd give you a peek at our new square foot gardens. Although the first photo is of a bush which isn't even in the square foot garden....


It's been tremendously fun to have blueberry bushes this year. Alas, they've really slowed down in their berry production during the past week or two. But it was great while it lasted. What a novelty to be able to go out back and return with a bowlful of berries! We used them for snacking, muffins, smoothies, and many batches of blueberry pancakes.


The deal with a square foot garden is that the garden is divided into...well, square feet. In some squares you might plant one seed/start, in others two, or four, or more. It all depends on the plant. This cucumber plant is crowding into the next square, but the space is available now so it doesn't matter anyway.

As I've mentioned before, it's been a very strange summer here. Consequently, my cucumber plants are just getting started. Lots of blossoms, and some tiny cukes are growing. I think there's a solitary pickling cucumber that looks about ready to be picked, but that's it. Likewise, the tomato plants are now sporting tomatoes, but they're almost all green. I picked the first (and only) red tomato yesterday, but so far things are off to a slow start. I sure hope they ripen. My salads are looking awfully green these days. They're desperately in need of some color.


Perhaps the happiest plant in my garden right now is this squash plant. The funny thing is, I planted this seed on a whim after discovering I had an extra square or two. The seeds came from a Burgerville kid's meal, and I really didn't expect much from them. But all the seeds we planted from this source came in beautifully. And even without much planning or TLC from me, this plant is doing splendidly.


And peas. Ah, peas. It's been a good year for peas. These sugar peas have been really fun, and I love that the boys (and their neighbor friends) love to pick them and eat them when they're out playing.

This is just a tiny snapshot (or two) of our gardening experience this year. I'm really pleased with the square foot situation: I've hardly had to do any weeding, they look neat and compact, and next year they'll be ready to go whenever we are. At the moment, Jeff and I are considering whether to plant any early autumn seeds/starts. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

So, what do/would you do with your garden this time of year? Especially when warm days are a bit undependable?

getting ahead of the gardens

(photo from mid-June)

It's so strange. Really strange, considering how I've been longing for summertime during the past few months. But lately, I've found myself looking expectantly toward autumn.

The truly bizarre thing is that we've had hardly any real summer weather where I live. It didn't really get warm and sunny until the first few days of July, and even those days have been rather few and far between. (And I know this won't endear me to those suffering from triple-digit temperatures in other parts of the country!) Largely we've had temperatures around 65 or 70*, and often gray skies, even rain.

But perhaps that's exactly the issue. Maybe all these cool days are bringing to mind the stunning beauty of an Oregon autumn.

Or maybe it's the fact that the clothing stores are transitioning to their fall lines. Or it could be the disenchantment I feel with my growing girth - it's feeling much less charming and much more tubby...and probably on some level I'd feel more comfortable layering on sweaters & corduroys than strolling around in tank tops and sundresses.

And yet... and yet, I still haven't tasted my first summer tomato, or sunk my teeth into a seasonal ear of corn. Last weekend marked our first ripe peaches from the farmers' market, and I am still entirely enthralled with the bounty of summer berries. And I can't resist hoping that the cucumber plants in our garden will produce something worth tasting, one of these days.

There's a lot of good stuff still coming.

So I'm going to relax and relish these days of summer. Flaky weather, retail shops, and weight gain? Forget them. I think I'll take my cues from the calendar and the garden and farmers' market instead.

And when I stumble across my first acorn squash out there, that's when I'll go dig out my sweaters and corduroys...

timing

Would you believe it?

The week that we're moving, and the tomatoes (which, you may recall, we planted really late due to foiled moving plans)........they're getting ripe.

How's that for timing?

the now & the not yet

(*Title inspired by a song of the same title written by Pam Mark-Hall)


We put in a garden yesterday.

I suppose that the term "garden" by be a bit of a stretch. Our plot contains two tomato plants, a single cucumber, and a lone red bell pepper. I admit we're not terribly ambitious. But as our gardening efforts have had somewhat mixed results in the past, it seems like a good start.

I'm glad, I guess. I had been feeling sad that we hadn't put any plants in...actually I had just decided to do it back in March, when we got the offer on our house. So at that point we nixed our plans and started preparing to move. Obviously that hasn't panned out, and our garden has sat ~ lonely, neglected, barren save the weeds. It's been a sore point for me. I had really wanted to give a vegetable garden another try this year, and I felt cheated out of the chance to that by this whole "house thing," as we refer to it around here.

So now, it's in. Hopefully, as long as I remember to water our handful of plants, we'll see some progress, and production. It seems good. Like a step of hope, accepting our circumstances, blooming where we're (still) planted.

But it also makes me sad.

I hadn't expected to spend enough time in this house to eat from a garden this year. And we might not, still. But it's impossible to know, isn't it?

Something that I've been struggling with for a while now is the phrase "we were supposed to be..." We were supposed to be moved by the end of April, then by May 15th at the very latest, and then the end of May. It was supposed to be just fine to pack flip-flops, shorts, the pool, big pots, etc., etc., because we were supposed to be closing in two days. It's easy to feel bitter when I think about how it was "supposed to be."

But over the last few weeks, something in my thinking has shifted. I'm learning to see those things that I used to say were "supposed to be" as our former expectations. Yes, it's hard to let go of expectations. It's hard to accept that we're back to square one with this business of finding a buyer for this house, and a new place to live. It still smarts a bit to think of the dreams we fancied would come true.

But maybe it wasn't supposed to be, after all.

Here's the thing: I'm not a huge believer that"God causes everything." I know that He is over all, and has created this whole big world and everyone in it. I believe that He works, oh yes! But I don't necessarily think that He causes every single event. In fact, I think there's a lot of yucky stuff in life that just simply happens, as they say. It's a consequence of sin in the world, the fall of man. Stuff happens.

The Bible says that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him,^a]">[a] who^b]">[b] have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) And I believe that as we receive what life hands us, remembering that it comes through His filter, it can and will become a beautiful thing. Maybe not just when we'd like to see the transformation ~ no, it may be a good deal later. Still, God is faithful, operates on his own timetable, and his ways are infinitely "higher." (Isaiah 55:9)

And yet...and yet I can't shake the feeling that God's hand is in this. When we first realized that there may be problems with the sale of our house, I prayed that God would close the door if it wasn't his will for us. The door seems to be clearly closed. While that could just be something that happened, I don't have the sense that it is. I'm not sure what God's doing through this, but I choose to believe that He can create something amazing from what seems to be a mess.

Although we have no idea what the future holds, this is a promise: "^'11 For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" (Jeremiah 29:11)

He has a plan. So whether this tiny garden brings fruit in the edible sense, increases our house's attractiveness to another buyer, or has merely built us a bit more character, I'll take it.

Whichever it is. As if from His hand.