Herb Garden

We are starting to get a few more days of sunshine and dry weather and I am finding I just have to go outside - the housework just has to wait!!!

I planted a new herb garden the other day and I am so excited!!  I can't wait until these little starts are big enough for us to run outside and pick a bunch to season my breads, soups and all kinds of yummy things!!!

I planted oregano, thyme, rosemary, parsley, chamomile, marjoram, chives and sage.  Mmmmm - all gonna be so good.

It's been lovely to see our shadows again after so long without having them around - for sure this shadow is going to be looking slimmer in the next couple of weeks :0)!!!

Blessings,
Christine

Spring is Springing!!

After a much colder and wetter than normal Spring things seem growing much slower than usual.  We've only had a very few days of sunshine.  I've found it hard to not complain.

This morning after waking up to clouds once again - after hearing a prediction for sunshine that didn't show, I decided to take a walk around the yard and try and find Spring.  And she was here - I just had to look!!

A little clump of violets - so sweet!!

English Daisies - hoping they will spread around my garden!!!

My faithful old Pie Cherry

a lone Welsh Poppy - another one I hope spreads around my garden!!!

I used to call them Bluebells - now I know they are Wood Hyacinths

I'm hoping for more sunshine but seeing a few cheerful blooms did lift my spirits and remind me that God's plans for the seasons continue - in spite of rain and chill!!!

Blessings,
Christine

A Sunny Day

We had a sunny day this week - a truly sunny day with warm, yellow sunlight streaming in the windows beckoning me outside.  It was amazing!!!

So out I went with one of my big boys at my side to man the shovel (big belly syndrome, again :0)!!)  My blueberry bush has been lonely all winter so we got busy...

And dug a few holes....

And planted a couple of baby blueberry bushes...someday we will have an abundance of those luscious purple berries right out of our own yard!!!  I can't wait!!!

We also planted a rhubarb crown - oh such a yummy thing to grow - pies, cakes and sauces oh my!!!

What lovely things to do on the rare, sunny, spring day in my neck of the woods!!  Happy Spring!!

Blessings,

Christine 

Yay for Digging!!

After many, many, many days of dreary rain in which we more than doubled our rain average for the entire month of March we have a break!!!!!

In spite of the mud I just could not resist the lure of the dirt!!

 Out came my pitch fork and grubby shoes and into the garden I went.  Oh, how good the earth smelled!!  How wonderful the crumbly soil felt under my fingers!!  Bliss!!

I got most of my veggie garden turned over until big belly syndrome took over and I just could not do any more - then I made my big boys go out and finish for me while I tried to soak away the aches and pains of digging while pregnant :0)!!  But truly, all the achiness was worth it!!!

So now that the turning part is over we will add some compost and hopefully get some early spring veggies planted very soon!!  I can hardly wait - my mouth is watering for my own homegrown veggies!!!  Happy Spring!!!!

Blessings,
Christine

Spring Fever?

Wow!!  I can't believe it's been so long since I've visited!!!  We had house guests for almost a week and we had a lovely time - but with all the visiting I think I ran out of words!!

That mixed with the general dreariness that seems to afflict me this time of year - writing anything down seemed like a big task!!

But - I'm back!!  I decided to come up with some activities that will help combat the awful greyness that covers this part of the world this time of year.

Here's what I came up with - some ideas so simple that I can't believe I had to think about it  - but with the dreariness comes a foggy grey brain at times too :0)!!!

We (the kids and I) made a fairy garden in a big jar!  Tons of fun - made a big mess on the floor - got to plant things - which did my gardening heart such good - and ended up with something pretty!!



See the pretty sparkly rocks we put in there?

 

A view from the top



 And then - feeling on a roll - I found some other jars I could plant things in - some vintage canning jars - with glass tops - so cool - I went down to the woods - found some neat rocks and peeled up some moss and made moss gardens!!  The bright green makes my heart happy!!

Another view from the top

 Then - I did the simplest thing of all - I went outside and hunted around until I found some hopeful signs that the grey days won't be around forever!!  I found several clumps of my mini daffs making their way through the damp soil - so pretty!!

And of course - one thing that always helps is chocolate!!  But this.... this chocolate is special!!  When I saw the display of these spheres (well - almost spheres) of delight - I confess - my heart did a little dance!!  Seeing these in the store made me sing a tiny little song in my head, "Spring is coming!!  Spring is coming!!!  Yahoo!!!"  It's a good thing I didn't sing it out loud - people wouldn't want to hear that - but my heart was singing - and I have since enjoyed some yummy chocolate treats!!

Blessings,

Christine

Backyard News

First from the Hen House:

We're getting anywhere from 4 to 6 eggs a day!! Yay!! Go chickies!!
We are hoping that soon we'll be averaging 7 to 8 a day but for pullets they're doing great!!
Some days it's more brown eggs:

And on others we get more blue:

And from the garden:

For late planting and a rather dreary summer it's doing better than I expected - a bit small but the last two weeks have seen a huge growth spurt!! Maybe I'll get a harvest after all!! Yay!! Go Garden!!!

In front of my zucchini there are tiny baby cabbage making their way up for a fall harvest.

And that's all for backyard news!!

Blessings,

Christine

Weeds

Even though we've had less than a stellar gardening season here I still need to get out and dig in my garden - it's an urge I just can't resist. Although my garden is very late and puny for late July - I still feel the need to take care of it.

I noticed the weeds were taking root the other day - lots of them!!
So I got out my handy dandy weeding tool and went at it:

And it began to look tons better.

While I weed my gardens my mind almost always goes down the same path. I usually think about how - if I don't get the weeds while they are small they will be much more difficult to get later and how they will multiply if I ignore them and how they will choke out the good veggies I have planted.

Then I think about the "weeds" that grow in my own life - the sins that want to grow in my heart - "weeds" of anxiety, worry, discontent, gossip etc. I think about how they will grow (and in some cases have grown) until they are difficult to remove. How they will choke out the good things that God wants me to grow. Then I end up praying in my garden that God will show me what nasty things are growing in my life and that He will help rid them and replace them with His goodness.

I used to think that weeds were awful and they served no purpose - but now I think otherwise - at least in my garden they serve to remind me of the state of my heart and they drive me to Him. That's a pretty neat purpose in my book!!!

Well - in my walk through my garden beds this morning I noticed some weeds I missed last time are getting bigger fast and it's time to plant some Fall harvest crops - broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and Swiss chard - so it's out to the garden for me.

Oh, before I go - an update on Daniel: He did see a neuologist for his seizure and the results were pretty much what we expected - the cause is not known. There are probably many different factors when all put together caused this brain to react. He did recommend further testing which we have decided to pursue - beginning next week. Dan is also not allowed to drive for 6 months per state law (which is probably the hardest thing EVER for an 18 year old boy!!!) So for now we are just hoping this was a one time event and praising God that he seems just fine!!

Blessings,
Christine

If I had been blogging.....

Our computer received the lovely "Blue Screen of Death" since the last time I blogged which caused an unplanned blogging vacation. After much fiddling around with it my hubby has me back on the computer - not completely sure it's fixed but at least all is backed up so that if this silly thing goes really bad I haven't lost my pictures!!

So...If I had been blogging the last couple of weeks I would have mentioned the number 273. Why is the number 273 significant? Well...back near the beginning of my bloggy break we finally got two days that reached the 75* mark. It had been 273 days since we had temps outside get to 75*!!! Those two days we went and celebrated by doing this:
and this: Yes, the weather got a bit warm and we had to dig up my garden and plant. I just couldn't leave it :0) So we'll see how it does - the latest we've ever planted - for sure!!!
The weather went right back to rainy and cold - so if I was on the computer I would have written about the closets I cleaned and the sewing I've done:My new kitchen windows - I'm so happy with them!!!
All the crocheting on my summer project would probably have made it on the computer as well:

The lovely blue jars I found at a garage sale to add to my collection would most certainly have been posted!!

And since I'm back I will mention that all of a sudden the weather has gone from rainy and low 60's to the eighty's in a day!! The pool is getting put up and my lawn chair is out, ready to spend some time playing and soaking up some much needed Vitamin D!!!
We have had so much fun playing and enjoying this summer so far!!! But having the sun out now will make the celebration of summer that much more fun!!!!

Not Quite Summer

We've had storm after storm roll through our area lately. Nothing like the storm that my friend Cinnamon blogged about but the typical Pacific Northwest storm that looks like this:
all day long for many days!!! Very chilly, grey and wet!!

The sun came out for a few minutes yesterday so I ran out and took a few pictures of my garden:
Yep - nothin'!!! It's just too wet!! :(
After talking about it with hubby I decided to let my garden lie fallow this summer - and spend the time amending my soil. I'm going to try and find a friendly farmer to share some of his animal manure (probably won't be too hard to persuade him!!) and add that and other goodies to my dirt to make it all nice and rich again!!

So what to do for someone that must get their fingers in the dirt? Well, I'm going to concentrate on my flower beds. They look pretty nice right now - from a distance:

But really, they have icky things like fungus problems and slugs - you know the kinds of things that like wet weather!

Thankfully, I have something new to keep me happy in the yard:
My new chicken coop:

And the ladies that live there:

Aren't they cute? We have nine chickens. Mrs. Chicken, Daisy, Stripey (pronounced Dripey by little man) and Brown Betty all live here along with five other lovely ladies that would be named if we could tell them apart :0)!! We are expecting eggs soon and we are so excited!!!

I would like to put up a sign on my coop but I am stumped when it comes to thinking up a cute name for it. I am looking for ideas - so if you have a cute name for a chicken coop just leave a comment.

Have a blessed weekend!!!

Christine

Counting My Blessings

Oh my goodness, what a week it has been!!! It feels like this week has lasted three weeks and it's only Wednesday!!! Hubs and I had a huge decision to make - that while a blessing to have to do - was complicated and difficult. Naughty little children and sassy big ones (yes, my kids do have their moments - gasp!!) coupled with lack of sleep have made my days long. I have struggled to bring my stress to God and have been threatened with overwhelming anxiety. Sigh - I wish I was better at handling the crazy times!!

So because I have struggled to have something nice to say I decided to post pictures that would remind me to count my blessings!!

A future veggie garden - ahhh!!! The joys of playing in the dirt!!!!
A new project (although in the store with bad lighting these colors looked so much better together - I took that blue row off after I snapped this picture). So, even if the colors aren't working just yet - keeping my hands busy is good for my churning brain!!

My baby weeping cherry tree is enjoying her first Spring in my front garden!!

An adorable puppy we took care of for a couple of days this week - so cute!! And she did cure my urge for a puppy - for which my husband is very grateful!!! Abbie was enchanted with her until she pottied in the house and then commented that puppies are a lot of work :0)!!! She was a wonderful, perky distraction!!!

Did you get yours? My, the government wants a lot of information!! This will keep my busy for a while!!!

A new mug to sip my coffee (for only $1!!) Why does my coffee taste so much better in a pretty mug?
Making cookies together - what a great team!!!!
The resident, assistant pastry chef. We have a birthday coming up - so I needed this critical help with the cake decorating!!
Well, these pictures have certainly helped me count my blessings!!! My life is so richly blessed!!! God is good and I am able to go to sleep every night knowing my children have full tummies and a warm place to lay their head!! When I slow down and take a breath and put myself aside and God first (where he is supposed to be) I know without a doubt He is good!!!

Blessings,

Christine

P.S. And as I sit here at my computer typing this out, I am being serenaded by the most wonderful frog songs - Spring has arrived!

A Touch of Spring

I know other parts of our country are still in the throes of winter but here in Washington State we are experiencing a touch of Spring. I have heard that Winter will be returning soon so we decided to take advantage of our mild weather and plant a couple of bare root apple trees:

Our helper:

Baby tree:

Yummy Gala apples coming soon:

And the pretty little Fuji:
Oh, I am looking forward to the yummy fruit we will be harvesting someday!! Planting a tree is really looking ahead isn't it? Planning for a delicious future!! I am hoping to plant a plum and a pear tree this Spring also. Taking advantage of our Springlike moment is really pretty fun!

Blessings,

~Christine