Saturday, April 4, 2009

A Good Day

Today was a wonderful day. We spent it all outside, except for a few runs to the hardware and seed stores.

It started with working out with some of the boys at church.

Then we got some supplies for the transplants (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc—we’ll be selling them soon!).

We came home and the boys played basketball or some games on the porch. Jessie and I mowed the yard and got the compost pile turned and the grass added in. We had a picnic lunch on the steps.

Then we built the three raised beds for the backyard garden. While we were working on this, John said, “we should do this everyday. This is really good family time.” Jessie reminded him that come summer, we’ll have nothing to do but this kind of work! John is excited by the seed potatoes that came in yesterday—15 lbs of heirloom taters. Jessie has this plan to grow them in tires, covering the potato leaves with dirt, which forces the leaves to create more tubers… Theoretically, one plant can produce up to 40 lbs of potatoes this way.

As the day was winding down, we planted strawberries in their bed, watered them and the onions, thought about planting peas, lettuce, and radishes. We’ll have a dinner of roast pork, mashed potatoes, salad and cornbread. Then maybe we’ll go see Steve and Connie.

We did not go see Steve and Connie. So Steve, if you're reading this and getting excited that we were going to have come and seen y'all, don't be bummed when we didn't arrive...

Jessie said, "It's going to be a good summer." It has struck me lately that for some time I did not allow myself to think it was going to be a good anything. You just have no way of knowing. Time has eased some pain. And then a new faith in the Lord has grown and has shown that come what may, "all things will be well. All manner of things will be well."

1 comment:

Inis said...

Your back yard sounds awesome. I don't have a yard, but my partner does. I tried last year to plant it full of veggies, but the snails ate everything all up. We tried collecting them and eating them, but they are slimey and you have to keep them and feed them carrots for a few days first. Their poor little faces look so betrayed when you put them in the pot. This year I may break down and resort to snail pellets. You know, many urban areas are still zoned to allow you to keep a few hens in your yard, too... though this can get expensive.