Trying Out A New Blogging App

So unhappy with how my pictures are coming through. So I'm experimenting.

Camping at Boulder Creek

     We went camping last weekend. We left Saturday about 11:00 or so and got home on Sunday about 1:00.
     It can be good to leave your house and habits. When we go camping we go where there are no bathrooms or kitchens. It is good for me to get that basic because I become so grateful. I have thoughts about my ancestors being tougher than me. About how they might have seen six loads of laundry on my floor as a chance to see my washer do a days work in, well, a day. But hardly any effort on my part. And as much as I sometimes resent my tiny, unhandy kitchen, really, what can I say? When I go camping, I ask Jay questions such as, "If I were exiled to the woods, how long would it be until I didn't live on a dirt floor?"
     Well anyway, we had a nice time camping. We cooked good food, played in the river, and watched shooting stars. Of course, everything has a special delight when you're introducing your children to it.

Garden Update

It's time to update on the garden.
By now I was hoping for huge plants and lots of produce. Reality check. The plants are growing and we will most likely get crops. But due to the fact that we planted late, the cold spring, and the soil and woodchips getting to know each other, things actually seem delayed.
Jay planted the potatoes in the mulch early in the summer. They seemed to be coming up slowly, so he pulled some of the mulch back a bit to help them along. Well, the ones he didn't help are the tall ones. The plants he helped are apparently stunted.
The green beans are in different stages of growth because, even though they were planted at the same time, they came up in stages. Also, the mulch was laid pretty thickly where the beans were planted, so they ended up being planted in trenches.
All of our squash, pumpkin, and cucumber plants were extremely delayed. I think their roots were too cold.
So, those are the not so great things about the mulch. We're still excited about the absence of weeds and the moisture retention. I think as the mulch breaks down and becomes new soil, that the other problems will go away too. So at this point we aren't discouraged; we're just in the learning curve of making it work.
Next, I'd like to do a post of some of the fun we've had this summer.

Uncertain

Maybe I should quit reading the news. Or maybe I should quit life. Of course not. But life sometimes feels so fragile and at other times it feels safe and happy.
Tomorrow we will attend a funeral. She was only 16. Somebody's baby.  Her death was untimely and still not clearly understood. It's all making me kiss my little girls more often. And pray more. Summer is cranking up to it's highest pitched scream and I've been forgetting to pray. Now everything seems to be dangling from a thread. Or maybe it feels like Hoo-ville, my world resting on a flower, carried by an escaping elephant.
The news articles : The Aurora shooting, the Chick-fil-a drama, it's all drama.
Are uncertainty and sadness linked? Tonight they are. I could list my sadnesses. There are just too many dangling ends for my mental comfort. Decisions to make, those I can't make because they're not mine to make, too many wait and see's.
Tonight before we put the girls to bed I played a few hymns on the piano. I remember this one from church when I was a little girl. I didn't understand it like I do now, but I remember if made me feel equipped.
"We have an anchor that keeps the soul
"Steadfast and sure while the billows roll.
"Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
"Grounded firm and deep in the Saviours love."

Back to Eden Update (1)

     This post is specifically for Arla, since she specifically asked for it. :-)
      Last week we finally got summer sunshine. Most of the month of June was cold and wet. It was that way so long that only the worst of whiners were still whining; everyone else was resigned. And then there were some of us who finally lost all hope and started to complain for the first time. But finally it got nice and hot and now everyone is happy. Except for those who don't like it hot.
     We didn't one day go out and plant the whole garden. Jay has been planting different crops all spring and summer. Most things are doing well. There were some brassicas (broccoli,  cauliflower,  kohlrabi, ) that got too cold and never took off. Today I found the cure for them. Feed them to the chickens. I don't like to see an unhealthy plant; it makes me feel bad, like a failure.  But on the positive side, I've harvested two very nice heads of broccoli.  And there will be more soon.
      The beans are looking pretty good, in spite of the fact that there seems to be a rodent doing some "logging".  Does anyone else know about this? Three inch bean plants being chewed off? They grow again, but those poor little plants do make me feel bad.
     The tomatoes are doing very well in the greenhouse. They are sprawling all over and putting on fruit. We also have basil and cilantro growing in there.  I love having them fresh!
     So, all in all all is well. 
      I LOVE MULCH.  I used to look at the gardens with a sinking heart because of the weeds. My favorite flower bed demanded one whole day a week to keep it decent. Of course it never got that. Now I can get around to the big flowerbed, the picture window flowerbed, and the herb garden in one day. And then I can enjoy them for two or three weeks before I have too weed again.
     The test on moisture retention is yet to come. The "Back to Eden" theory claims no need to water. I know we'll water less, but no water? We shall see.

Rainy Day Domestic Bliss

Coffee, clean dishes, clean laundry, messy living room, fire in the woodstove.

Back to Eden Project

http://backtoedenfilm.com/ This is a link to the website that tells about the film that we watched that changed the garden that Jay planted.  If the blogger app for android would allow me a little more mobility, I would tell you the whole story in the "house that Jack built" style, complete with pictures.  Since either me or that app doesn't know how to caption pictures, I will give you pictures and a short story and you get to line everything up yourself.
     Back in March, our friends, Josh and Jessie, gave us a gardening video to watch. It was called Back to Eden, and if you follow the link I won't have to elaborate much. (You don't have to watch the whole movie; 20 minutes should put you in the know. ) Briefly, the idea is to mulch heavily with a good mixture of organic matter and you won't have to water, weed, or fertilize your garden.
     Ok, so yes, that is too good to be true. But we are quite willing to cut back on watering, weeding, and fertilizing. Our well is a little bit wimpy and we have just as many weeds as anybody (maybe more, because we don't like to spray poisons around). We've built up our soil quite a bit with cow manure, peat moss, and organic fertilizer, but that also is an endless job.
     So, after watching this film, Jay called a local pulp mill and found out they have a big pile of the proper stuff - ground up wood, already beginning to decompose.  He procurred three dumptruck loads of it for a decent price and then we spread the joy on all our gardens.
     It looks nice and neat. So far it has cut back on weeding. I don't know for sure why I want to have babies and flowerbeds at the same time; sometimes the flowerbeds really suffer. But this year my perennials look bigger and greener and I am not hopelessly behind on my weeding. I'm just a little bit behind.
      This whole summer will be an experiment in gardening, but some of the test results are already coming in. One example is the radishes. Normally, the radishes we grow are woody, small, and carved up from nematodes. This year they are small, but only because we don't want to wait to eat the perfect little things.
     And since gardening is a never-ending mystery and joy, the pursuit of the perfect soil continues. Our soil, as well as the mulch, tested low in nitrogen. Jay is also curious about the trace minerals content in the soil. His research is getting very interesting and a bit complex. Did you know that your soil needs to have all this good stuff in it, but unless the pH of your soil is right the plants can't use it? Well, now you know.
     I would post a picture of those radishes, but we ate them all before I could get a picture.