Category: gardening

Spring!!

Published on by katiesencouragementforyou6 Comments

I wrote this blog a few years ago–I still love it–as I recall plants and the people who gave them to me–I feel as if I am giving a tour of my garden. When I wrote this blog–2 years ago, my mother-in-law was still alive, and Aunt Rosie had just passed. I hope you enjoy this tour of my garden–and the memories it evoked for me.

Spring!!

Spring—flowers are starting to stick up out of the ground. Bushes are getting buds on the ends of their limbs. Birds are in the yard, chirping away. All around us, the world is coming to life!! 

Winter was such a time of sleep— all these things covered up and hidden, gone from sight.  But they were not gone from hope.

My husband and I like to watch gardening shows together. Every spring, something calls to me, and I am outside, working in my garden. I do not really know what I am doing. I just like to grow things.

When I first started gardening, I was a young mom, with no budget at all for buying plants.  My mom and dad would give me plants from their garden, and so would others. The border of purple geraniums now surrounding my garden are from my parents.

I received Shasta daisies and black-eyed susans from my neighbor.

I have lilies from the library. They tore all their lilies out to make room for other plants and were giving away their lilies for free.

I have a lilac bush that is from my great-grandmother. Imagine that!!  My dad gave it to me when we moved into this house. He had one from his grandparent’s farm and started one for me from a cutting.

Another friend gave me a Rose of Sharon bush that has had many babies, which are now bushes in my landscape design.

I have some lovely purple irises from my mother-in-law.  (I brought them all the way back from the Beach House wrapped in wet paper towels and put in plastic bags.)  They did not bloom for a few years, but now I have separated them several times and they are all over my garden.

I have some purple salvia from one of my best friends, and some yellow whorled tickseed from her as well.

I love adding to my garden in this way.  Every plant has a memory and a person attached to it.

My Aunt Rosie, my Uncle Don’s sister– died this winter.  She lived a few blocks from the first house we lived in when we were first in town, and I would often visit her.  She gave me several of her plants from her garden, including a variegated ground cover plant, and some yellow lilies, and when I weed them or separate them—I think of her. 

Gardening for me, is a time to meditate and think of many things and people. When I was a young mom, I started gardening while the little ones played outside, so I could be with them. As they grew older, I would seek solace and alone time in my garden. I found my children left me alone there, as they did not want to weed. 🙂

I have many conversations with God in my garden. I find there are so many analogies for life found in a garden. The Bible has so many stories that involve seeds, plants, trees, planting, and harvesting. I am sure most people gardened back in Jesus’ day, and could relate to stories about gardening.

 We also know—God made the first Garden.  The Garden is our first habitat. So, even though, many, like myself, do not know what we are doing—we may find ourselves drawn to the garden and to the act of gardening.   We may find it is the perfect place to think, to be rejuvenated, to converse and walk with God, just as was done all those millennium ago.

Blooming Rose-of-Sharon

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Here are some more photos of my blooming Rose-of-Sharon.  I shared some photos, a week ago in my blog called Blooming, when it was first blooming, and I shared some photos last fall, after I just pruned the Rose of Sharon, in a blog called, Pruning Time.  (I also shared my spiritual insights as relating to God “pruning” me, so I could bloom.) 

Hope these pictures encourage you, if and when you go through your own “pruning” times!!

Angels In My Garden

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I thought you’d like to see some pictures of some of the flowers blooming in my garden. They bring a smile to me, and I’m hoping they will to you as well.

I also shared in my blog, “Gardening Awaits“, that I went around our yard, looking at all the work that awaited me, and wondering how it was all going to get done.   I started praying asking God for Help!!  What I said was that I was wondering if He could send some angels to help me get the vegetable beds ready for planting.  Well, not too long after this, my husband hired someone to dig a ditch with his small backhoe to help us with some drainage issues.  While watching this happen, I asked my husband, “Do you think we could ask him to use the backhoe to turn over dirt in the vegetable patches?”  My husband said, “Sure, we could do that.”   This young man did turn over the dirt—helping to prepare the beds, and shortly afterwards, I was able to plant my vegetable garden.

     Thank you to this young man, and my husband for helping to make this happen.  God did send some angels—after all! 🙂

Hope this encourages you!!

To Can Or Not To Can?

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My daughter and I worked all afternoon, making applesauce.  It is quite a process to wash, then quarter apples, boil them until they are soft enough to process them into applesauce with the Vitrola, and then can them and process them again in the canner until—voila—many hours later– all we have to show for our hard labor is 7 jars of applesauce.  Or is that all we have to show…..

We enjoyed talking with each other during this time, laughing and joking.  I relived memories of watching my parents can, and when I was old enough—helping them can.

My Dad was taught to can by his grandparents, and my mother was taught to can by her grandparents. 

Participating in this activity, links me to a tradition that has been in my family for generations—of producing food, and canning it to prepare for the winter.

Years ago, after canning tomatoes, my son Sean—who had helped with the process of gardening and canning—wondered why I went to all that work and labor.  “Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just buy some cans of tomatoes at the store?”   He wasn’t wrong, it probably would have been less expensive in some ways—but now I have the memories of Sean working in the garden—ok—in some of those memories—he was complaining—and Sean helping in the canning process–ok–there was also some complaining going on there as well 🙂 , and I have memories of these things with my other children as well. 

Someday my children may have gardens, they may can, and honestly after this past year—the ability to grow and preserve our own food is a handy skill to have.

I am so impressed and amazed with how many of my siblings and cousins have beautiful gardens.  It is something that was passed down in our family tree—this love of the land, and the desire to grow vegetation.

I was talking to some of my International Friends this week, and we were talking about canning, and pickling.  One of my friend’s mother is a great pickler, and we joked about having her Skype with us and teach us how to pickle. 

Except I wasn’t really joking—I would love to learn from her mom about pickling.

If you have someone in your life that you want to learn a skill from—I encourage you to make the time to learn.  Make some memories–  Learn a skill—that you may be able to pass on to someone else.

Engaging with each other, talking with each other, working with each other—these are precious things—these are encouraging things, and since this is the National Day of Encouragement—I hope that you are encouraged!!  God Bless you!!

Spring!!

Published on by katiesencouragementforyou5 Comments

Spring!!

Spring—flowers are starting to stick up out of the ground. Bushes are getting buds on the ends of their limbs. Birds are in the yard, chirping away. All around us, the world is coming to life!! 

Winter was such a time of sleep— all these things covered up and hidden, gone from sight.  But they were not gone from hope.

My husband and I like to watch gardening shows together. Every spring, something calls to me, and I am outside, working in my garden. I do not really know what I am doing. I just like to grow things.

When I first started gardening, I was a young mom, with no budget at all for buying plants.  My mom and dad would give me plants from their garden, and so would others. The border of purple geraniums now surrounding my garden are from my parents.

I received Shasta daisies and black-eyed susans from my neighbor.

I have lilies from the library. They tore all their lilies out to make room for other plants and were giving away their lilies for free.

I have a lilac bush that is from my great-grandmother. Imagine that!!  My dad gave it to me when we moved into this house. He had one from his grandparent’s farm and started one for me from a cutting.

Another friend gave me a Rose of Sharon bush that has had many babies, which are now bushes in my landscape design.

I have some lovely purple irises from my mother-in-law.  (I brought them all the way back from the Beach House wrapped in wet paper towels and put in plastic bags.)  They did not bloom for a few years, but now I have separated them several times and they are all over my garden.

I have some purple salvia from one of my best friends, and some yellow whorled tickseed from her as well.

I love adding to my garden in this way.  Every plant has a memory and a person attached to it.

My Aunt Rosie, my Uncle Don’s sister– died this winter.  She lived a few blocks from the first house we lived in when we were first in town, and I would often visit her.  She gave me several of her plants from her garden, including a variegated ground cover plant, and some yellow lilies, and when I weed them or separate them—I think of her. 

Gardening for me, is a time to meditate and think of many things and people. When I was a young mom, I started gardening while the little ones played outside, so I could be with them. As they grew older, I would seek solace and alone time in my garden. I found my children left me alone there, as they did not want to weed. 🙂

I have many conversations with God in my garden. I find there are so many analogies for life found in a garden. The Bible has so many stories that involve seeds, plants, trees, planting, and harvesting. I am sure most people gardened back in Jesus’ day, and could relate to stories about gardening.

 We also know—God made the first Garden.  The Garden is our first habitat. So, even though, many, like myself, do not know what we are doing—we may find ourselves drawn to the garden and to the act of gardening.   We may find it is the perfect place to think, to be rejuvenated, to converse and walk with God, just as was done all those millennium ago.