Starting our garden!

Justice and Cherry coming over to greet us...Tye is fox hunting with his owner...

Another part of our vision for this place...a large garden...
we rented an 18 hp "horse"!  Here we go!

Very sandy!  No rocks...and no earthworms.  Ashley read in a gardening book that we were to estimate the quality of our soil by taking a "worm census" - count the number of worms in 1 sq ft of soil.  Anything less than 6 earthworms is considered poor.  Not good so far...we've found 1 earthworm in this entire area of tilled sandy soil!

The whole family is helping out...it's hard work picking out all the roots!

Scott inquired, "How much should I till?"
Dawn responded, "I don't know...just keep going until we have to return it..." 

Connor next to the blueberry bushes that we planted in November. 
The next row are blackberry, raspberry, and bush cherry plants.

Hannah giving Cherry an apple treat.   Cherry loves it!

Ashley giving some apples and carrots to Justice.  Yum!

Daniel wanted a turn!



This honeysuckle is growing near the vegetable
garden we are working on - smells wonderful!

It's hard work starting a new garden!  I'm not sure that we can manage this enormous size!  It's about 5x bigger than we probably "need"!  I will admit that my attitude was not so good on Saturday - we were hot, bugs were everywhere, my back was aching...I was thinking, "Why in the world are we doing this?!?  I'm ready to move back to our old house and neighborhood (with our 1/3 acre!) where life was EASY!"  The grocery store or farmer's market is sounding better and better!  Not only have we gained greater respect for the construction trade, but also for farmers!  This is tough!  We also talked about the Laura Ingalls series we read a few years ago (Little House on the Prairie)...remember how they moved out to the middle of nowhere (literally!) and cleared land, planted gardens, and built houses with no electric tools!?!  No trucks, no tillers, no electric saws, no air conditioning, no chainsaws, no air compressors, no lawn mowers, no hoses and just turn on the water, no power, no stores!  Wow.  We are wimps!



What am I thinking?!?  Looking at the 3 acre parcel that the previous owner sold off of the 18 acre "rectangle" to try to save the farm.  She did sell the 3 acres, but she still ended up in foreclosure, then we bought the 15 acres, house, and barns.  We would like to buy this 3 acre piece that was broken off and we're asking God for it, if it pleases Him.  We will not "demand it", but submit to His plan (remembering the Israelites and the quail in the Old Testament!).  We don't have the money for it now...I just occasionally ask God if it would be pleasing to Him, that we might purchase this one day and get the "rectangle" back together...





Section 1 - nine 4x20 ft somewhat "raised" beds...6 are filled with green beans, cucumbers, carrots, beets, corn, radishes, and sunflowers.  The other 3 are saved for another planting of corn in a few weeks...My new favorite gardening book describes a vegetable garden with wide rows, "raised"/deep beds (18-24" depth of soil is the goal for deep roots)...We're all organic, so trying to figure out where am I going to get some nutrients --- now?  MiracleGro would be really easy right now!  We've been composting our vegetable scraps for nine months, but it's not nearly enough!  In the fall, we're planning to plant a "green manure" crop, we'll chop up leaves and add them, and hopefully we'll have some chickens (and chicken manure), so we're hoping next year, our garden will be better...but I need some nutrients for this year ---now!  I know we started our garden a little late, but we decided "better late than never".  We'll move over and start on the next section for tomatoes, peppers, and squashes this week.  Then on to section 3 which is for vines - watermelons and cantalopes.  Section 4 will be for pumpkins and gourds...



I just planted this little Japanese maple...something has already
gnawed the bottom of it...Scott put up this double fence.

*******

"Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when He heard them His anger was aroused...The LORD heard you when you wailed, 'If only we had meat to eat!  We were better off in Egypt!  Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat it.  You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month -- until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it --- because you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have wailed before Him, saying, 'Why did we ever leave Egypt?'" 
~ Numbers 11:1, 18-20

*******

Oh no.  This sounds like me!  "I repent Lord for my ungrateful heart and for my complaining.  We do believe that You led us here...We are thankful...You are good, You are faithful, You have a plan and purpose.  We don't want to waste a single day of this life You have given us.  Please use us for Your glory.  May we magnify You in all we do and make Your fame known among the nations.  Amen."  ~d.