My brother and his wife have gone to great lengths to keep their garden flourishing in spite of critters and the intense heat of South Texas. They built a mesh fence and even constructed a mesh roll-out roof, so they can protect the plants from the summer sun. I'm quite sure they have an irrigation system also. Dorothy (who commented below), echoes my sentiment: it seems an awful lot of work, but my sister-in-law loves puttering in her garden and canning the produce. Her diligence speaks to the attitude we need if we're going to produce fruit in our spiritual lives.
Great point about endurance of the inconveniences because of the pay off. We do have a tendency to avoid the “cultivated” life in favor of something tamer, less messy, and more predictable.
I’m determined to persevere and trust for a better year!
You ARE a persevering woman, Michele! I've seen it in your dedication to home-school your boys, in the circumspect posts you write, in your diligence to garden and can the produce, as well as carefully following the protocol to keep Parkinson's disease at bay. You are a poster woman for perseverance, my friend, and I applaud you!
MIchele, I am late to the party in commenting, but I love that you are memorizing Colossians 1:9-12. When I first started in local and then regional ministry to women some 30 years ago, that was the passage our team chose as our set of ministry goals. I've always loved it. Also, I belatedly wish to thank you for the Lenten reflections/devotional you provided months ago. I printed it out to use and save. I so appreciate your writing!
Great passage for prayer and goal setting! And I am happy to hear from you at ANY TIME! You are having quite the busy spring, my friend. I’m honored that you printed my devotional—and I am wondering how you are healing after the loss of your dear friend …❤️
Living in the city, I resort to container gardening. I love my tall, tower garden, and have succeeded, this year, in keeping lettuce growing thanks to weeks of rain. It truly is a faith endeavor, as I’ve had my share of bird and insect invaders do their very best destroy my edibles in years past.
For many years, when the garden was planted, we would pray a sort of committal prayer, turning it over to the Lord and acknowledging our own helplessness to make things fruitful, and I have a feeling that will happen with a whole new fervency this year!
I get this. When we bought this house in the woods 17 years ago, I was so excited about having space to garden. That lasted 2 years. During both of those first 2 summers, deer, groundhogs, squirrels, etc. ate pretty much everything I planted. So I gave up. I'd need a 6 foot high fine mesh fence and frankly, that's too much work.
Yeah, I don't know how we managed to live a charmed gardening existence for 30+ years and then suddenly we were beset by nature. I do wonder if it's a result of the gradual change from four homeschooled boys running all over the property (and peeing in the bushes) AND a 150 pound St. Bernard roaming about to today's empty (and dogless) nest.
The 2022 fiasco really has changed my thinking about the garden.
So happy I found this blog just now. 2am up with screaming child because she wet her bed and trying not to disturb the rest of the sleeping family in this house.
We recently left our "forever house" and moved in with my parents. Me and my 4 kids, and I'm due with a baby next week!
My "forever house" has a garden, to which I loved dearly. It was a mini food forest in the making.
Several, multi-grafted fruit trees, an abundance of chery tomatoes, herbs were becoming abundant, harvested about 10 pumpkins, with edible weeds sprouting and replacing the wire weeds, three corner jacks - those nasty things that stab your foot, and other useless weeds.
I enjoy rescuing plants from the local bunnings, a warehouse with tools, everything diy for tradesmen and handy people. I love things going to seed! From my clearance plants I got seeds coming off to which I liberally spread around the garden.
Now an abundance of lettuce is growing. It's winter here in Australia. It doesn't snow where I am and my plants seem very content with their new water content.
Sadly I'm digging it all up and storing all my wonderful amazing plants at my friend's house while we move - eventually, and I pray into public housing where I can have affordable and suitable accommodation for my kids and I to live on a permanent basis. Currently this area is now costing what it was like to live right near the city back 5 years ago, and the houses are old and breaking down. I've lived in a few with huge cracks in the wall and way past just needing maintenance.
If I manage to get public housing, I will be able to apply for something suitable, something nice and I won't have a landlord who lord's things over me, controlling what they will and won't fix.
In the public housing, even though theres a long waitlist I'll be able to treat it as my own place permanently, and will be able to plant in the ground because I suck at container gardening and raised beds kind of sick in rentals as they are so expensive to move when the lease is up.
Is really enjoyed your small podcast! I signed up for more! Thanks for sharing.
I’m so glad you found my post and that it was an encouragement to you during this season of uprooting—quite literally! I certainly remember the night shift with young kids. It’s exhausting, but temporary (thanks be to God!).
" audacious faithfulness " I love it !
It’s a reasonable goal, right? By grace!
My brother and his wife have gone to great lengths to keep their garden flourishing in spite of critters and the intense heat of South Texas. They built a mesh fence and even constructed a mesh roll-out roof, so they can protect the plants from the summer sun. I'm quite sure they have an irrigation system also. Dorothy (who commented below), echoes my sentiment: it seems an awful lot of work, but my sister-in-law loves puttering in her garden and canning the produce. Her diligence speaks to the attitude we need if we're going to produce fruit in our spiritual lives.
Great point about endurance of the inconveniences because of the pay off. We do have a tendency to avoid the “cultivated” life in favor of something tamer, less messy, and more predictable.
I’m determined to persevere and trust for a better year!
You ARE a persevering woman, Michele! I've seen it in your dedication to home-school your boys, in the circumspect posts you write, in your diligence to garden and can the produce, as well as carefully following the protocol to keep Parkinson's disease at bay. You are a poster woman for perseverance, my friend, and I applaud you!
That’s so encouraging to my heart! Thank you, Nancy!
You are so welcome, Michele!
MIchele, I am late to the party in commenting, but I love that you are memorizing Colossians 1:9-12. When I first started in local and then regional ministry to women some 30 years ago, that was the passage our team chose as our set of ministry goals. I've always loved it. Also, I belatedly wish to thank you for the Lenten reflections/devotional you provided months ago. I printed it out to use and save. I so appreciate your writing!
Great passage for prayer and goal setting! And I am happy to hear from you at ANY TIME! You are having quite the busy spring, my friend. I’m honored that you printed my devotional—and I am wondering how you are healing after the loss of your dear friend …❤️
Living in the city, I resort to container gardening. I love my tall, tower garden, and have succeeded, this year, in keeping lettuce growing thanks to weeks of rain. It truly is a faith endeavor, as I’ve had my share of bird and insect invaders do their very best destroy my edibles in years past.
For many years, when the garden was planted, we would pray a sort of committal prayer, turning it over to the Lord and acknowledging our own helplessness to make things fruitful, and I have a feeling that will happen with a whole new fervency this year!
I get this. When we bought this house in the woods 17 years ago, I was so excited about having space to garden. That lasted 2 years. During both of those first 2 summers, deer, groundhogs, squirrels, etc. ate pretty much everything I planted. So I gave up. I'd need a 6 foot high fine mesh fence and frankly, that's too much work.
Yeah, I don't know how we managed to live a charmed gardening existence for 30+ years and then suddenly we were beset by nature. I do wonder if it's a result of the gradual change from four homeschooled boys running all over the property (and peeing in the bushes) AND a 150 pound St. Bernard roaming about to today's empty (and dogless) nest.
The 2022 fiasco really has changed my thinking about the garden.
So happy I found this blog just now. 2am up with screaming child because she wet her bed and trying not to disturb the rest of the sleeping family in this house.
We recently left our "forever house" and moved in with my parents. Me and my 4 kids, and I'm due with a baby next week!
My "forever house" has a garden, to which I loved dearly. It was a mini food forest in the making.
Several, multi-grafted fruit trees, an abundance of chery tomatoes, herbs were becoming abundant, harvested about 10 pumpkins, with edible weeds sprouting and replacing the wire weeds, three corner jacks - those nasty things that stab your foot, and other useless weeds.
I enjoy rescuing plants from the local bunnings, a warehouse with tools, everything diy for tradesmen and handy people. I love things going to seed! From my clearance plants I got seeds coming off to which I liberally spread around the garden.
Now an abundance of lettuce is growing. It's winter here in Australia. It doesn't snow where I am and my plants seem very content with their new water content.
Sadly I'm digging it all up and storing all my wonderful amazing plants at my friend's house while we move - eventually, and I pray into public housing where I can have affordable and suitable accommodation for my kids and I to live on a permanent basis. Currently this area is now costing what it was like to live right near the city back 5 years ago, and the houses are old and breaking down. I've lived in a few with huge cracks in the wall and way past just needing maintenance.
If I manage to get public housing, I will be able to apply for something suitable, something nice and I won't have a landlord who lord's things over me, controlling what they will and won't fix.
In the public housing, even though theres a long waitlist I'll be able to treat it as my own place permanently, and will be able to plant in the ground because I suck at container gardening and raised beds kind of sick in rentals as they are so expensive to move when the lease is up.
Is really enjoyed your small podcast! I signed up for more! Thanks for sharing.
I’m so glad you found my post and that it was an encouragement to you during this season of uprooting—quite literally! I certainly remember the night shift with young kids. It’s exhausting, but temporary (thanks be to God!).
I appreciate your input here.