Garden Confessions

True confessions – I have not yet started a single seed for this season.

That’s right. Here it is the second week of March and there isn’t any sign of potting soil, seed pots or grow lights.

Nada.

Nothing.

And what’s worse – I haven’t even ordered my seeds yet.

Nope.

Not even one.

Last year’s garden was such a dismal, wet disaster that it’s hard to think about starting again.

I worked so hard and got so little in return.

A year ago I was filled with hope and expectation – it was going to be the best garden year ever!

But rain and more rain and even more rain drowned most of the vegetables and my excitement.

The weeds and bugs took care of the rest.

Nope, not gonna do it again.

But it feels like spring.

The sun is shining.

The temperatures are climbing and the warm breezes are stirring something deep inside.

You know… it’s not too late to start peppers and tomatoes…

…they are forecasting an early spring…

…and I can’t harvest what I don’t plant.

Besides, what would summer be without fresh from the garden veggies?

Okay – where’s my Baker Creek Seed Catalog?

I hope the tam jalapeno seeds haven’t sold out yet!

Do I still have potting soil?

Maybe there’s a flicker of hope in this gardener’s heart after all.

First of the Garden Produce

Would you believe that we had fresh kale and lettuce from the garden already?!

That’s right – on March 31 – which is officially the earliest we have ever eaten from the garden – we had our first salad.

I was going to publish this yesterday – but then I realized that some of you might think it was a hoax because of April Fool’s Day.

But believe me- this is no joke.

So how did we get to a harvest so quickly when this is the time most people are just getting things planted?

Remember back last fall when I happened to mention in a post that Buddy and I transplanted some late cabbage, broccoli, kale and lettuce into a thrown together cold frame of cement blocks and old windows?

We had hoped to harvest fresh veggies into the winter – but that didn’t work so well. Everything stopped growing, some even looked dead, so I called the experiment a mistake and forgot about it.

But then the weather warmed up this spring and some of those plants perked right up and started to grow!

it was a miracle!

And now, for the first time ever – instead of playing catch up with my Amish neighbors – I’m ahead of them!

Never mind that I had to start last October and it was kind of an accident.

Hey – I win is a win!

And fresh veggies the last day of March is most definitively a win!

Before the Grass Comes In

I’ve discovered that there is a new season on the farm – one that our city cousins don’t necessarily encounter.

I call it “Before the grass comes in.”

This season happens directly after the snow melts and before the grass greens up and starts growing – which signifies the start of the spring busy season.

I know the season has arrived when I hear –

“Those varmint cedar trees need to be picked up and burned before the grass comes in.”

“I’ve got to get that baler fixed before the grass comes in.”

“Those locust trees down by the pond should be taken care of before the grass comes in.”

“I really should burn the ditches before the grass comes in.”

“There’s lots of brush and thorns to clean up from that last snow storm before the grass comes in.”

With each added minute of daylight as spring approaches, the list gets longer and my husband gets busier.

And I will admit that he’s not the only one with a list.

I know that as soon as the grass turns green all indoor projects will be put on hold until the ground freezes next fall.

There’s a shower that needs to be fixed, a quilt that needs to be finished and a basement that we’ve been slowly working on all winter.

But I wouldn’t be surprised if these projects sit undone. It’s hard to get motivated to work inside when the sun is shining and the temperatures are climbing!

After all – the grass is greening up!

Sowing Seeds

I’ve been sowing seeds this week.

Hundreds of seeds.

Seed

Tiny little bits of black, white, or brown.

Tomato, pepper, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage.

The first of thousands of seeds that I will sow this season – beans, corn, radishes, lettuce, kale….the list goes on and on.

Not every seed will grow.

Of the ones that do – not every one will produce.

Some will be eaten by varmints, ravished by bugs or destroyed by weather.

But still I sow, knowing that some will grow and flourish and bear much fruit.

I sow in faith, believing that in these tiny seeds there is a potential for an abundant harvest.

These aren’t the only seeds we sow in life.

Everyday I have the opportunity to sow seeds of kindness, of love, of grace. Seeds that could have eternal impact. Seeds that could change lives. Seeds that could bring the gospel to hurt and needy people.

Not every seed will sprout.

Not every seed will grow.

But still – I must sow knowing that some will grow and flourish and bear much fruit.

And I must have faith, believing that in each seed of kindness, each seed of love, each seed of grace, there is a potential for an abundant harvest.

Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Crepes

The work load increases on the farm as the weather warms up.

The hours of daylight in the evening after school and work are the busiest, making it hard for the family to sit down for a meal.

One of my favorite meals for nights like these are crepes.

What’s a crepe? It’s a fancy word for a thin pancake that acts like a tortilla shell.

The batter can be mixed up in advance. Then I stand at the stove and fry up fresh crepes to serve the troops as they file in from gardening, mowing, fixing fence, or bringing in the laundry.

For fillings I’ll set out whatever I can find in the fridge – left-over meat, cheese, rice, beans, lettuce, veggies. You can be creative with this and use up those bits of left-overs. It’s always first come – first served on crepe night.

When they’ve had their fill of savory crepes – they can move on the sweet ones. I use the same batter but we fill it with fruit or pudding.

Combinations like strawberries, sour cream and brown sugar are favorites here. Chocolate pudding and whipped cream is yummy, too! No pudding? Just throw some chocolate chips on your whipped cream and wrap it up!

Crepes

2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons melted butter

Combine all the ingredients in the blender. Place the batter in the fridge for 1 hour. (You can skip this step – but the batter may tear some when you try to flip the crepes. If I’m in a hurry – I just cook them since my crew doesn’t really care how they look!)

Heat a small non- stick pan. Add some butter and pour a spoonful of batter in the middle of the pan. Swirl it around to coat the pan. Cook for about 30 seconds and flip carefully with a spatula. Cook another 30 seconds and serve hot to hungry family members!

If you have batter left when the troops are fed, it can either be refrigerated for a few days to use later, or you can fry up the extra crepes and keep them in the fridge up to a week or the freezer up to a month.

Enjoy!

Catch Up

Have you ever had a week where things just kept piling up?

You just get started on one thing – when something else hits you. Boom.

That was last week.

Some of the things were wonderful – like Matt coming home!

And a brother/sisters coffee date.

And a brother road trip to see Iron Man 3 in 3 D.

And my niece’s beautiful wedding. (I cried!)

And seeing family again.

And hearing all the news.

And finding some great deals while thrift shopping.

And absolutely gorgeous temperatures on Monday and Tuesday.

And an amazing date night with my wonderful husband to hear Andrew Peterson in concert!

But there was also the not so wonderful parts.

Like the snow.

Lots of snow.

In May.

And chasing cows off the road because a limb knocked down the fence.

And mud.

Lots of mud.

And another broken burner on my stove.

And late nights and early mornings.

And dropping my son off at the airport and watching him fly away. Again.

Deep sigh.

Today is a day to dig out from last week.

To finally finish up all the things that got suspended in the busyness of life.

To wash the piles of laundry.

Replace the stove.

Repot the poor seedlings who are anxious to be in the ground.

And slow down for a few minutes to savor it all.

To take a deep breath and be thankful.

Something’s Wrong with this Picture…

Something’s wrong with this picture….

Easter is two weeks away and we have another snow storm in the forecast for this weekend.

My Easter decorations look out of place with my snowmen.

Easter’s too early.

Spring is too late.

And winter doesn’t want to let go.

Sigh.

So much for an Easter bonnet – we might as well wear our stocking caps.

This may be a year when we wear long johns under our Easter dresses and have Easter egg hunts in snow boots.

Feels more like we should be putting up a Christmas tree and singing Silent Night then having sunrise services and singing Christ the Lord is Risen Today.

But you know – it’s not all bad. We are finally getting some much needed moisture.

And when spring finally does appear, we’ll appreciate it that much more. Right?

And in the meantime – don’t put that snow shovel away just yet.

Rhubarb Blackberry Crisp

We seem to be in a rhubarb eating frenzy! I think we’ve made at least six rhubarb crisps in the last month alone.

I kid you not!

But when the rhubarb is abundant and this crisp is so easy to make my 11 year old can do it – why not?!

I took this particular version to church one Sunday night and brought home an empty pan. The blackberries added sweetness and such a pretty color!

If you don’t have blackberries – you can always substitute raspberries, strawberries, or just add more rhubarb.

By the way – I was totally serious when I said my 11 year old can make this. Buddy made the one in the picture!

Rhubarb Blackberry Crisp

3 1/2 cups diced rhubarb
4 cups blackberries, fresh or frozen
6 tablespoons flour
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 cups oatmeal
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter, melted

Toss the rhubarb, blackberries, 6 tablespoons of flour and 1 cup of white sugar together in a bowl.

Place in a greased 9 x 13 pan.

Combine the oatmeal, brown sugar, butter and remaining 2 cups of flour together in a bowl.

Spread evenly over the fruit and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. The top should be slightly browned and the fruit bubbly.

Serve with a scoop of ice cream or a large dollop of whipped cream!

Enjoy!

I’ve linked this post with Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

It Must be Spring…

It must be spring in the Midwest.

One day we’re hanging laundry outside in short sleeves with the windows open.

The daffodils are poking out of the ground and the rhubarb is up.

The next day there’s that nasty white stuff in the forecast.

You know the stuff I mean – it starts with an s and rhymes with “at least we won’t have to mow!”

It’s the word that brings great excitement and celebration in the fall – but feels like a slap in the face at the end of March.

I really can’t complain though – our neighbors to the north have had it much, much worse. One friend in Minnesota said she has never been so excited to see dead grass because it meant the snow was finally gone.

She spoke to soon – they had another 7 inches overnight.

The only good thing about a spring snow is that it won’t last long.

The flowers know it – they’re blooming anyway.

The robins know it – they keep building their nests.

Even Wal-Mart knows it – they have their swimsuits and flip flops on display!

I guess we all know how very fickle March can be!

Today the furnace is running – but soon the windows will be open again.

We’ll be able to pack the winter coats and stocking caps away and the kids will be digging out their t-shirts and sunscreen!

Meanwhile, we’ll just brush the snow off the Easter Bunny and be thankful that April is only a week away!

Photo by Anne Burgess

A Country – Style Workout

I knew I was in for an interesting afternoon when my husband asked me if I could help him outside.

Oh yeah – some of you know exactly what that means!

It means that all the projects I had started or planned for the afternoon were now on hold and I would be getting dirty, tired, and most likely sore.

Yep. It was time for a country- style workout.

Our calf – who has now officially been named Shakespeare – needed a bigger pen. Which meant that Jan needed all hands on deck to cut up fallen branches, pull out the old fence line and put up a new one.

Even as I pulled on my coveralls I knew that there was no chance that I would get to run the chain saw- my husband learned very early in our marriage to keep me away from all power tools.

Nor would I get to drive the 4-wheeler – my sons shuddered at the very thought.

No – I would get to do the more manual labor – the grunt jobs.

So while Jan cut the trees and Pedro drove loads of brush off – the other kids and I hauled branches and raked up behind them.

This proved to be just the warm -up.

When the fence line was finally cleared it was time for fence posts – about 60 in all. Guess who got to help load them? Moi.

Pedro would grab them from the pile and hand them to me to throw in trailer. He started out giving me one or two at a time – but the next thing I knew I was tossing 3 or 4 at a time.

At one point I saw that Jan was watching – so I had Pedro give me five at a time – just to impress him. 😉

We’ll call that weight-lifting.

Then it was time to move the cattle panels across the farmyard to the new pen. So while Pedro and Jan pounded fence posts, Matt and I started digging them out of the weeds.

Now for those of you unfamiliar with cattle panels let me clue you in – they are big, and awkward and heavy. And they have a tendency to get bent – and get stuck on things – like each other and rocks and sticks on the ground.

But that didn’t stop me. I dragged 16 of those bad boys across the farm yard, around the garden, and out into the pasture – by myself.

I’ll think I’ll call that the cardio part of my workout – or maybe resistance training? I wonder just how many calories I burned?

But don’t worry – I quickly replaced them with the handfuls of chocolate peanut butter cookies I ate during break time. 🙂

The rest of the job went quickly – haul the cattle panels into position and hold them in place while Jan secured them.

Then all we needed to do was move Shakespeare to his new home.

He was a happy cow.

And I was a dirty, tired, and sore country gal.

It was time for a hot bath and another cookie – these country style workouts are tough!