How Does My Garden Grow?

• Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
• ...with her hands she planteth a vineyard

From a distance, my garden is starting to look just a bit ragged. We had a couple of nights of pretty heavy frost, and although I covered everything as best I could, where the cover touched the leaves of the squash, the leaves turned black and then brown. It looks terrible, but I left the dead leaves alone, thinking that it would protect the underneath part of the plant...

..where it appears to be still growing strong, full of blooms and...

...the beginning of baby squash! There are several, like the one on the right, that look like they're suffering from blossom end rot, so I pulled them off. According to what I read online, this could be from inconsistent watering or lack of calcium in the soil. Adding eggshells to the compost will help for next year, but for this year apparently I need to get some calcium foliate that I spray on the plants. So I'll be visiting the feed store or maybe Tractor Supply and see what I can find.

Meanwhile the chard is thriving and ready to start picking the outer leaves, I think.

I actually thinned the lettuce, I harvested enough for a couple of salads for myself and some to share with my mom and dad, as well. I think I should be able to just clip the outer leaves and let the rest of of it keep going. The carrots need thinning badly, I just love their feathery tops, though. I wonder if I can eat the tops of the ones I pull?

I have two new additions in a couple of the empty squares--my mom and I ordered a few small fruit plants, and I stuck them in the bed temporarily. When my husband is home over Thanksgiving we'll decide on more permanent locations. These are several varieties of blackberries...

...and these are some blueberry plants. It'll be a couple of years before we get anything off of these, but I'm looking forward to harvests for many years to come!

Since that last heavy frost, we stuck a couple of old tomato cages in the corner by the squash, and then partway down by the lettuce, so I'm hoping having a raised cover will protect the squash plants a little better, at least until the blooms that are already there have a chance to make.

Meanwhile, I'll be enjoying the salad!

Until next time...

This post is linked to:

Garden Party Tuesday at An Oregon Cottage

Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer

Thrifty Finds

• Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
• She looketh well to the ways of her household...

My mom and I were out bright and early Saturday morning, headed to one of our local churches annual Women's Bazaar. We were after homegrown honey--a little birdie had told us that there would be a booth there with our new favorite "brand" of honey. Of course while we there we browsed the other booths, one of which had flea market/garage sale items for sale.

My first find was this hurricane glass--$.10! The picture makes it look like it's bigger on one end than the other, but it's actually symmetrical. And then I spotted this "fake silver" as I call it, chrome serving tray for $.50. By this time my hands were full, so I turned a blind eye to everything else, except the honey, of course!

I can't wait to use these in my holiday decorating!

What thrifty finds have you made lately?

Until next time...

This post is linked to:

Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl

Nifty Thrifty at Coastal Charm

Thrifty Thursday at Tales From Bloggeritaville

Giveaway at Secrets of a Southern Kitchen

I'm hosting a giveaway on my food blog, Secrets of a Southern Kitchen.

Pillsbury and MyBlogSpark will send one lucky reader a prize package of a bread basket, butter dish and spreader, coupon for one free bag of Pillsbury frozen Mini Grands biscuits, along with a $15 gift card to help you make a memorable holiday breakfast or brunch.

Be sure to drop by and enter, then check back again, I have several other giveaways lined up for the coming weeks.

Until next time...

Garden Update

• Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
• ...with her hands she planteth a vineyard...

Last night I woke up to one of the most beautiful sounds in the world--rain! I can manage to water my little garden with no trouble, but the farmers have been really suffering. Ponds are dried up, grass is dead in the pastures--so far we've gotten just over two inches of lovely, slow, soaking-in-the-ground rain, for which I'm very thankful!

Meanwhile, can you tell how much everything has grown since last week? We had a light frost last weekend while I was gone to visit my hubby, but it didn't seem to hurt anything...

...as a matter of fact, look what I found peeking between the leaves? Squash blossoms! (the yellow right in the middle) The leaves have all but swallowed up the whirly-gig I have stuck in the end of the bed.

The Swiss chard is coming right along...



...as are the carrots. I guess I'll try to thin them this week--I love the looks of the pretty, lacy greenery, though!

The bibb lettuce is beautiful...

...the onions not so much(!)...

...and I finally had enough of a show on my basil to bother taking a picture!

This post is linked to:

Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage

Three or More Tuesday at the Gypsy's Corner

Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer

Until next time...

The Heart of Her Husband

• Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
• The heart of her husband doeth safely trust in her, and he hath no need for spoil
• She openeth her mouth with wisdom...

As I write this, I know that bright and early in the morning I'll be headed out, driving back home to Louisiana after spending the weekend in Texas with my husband. He's been here since right after we left Georgia in September, and hasn't been able to come home, even for a weekend, in over a month now.

It's hard holding down the home front while he's away, and I have a tendency to think sometimes that I have the worst end of the deal. This weekend reminds me, though that I have so much more to be thankful about than I ever give credit for. It's hard being alone in a town where you don't know anyone else. He is a much worse homebody than I am, and would like nothing better than to be home, working some where local, mowing the grass on the weekends and changing the oil in the trucks. Home is where his heart is, and if he had his way, that's where he would be. Instead, he works a job that keeps him on the road 95% of the time, all to be able to make a decent living and take care of the needs and wants of his family.

I leave here with a renewed resolution to do whatever it takes to make it easier on him. No more complaining. No more gripe sessions. No more pity parties. It's time to step up and be a virtuous woman--a chayil woman--a woman of strength and valour.

Not that I have it in me to be those things--but I was thinking again about the verse in II Corinthians 12:9, And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (emphasis added).

I can't do it in myself--be those things. Strong. Full of valour. Virtuous. But when I give God my weakness, His strength is make perfect in weakness.

I can't. But He can.

And then the heart of my husband can safely trust in me.

Until next time...

This post is linked to:

Making My Home Sing Monday at Mom's the Word

Make Hay While the Sun Shines

Do you know what this is?

Some of you country girls may recognize it...

Can you tell now?

It's a barn full of hay bales, but it's so much more.

That's my Daddy there on the tractor...


heading back to unload another bale.


And you can't see her, but that's my Momma driving the truck.



Daddy has always kept a few cows, at least ever since we moved to the country when I was a girl.


They built a house next door to my Nanny and Papa, and I became a country girl for the first time in my young life.



Last year he sold off a lot of his herd, it's just getting to be too much to keep up with these days.


But he still keeps a few, just because he loves doing it.




It's a lot of work, that's for sure.


But I think he secretly enjoys it.



Momma helps, too--driving the truck, or getting out and opening and closing the gates for Daddy when he drives.



It takes a lot of trips back and forth to the hay meadow to haul in enough hay for the winter months.

Even their Lady girl likes to go along.

I saw them last week, making trip after trip out to the hay meadow and back again...

and then Daddy made trip after trip between the truck and trailer and the barn.

Momma and I were standing in the shade while Daddy finished up.

I love my Mom and Dad, and they love me, too.

I thought about that last night, when I took a piece of good lean home raised beef out of the freezer and cooked it for my supper.

Beef Love. It's what's for dinner.

Thanks, Mom and Dad.

Until next time...

This post is linked to:

Just for the Joy of It at Good, True, and Beautiful

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Finer Things Friday at The Finer Things in Life

Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage

Three or More Tuesday at the Gypsy's Corner

Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer

T.I.M.E.--In the Garden

• Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
• She considereth a field...with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard

I've been in a bit of funk lately--trying to get settled in to life back at home in my rural small town. My house is a mess--housekeeping is not my forte' to start with, and with all of the extra stuff we acquired while living in other places just dumped back into our small space--I'm overwhelmed and at somewhat of a loss as to what to do with all of it.

I'm having deja-vu, and not in a good way, of what life was like when my husband and son were both gone and I was home alone for weeks and months at a time. I remember thinking then that I may as well get used to it, this was going to be my life from then on. I felt like I was in a rut of going to work and coming home, going to church and coming home, same old routine day after day, week after week, month after month. I didn't think anything would ever change, and I couldn't see any signs of growth or change in myself.

It was depressing, to say the least.

But little did I know, that by the next year, I would quit my job, and travel halfway across a continent (from Louisiana to Alaska) and back again. I ended up spending time in Alaska, Colorado, and Georgia before coming back home to stay, four years later.

And while I'm always glad to be at home among my own things and close to family, I do start to feel somewhat of a let down, just ever-do-slightly. Well, not-so-slightly. I've learned from my years "on the road" that it's not nearly as exciting as it seems, but being the one left behind to hold down the home front isn't a walk in the park, either.

Last week seemed especially bad--unless I think about the week before. But little by little, I'm finding myself starting to enjoy my time "home alone".

Getting my routine going.

Making a schedule to clean and sort, little by little, so that I don't get overwhelmed.

Getting back involved in my home church.

Spending time with extended family.

Finding who I am again as I inhabit a new/old life.

Last time, change came suddenly--like hurricane(!)--this time, more slowly, like watching my garden grow.

These are the squash plants as I watered them last week...

...and this is what they looked like this morning.


Carrots then...

...and now.

My bibb lettuce last week...

...and this week.

Swiss chard before...

...and after.

When I water or even just sit outside or look out the window every day, I don't always notice the changes...

...but they add up, little by little.

My meditation today is on a verse in II Corinthians, 3:18, that states that "We all, with unveiled faces, are reflecting the glory of the Lord, and are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory..."

My intercession is that the Lord would continue to change me--from glory to glory, little by little or by leaps and bounds--into His image.

And my expectation--to see the fruit of those changes.

Until next time...

This post is linked to:

Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage

Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer

Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family