Motherhood

We recently had a lovely mothers day, we were triply blessed because we were able to spend it with my mother, Pat's mother, and Kateri's mother. Oh. Yes. You are right, that is me (why didn't anyone tell me post partum brain was worse then pregnancy brain?). 

Anyway, it made me start thinking about motherhood, all of the joys and sorrows, stress and worry, work and laughter that I have experienced over the past 3 months and will experience for many years to come. It also made me realize that while having a day laid aside to celebrate our mothers is wonderful, we need to celebrate them more often! I am so so thankful for everything my mom, my mother-in-law, my dear Grandma and dear Nonie have all done for me! The prayers, help, food, emotional support and conversations have been lifesavers!! I am so blessed by each of you!

K has yet to master looking at the camera at the right time!

What a blessed day!

Hope Springs Eternal

Or maybe it would be more accurate to say:

WEEDS spring eternal.

I am fairly certain that gardeners in any climate feel that that maxim is true, especially in mid spring.

While I was out weeding and planting in the garden, I went over to our Hill. The Hill has oak, ash, thorny wild pear, and multiple other trees growing on it in wild abandon. As my husband has decreed, it is the "Survival of the Fittest" Hill, and so everything is allowed to grow at will. We also use that space to store wood for the fire pit, and I was in search for small sticks I could use to demarcate rows of plants in the garden . . .

When to my wondering eyes, I noticed that Pat's beloved weed tree (the Y shaped branch) was WICK! Pat had sadly chopped down this tree last FALL, it had grown to be at least 10 feet taller than our house, and was less than a foot from the foundation. But the Weed Tree was Pat's pride and joy, he loved showing it to all his friends, and cut it down ONLY with the promise of finding another weed tree that could be transplanted to our Survival of the Fittest Hill. This transplantation had not yet happened (I am the guilty one).

BUT the leftover branch, laid down on the ground was ALIVE!! It was even sprouting LEAVES!

Wonder of wonders! Miracle of miracles!! I immediately ran to get Pat to share the good news with him. And if he shed a tear of joy, I will not be the one to record it.

However, I know it meant a lot to Pat. He ran and gave me a flower for my hair!

So pretty!!

So of course I had to use it . . .

We are still in awe that the Weed Tree has survived, what a fighter! Soon we will plant the whole branch and give it a little bit of help. And that is the end . . . 

A Balefull Garden

Q: If April showers bring May flowers, what do May showers bring?

A: Strawbale gardens!!!

This year we are testing out a new method of gardening, strawbale gardens! Last week, my mom kindly picked up some strawbales and dropped them off at my house in a torrential downpour. I quickly set up the bales in the garden and headed inside. I snapped this shot once the rain let up.

You can see all the weeds in the middle of the bales. The darker area towards the bottom of the picture is the lasagna garden. There were several lovely days of heavy rain last week which greatly helped in soaking the bales.

On day four, last Friday, we weeded the central area, laid down cardboard and put grass clippings on top. Then we added nitrogen rich rabbit droppings to the straw bales and watered them. By this time the entire area was sopping wet and even the grass felt like a bog.

On Saturday, we made another big run to home depot, and bought even more bales! We put three in the middle and plan to use that area for herbs. To the left of those 3 bales are our thornless rasberries.

We planted a bunch of corn, some pumpkins, yellow squash, and cantelope in our lasagna garden. In another week, the straw should be ready and we will plant there soon! We are very excited to see test out the straw bale theory.Time will Tell!