One Foot in the Present and One in the Past

Do you ever get that feeling that you are living in the wrong period of time.  Don’t get me wrong I love all the new modern technology.  A lot of technology has helped me in this world. Digital hearing aid, streamers, and personal loops have made a huge difference for me.  I also love the internet.  What I am getting at is crafting, cooking, gardening.  I know people do these things now in time but I don’t believe it is as prevalent than generations before us.

I enjoy having my garden.  Snapping peas or beans, making a BLT with a homegrown tomato is wonderful.  It sure beats a store bought any day of the week.  Seeing the plants grow, getting to maturity get me excited for canning.  Another skill that is declining.  I love to water bath can and to pressure can.  Knowing we have food and meals on a shelf is a satisfying feeling.  You never know when money may be tight, storms and you can’t get to a store, or a zombie apocalypse.  All very plausible and canned goods would be imperative.  Can you tell I am thinking spring!

Cooking from scratch is another lost art.  There is plenty of people that cook but there are so many box meals, take out, fast food.  Don’t get me wrong we do that also but I am trying so hard not to.  I want to use basic whole food ingredients for my family.  I want and enjoy making a meal from start to end.  Can be a little stressed on nights where there are evening activities but I get it accomplished most nights.  Knowing what is in our food I believe is the first step in trying to get healthy.  Slow and steady wins the race I have been told.  Call me old fashioned but I feel if I am home before my husband it is my job to make a meal for us all.  Minus the tablecloth, good china, a dress and a string of pearls.

Lastly is crafts.  I love crafting.  I love seeing something in a magazine or online and trying to make it.  If that would be painting, jewelry, or decorating.  My main craft I go back to for almost 30 years is knitting.  For a birthday when I was a teenager I received a wicker basket with knitting needles and blue and yellow yarn from my aunt.  She taught me to knit and I made my first scarf that was an homage to my Swedish heritage.  I have left knitting behind at times but it is like an old friend and always welcomes me back.  When I attended college in New Mexico blankets were knitted for people.  It was a good past time.  Scarfs and hats have been made for my children.  For a while I knitted and sold my items under, Ausome Knits.  My knitting needles have been out again this winter.  A new scarf for my son, a couple birthday gifts are being made.  Tonight at church we are having a crafting night.  Bring what ever projects you are working on and we can fellowship and work on them together.

Now there are some skills I wish I could get a little stronger at.  Sewing, I have a couple sewing machines.  I would like to boost my skills in this area. Also small needle crafts like cross stitch.  I have never done this but I think it looks like another good past time.

Could I live in another time period.  I think I could.  It wouldn’t be as easy as now but heck I have never owned or had a dishwasher so that dreaded chore would be the same.  Going to have to live one foot in the present and one in the past.

My Garden

My garden is in and it is looking mighty and full of splendor with the dark dirt that surrounds it.  My little plants look healthy and strong and ready to grow.  This time of year is the time I feel the most refreshed.  It is like the long winter grew a fog of webs over us and our minds.  This is the time to brush them off and clear our minds and look for the rebirth.  My time feels paced from the time the first windows are opened and it quickens as trees start to bud and the grass begins to green.  Gardens are tilled and the pace quickens, plants are for sale pace quickens even more.

The garden is planted and I feel at ease, at peace, and pure joy.  Seeing the little plants there I have a hard time not imagining what their growth will be like the colors and the smells.  I love the smell of a tomato plant on my hands.  The dirt that will be etched in the creases of my palms and in the nail-beds.  They are all signs of hope and signs of renewal that can happen with us all.

I find being in a garden very peaceful.  I have memories of taking my grandfathers hand and walking across the road to his garden.  We would weed some, pinch the suckers off the tomato plants.  We would pick some of the produce.  We would gleefully bring our prizes back to grandma who should be how to clean the peas and snap the beans.  We would sneak some early potatoes and grandma would cream them with the garden peas.  A garden was and is a time of family, love, patients and of teaching.

I love to involve my children in the garden.  From picking the plants to digging the holes to watering the plants.  We of course get watered too but that is half the fun.  Later in the season it is like a treasure hunt looking for the colors of the tomatoes and filling our bags to the brim with produce.  That feeling is still as strong as you wipe the water off the freshly processed jars of all the produce that was just picked and now in the cupboards.

This year we have potatoes, red onions, leaf lettuce, spinach, early peas, green peppers, red peppers, jalapenos, banana peppers, cucumber and Christmas melon,  Roma tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, early girl tomatoes, big boy tomatoes and this year I added some heirloom varieties that I am just tickled pink about.  We have Mr Stripey, Old German, Amish Paste, and Cherokee Purple.  These 4 heirlooms are my pride and joy.  I can’t wait to watch them and their amazing colors come forth.

I pray for rain and sun.  Last year we had a flood and I lost half of my garden.  I hope that doesn’t happen again but at this point we do need rain.

No More Rain, PLEASE

I live in Minnesota which is the land of 10,000 lakes.  There has to be at least another 10,000 lakes being made with all the rain we have gotten this spring/summer.  It is absolutely nuts the rain that has been coming.  This isn’t a little spring shower either this is like 3 inches of rain in a short time numerous times a week, where roads flood, basements are flooded and my garden is underwater.  I had such high hopes for my garden, it was to be my stress reliever, family activity, and a place to get in tuned with my thoughts and conversation with the Lord.  Well if I had a raft and maybe planted rice that would be happening.  I went out to the garden this morning and it is still surrounded by standing water, like a world convention for the mosquitos.  My plot amazing is not underwater but I couldn’t get to it.  My soil looked like a mud stew.  I had weeds/corn/other plants up but can’t tell what is what from standing 20 feet away.  I did notice in the midst of a mess my tomato plants look very sickly BUT I do have yellow buds on them.  Maybe just maybe it will dry up and I will get at least one nice tomato for a BLT.  That is my new goal.  I went from canning all the tomato sauce, salsa, spaghetti sauce one could fathom to a BLT.  Kinda sad but gotta adjust those dreams once in a while.  When life doesn’t go the way you want it to go just yell PLOT TWIST.  That is how we get from a full pantry to a BLT.  I really shouldn’t be complaining in other parts of the state they are uses boats to get to their houses.  A major medical facility in the Twin Cities had their foundation compromised when the earth under it just collapsed.  Streets are being washed away and cars are being stuck in water up their windows.  It is a crazy spring.  

I guess I just needed to vent that enough water is enough water.  I sure hope this has taken us out of the drought.  I do have to end with a positive note in the weather.  Last week we had bad weather again, I know a shocker.  We live in Swift County and their were 10 count them 10 tornados around the town.  I heard right from the chef of polices mouth that they were out tracking and chasing the weather and one of the tornadoes was 1/2 mile wide at the top.  Our town isn’t more then 2 miles across this twister could demolish the town.  The Chef of Police is a godly man and was praying out loud to please spare our town.  Please go around town.  He watched as this tornado went right over our town and right over our house and right over the plant my husband was working in and never touched down once while in town.  That is a miracle of all miracles.  Why our town was sparred I don’t know but I am thankful that our family was together at supper time and no one or no damage was done.  

So lets just have a wonderful summer, unsure that will happen since we have rain this whole week in the forecast.  Oh well maybe we will need to just start planting rice.  

My Garden

Garden Plot #7 is going to be my summer project this year.  The Assembly of God church in town has so kindly made a community garden and the plots were free to have for the season.  I have number #7 and I hope this will be a rewarding experience for myself and for my family.  

Over Memorial Day weekend we as a family went shopping for seeds and plants.  Oh the kids were so excited.  By the amount of things they wanted to plant we would need a farm not a 10×20 foot plot.  We scanned the shelves, weighed our options and decided on the items I knew we would eat.  

Our garden will hopefully have; beans, peas, onions, red potatoes, carrots, green peppers, yellow boy tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, corn, watermelon and some snake gourds.  Yes it is a lot and NO it wasn’t laid out the best.  I just planted this garden and already realized I should have planted in a different configuration.  Oh well live and learn.  It can only get better next year, right?

I have high hopes for this garden.  Not just for the produce that hopefully will come but the things I want to come with this garden.  I am hoping to meet some new people.  My new years resolution is trying to talk to more people and this will be a great way when there are other people out at the garden.  I also hope for a bonding experience with my children.  I hope when school is out we will be headed out to the garden in the mornings and we will be weeding, watering and picking the fruits of our labor.  This is an activity we can do together that doesn’t involve money or technology just us and God’s green earth.  I also have hopes as I am trying to change some things in my life for better health.  I hope going to the garden and trying to eat more healthy this will become more of a habit.  There are a lot of reasons I want to garden this summer.  I just pray that this time in nature away from tv’s, and radios and computers I will just have time to think and get into my own thoughts and emotions.  Time for me to reflect, pray and just clear my thoughts.  

I am excited for this new garden adventure.  I just planted 5 days ago and I was so excited last night when Henry and I visited the garden.  We have peas, carrots and corn that is popping up already.  It made my night.  

As the light filters through clouds of these early summer mornings I look forward to the hope and healing this garden may bring.