Seed Ordering

Color has been arriving by mail over the past couple of weeks by way of seed catalogs.  These bright and cheerful  items come during the bleekest days of winter.  Not only do they arrouse interest in the planning of the garden for the coming year, but they are a delight to they eyes.

Inside these pages are all sorts of new varities that, while they may not tempt me, are amusing to read about. 

I'm just not in to purple vegetables that really weren't made to be purple, if you know what I mean.  Purple peppers??  I'm just not interested. 

The "Flower Section" of these booklets are bursting with color and are a delight to the eyes.  While I enjoy growing a few flowers, I don't have the time and engergy to give them the attention the poor things deserve.  I have a few favorites that are low maintenance.  These tend to be my go-to staples.  Maybe I'm in a flower rut.

Our garden is divided into two sections.  The first section will have been in use for seven years, so we are giving it a "rest".  We are still not sure what that is going to look like.  We have been counciled by friends to plant a green manure on this section.  Which is all well and good, but I don't want to plant something that will reseed itself and become an invasive weed that drives me nuts the next year.  My husband and I still need to do some other checking, but we would like to plant something and then till in under before it becomes a problem.

This also presents the issue of trust.  This will mean that our garden will be cut in half.  Some things that take up a large amount of space will have to take a break for the year.  Vegies such as sweet potatoes and perhaps corn will be purchased at our local farmer's market.  With the economic situation looming, we are considering making the garden section that we will be working this coming season a bit larger.  Our kids laugh that the garden keeps getting larger and it is just the two of us!  We do want to plant, not only for ourselves, but to share with others as well.  Trust comes in knowing that we need to do our part in planting and caring for our crops and that God is resposible for the outcome.  (Of course, that is the case every season, but with a smaller area, it will be more of a test.)

So, until the ground is ready, I need to sort through my seed box to see what I need to order for the spring planting.  Who knows what new thing will strike my fancy to try...if we have room!



"Sow your seed in the morning,

   and at evening let not your hands be idle,

 for you do not know which will

   succeed,

whether this or that,

or whether both will do equally well." 

--Ecclesiastes 11:6  (NIV)



It's That Time Again...Seed Ordering Time!

My favorite seed catalog arrived not long ago to brighten my winter days. Johnny's Selected Seeds has wonderfully bright and colorful photos in their catalog. Their website is so very helpful and when I have called them, they are able to skillfully answer my questions. There are, I am sure, a great many seed companies that are reputable as well. Johnny's serves those of us in the northern climates so well with seeds that are bred for the north. Johnny's has been my seed supplier for some years and I have always found their seeds to grow very well. Of course, I still go to Bowser's Feed Store down the road to get peas, seed potatoes, corn and onions. They also allow me to buy just a few zucchini seeds. If I planted an entire package, my neighbors would lock their doors when they saw me coming with 'gifts'. A local greenhouse is where I get my plants such as broccoli, tomatoes and the like. I just don't have a good window for starting my own seedlings.

While it may be some time before I see the bare ground again, I enjoy thinking through what fun veggies I can try growing for the first time. It is also time to think about where to plant each type of vegetable--crop rotation--as well as what did we like and what did we plant too much of...or too few of.

Lord willing, I will not be laid up with another broken ankle this summer.

May I recommend reading a recent post by The Midland Agrarian on his review of the movie, Food, Inc., as well as his some of his thoughts on growing one's own food. I'm anxious for Part Two.

Successful Replanting

In my daily tour of the garden, I was pleased to see that the green beans that I replanted are up! Thanks to a wee bit of rain, a noisy aluminum pie pan and, mostly, The Master Gardener.

It is a relief to see them up. As long as nothing else happens to them, we should be up to our eye balls in beans. I'll need to keep an eye out for critters since the beans are in the new part of the garden and a bit closer to the woods. I've seen a rabbit out in the field, but not near the garden, yet.

While we did not get as much rain as other folks, it certainly seemed to perk things up. The broccoli is looking wonderful. Everything seemed to benefit from the rain we received (imagine that)...even the weeds.

O LORD,
I marvel that thou shouldst become incarnate, be crucified, dead, and buried....
O Lord, there is much ill about me - crucify it,
much flesh within me - mortify it.
Purge me from selfishness, the fear of man, the love of approbation,
the shame of being thought old-fashioned,
the desire to be cultivated or modern....
Give me courage for all the trials, and grace for all the joys.
Help me to be a holy, happy person,
free from every wrong desire,
from everything contrary to thy mind.
Grant me more and more of the resurrection life:
May it rule me,
May I walk in its power, and be strengthened through its influence.
--an excerpt from Crucifixion and Resurrection from The Valley of Vision

Crop Failure

On the 25th of May, I planted my green beans.

Green beans are the main veggie in our household. They are easy enough to can, which our family seems to prefer over frozen. This is OK with me, since we eat to many, it leaves more room in the freezer. Green beans eaten freshly picked with melted butter...oh yeah. My hubby likes them with olive oil; he likes everything with olive oil.

There is only one other time that I have had trouble with my beans. One year about half the seeds never came up! One whole row. This year, none of them came up. Day after day I would go to check to see if they were beginning to peak through the ground...nothing. On Friday, I dug around a bit to see what was going on underground...nothing. So, Saturday, I got out our little Mantis tiller and worked up the area where the beans had been planted. I found the remains of only two bean seeds. Neither were even sprouted. Thankfully, there remained enough seeds to replant the two long rows of beans. I put some old CDs on string and hung them from stakes to, hopefully, help keep the birds away with the movement and flashing sunlight. I also hung up an old aluminum pie pan out to make some noise.

Our garden gives us the bulk of our vegetables for the year. Since we are no longer such an agrarian society, I think that it becomes so easy to forget how much we are dependant on God for our food. Even with all the technology that the huge farms use, they still are dependant on the Creator for the growth of their crops.

All this helps me remember that I can plant the seeds, but I am not in charge of their growing. I am totally dependant on the Creator for rain and other favorable conditions to grow the plant that gives us food. I plant and pick and preserve (there is sweat in there, too...remember that whole "...by the sweat of your brow" thing?).

Of course this goes hand in hand with sharing the gospel. We are to used by God to plant seeds. God gives the increase. We are not in charge of what God does with the seeds.

R. C. Sproul said in this month's Tabletalk, that " I can take no credit for the response that I made for Christ. God not only initiated my salvation, He not only sowed the seed, but He made sure that the seed germinated in my heart by regenerating me by the power of the Holy Ghost. That regeneration is a necessary condition for the seed to take root and to flourish." God does all the work from beginning to end.

May I continue to grow in Christ as his seedling, working my salvation out with fear and trembling. I am praying, too, for my little garden and its increase.

Dirt Work

When the seeds I ordered arrived, I became anxious to plant something, anything. It was just not time yet, to cold for anything. I was hoping to get my peas planted by March 17, but didn't quite make it. But the sunny day that I was able to get out and run our little tiller enough to work up a spot in the garden for the peas was a good day. Three rows of peas are in--one more than last year. Last year, I said that I wouldn't plant peas again. They were everywhere! I tried running a string for them to climb; they broke the string and ended up a tangled mess. It was hard to get into the rows to pick without stepping on the vines. But, eating our own peas during the winter changed my mind. I'll try and deal with them for the taste of our own baby peas.

The smell of the freshly turned soil was a welcomed fragrance on a brisk, but sunny day. I also found a use for some of the CDs that I was given from my time on the pulpit seach committee--they are hanging from a string on a stake between the rows rotating and flashing sunlight to keep the birds away. We'll see how they work.

It won't be long before we are able to enjoy some fresh rhubarb. Our three plants have already shown themselves.

Hubby spent an entire day pruning our ancient apple trees. I'm anxious to see if they come back and bear better fruit. This also opens up the entire orchard area and our little apple tree should get more light, which was greatly needed. We desire to get some cherry trees and at least one more apple tree. My hope is to get a Cortland tree this spring.

We are hosting the family for Easter here, so I really need to clean!

Feed Mill Memories

I'm sure you've heard about how Spring is a time for renewal, growth and new life, and it is. This year, spring has been a time of nostalgia.

One of the delights of the spring planting season for me is a trip to the Bowser's Feed Store. It may sound like I have no life when a trip to the feed store is a big event, but it brings back fond memories.

The feed store has two areas. One is the "inside" part of the store where one can purchase some horse tack and dog collars and toys and other smaller items. The main part of the store is accessed by a large garage door entrance; about the only light to the dark, wooden interior. Here, the scent of the grains and fresh ground feeds is the first thing that takes me back in time. There is the sound of boots walking on worn, wide plank flooring; neat stacks of bags of dog food, rabbit and chicken feed stacked higher than I could reach on every side. As I walk to the back of the store is the area where the bulk seeds are kept, my eyes adjust from the brightness of the outdoors to the darkness of the old building. No big, bright, colorful display here. Just a well-worn shelf brightened only by a small light hanging above. Sitting on the shelf are plastic containers that are reminicent of canning jars full of smaller seeds with a worn seed label taped to it. Among the choices are carrots, zucchini, lettuce, turnips, radishes. peas and beets. An old, metal scale also sits on the shelf for weighing out the purchase. Underneath this shelf are two rows of bins that contain several varieties of sweet corn and green beans. Each bin has it's own small, handwritten label. There are sacks of onion sets open with the variety written on the side. I'm told the seed potatoes have just arrived.

When I was younger, I would often go with my dad to Roth's Feed Mill in Prospect to get cracked corn and other feeds. Roth's Mill had the old mill workings where you could see them, the wood floors the creaked and moaned under the weight of sacks of flour and grain. The scents were always what I noticed first. Mills seem to have a distinct, sweet aroma. We would walk up the wooden stairs onto the main floor and wait until a worker took our request and filled it. If I was alone, the gentleman always offered to carry it to the trunk of the car for me. To pay for your purchase, you sent up a small set of steep stairs to the office. There, you received a written receipt for your purchase, no matter how small. Growing up, going inside with my dad was never a problem. But going inside alone, was a bit scary. Sometimes it was so loud and the one or two workers there didn't always notice a scared, skinny girl waiting at the door to get some flour or feed. Only one other time did I see another female there. This seemed to me a hard core manly farmer place that women were not excluded, but just rarely darkened the door.

Roth's had a separate building for seeds and farm and garden items. Shovels, buckets and dog food lined the shelves of what was an old grocery store. Much of what I remember about this store building is fading in my memory. I remember the Mill best. My trips to our Feed Mill in Worthington brings back the sights and sounds of my trips to Roth's with dad. He passed away going on nine years this month. He taught me everything about gardening, pitching and stacking hay bales and the cleaning of barn stalls (oh yeah, loved doing that in January-NOT).

Going to the Bowser's Feed Store is not only a trip down memory lane, but a delightful experience when shopping for my seeds. It is hard to leave and I find myself trying to look for excuses to hang around and drink in the scents and sounds. I still need to buy my seed potatoes. Looks like another trip to Bowser's is in the future. Now, what else can I find to buy there??

"Suffer me not to forget that I look for yet greater blessings--
a hope beyond the grave,
the earnest and foretastes of immortality,
holiness, wisdom, strength, peace, joy;
all these thou hast provided for me in Christ.
I grieve to think how insensible I have been
of the claims of thy authority, and the endearments of thy love;
how little I have credited thy truth,
trusted thy promises,
feared thy threats,
obeyed thy commands,
improved my advantages,
welcomed thy warnings,
responded to thy grace;
but nothwithstanding my desert I yet live.
May thy goodness always lead me to repentance,
and thy longsuffering prove my salvation."
--excerpts from a portion of Caring Love a Puritan prayer written in The Valley of Vision

Yeah for Sunshine and Warmer Weather!

Nothing gets me more excited for Spring than a warmer, sunny day in March and placing my seed order.

Today I finally sat down and made out my seed order. One order was to Johnny's Selected Seeds and it contains my seeds for lettuce, spinach, edemame, garlic, carrots and sweet potatoes. The garlic will be shipped in October for fall planting and the sweet potatoes will be shipped in late May. The sweet potatoes will be a new item for us. Russ, who took my order, was very helpful. I still need to see what else I need, or may want to try.

I have green bean seeds left over from last year. The rest of my seed purchases will be made at the Bowser's Feed Store nearby. They have peas, onions, beets, red potatoes and corn that I like. I also like to support the local guy when I can. The owner is so forbearing with me. He lets me purchases five zucchini seeds. I really don't like buying seeds that I end up throwing away. I would rather pay the full price than waste them. He was so gracious to charge me a minimum amount for the few seeds I bought. As you may know, every zucchini seed will grow and produce enough fruit for thousands of people. The neighbors run when they see you coming trying to give them away. One or two plants is more than enough...at least for us.

Another thought I have in expanding our garden is to try red raspberries. This is another new item for us. We'll see if we can get a place prepared for them.

Our yard is a mess from two substantial wind storms we have had recently. I hope to get some of that yard mess cleaned up today. It will take several days to get the pine cones that are strewn all over our front yard, as well as the neighbors.

I also need to get some sewing finished up and get the grapes and apple tree pruned.

I hope you are able to enjoy the nice weather.

O God, the Author of all Good,
I come to thee for the grace another day will require for its duites and events. I step out into a wicked world, I carry about with me an evil heart, I know that without thee I can do nother, that everything with which I shall be concerned, however harmless in itself, may prove an occasion of sin or folly, unless I am kept by thy power.
Teach me how to use the world, and not abuse it, to improve my talents, to redeem my time, to walk in wisdom toward those without, and in kindness to those within, to do good to all men, and especially to my fellow Christians,
And to thee be the glory.
excerpts from Morning Needs, from The Valley of Visions, A collection of Puritan prayers and devotions.