Growing Good Things

So after putting this particular task off for quite a while, I managed (with help) to cross a big to-do off my list today. The garden!

During the long Idaho winters and summers, I would dream of the day when we would move back to Oregon....to the mild weather that allowed for growth of nearly every sort of non-tropical fruit, flower and vegetable imaginable. I dreamed of teaching my children where food came from (not from Super Wal-Mart, one of the only grocery stores within an hour of Mtn. Home). I fantasized about giving away veggies by the bucketful, living in a town where the only reason people lock their car doors is to keep their neighbors from stowing extra zucchini on the front seat.

My mother rocks, just in case you don't know. She has 6 "real" children and about 6 auxiliary ones to take care of on a near-daily basis. She volunteers up the wazoo, spends a ton of time in her Bible and prayer closet every day, has a healthy, hot meal waiting for my dad at precisely 6:05 every evening and stays skinny in the process. She's not perfect, but she's pretty darn close. She sets a high bar.

She also lends me her expertise when I'm in desperate need. Hence the garden help.

Meet my 9 tomato plants (trust me, Jack and I will eat them all!), 2 raspberry bushes, 2 zucchinis, 1 cucumber, onions and 2 bell peppers. The partridge in the pear tree would not hold still for the photo.

There's something so satisfying about knowing your child will eat healthfully over a season. There's something so gratifying about guiding a growing, living plant life to its full fruition. Quick, somebody get me some overalls!

Thank God I'm a country girl, Johnny.

Shelbea's home this week and ostensibly decided to work on her tan today. That's what she kept saying, but she was actually a big help. I'm so proud of the progress she's making!

Maybe I'll play classical music at night for my little green friends. Oh wait, that's for milking cows.

Be green and growing, folks.