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Generational legacy
The lupines are still blooming! It’s Labor Day weekend … and the lupines are still blooming! This brings me so much joy! Lupines are my favorite flowers! Right up there next to sunflowers! The lupines always start blooming
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Support Circle!
A pop of bold vivid color on a grey, overcast, chilly day. This makes me so happy! My daughter gave me a package of yellow and a package of pink gladiolus bulbs for Mother’s Day last year. The
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The glory that is to be revealed
I was headed down the back deck steps with the watering can, to take some water over to the raspberries … when the gladiolus caught my eye! The sun was coming up right behind it, and the gladiolus
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What is your life? It is but a raspberry vine …
The temperatures climbed up into the 90’s this week. Hubby and I do not have a soaker hose in the berry garden, so in the coolness of the early morning I carried several watering cans over to water
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When you feel chewed up by life
Some bug has taken up residence on my Hoopes rose this summer and has been eating the leaves to smithereens. Here you can see the chewed up leaves … I really liked this photo of the raindrops on
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Blooming tenaciously!
In spite of the setback of having their leaves eaten off by the deer, the hostas are blooming tenaciously! I find this to be so inspiring! In life we go through seasons and times when it feels as
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Go … and replicate yourself.
Growing alongside the raspberries in my garden are a couple of strawberry plants. This strawberry plant here is one which hubby and I purchased three years ago from a fancy schmancy garden nursery. Much to my surprise this
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Raspberry Lessons: Parenting!
As I was picking raspberries I came across this grouping of berries up underneath the vines and leaves. My immediate “blink” reaction was: That’s just like parenting! These berries are not ready to be picked yet. They are
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Raspberry Lessons: High and lofty!
I was out in the garden picking raspberries in the cool quiet of the early morning. As I gazed up at the highest raspberries reaching for the sky … the thought suddenly struck me: those raspberries way up
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Raspberry Lessons: When people aren’t exactly what you expect.
Hubby and I purchased our raspberry plants several years ago. It was the middle of the winter, and Home Depot had little cardboard tubes of raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries for sale just outside the front entrance. Hubby and
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Blueberry lessons!
What better thing to do on a Saturday morning than to go blueberry picking! Hubby and I arrived at the U-pick farm bright and early. Hardly anyone else was there. We grabbed our buckets and checked the sign
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Poppy blooms! … and seed pods!
Last fall someone very special from Idaho gathered her poppy seeds from her own poppy plants and sent them to me as a gift. Poppies are her favorite flowers. I generously spread poppy seeds in every container I
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We all need a little support!
Mid-July is usually when the very first green beans are ready to be picked … and eaten! Yay! So I went out to the garden to see how the beans were doing. Lo and behold … the poor
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Joys of June – the raspberries are blooming!
The raspberries have just started blooming! Just look at that beautiful star-shape of a bloom! As I admire the intricate design of the star-shaped bloom I can’t help but praise God for his amazing creativity and beautiful design
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Joys of June – strawberries are in season!
One of the things I love about the month of June is that the strawberries are in season. Usually around Father’s Day weekend is the peak of strawberry season. In years past we have enjoyed going to U-Pick
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Joys of June!
My Hoopes rose is blooming! This brings me so much joy! This little rose was a gift (probably 10 years ago) from some very special friends. I planted the little rose in our yard at the home where
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Joy of discovery!
I shared a few blog posts ago that this is the first year the deer have not eaten off all my Bunchberry Dogwoods … and as a result, our front flowerbed has been a sea of beautiful dogwood
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So … how is it going??
I know you are just dying to know how the mums are doing, after they survived overwintering in the workshop … and barely escaped being eaten by the deer! You might be thinking: “They are probably thriving and
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Blooming sideways
My friend who recently had intense spine surgery (where they cut her back open from top to bottom and re-straightened her spine with rods) just had her 6-week post-op follow-up appointment, in which she was told by the
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Be careful what you bring inside!
Hubby and I were at the garden center picking up some potting soil for our new planter box on the back deck. We made sure to get some really good potting soil with steer manure … our plants
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From the outside looking in …
Hubby built me a new planter for summer. I’m thrilled! He had been puttering about in the workshop this past winter, figuring out a creative way to make a planter box out of leftover decking material and leftover
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Parable of the Big-Leaf Maple seeds!
I have been outside on my hands and knees in the flowerbeds pulling up Big-Leaf Maple sprouts. Therefore, it seemed fitting to share the parable of the Sower. (from Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23; and Luke 8:4-15) On a grey,
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Springing up to life!
A few years ago, hubby and I picked up a package of lily bulbs at the garden nursery. There were three bulbs in the package. Hubby and I assumed the lilies would grow to be about knee-height, so
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Love sees beyond the surface to what matters most.
I wrote a few months ago about my attempt to overwinter my mums. This is the first time I have ever attempted to overwinter anything. Being Fall mums from the garden nursery, they of course were rootbound
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Love is peaceable.
Love doesn’t leave prickles in your palms afterwards. I wrote yesterday about tidying up the raspberry vines. It was one of those rare sunny afternoons, so I was wandering around the backyard delighting in springtime joys. I hadn’t
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Love is teachable.
I was wandering the back yard on a rare sunny afternoon, delighting in springtime joys – when I wound up over at the berry garden. Oh, check it out … the raspberries are coming back to life. Just
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Love covers.
A small patch of these mushrooms sprang up in the grass just out from the kitchen window. I have never seen mushrooms quite like this before. Immediately the passage in Psalm 91:1 came to mind: “He/she who dwells
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Their snow is better than my snow.
I woke up this morning to a beautiful world of wintry whiteness outside my windows. As I stood at my kitchen sink fixing breakfast, the thought popped into my head: “Their snow is better than my snow.” It
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Blooming today!
My daughter surprised me by swinging by the house and dropping off this pretty little plant during her lunch break. What a wonderful surprise! I was absolutely delighted! This little flower has brought me so much joy the
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Overwintering
Last October I tagged along with hubby to Home Depot to pick up a couple of packs of fasteners. At the front entrance, the display of mums caught my attention! I was smitten! We wound up bringing two
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Beauty … in the “in-between.”
I stepped out on the front porch early this morning as hubby left for work. All across the front flowerbed little icy crystals sparkled with beauty in the reflection of the house floodlights. It looked like hundreds of
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Luxury Caps
Two weeks ago, I was surprised to discover these mushrooms coming up in the front flowerbed. My Seek Nature App informed me that these are “Luxury Caps.” I was in awe! I have never seen mushrooms such as
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How much yield??
So … hubby and I planted only a few handfuls of wheat seeds. Our wheat patch was quite small, as you can see. And since this was our very first time attempting to grow wheat, hubby and I
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Joy!
Today’s blog post is in honor of our very dear precious friends down in Portland – K&P. If there is anyone who embodies “joy” it is this couple! For the past two years this couple has been walking
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Wheat on a sheet
Everything about harvesting, threshing, and winnowing wheat has challenged my perspective when it comes to cleanliness and food preparation. You can’t wash wheat. I knew this logically. But practically it has been challenging to let go of my
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Harvest!
I went out yesterday evening to harvest the beans. And lo and behold, the tomatoes were ripe. So, I harvested them too. As I stood in the middle of the garden, surrounded by beans on one side and
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Chaff … which the box fan blows away!
Hubby and I threshed and winnowed the wheat last night. I had been really looking forward to this part of the process … of watching the chaff blow away in the wind. The Bible speaks of chaff being
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Busy!!
I had the best time watching the bees on the sunflowers yesterday morning! There were lots of bees! And they were all busy!! The saying popped into my head: “Busy as a bee.” I had never really thought
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Fallen over sideways!
Believe it or not, this is one sunflower plant! One single sunflower stalk can produce many different sunflowers. I didn’t realize this fact until last year. This particular sunflower stalk was growing tall and straight and reaching high
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Caught unaware!
So, I was puttering about the house yesterday (doing laundry, and running the vacuum) in my pajamas, with a white mineral mud mask smeared all over my face. The thought popped into my head: “Wouldn’t it be embarrassing
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Different seasons look differently
Here you can see a photo of our garden this year. Hubby just harvested the wheat this past Monday. Our garden this year has looked a lot different than last year’s garden. For starters … our garden this
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Wheat!
It has been so much fun to watch the wheat grow this year! Hubby and I have never attempted to grow wheat before. Part of the fun of watching the wheat grow is because the Bible has so
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Legacy!
This past Sunday, our pastor shared that he had just met his brand-new baby granddaughter that week! He then shared a few words about legacy and generation. To sum it up, these were the thoughts he shared: *
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Bloom beautifully … to win the prize!
This week hubby and I have been watching bits and snippets of the Olympics. YouTube has short 5-6 min. video clips of highlights where you can peruse different sports, and the gold winners of each event. We’ve watched
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Sunday afternoon berry-picking
Bright and early Saturday morning hubby and I were cruising down the valley headed to our Forestry Field Day event. As we drove past the U-Pick Raspberry farm we were startled to notice the parking area was already
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Bear much fruit!
Last night hubby and I took a walk around the neighborhood after dinner; and upon returning to the house, we decided to go check on the plum tree to see if the plums were getting ripe yet. I
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Here today … gone tomorrow
Hubby and I and our daughter were driving back home from central Washington after a delightful getaway for the July 4th holiday. As we were nearing home we cruised past a strawberry farm where hubby and I had
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“Knee high” by the 4th of July
So … after a dismally cold, rainy May & June, our garden has finally reached “knee high.” Of course, the phrase “Knee high by the 4th of July” is referring to corn: if your corn is “knee
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Marriage is … like lettuce growing in a planter box.
Hubby and I decided to grow lettuce this year. However, I didn’t want the hassle of having to go all the way out to the garden to gather lettuce for dinner each evening. So I asked hubby if
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A fence … for protection
Our bean seeds, zucchini seeds, and pumpkin seeds did not like the cold rainy May … at all! But the raspberries loved it! The raspberries have been growing like gangbusters! Here you can see our raspberries. They are