Time

Time is wasting,

Time is walking

You ain’t no friend of mine

I don’t know where I’m goin’

I think I'm out of my mind,
Thinking about Time...-Hootie and the Blowfish

This song has been running over and over in my head for about a month now. Why? Because it perfectly describes my late summer. Where the heck did my time go? Where did summer go? It seems that I blinked and all of the sudden we're in Fall. We're in mid-September! WHAT?!! Manny needs yet another haircut, Adrian will be ONE at the end of this month. My baby!! I can't seem to keep up with time.

How's the garden growing? I'm glad you asked. Well, this is how I'll describe my garden. It's not very attractive at the moment, but it's functional. We had plenty of cucumbers, green beans, hot peppers, tomatoes, and now the pumpkin is thriving. It seems that right before labor day the garden got away from me and I was unable to really tend to it. The weeds came back a-plenty and I could've watered the plants a bit more, given them a bit more food, mulched a little more, pinched a little more...you get the idea. Plants that did really well: Cucumbers, Sweet Peas, Green Beans, Cherry Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, Cayenne Peppers, Banana Peppers, Strawberries, Rhubarb, Mint, Cuban Oregano, Thyme. Plants that did Ok: Brandywine Tomatoes, Chives, Lavendar, Raspberries and Pumpkin (doing much better now!) Plants that did not fare well: Watermelon, Sweet Bell Peppers.

Speaking of time going by, I just can't get over how busy we got with the boys this mid-summer. I love it, though! I actually had a quasi-panick attack thinking of how trapped we'll be in the winter, and how much of a hassle it is to get dressed just to go outside for 10 minutes before you freeze your tushie off. Ah well. No sense getting worked up over it now. ;-)

This time instead of posting pictures of my garden, here are a couple of pictures of a small sample of our harvest, and a cake I made with ingredients from my herb garden. I wish I could've shared these with you.

My silly 4 year old

More everday moments

Here's Adrian playing with Manny's toy. He, of course, prefers Manny's toys versus his baby toys.

Everyday Moments with the boys

I hope you enjoy these little videos as much as I do! Sometimes it's the little things that are the sweetest things about my day. Like hearing Manny spontaneously say, "Mama I love you." Or seeing Adrian light up when he looks at me with that huge smile. Or the way they giggle at each other. When I force myself to not worry about cleaning the house and just sit down with them and enjoy them in the present...life is bliss!

Beetles 1 - Jacquie 0

There is a battle occurring in my garden. And yet I feel like Ghandi in the middle of a minefield. Yes, it is our choice to grow things organically. I remember that. I could go in there and battle those dang Japanese Beetles and Squash bugs with tons of powder, sprays and chemical warfare. But...but...but...what about the children? I would hate for my kids to not be able to touch the leaves, eat the fruit, walk barefoot on the grass because I've just killed everything so that my garden will look better. The Japanese beetles are all over everything. My sweet peas, my grape leaves, my raspberry leaves, the pole beans...even my tomatoes!!! They are in the hundreds all over...EWWWWW. I tried a hot pepper remedy...I think they like it spicy. Well I can't blame them, I like it spicy too. ;-) I don't know, I know there are organic sprays, and perhaps I'll have to use that next time. Because they are winning. They've left my grapes a skeletal mess and are hungry for more.

If you have any ideas please email. Seriously...you have three days or I'm turning to the dark side and buying Real Kill. Other than that, things are growing very nicely!

Japanese Beetles eating my green bean leaves

Hope

Sometimes I take for granted this four letter word. There is such power and inspiration in the choice to hope. There is such freedom in letting go and having faith that things may turn out for the better. I was thinking about this while looking at my flower. You see, after one of my toughest winters ever, I was quite eager for spring, and as soon as it got a wee bit warmer, I bought one of my favorite flowers for the garden. The Black Eyed Susan. It is a beautiful yet humble little flower. It doesn't shout out for attention like a Rose, Dahlia or Peony. It is understated in its beauty. Perhaps that's why I like it so much.

During the spring I would bring it inside at night. One cool night I left it out a little too long and it all but died on me. I had a choice, plant it and see what happens or throw it away. Well, I decided to take a chance on my poor little flower. So I planted it, and had faith and hope that it would survive. Many, many weeks went by where it just looked awful. But I didn't have the heart to throw her away! I kept telling myself, one more week. Well, soon thereafter I saw an encouraging sign...dark green growth...just a little bit...but enough to give me hope. So I left her alone. I weeded around her, but pretty much just let nature take over. I could have added fertilizer or food but, I don't know, a part of me wanted to see how she'd do on her own.

My hope has paid off, she is strong, green and just about to burst forth with her first flowers. I can't wait! I'm so glad I had hope for her. I think we've all been in personal situations where we're either the gardener tending to our most desperate plant; or we're the desperate plant just praying that someone won't throw us away. That someone will love us and encourage us to live and grow stronger. That someone will have faith in us. That someone will hope to see us burst forth in tremendous beauty. Black Eyed Susan in May 2008

Black Eyed Susan in July 2008

What's growing in our garden

It is so much fun to watch the plants grow taller, then get the flowers, then the fruit or vegetable that results. Not unlike watching our kids grow. There is so much excitement and pride in watching them grow and learn, so much anticipation for what will come next, and then the bittersweet realization that each new accomplishment is evidence of time just flying by. How even throughout all of the many frustrations of gardening and parenting (weeding unwanted plants or unwanted habits, protecting against predatory insects or child predators, caring for a sickly plant or nursing our kids through an illness) when you see them blooming before you, with the sun shining on them as if it were a show just for you...it is simply breathtaking.

Here are some pictures of the garden. Don't laugh too hard--okay you can laugh, it's good for you. You'll see lots of weeds--some of it is on purpose (a little wild section attracts beneficial insects) some of it's just because I haven't gotten out there enough. You'll see newspapers flying about the yard, I was trying to lay it down and wet it really well before putting the straw on top for mulch but I guess they're supposed to be drenched to stay in place. (Hey we have to conserve water!) ;-) Also we ran out of the straw, so that's why it looks a bit bald in some spots. Here's what we're growing.

Vegetables and Fruits:

• Brandywine Heirloom Tomato
• Sweet Million Cherry Tomato
• Roma Tomato
  
• Cucumber
  
• Sugar Snap Peas (from seed)
• Kentucky Pole Beans (from seed)
• Banana Peppers
• Sweet Bell Peppers
• Cayenne Peppers
• Pumpkin
  
• Sugar Baby Watermelon
• Grapes
• Strawberry
• Rhubarb
  
• Kiwi Gold Raspberry

This is the view of our veggie plot. I'll get a better picture later.
I really cut back the grapes this year. Last year's canes were 8-10 feet long! I didn't expect it to grow back, but it did and there are grapes growing!

I'll be sad to lose these strawberries next year. We have to replant it since you really should replant them every 3-5 years. And the first year of strawberries you should pick off the flowers to strengthen the roots.This is our second year with them and we don't know how long the previous homeowners had them...Maybe I'll wait one more year before replanting. ;-)

Herbs

• Blue Balsam Mint
• Orange Mint
  
• Lime Thyme
• Lemon Verbena
• Munstead Lavendar
• Chives
• Cuban Oregano
• Sweet Basil
  

We took out the rocky/nasty landscaping pond and turned it into an herb garden. I love it! I really am enjoying going out there to "pinch, pinch, pinch!"

These are our strawberries picked from the garden. This was only after about 4 minutes of picking.Using the rhubarb, strawberries, orange mint and lemon verbena from our garden, Manny and I made our first strawberry/rhubarb pie! Homemade crusts too! See the little hearts? As my mom always says, "It tastes so good because it's made with love." ;-)

BUZZZZZZ

It was such a long, cold, snowy winter this past year. I couldn't wait for spring! I read gardening magazines, on-line articles, and books. I imagined the type of vegetable garden we would like and what plants we could take out or put in. And now we're right in the thick of it, and time is just flying. Spring was so exciting! We bought our plants and seeds and got our garden plot ready. The weather was finally warmer and comfortable. And there were no bugs yet...more specifically...no mosquitoes. Ah, the dreaded mosquito. We have our share of bugs in Florida, but mosquitoes are ridiculous up here. I've heard it joked as the state bird. Because we've had so much flooding, they are swarming and they are mean and tough. I heard on the news last night, that a typical mosquito trap that usually catches 5o bugs a night is catching 4,000 a night.

I'm not a big fan of putting toxic chemicals all over my kids, myself or my husband. So I bought a chemical free bug repellent called Buzz Away. I think I actually heard a mosquito laugh at me...It worked okay, but it was still unbearable. After many days of this, and many more mosquito bites, I caved in and put on the OFF repellent, with the dreaded DEET. I felt so guilty while slathering it on my sons, but at least they could play comfortably. We were out there about 5 minutes and I hear Manny say, "Ow!" and slap his neck. I go back to gardening, he starts screaming and crying! I run over and the dang skeeters had swarmed him and were biting his shoulders and neck. I could NOT believe it. I had even put that toxic stuff all over his neck! In researching an organic garden, I read that a brown bat could eat 1,000 mosquitoes in one hour. And that preying mantis are also fast enough to catch them and help control their population. And since the beneficial ladybugs are apparently not native to my region, they won't be killing off too many good bugs. (Mantis are NOT picky--they'll eat each other too!) The good news is that flood mosquitoes do not carry the West Nile Virus, but they are still obnoxious. I've missed being outside the last few days. My father always used to say that I had sweet blood, because I was ALWAYS a mosquito target...apparently so are my kids. It's hard being so sweet. ;-)

Sprouts

Well friends, I've officially entered the world of blogging. Never thought I'd do it, but I'm intrigued nonetheless. This year has been a whirlwind! We became homeowners, expanded our family from one boy to two (hurrah!) and slowly but surely are adjusting to life in a small town. I like the slow pace of it, I like the quiet, but I do miss the convenience of big city stores and activities.

So this is our second year gardening. We're focused mostly on vegetables and herbs this year although we did plant a daisy and black eyed susan. We're determined to grow things organically and quite honestly it feels really good! I'm learning so much about good bugs and bad bugs. My sons have a cool mom now...not one who automatically screams at a spider, but rather appreciates the spider for eating mosquitoes. I knew I had to change when I saw my then 2 year old screaming at the sight of any bug. I'm proud to say that now he'll gladly pick up an earthworm and design it a new home or dig up a grub and squish it (they're bad bugs). So we're planning on building a bat house this weekend and buying some Preying Mantis.

Anyhoo, I'm crazy in love with my boys...my original sprouts. Manny will be 4 years old in just 3 weeks, and Adrian just turned 9 months. Forgive the term, but they're growing like weeds. Maybe I should say growing like Peas...they grow fast and they're sweet. ;-) They keep me busy, and I do this gardening thing because it brings me peace, but also because I want them to have wonderful memories of picking fresh peas and strawberries right from our yard, having an appreciation for the work that goes into it, and the satisfaction of what great food really tastes like. It's a new adventure for us all.