In the Garden

This year, where we are, we've had to opt for a new approach to our garden. We can't dig up the yard, and the cost of wooden raised beds is too much. So we're working with what we've got, or can get for free. (Free's always good!) With a bit of inspiration from Pinterest (yes, we are those people who do the things we see, not just pin them.), we've got ourselves some good container gardens going.

We didn't quite get everything planted we wanted, but some of them being cold weather crops, we could still do some planting this August/September (namely lettuce, and spinach). But our Brussel sprouts, cucumbers, and tomatoes are doing great. There's also snow peas, green peppers, a "spicy" pepper (for the husband, he says it's a good companion plant for the tomatoes. I just hope they are far away enough from the sweet peppers.)

 Our basil plant lasted from last year, it was pretty sickly looking, but Chris transplanted it after it started a new off shoot and it's doing very well now. He's also trying his hand and regrowing a lettuce plant from leftovers. It did well in just water, the roots started to regrow so he's moved it to the dirt. It looked pretty pathetic last night, but seems to have perked up a bit this am. We'll see.

There's also some "volunteer" lettuce hiding out under the cucumber plants. We'd reused the dirt from an attempt to start lettuce in the house for the cucumber seeds. Once we put the cuc seedlings outside the lettuce popped up as a surprise. Chris added some more seeds, seeing how well it did, in to a few empty holes. So we may have a lettuce crop after all.

There's bean plants out there too. But they are competing with dog leads, kids, and cats, so aren't as healthy looking as I'd like. But they're already flowering, so there's still hope. If I could get my hands on a few more large containers, and some dirt (our soil is clay, we have no lucky growing in clay), I'd like to plant some more beans. A loves to eat them straight off the plants.

Positives to container gardens- good black dirt, little weeding, the plants seems to stay moist longer. Negatives to container gardens- just not enough space. Unless of course dirt and containers are unlimited to you.

Frozen

I don't want today to end. Not because it's so good. But because I don't want tomorrow to come.

Tomorrow scares me. Tomorrow brings change. Tomorrow I will be alone. I am alone today too. But tomorrow is scarier.

Before the Rains Return

Yesterday we had a break in the rain, after a few long days. Cabin fever had kicked in, so waking to sunlight had us all happily getting outside as early as possible. Even Piper enjoyed the weather.

Honeysuckle in bloom. A walk around the neighborhood. Trike rides. Jump rope. And bunches of snails. A quick Google search and instructions for a snail habitat were found. Bare feet in the grass. Mud puddles. Jackets shed quickly. Two trips outside to play. Only lunch, and naps, in interrupt the day.

Play hard. Suck up the sun. More rain expected, before the evening was done. 

Another quick shower. The dark rolled in. And hour later the sun again. 

A double Rainbow graced the sky. Dark clouds out back. Blue skies and sun in front. 

I couldn't resist. My toes in the muddy puddle. 

More rain expected in the next few days. But the sun came out yesterday. And stayed for today.

{this moment}

Joining Amanda at Soulemama for

{this moment}

A Friday ritual.

 One photo-No words-Capturing a moment from the week.

 A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Rice Experiment Week 2

Last week I made our rice to participate in Rachel's, (from Clean), I Love You/I Hate You Rice Experiment. This whole week we've putting our Love and Hate energy into the jars. Well mostly myself, Chris and a kid or two on occasion. We all observed we were definitely putting more energy into the Hate jar than the Love. This shows mixed things. You can either see it as not being able to share our Love and joy, or that by having a tangible thing to put our Hate energy into, we were able to not spread it to each other. The visual reminder helping to keep it from those around us. And we were able to spread the Love easier amongst ourselves.

We definitely have mold. And I think we all expected to see some in the Hate jar first. As this is where all this negative energy is held. But so far no mold in the Hate jar. 

The first to show signs was the neutral jar. There was fuzzies beginning by Tuesday, and full blown mold Wednesday. Today, Saturday, there's a  nice (ick) ball smack dab in the middle.

The I Love You jar started to mold on Wednesday. And was noticeable Thursday. It isn't as moldy as the neutral jar today. The growth is slower.

They were all kept in the same place. On the kitchen counter, out of direct sunlight. None of them were opened. The only time anyone touched the neutral jar was to move it out of the way, when wiping down the counters, or to get to the flour/sugar canisters.

I tried to put equal energy into both jars. Chris says he used the Hate jar more often, directing his anger and frustrations into the jar. He admitted to actually shaking the jar when using it. This probably had something to do with the mold growth. (In his defense I didn't actually say to NOT shake the contents, just to put that energy into it.)

I think the results are decidedly different than we expected. Most of us thought all the bad energy we put into the Hate jar would cause it to mold faster. But maybe the neglect of the Love jar had more of an effect. Then there's the environment factor. Being in Tennessee our weather is warmer, and more humid (at the moment).

Our house sits at about 75-76 degrees day and night. And we have had a fair amount of humidity the past week. (Leading up to this weekend's expected rain.)

I'm going to continue the experiment, see how long it takes for the Hate jar to start molding. Today at day 7 there still is no mold. 

I'll update again next weekend.

I Love You~ I Hate You Rice Experiment (Clean)

I grew up with my mom teaching me, the energy we put into things has an effect on everything. The energy, intentions, one puts in to a garden can produce larger yeilds. What we put out into the world we get back. 

(Here I want to insert a very good book, Celestine Prophercy, that talks about, and teaches, how this works, how we can use it in our lives, and how we can see it working around us. I learned so much from this book. Yes it's a "story", but again the author's intent, that he put into it, is clear. He's teachings come through loud and clear.)

I firmly believe this, and try to live it, and teach it to my children. But I don't always live it. I often forget. And use words, energy, feelings in ways I really shouldn't. I remember when things are going well. When there are reminders around me. I feel like a bit of a hypocrite at times. 

Rachel from Clean  posted an experiment, and asked for us to join her in it. 

From her post- "Even more than spoken words, our feeling also shape us. 

They set the tone of our days - of our lives.

When you've been frustrated, angry, afraid you carry that energy throughout your whole day and soon everything in view is colored by your mood.

The same is true for the days when we're steeped in gratitude and joy. Blessings are everywhere. The world sparkles with magic."

This is oh so true. And here I've been given a way to show my children visually how it works. And also remind myself of something I believe to my core. That I want to try harder to do daily.

So this morning when Rachel posted to her fb page a reminder, I went straight to work (being the procrastinator I've become, I've been putting it off since her first post). I followed her directions on the post. But one of my lids is recycled from a past (unfinished project), the words Blessings Jar written on the top. I thought, even though it had been sterilized, it still had those "love" intentions in it, and I needed to use it on the Love jar. I think it'll just add to what's already in there.

I have a feeling, at first the I Hate You jar will be used most often (it's already had Caleb's angry feelings put into it twice). But I hope over time things will balance out a bit.

Now If someone will remind me on Saturdays to do an update post, I'll let you all know weekly how our experiment is going. (The visual of the jars on the counter will be a good remind to keep intentions in check, but probably not enough to keep me updating posts. Procrastinator level reaching new highs lately. LOL) I'll probably be doing more frequent updates via instagram (hashtag #iloveyouihateyouriceexperiment #riceexperiment).

Feel free to join us, and share links in the comments below!