This Week's Happenings and Musings

So, other than giving cloth diapers a go (still going great) and watching Emma's chicks hatch, what else have we been up to this week? Here's a little peek.

These are newspaper pots filled with soil. Right now, there are no seeds or plants inside. As our seedlings in the office grow big enough, they will be moved into these little pots which will reside in the cold frames in the garden. Later, when the weather is warmer, they will be moved into the garden, allowing the newspaper to become mulch, thus not disturbing the plants (much).


Sam stepping off peas. Last year we planted peas the entire way around the garden, using the garden fence as their support. This worked really well, so we're doing it again this year. Sam is our official pea-planter. He does an excellent job.


Here he is dropping a pea into the ditch Jamey hoed. After all the peas are dropped in, Jamey and Sam walk around the fence, Jamey covering the peas with soil and Sam stepping on the soil to pack it down a bit.


Here is our third attempt at keeping the chickens out of the garden. Here you can read about attempt one and attempt two. Jamey is hoping that the tape will either scare them or add height to the fence or both. It's been 3 days and so far the yellow tape has worked.

In this photo you can see our plastic dome tent thing. Under this is lettuce and spinach started early. I can't wait for greens. Also, you can see one of our two cold frames (where the newspaper pots will go).

So much right now is about stages. Steps up and out. Emma and her chicks are in the chick pen. Then, they'll move to the garden tractor, then out to free range with the others. Our seedlings now reside upstairs in the office under lights. Then, they'll be moved to the cold frames, later to the garden.

For us, and these stages move much slower, we are living in the stage of parenting small children. This stage is time-consuming, energy-draining, patience-challenging. Before we know it, the children will all be dressing themselves, completing school work independently, managing chores without (much) supervision and growing taller than I. Beyond that, they'll move out, empty our house and begin lives of their own. We will miss them.

Plant, tend, release. This is the cycle. May we appreciate each stage so as not to regret not appreciating it later. After the release, a different sort of life begins...one that is hard to imagine, but one I am looking forward to all the same. Pin It