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Hi Everyone,

               I had little pockets of energy here and there last week and I took advantage of them! While I am still doing a lot of sleeping and resting, I am grateful for any chance to get something done. Two weeks ago as I sat at the dining room table eating I gazed out the back windows and my eyes constantly seemed to fall on the rose bush whose arbor collapsed on it a few years back during a hurricane. Last spring Micah and I cleaned up the fallen arbor—at least the part that we could because the top trellis of the arbor is part of a metal cattle panel and the rose vines have grown all through it. There was no way to remove the panel unless we totally cut back the rose—so I decided to support the panel with some t-posts. The problem was we put the t-post in backward and didn’t have time to fix it that day. Fast forward a few months and the coastal grass, blackberry brambles, Spanish needle and Poke weed have all taken over the poor rose. The rose hasn’t given up for I can see a few flowers popping out through the over growth. I wanted to clean up the rose—so I put it on the calendar for last Monday. Shayne and I headed out with the pruners, the t-post hammer, the lawn mower, gloves (but not my long rose gloves of which my arms were greatly upset over), and a wagon to put all our “trash” in. First I cut back the rose bush and we pulled up some of the blackberry brambles. Then I mowed the grass back until we could finally get to the t-post and remove it and flip it around the right way. We probably spent an hour pruning, pulling and mowing. The area looks much better and you can actually use the back gate again—but we ran out of time before we could pull every last blackberry bramble out of the rose bush.

               The next project that came along was a result of some of my sit down and relaxation time. The front porch of our Cracker Shed has a comfy white rocking chair that was my Grandma’s—and the weather of late has beckoned me to take some time to sit and relax in it while enjoying the cooler weather or a pretty sunrise. On the side of the porch beside the rocking chair are two delicate pink Fairy Roses—but they were on the verge of being suffocated by some thickly growing weeds. So when I was done milking the cows Thursday morning I took some time to weed around the Cracker Shed porch. Grandpa’s orange lilies are growing very nicely in front of the porch and the purple fountain grass on the corner is in full bloom. The roses were very happy to be able to breathe fresh air once again.

               I also found some time to work in the greenhouse. I filled some flat trays with soil and used some small PVC pipes to separate each tray into three sections. Then I sprinkled herb seeds on top of the soil and watered them good. I planted thyme, winter savory, parsley, mullein, horehound, garden chives, and lemon balm. I also planted a 72 cell tray with collard seeds. I had planted them a month ago—but only about 12 sprouted and only 9 of those grew strong enough to be transplanted out to the Market Garden. Speaking of the Market Garden, Shayne helped me prep four rows in the South Market Garden Tunnel on Thursday. We topped the rows with chicken compost and then Shayne broadforked the rows to mix the soil. Then I ran the tilther down the rows. We got a new shipment of organic compost Thursday morning, so once the rows were prepped we topped each row with an inch or two of the compost. On Friday Shayne helped me transplant collards, broccoli, lettuce, kale and cabbage plants.

Saturday afternoon my sister Samantha arrived to spend a week with us. We haven’t visited with her since February when Grandpa passed.

Serving you with Gladness,

Tiare