Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Full of Girl Life


When I have a long List To Be Accomplished, I always seem to have a little girl on my lap. She tries my patience, but she also provides the best laughs. I snapped this picture a few months ago. Not the best photography, but a perfect capture of happy childhood. I love the little sister watching from inside. I love the eyes screwed shut, praising the Lord. I love the kitty balanced on her shoulder. In the next moment the kitty scratched her neck and the praises stopped. She threw the kitty away from her. I hope that part is not what she learned from me.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Wintery Garden Thoughts

We are experiencing typical weather patterns for a Northwest Ohio November: it is getting cold outside. Signs point to a long, hard winter; the accumulated fat around my body is thicker than normal.
Yes, it doesn't feel at all like summer outside, so naturally I am thinking about our garden. I rarely think about the garden when it is hot, because during the summer months it is not a shared garden, but Corey's sole responsibilty. This works out nicely for me, because I don't like to bend over monster sized zucchini plants with a merciless sun overhead. It is cold now,and I am more than willing to share the my Star Green Hand's work load.
Here are my thoughts on this chilly day, (when the work of weeding, picking and preserving is far removed).

We should plant more
  • Broccoli (it is the only green vegetable that Sam and Norah will eat)
  • Carrots (and we will "thin" them appropriately, so we don't get the Twisted Roots of Weirdness again)
  • Beets (because I discovered I actually like these)
  • Lettuces (but stagger the plantings, so we have less at a time for longer)

We should plant fewer

  • Beans (because no one likes them except me and they are a Pain to pick)
  • Zucchini (this requires no explanation)
  • Yellow Crook-Neck Squash (it's not that we had too much, but rather that it was planted too close to the zucchini and they had unlawful relations)
  • Eggplant (same reason as the Yellow Crook-Necked. We obviously need to have a garden chaperone for the squash family)
  • Tomatoes (unless you stake them, they tend to rot on the ground, hidden by the overprotective mother plant who doesn't want her babies taken from her)

We should add

  • Potatoes (The volunteers were fun!)
  • Red Bell Peppers (somehow our green ones didn't like growing, and reds are sweeter)
  • Pumpkins and Gourds (why should I buy them when I could grow them?)
  • Leeks (because they are a Biblical vegetable)
  • Herbs (see Leeks)
  • Sweet Potatoes (love me some yams)
  • Cucumbers (not pickles)
  • Marshmallows (I would like to be self sufficient when it comes time to make Sweet Potato Casserole)
  • Flowers (Expounding on this will require a separate post, I'm sure)