Fantastic Weekend With Framily

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Lanny

A great time was had by all, so much so that most folks that were hangin’ round Sunday morning willingly participated in this week’s header challenge for me.  Or I should say, Lanny’s subversion of said challenge.

So here we are havin’ a Sunday morning post-breakfast reflection on our favorite animal.  “Animal reflections”.   On my side board this week, I said that I might need to play it straight up this week.  When the challenge came in from Fishing Guy, I knew I had lots of photos of animals, and surely at least ducks,  with their reflections in the pond caught on film (er, card and then uh filed).  But then the brain just snapped into place and I knew I could get some of my Framily to participate, they do in fact like my nonsense. 

Dirt clearly didn’t get the memo that he was supposed to reflect on an actual animal not a frat boy being an animal.  Trevor is down front being a slug, not sure that is an animal either, I like animals and I like Trevor but I don’t like slugs.  And Mike needed to opt out and just hold the prop for Eric who was reflecting on one of the least likeable things about a boy dog, needing a tire to violate instead of just a cooler.

I am sure all other animal reflections are self explanatory.  Oh, except for Cory in the actual header photo, he does look like a rather sad bear in that one but the other was a bit blurry for entry purposes.  I really ought to pick up a more suitable camera if I am going to keep this nutty challenge up.  Unfortunately even small, simple weddings tax Mr. Dirt’s budget and finance soul.

 As soon as I made my request known and all present began to assemble in the perfect spot, two feet from where we were sitting, Mrs. Kimberly Long who was actually present for the picture, claimed she needed to duck inside her trailer for a quick change, yeah well the animals would have broken out of the zoo had we waited for her.  So we’ll just say she had her own animal reflection, on an allusive animal of the wild forest.

There were a lot of folks not pictured here that made my weekend one of the best ever, but no one single moment had everyone at the farm at the same time.  It was just a come and go weekend, sorry that no schedule ever got posted. I will try and get back here with more details of the weekend.  But the wedding, harvest and other life things are pressin’ in and I’m finding I have even less time than usual. 

I really do want to tell you more about the weekend, it was great, all of it.  I only wish I could have talked everyone into staying longer, but I guess some folks have to work.  This will be an annual event, so mark your two-thousand-eleven calendar and beyond for the third full weekend in August.

And arntcha lucky Dear Reader, last week could very well have been my longest, wordiest post in months, but today could be the shortest.  Off to town with the bride.   Three weeks and three days as of today!   

Oh wait, be sure to go visit everyone else and their entries for this week’s challenge, please go visit the other participants:  Dave, Fishing_Guy,  Mac, and Gail’s Man,  Okay, you can go now.  See you soon I hope.

Categories: Blogging, Building A Future, Framily | 9 Comments

Famous Named Street In My Town

Posted on August 18, 2010 by Lanny

Well, lets see, how hard was this week’s challenge from the fine Mr. Frost…. Ridiculously impossible!   Oh, what was the challenge precisely?  Streets in your town that share famous names.  Dear Reader, from there let’s break each barrier down on its level of impossibility shall we?

Your Town.

Uh, what exactly is that?  According to my mailing address, my town is Roy, Washington.  According to my phone bill, my town is Yelm, Washington.  According to proximity, my town is McKenna, Washington.  According to my bank account, clearly my town is Puyallup, Washington.  According to my speech patterns, my town is obviously Tacoma, Washington, South Tacoma to be exact. 

  Famous Names

So I googled my town according to mailing address to see if I could come up with a street in it that had the same name as someone famous.  What did I come up with, besides First Street, ’cause we all know Mr. First right?   Well the only famous name I saw on the map was Nixon.  Oh paleeze, do not make me go there. 

It all brings up horrible memories of my childhood household during some of the toughest times that strong abode saw, personally and politically, I was the product of a mixed marriage you see Dear Reader.  And then that name came up again in the few precious months I shared with my mom as she was dying. 

Yes, Dear Reader, I am famous for not knowing when to keep my mouth shut and duct taped.  I’m working hard on this lately, seemingly to no avail.  And now, poor Dear Reader, I have you to offend and sound all judgmental and harsh to.  So let’s just say that if I ever did get to my town I’m thinking I would not have known to take a photo of that street’s name, I tend to avoid unpleasantries, no, really, I actually do.

Implied Type of Photo

I’m going to take a semi-aware wild guess that the truly wonderful Mr. Frost was thinking of a photo of a street sign.  Uh, Pierce County, well most of Western Washington really, doesn’t believe in the photogenicness of street signs.  This isn’t Europe or even the East Coast nor do I live anywhere near Yuppy Historic Melodrama Fauxsentimentality Ville, so the likely hood of finding a lovely looking street sign, let alone a famous named one, is highly unlikely.  Not that the photo for my header is all that poetic, photographically speaking, but it beats spending precious garden time driving around looking for poetry in a green rectangle with reflective white block letters.

Justifications Abound

So rightly so the kind and forthright Mr. Frost has indeed chosen for this week’s header challenge a theme that is: “Something to make even Lanny’s brain scream!”   So here goes my feeble attempt at justifying my selection and entry for this week’s header challenge.  

Minus the street sign.  Mr.  Frost technically asked for the street that shared a famous name, not a street sign. 

Street or highway, is there really that big of difference?  They both are usually made of the same material.  You have to look both ways before crossing either.  And both are primarily use by automobiles.

Famous name?  Does famous really have to be famous because everyone thinks of the same person?  Or is just the name famous, recognizable by just about everyone, each person thinking of a fellow or gal or family that sports that name.  And does famous always conjure up likable, I realize that we have infamous for the undesired memorable folks but harkening back to the street I could have chosen in my town, famous for one, infamous for another eh?  But notable non-the-less. 

So there you have it, my justification for picking a photo of the actual pavement called McKenna Tanwax. 

McKenna as a name is quite famous, if you look it up on Wikipedia, you will find a fascinating history that goes with it.  Irish history, my favorite kind.  (check it out, my one “bathroom book” is The History of Ireland, by Giovanni Costigan one of the first non-compulsory books purchases I made in my young adult years.)

 If you would like to see a verification that indeed my front street does have a name other than Hwy 702, what more qualification that Google maps does one need. 
View Larger Map

And further more on Wikipedia the list of “famous” folks with the surname McKenna is broad in its scope of the type of fame that brought the person to the list.  How groovy is that, you can pick and chose what image the name conjures up for you, unlike the sign with a name such as Nixon might for most.

Okie-doke Dear Reader, I do believe I have dumped enough rationalizations on you to justify, at least in my mind the pathetic attempt at complying with this week’s theme.  It’s a street and it shares a famous name. 

 But for some wonderful poetic photos of streets that conjure up top of the head familiar stories of swash buckling heroes and heroines or savvy political leaders or talented artists of all sorts, please go visit the other participants:  Dave Fishing_Guy,  Mac, and Gail’s Man, , actually, minus Fishing Guy, who is on vacation, wish I had thought of a bow-out of my own. 

However it may be, let it not be said that the Lanny P. isn’t up to a bit of humble pie and being thrust rudely and hastily  to the bottom of the pile just a short one week after soaring to grand heights. 

There you have it, now I really must go weed and water and get ready for this weekend’s Framily Campunion.   I know I promised a schedule, hope you’re coming anyway in spite of my seat of the pants mode.  I will post a schedule tomorrow with the news of my sound whipping in this week’s contest. 

And then Dear Reader I do believe that you might not hear from me until next Monday at the earliest, Wednesday being the more likely resurface date.  I will try to sneak around the neighborhood late tonight and see what is going on with all of you, I feel like such a horrible bloggy person right now, heck just a bad do-er all around, nothing is coming out on schedule this week, save I suppose for this post if I am excused having it done and hour early so as to get back out in the yard.  

Categories: Blogging | 10 Comments

Well.. Whodda Thunkit!

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Lanny

I won!  By being silly, wasting Dirt’s evening time, having fun with the girls, making a memory or two, being all non-conformist like, I won!  Fishing Guy sent me the picture of the gold plaque to put on my blog, I can’t wait for the real one to get here and the check to follow.  What?  No money?!  No real plaque even?! 

You must be kidding me?  Do I even get candy?  A ribbon?  The kids at the fair at least get that!  Oh, fine.  I remember, its all for fun.  Rats.  I could use a little spare cash right now.  I thought for sure that I could melt the plaque down for some spare change.

Well then, I better get back to work.

Oh, and guys, fellow Header Challengers, (Dear Reader should already know this)  I don’t think outside the box, I reside outside the box!    That is when I’m not living in the great state of Confusion.    So what’s next week’s theme I wonder.  When I find out I’ll put it up on my side board.  Still haven’t researched how to get photos to my side board like I used to with Blogger, bother.

Hey, Dear Reader, make sure you have a delightful day today.  I am out to do the same for myself.  I love this nose to the grindstone feel of my days right now, lots of time for converstation with my Savior.   Unfortunately I won’t have a ton of time to spend with you, I’ve got deadlines looming and a daughter to run up north so she can meet her cousins-to-be and drop off a few boxes of stuff into her basement-to-be.  Next weekend is the Framily Campunion, if you’re in town I hope you can make it. 

That makes August 20th my deadline for farm beautification.  So at the Campunion I won’t be asking you to weed, maybe tie bows, but no weeding or excavating or such.  And Mike canceled our fencing project with him so it will just be two days of fun and silly willy milly time.  Canoe races, making bird baths out of squash leaves (I’m determined to get something out of the Market Garden), volleyball, croquet, exploring the Deep Swamp Woods where George, Bet’s monster, lives.    Hey, we can have some fun eh? 

Categories: Blogging | 8 Comments

Cloud Formations On the Farm

Posted on August 11, 2010 by Lanny

So exactly how is a cloud formed?  By blowing off steam doncha think Dear Reader?  Steam is water vapor and water vapor in the atmosphere is a cloud eh?  And we all speak of dust clouds don’t we?  I fail to see this as a stretch.    

Well I bet Imac never guessed I could pull a trick out of my hat for this week.  I’m sure he thought I would point my camera skyward and just take picture of a cloud.  Hello?!  Come on Dear Reader, you of all people know me, I just couldn’t.  And makin’ these clouds was just too much fun.    

When I asked him to help me, Dirt appeared to not want to play along, fussing the whole time he had to get up from his golf match on the t.v..  He fussed as he selected Dale’s old orange truck to do the forming of clouds, claiming it was running rough and he needed to see what was up.  

And the first go of it was a bit lame.  Oh come now, Dear Reader, a fellow who can’t kick up some dust in a truck on gravel and dirt?  Who does he think he is foolin’?  

Well then all of a sudden Mr. Dirt gets into it.  I hear peels of laughter coming from the cab.  If only I had a camera with a remote I could be in the truck having fun instead of just taking fun’s picture.  

And then someone who’s name isn’t Mud, just Dirt, really got into the whole thing and took several spins on just the perfect mix of dry clay and gravel.  

He was quite pleased with himself for this beauty.  

Dirt and two of his five favorite girls, oh wait make that three of six, Patti the Border Collie.

 

 And so were his passangers!  There is always a moment or two and an inspiration or two to have a bit of fun on the farm.  Okay, we pretty much all have fun all the time, but some fun is even funner.  

 
 

A little steam blowing, a little dust kicking and a little apple wine or water in your wine glass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 How’s Dirt?  And the truck you ask Dear Reader?  Mighty fine, the both of them.  By the time the truck was reparked at the greenhouse it was running like a top and Dirt was full of helpful suggestions for burning up the rest of our evening.  See, it is good having a crazy person on hand.

You know, there’s actually been a lot of cloud formation going on on the farm.  We could have had any number of different header pictures. 

 Shearing season is winding down, so Mr. Dirt is finding time to actually get his own sheep done.    

Some girls just think it is fascinating to watch their herd mates get fleeced like they just did as the cloud behind Dirt grows.  

Hey, a girls gotta get her kicks somehow.  Like with the picture that was up earlier today while I was perfecting the custom size in Photoshop so that this weekly header switching won’t be such a by-guess and by-golly.   

And here’s another of Dirt’s Farm Clouds, sitting in the truck ready to haul to my mulch pile.    

Well Dear Reader, I’m thinkin’ that just maybe,   IMac, won’t be too surprised that there are no pictures of skyward clouds here today, its only been two weeks but I think they’ve come to realize that I’m a bit of a Silly Milly Willy when it comes to rule bending, well not so much rules, but certainly themes.  Even though Dirt acts surprise and irritated by the Silly Milly Willy girls around her on the Farm, he has conceded.  

It is great to be admired by ewes.

  

  

  

  

  

  

And who knows, maybe just like with Dirt, I’ve infected the header group with my silliness, why don’t you go see what they found to put on their headers this week.  Darla is being sensible and taking a break for her daughter’s wedding, sure wish I would have thought of that instead of taking on more just before Anna’s wedding.  Oh well, some folks are missing a bit of grey matter (see my hand raised in admission on that one eh?).  But the rest of the gang has most likely captured some beautiful cloud scenes for their headers, and I hear we have a new challenger, another fellow from across the Big Pond, his name is Dave.  Go see him and Fishing_Guy,  Mac, and Gail’s Man, 

Categories: Blogging, Dirt, Family, Rules, Sheep | 11 Comments

Hey, I Can Do This, Not a Problem

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Lanny

Well, it is five weeks and five days ’til Dirt loses his Anna and she becomes another man’s girl.  So if I seem a wee bit more sporadic than usual or I start babbling endlessly and you’ve gotta slap me, you’ll know I haven’t gone whack-a-do,   just,   uh..   okay, whack-a-do. 

The dresses are all secured and in the proper hands, shoes too.  Most of the flowers are potted up.  The driveway is half weeded.

Dirt’s building a big tent in case it rains or shines, which it will.  The menu is just about figured out, flower seeds are collected from around the farm for in the favor bucket, table cloths are secured, ribbon is bought, sweet peas are being pampered and sprayed tomorrow.

It is really hard to tell exactly who is the most excited for the upcoming nuptials.  Dirt Dad is being all romantic and tender like, amazing. Stephanie has become the over zealous bride’s maid (matron actually, but that makes her sound like a women’s prison warden).  Michelle is building the cake, Mark Dad is writing volumes and trying to pare it down to two minutes, the phone lines have been burning up between Becky Mom and Lanny Mom.  The list of excitement is long.  I fill you in as we go along. 

This will be a first in Vick Weddings..  It will be small, tiny actually, not much bigger than our usual gatherings around here.  It just fits this time.

Categories: Building A Future, Dad, Daughters, Family | 6 Comments

Busy Weekend, Pics to Fol…

Posted on August 8, 2010 by Lanny

Nope. no pics. too busy, but I’ll find something for you to look at tomorrow.   Maybe. 

I really need the weather to cooperate, I need a lovely dry day tomorrow so that I can capture just the right picture.  I hope it all turns out okay.  All this rain managed to do was turn the dust on all the leaves into a protective coating of mud.  Hmmm great for plant growth.

I’ve given up on any real production in the Market Garden so now all I care about weather wise is for my own personal pleasure and silliness. 

Did I mention how much I didn’t like this last May and June?  And now with the foggy mornings this last month, my lovely jungle of green tomatoes is definitely lacking in heat units to turn them red, or heck not even orange yet.  Only about three or so have rippened, well the ones I’ve found, Bet may be stealing them out from under my nose. 

But then I suppose if you work at a famous coffee shop you might have enjoyed and profited from this trashy summer weather.  Hot drinks in the morning to clear peoples foggy brains in the fog.   And then a quick switch to iced syrup in afternoon when the fog burns off and the themometer jumps twenty degrees.    So I’ll stop complaining  Dear Coffee Stand manager, before you call me up and tell me that the weather has been perfectly lovely.  Yes, by all means it has.

Oh, look, duck for cover, the pigs are flying again.

Categories: Uncategorized | 7 Comments

This Is Quirky, But I Think…

Posted on August 5, 2010 by Lanny

You might enjoy this.  Check it out.  I’ll even use big pictures so you can see it better.

I was awful this year about getting any flowers started, except my sweet peas, I don’t do without them but even so I didn’t get as many transferred to the garden as I actually started.  (I know, I feel like a Sweetie murderer).  So now that my garden is bare of flowers, I’m scrounging them up from everywhere,  I might actually get some time to enjoy my garden areas so I could want them to look sorta nice, well that, and the coupula parties we’ve got planned.

Any who, one of the places I scrounged for flowers was at my daughter’s.  And sure ’nuff she had some extra marigolds that she started.  It has taken me many years, but I am beginning to get back to my early childhood love for marigolds.  – Long story, I’ll tell ya later. (do you ever keep track of how many times I say that and never come through Dear Reader?  I’m starting to wonder if I fib or if I just really think I have a lot of time to tell stories.)

Okay, on with the quirky.

So I bring home the extra marigolds (don’t comment on the root boundness please, or Steph won’t give me any more of her cast offs.  At least the plants she didn’t get to, she actually kept alive…).  And now I’m home and I start tossing them around in the Lawn Garden to fill in naked spots.

But two won’t toss, well at least they won’t toss separately.

Check it out, can you see it, can you see why.  Here, that isn’t a good shot.  Try…

…this picture.  Now can you see it?  Well that might be hard to see too, here…

Now you can see what’s going on eh?  The stem must have gotten bent over, touched his neighbor’s soil, took root and then made a new marigold.  Bizarre eh, that it could happen so fast especially.  Now that I’m lookin’ close like to the stem of the marigold I can see the bumps on it like a tomato plants have, those little bumps can turn into roots, they have a special name, lemme think… ah it escapes me at the moment and I know it is like a really obvious name…

Oh well.  Those roots can anchor a plant better or they can actually turn into more roots if dirt piles up, or if the transplanter person buries them deeper than how they came.  I like doing that with tomatoes, I think it makes the plant stronger. But then, I could just be crazy. 

Speaking of crazy, Dirt  saw it and thought two plants fused together, I think he has wedding on the brain.  He said something like, “they are one stem now, what God has fused together, let no gardener separate,”  in a rather commontatery sorta way.

Oh well.  I didn’t catch that passage pertaining to plants so I separated them. 

Now I have three where I only had two, rather trinitarian you might say.  That makes me feel better, for separating them, now they can represent something else besides a married couple. 

Besides, they didn’t “fuse together”, one guy went to a neighboring pot and cloned himself, not exactly biblical marriage stuff if you ask me and neither is cutting them apart, little harder to do that in a marriage, it leaves major lasting damage to both parties and these fellas are doin’ just fine. 

Yes, Dear Reader, you’re right, I have been out in the sun too long.

Oh, by the way, for the Header Challenge, if you look over at my side board you will see that I lost again.  Yep, that’s right, they let me in their game after I beg them, but haven’t let me win yet, not even on my birthday week, now that is insensitive I tell ya.  You don’t suppose it’s cuz they don’t quite get me is it?  You get me though Dear Reader, don’t you?  Somebody pet me!

Categories: Flowers, Garden Methods, Marriage | 9 Comments

Weed Or Flower?

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Lanny

Okay, I give up, I’m done with this post, I am going out to plant some Swiss Chard seed or something, or just sit in the shade with a drink, preferably so stiff it could walk out to the apple trees on its own volition.

hang on a sec, I forgot to load the pics to go with this….  Okay more than a sec, I’m a dorky…  Just a little bit more a few more pics… shall we just call this “Murphy’s post”  Bet is holding my cord in place so that my battery will charge, my last pic or two are stuck on Photoshop and it won’t open now that my … argh never mind, just read what I have so far, my header stands as my entry, I fix the rest when I’m not so outa whack…  In a minute… after a cup of tea…

 

I picked this week’s theme for the Header Challenge.  I was staring  blankly at this little pillow as I sat on my bed racking my brain for a great idea.  Then I found it, on the pillow, not in my garden but on this little pillow I had bought for my mom when I was in Jr. High.  You see, my mind isn’t always in the garden or up a tree, just mostly.

So this week’s theme for the gang, Fishing_Guy,  Mac, Darla and Gail’s Man,   was put to them like this:

Once in a golden hour,

I cast to earth a seed,

Up there came a flower,

The people said a weed.

                        Tennyson

Weed or Flower?  Go see what they have chosen. But…

I know what you’re thinking, you’re wondering how I could have gotten the theme so wrong when I was the one who picked it.  Well, Dear reader, you of all people know that my mind doesn’t always work in a straight line.  Uh, rarely actually, okay, never.

In fact, I am a great lover of things most folks call weeds.  So where are pictures like:

 

Field asters, and oxeye daisies,

Plantain and grasses.

Bedstraw? No that’s not right…I’ll have the proper name when Bet comes in from moving turkeys. 

And incredibly small little gems that I have yet to take the time to identify but enjoy so much when I come across them.  Any one of these would have made a great header and topic for lively discussion eh?

Some “weeds” I actually grow in my garden, on purpose.  I am a weedy gardener, liking the theory that most weeds if they don’t have their fingers wrapped around a favorite flower or plant, can be actually beneficial to the soil, the surrounding plants, the good bugs and the sweet little garden visitors like the birds and the butterflies.

There are even those “weeds” that I grow in the garden bed because when I need their healing powers or extracting powers, I’d rather not have to go hunt them down in ditch and dale.

Then there are those “weeds” that have been elevated from ditch and dale into the garden, picked and pruned genetically until their wild sides have been sufficiently cultivated.  But I’m fried from having to retrieve picture files from the oddest of places so go see Darla’s “Jimson weed” or Fishing Guy’s Queen Anne’s Lace. You will see two of my favorites, one grows here voluntarily and the other, Datura, does not.  I grow Datura’s buddy, Bugmansia, with much fuss and bother.  I think that means I like it.

But as you can see, I have not picked those for my header, for my topic today.  I pick my girls.  And while no one would call my girls weeds, at least not to my face, and we certainly wouldn’t do so to any one else who had young people of similar age… 

How often do we hear, how often do most of us say something rather disparaging of young people between the ages of thirteen and nineteen. 

Society and modern culture, calls them teenagers as they roll their eyes at the mere mention of such creatures. 

I must say, it needn’t be so.  And we needn’t even bury our collective heads in the sand and ignore their horrific uncontrolled behavior until it passes, somewhere around twenty-four if we’re lucky these days. 

It begins in baby-hood, not calling your toddler a “terrible two”.  Not listening to the well-intended when they remark on your well behaved nine year-old but then say, “just you wait, a few more years and you won’t like them so well.” 

I have never not liked my girls, any of the four of them, at anytime in their lives.  I chose not to not like them.  And I chose to rear them with the mind set that they needn’t be obnoxious for a few years in order to grow up.

So I say, “Flowers, for sure!”

Well, Dear Reader I am late with this post, we’ll talk more later eh?

Categories: Daughters, Garden Methods | 8 Comments

No Big Deal Really, But This Is Interesting

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Lanny

What a Coincidence 

This is the picture that greeted me on my calendar as I flipped it over this last Sunday.

This is my horse. Notice the resemblance?  Okay, I could have found a better picture of her, looking just like the calendar horse, but I think, Dear Reader, that you will believe me when I say that the calendar could well be a picture of my horse in her younger years.  But wow what a close one and on this month in particular.

Cuz guess what the month of August is?  That’s right it is my birthday month, today yesterday to be exact, but who’s being exact around here?  Not me, I give myself the whole month.  Not for me mind you,  but for those who remember too late, cuz it really is never too late to Party!  And really that is the only reason to keep track of birthdays, just another reason to party! 

You know, it is a good thing that some of us, my best friend from school and I and now a couple of more good friends, have August birthdays.  Because if we didn’t do our share by being born, August would be hard pressed for a party excuse – there isn’t a holiday in sight!  So consider us, August-birthday people, as saving the month from party obscurity!

Party girl’s been a bit busy lately, trying hard to keep up with harvesting and planting for fall and winter and really tidying up for the big date, well two really. 

The First of Two Summer Celebrations At Vicktory Farm & Gardens

August twenty-first and the twenty-second is a celebration of Vicktory Farm and Gardens, how we got here and where were goin’.  How we got here is mostly from the generosity of others, good friends and passers-by.

In reality we got here through the hand of God, that is for sure.  But He sees fit to allow us to be a part of His work, and many folks have lent their hand obediently to God’s prompting, for us.  For that we thank everyone who has helped us through the years.  And would love to have you come at sometime during that weekend, say hi, grill a dog or burger – your choice, you bring that, heck you can even bring a steak, we’ll give you some beans and slaw to go with it, and a glass of lemonade.

We will be off the farm for  a bit on Saturday (the 21st) as we all tromp into Forty-Second Avenue to help some other farmers.  It’s part of where we’re headed, making sure that we lend hands where hands have be lent.  So this year we’re starting off the annual VF&G Framily Campunion with helping out the Bowerman’s and the Manley’s with a few farm projects.  We’d love for you to join us for that as well.

We’ll have particulars on a separate page by the end of this week, we just wanted to let you know so that if you are just sittin’ around wonderin’ why August doesn’t have a holiday so you can have a party, you know that we’ve got one cookin’ for you.

The Second Celebration

Ah heck Dear Reader, I’ve plum run outta time to tell you about that celebration so I’ll have to get back to you in a day or two.  Tomorrow today is the big day, when I change my banner, header, whatever ya call it and see if I can beat out the big guns with my little baby camera. 

See you tomorrow today,  save the weekend of August 21-22.

Categories: Change, Framily, Holidays, Horses | 4 Comments

How Does My Garden Grow?

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Lanny

Whew, boy howdy, this is not as easy an assignment as it would appear.  Fishing_Guy, you must be joking, right?  I’m sure that Mac, Darla, Gail’s Man, can come up with wonderful concise but all encompassing pictures and quickly decide which shot says it all, but I’m supposed to put it all in one picture?  What makes my garden grow?  You mean besides the God in whom I move and breathe and have my being, as well as my garden?  Which would be the best picture,  the soil, the sun, the water, the nutrients, the humus additions, the temperature, the cutting and dead heading, the tying and staking, the fencing, the …?

But you see for all my squirming and fussing it really is easy.  I just had to think of one of the reasons God put gardening in my heart, so hard and fast, that I must do it, no matter where I am or what stage of life I’m in.  He put it in me to discipline me, to grow me.  Time is how my garden grows.  Time is nearly everything in gardening and farming and I am terrible at time, and my Creator knew that. 

I have a horrible concept of time, well maybe not horrible, but often terribly unrealistic and sometimes one might wonder if I’m even working from the same planet as everyone else.  Is there a planet that rotates slower?  Orbits the sun slower?  I’m clearly from there, oh wait, then there is my impatient side, when I come from the planet that spins much faster.  God certainly knew what he was doing for me when He made me want to farm and garden.

In just about every other pursuit I can imagine, whether a job or just a hobby, nothing is as wrapped up in the element of time as farming and gardening are.  Whether adding the whole plant by the zodiac calendar or not (which by the way, you may have noticed I have abandoned) timing is key.  Yes, other jobs have timelines and due dates.  But those are made up by someone, quite frankly, arbitrarily picked and therefore could be mercifully adjusted for the non-time focused person if that was the heart of the task master, or you could just fire their lazy or procrastinatin’ bottom.

But not gardening, or farming.  They both, ultimately, always come down to timing.  I always seem to be working with seasons and the calendar in mind, today’s date, what needs to be accomplished for next week or three weeks from now, or six or six months.  Or they should be in my mind and my hands should be attending to them. 

Planting times, harvest times, when to fertilize, when to spray for pest control, coordinate with so many things, the seasons and day length, as mentioned but then there are even other considerations, days to germinate – weed seeds as well as crop seeds – considered, insect population rise and falls, soil temperatures, ambient temperatures, wind seasons, water supplies – the days of too much and too little, all of these have their times and fluctuations that must be considered into the duties that make up gardening and farming.  The list could go on I’m sure. 

Then there is the concept of time as in how long a job like pruning, weeding, thinning seeding, dead heading, watering takes.  This is a killer for me.  I want to do a lot of things, everything quite frankly, but unfortunantly I have to remember that everything takes time.  And that I am no wealthier in time than anyone else.  We are all given the same amount of time, we all have sixty-second minutes, and sixteen hours of time to be awake, and seven days in a week and three-hundred sixty five days in each of our years. 

Even though I think I can move faster than the speed of light to get stuff done, I can only move as fast as the average human.   I can only carry so many things at once so I have to make a certain amount of trips to the garden.  I only have two hands and one body so I can’t really water and weed and plant and spread manure all at the same time.

Plinking one seed at a time in a cell takes more time than I think.  I am constantly pulled back to a reasonable view of how much time I need to do certain tasks in and around the farm and garden.  Oh wait, and Dirt would like to have a real dinner a few days a week and clean boxers to wear when he goes out to greet the coyotes with his gun.

And yet another aspect of time that I have a hard time with?  Waiting.  I plant the seeds and for some reason I want to see the flower tomorrow or eat the tomato later today, okay not that bad, but durn close I tell you. 

Things take time, gardens really take time, some flowers take over a year to bloom, some even longer, trees take time to produce fruit or shade or just that right structure in the scene I want to create. 

I have such a problem with patience, I’m an impatient procrastinator, doesn’t that beat all, do you see now why God needed to make me a farmer-gardener?  It sure wasn’t cuz I was built for it, it was built for me, to teach me, to humble me, to grow me.

I do believe Dear Reader, that:

 

When I work in the dirt,

Time is my friend and ally and my bitter foe. 

But it is what makes my garden grow. 

 

 

That however, is my take on my garden and me, others in the header challenge may take a whole different route, so go see what they have up today, sometime around one p.m. Pacific time (you figure the time math out for your time zone, my time synapses are going to take a rest now).  Then come back maybe tomorrow and check out my side bar to see who won what.

Golly, I was hoping that there was money or at least candy involved in all this, but it is just for fun and fun it is.  I seem to be keeping up on blogging a bit better since I joined in their shenanigans.  They were so generous (or foolish) to be willing to deal with the blogging handicapped like me. 

Thanks again you guys, but now I’m out to the garden to fetch back some time that I’ve managed to loose again somewhere,  what did I do with it?  Now just where did it go……

 

Categories: Blogging, Garden Methods, Spiritual Disciplines, Uncategorized, Vicktory Farm and Gardens, Weather, Weeds | 10 Comments