Garden Memories and Raised Vegetable Beds

When I was a young girl, my family grew just about everything we ate and we all worked in the garden. When my friends were sleeping late during summer vacation, I was picking and shelling purple hull peas or picking and snapping green beans or picking squash, tomatoes, onions... the list goes on and on. As a teenager I thought I was being mistreated, but now the memories of working in the kitchen with my mom and sisters are some of my favorites. I can still smell the green beans as we stuffed them into fruit jars, while the pressure cooker hissed, and taste the freshly blanched corn that we plunged into a sink full of ice water, while fans hummed to keep us cool without air conditioning. The moment I moved away from home and away from the family garden I missed it. We often don't appreciate something or fully understand how much we appreciate it until we no longer have it. It was 20 years later before I was able to have a garden of my own again, but trying to work full time and have a garden, without a family of six to help, proved to be more work than I could take. Last summer I decided to build some raised beds and it proved to be a good alternative and yielded a lot of produce.

For each bed, I started with 9 cedar fence pickets and one 6ft 4x4 post. I cut 3 of the pickets in half and the post into quarters. Above, I have two beds cut and ready to screw together.

Here they are assembled with a brace inside the long section. I dug holes to seat the posts. This was just to keep them in place. My biggest expense was the soil and compost to fill them. This year I just added more compost and a deep layer of hay for mulch. This will help retain moisture and prevent weeds.

A trellis between the beds helped to keep squash and cucumbers off the ground. As the vines grew, I tied them to the trellis using cheap pantyhose cut into rings. It works perfectly and the color is neutral.

You really can grow a lot of produce in a small space. I grew (God grew...I watched) bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, banana peppers, egg plants, arugula, cucumbers, spaghetti squash, cantaloupes and zucchini squash.

I was very pleased with the outcome and added a third bed with asparagus and strawberries and a couple of wine barrels for tomatoes. Keeping the garden condensed in this fashion makes it more manageable. It's very near the house which makes it easy to water, and run out and pick whatever I need for supper. 

There is nothing like fresh vegetables! I'm thankful my parents taught me to garden, even if I didn't appreciate it at the time!

Here's a Heart Rock for your Pocket:
Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. Genesis 1:11

Wishing you God's best,
Elaine

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Sprucing Up The Office To Feel A Little More Like Home

I think any of us who work outside the home have used the expression "our home away from home" to describe the office, simply because we spend so much time there. Why not make it an extension of home? I believe personalizing our workspace, no matter how large or small, helps us to feel more comfortable and makes us more productive.

I put an old shelf that was taking up space in my attic to good use by hanging it over my desk. It now displays some of my favorite pictures and treasures. I got the inspiration for the pictures from Pinterest.They are simply an artist canvas painted with chalkboard paint (I love chalkboard paint!) and I've added pictures printed onto card stock and glued to the canvas. I then added scripture using a liquid chalk pen. When my work world gets crazy, I can look up and see these wonderful calming photos and it helps me refocus. They are stress relievers.

Here are some of the other touches I've added to personalize my space.

I found the bird's nest walking into work one morning and added an egg painted on a rock which was a gift from a special friend.

...more goodies next to the printer.

Lamps always improve a space. Here I've added just a special touch with paper flowers.

Pictures of those we love and special artwork are a must. They remind us that work is just work so that we can keep our priorities in line. I also like cute folders.

I use an old mirror, again from the attic, as a dry erase board. It works perfectly.

Just in case I've somehow disillusioned you into thinking my office is nice and neat, here is a wide shot so you can see I have stacks of paper everywhere.

I hope this has inspired you to add some special touches to your office.

Here's a Heart Rock for your Pocket:
May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14

Wishing you God's best,
Elaine

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Quick Flowerless Arrangements

When I'm home on the weekends, I like to have fresh arrangements in the house. That doesn't necessarily mean flowers. Often times, I use greenery from trimmings or clippings to create centerpieces. In the past I have used branches from our fig tree, Leland cypress tree and my variegated privet shrubs. This weekend was a perfect example. Company was coming and my tables were bare so I pruned the shoots that were coming up around the base of my crepe myrtles and made centerpieces for the tables. They worked perfectly.

For the table in the sun room I created a low arrangement since this is where we typically eat. I hate to have to look over or around an arrangement to visit with family or guests. (It's rude.) Oh, I'm also displaying the heart rock that my boy gave me for Mother's Day and the cedar bookmark that he made. He knows how to make his mom happy!

I used a vintage cold cream jar (you've seen this one before) to hold small branches. I placed a frog in the bottom to hold the small stems so they wouldn't flip out.

In case you're not familiar with what a "frog" is, I thought I might should explain. This is a frog. It sits in the bottom of the container so the stems have something to hold them upright. Sometimes they are a base covered with pins and you push the stems down into the pins.

In the living room, I used a small glass pitcher to hold the arrangement.

This was my mother-in-laws Bible that her parents gave her as a child. Precious.

In the dining room/kitchen we have tall ceilings so I made a large arrangement...

... and used a pretty brown stoneware pitcher and combined it with a doily and tarnished silver tray. I like my trays tarnished, I know it's strange, but it has the same appeal to me as rust.

Keep this in mind the next time you need a quick arrangement. Anything green will do!

Here's a Heart Rock for your Pocket:
But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3:15

Wishing you God's Best,
Elaine

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A Little Something Lovely... No. 2

Here's a little something lovely for you to examine... the thistle.

Even though it is all thorns, it has a real beauty if you look closely.

It's bloom has a soft delicate color for something so harsh and dangerous.

This particular thistle stood much taller than me. It was large and spiky and had a very threatening presence. I wasn't going to touch it!

Yet, the insects were drawn to it. They crawled deep down into the blooms and returned again and again.

There is a life lesson we can learn from the thistle and that is that things are not always as they seem. If we focus only on the flower we may miss the danger that surrounds it and get hurt. On the flip side of that, if we focus only on the thorns we may miss the flower and a great blessing. Life is full of thistles... handle them carefully.

Here is a Heart Rock for your Pocket:
...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

Wishing you God's best,
Elaine

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Memories on the Windowsill

I have a desire to hang on to things that remind me of the people I love and the places I enjoy. One of the ways I do this is by gathering and displaying keepsakes from places I visit and it usually involves rocks. I can't explain it but I was born a rock hound. My kitchen windowsill holds several of my memory jars and assorted collections. I am eclectic to say the least. At my house we call it hunting for treasures.

Lucky for me I have a large windowsill and room for lots of memories. My grandson, Levi, collected the feathers for me which makes them very special.

A small floral frog makes a perfect holder for them. Oh, and I have a small collection of those too.

These smooth river rocks came from Colorado. They were all gathered from the same area but each is completely different from the other. They remind me of a beautiful day with my family.

This sand and small rocks came from a beach on Lake Michigan. It was an exciting and adventurous day.

The collection of old marbles started with my son, Andy, about 25 years ago. It's grown, marble by marble, over the years. The jar on the right holds red sand from the outback of Australia. I love to reminisce about those beautiful red sand dunes and all the wonderful discoveries we made. The trip of a lifetime!

This jar holds petrified wood from different places that Andy collected when he was a kid and the small glass is filled with tiny acorn caps that Levi gathered up for me. It reminds me of a chubby toddler who picked these up and wanted to give them to his Nonny. I'll keep them forever!

Small rocks and flint chips from west Texas fill the small jar and tiny lava rocks collected at Yellowstone Lake are held in this little bottle.

An old spice jar holds flakes of mica gathered at the Black Canyon.

Here the jar itself is a keepsake. Picked up at roadside sale in Colorado. I liked the purple tint and I'm sure there is a story behind the bullet hole.

Looking at my keepsakes reminds me of the sites, the smells, the feelings and the people I shared them with and I like that. It's my way of hanging on to good times.

Here's a Heart Rock for your Pocket:
Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord! Psalm 150:6

Here's wishing you God's best (and happy memories),
Elaine




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Old Stained Glass Windows

I have always loved old homes with stained glass windows. There is just something special about them. They are not common in my part of the country, here in rural East Texas, and I can't stand the thought of someone tearing one of those lovely old houses down. Last week my Mark surprised me with windows for my birthday. Yeah! Total surprise! Couldn't believe it! Never even crossed my mind! Wouldn't have guessed it in a million years! Surprise! Like a little kid on Christmas morning! In total shock! Not that he isn't usually thoughtful and sweet, but that I got windows!

He found three exactly alike and they fit my kitchen windows perfectly. I wish I knew where they came from and what the house looked like that they were in and who built the house and lived there.

I really like the simple design and color. I think it fits my little farmhouse and style perfectly. 

 

We used eye hooks in the window frame and attached cup hooks to the windows themselves to hang them.

The way the old windows hang in front creates the illusion that the windows are open. I didn't expect that but I like the way it feels.

Here is how it looks from across the room. I can't believe what a perfect fit they are.

Here's a Heart Rock for your Pocket:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1,14

Wishing you God's best,

Elaine

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