Over Sharing

So, I've been making a little bit of salsa...

And eating a little bit of garden fresh melon...

And dealing with a LOT of tomatoes...

True life confession:  I had been looking for that tacky glue and couldn't find it until I saw it in the picture!  That's how it goes sometimes.  The unedited reality of my busy, not-as-neat-as-I-would-like life.

I've spent some time with most of the family at the zoo.

And we got to see the dingoes.

This picture is for Meghan.  She couldn't see the dingoes the day she went to the zoo with us because it was too, too hot for the dingoes to be outside! 

I have also done a long list of other things that aren't picture worthy.  As you can imagine, blogging had to take a back seat.  A way back seat.  I have wanted to jump back in for a week or so, but wanted to find just the right topic to re-join the blogging world.

This morning while I was folding laundry I watched a show on "oversharing."  And I thought, that's it!  That's what I want to blog about!  Join me as I embark on the popular trend of oversharing.  Ready?

Sorry to disappoint you if you were really expecting a laundry list of detailed sharing.  I try to teach my growing girls that a wise woman does NOT over share.  Instead we want to always consider others ahead of our ourselves.  I try to practice and teach my girls to be kind and loving.  Sharing embarrassing stories about someone else is not kind and loving.  Please think about how your words will affect others before you post them for everyone to see.   

I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  Happy October!

Vine plants and Life

Last fall we spread our compost out over our proposed garden space for this year.  It seems our plans never work out quite as we intend.  We had some set backs due to an uncooperative tiller.  Our schedules and the weather at times didn't jibe.  When we finally got into the garden to start planting, we discovered a mess of volunteer vine plants!  Volunteers are a welcome part of our gardening; they are plants that start growing on their own (from the compost or a previous planting).  We excitedly studied them trying to figure out what they were and how much we could afford to save.  Our best guess is that we have watermelon and pumpkin plants growing.

Determining how much we can afford to save is a more difficult assessment.  We all know that weeds are bad.  They interfere with the plant growth and must be removed.   But did you know that good plants can interfere with the growth of other good plants?

Take these plants for example, as they grow they may choke each other out.  There is a risk that neither plant will grow good fruit.  Therefore it is necessary to thin the plants out.  We had to pull out some plants so the other plants would be healthier, grow to maturity and produce the desired fruit - hopefully in large quantities :-)

But guess what... the job is not done.   This thinning is a continuous process.  Each day when we check the garden we find 6 -10 new volunteers.  We have to keep assessing which plants can truly grow into something productive.

This little guy on the right is trying to grow in between two bigger, more mature plants (one of which is shown on the left).  He will fight for food and water like my daughters fight over the biggest handful of Skittles.  It will get ugly and one or more of the plants will loose its nice healthy green color.  Though it is hard to pluck such a nice looking plant from the ground and end its life, doing so was necessary for the survival and maturity of the other plants.

Our lives are similar.  There are many good healthy things we could do to fill our time.  However, if we are not careful, we can try to do too many things - even too many good things.  Especially now in the summer time I feel this tension as I look at activities for the children.  We COULD attend swimming lessons, gymnastics classes, art classes, reading challenges, story times, Vacation Bible Schools, piano lessons, guitar lessons, drum lessons, cheer leading camps, etc., etc.   If we tried to do all of the good things that are available, we would end up so tired we would miss out on healthier family times and teaching opportunities at home.  Just like in the garden, the evaluation has to be constant.   When you get your schedule set, something else WILL grow up to tempt you. 

This doesn't just apply to the family, it applies to me personally as well.   As I anticipate the fall and having my youngest attend kindergarten, I consider what I might do.  I might work, I might volunteer, I might enjoy more lunches with friends, I might read, I might write, etc.  I will have to continue evaluating to consider what things will contribute to the best growth and maturity.

Just as too many volunteer vine plants can choke each other out in my garden, too many activities  (good and solid though they may be) can choke out productivity and quality in my life.

A friend challenged me not to do what is good, not to do what is better, but to do what is BEST.  I pass that challenge on to you.  Have you thought about things in your life that may be choking out better things?   Do you have a plan to put more time and energy into the BEST?

Yard Eats

We finally got around to doing yard work on Saturday!  It was long overdue thanks to our unseasonable March temperatures.  Our March was crazy busy so the yard work went undone until we finally had a free Saturday.

I have learned things about my yard the last two springs.  So before we started chopping grass (and weeds, flowers, and whatever else was in the yard), I went on a hunting expedition.

  

Violets

A couple of springs ago, my friend Stephanie asked for some of my violets (or Johnny Jump-Ups as she called them). Puzzled, I asked why she wanted them to which she replied, "You can eat them!"  Now, my dad had taught me how to nibble on the end of Timothy grass and my mom had shown me how to pluck and nibble clover, but we had never eaten violets.   This was new to me.  But since my yard produces an ABUNDANCE of them, I thought I should pay attention and learn more about them.  Turns out violets are a fun, colorful salad addition.  Earlier this week I used leftover salad on my daughter's sub sandwich and the purple peaking out was quite attractive.

Inspired by my friend Heidi, I even tried Violet Jelly last spring.  It didn't turn out as pretty as the pictures I had seen on the internet, and one batch didn't set up right.  Furthermore, my family doesn't eat a lot of jelly.  So, I decided not to try jelly again this year.  But for those interested, Violet Jelly could be a fun project with pretty and tasty results.

If you choose to gather violets for salad or jelly, look for the nicest bunches.  We have them all over our yard so I stand back and look for the best spots.  I don't want to take the time to try to gather them all!  They're small and it's a little tedious.  But hey, it's free!

Dandelion Greens

Next, I gathered some dandelion greens.  So far I've only been brave enough to add these to a scrambled egg and bacon dish.  I seriously considered adding them to our weekend salad, but since my family doesn't enjoy salad too much to begin with, I decided I'd better not make it worse by adding dandelion greens.  In the egg dish though, there isn't much difference between arugula, spinach or dandelion greens, so it's an easy switch.  I have bookmarked Dandelion Jelly recipes, but I won't be trying them this year as again we don't eat enough jelly to be worth the work.  The book The Healing Herbs by Michael Castleman has a lengthy list of conditions dandelion can help treat and hey, it's free!

Oregano

Next I gathered oregano.  Several years ago I planted an herb garden, but I didn't know what I was doing.  I planted long rows like a traditional vegetable garden.  I couldn't keep up with that many herbs!  I didn't think through what I would use most, I didn't keep up with what was what.  It was a mess.  I finally gave up and began mowing over the herb garden.  Last year I noticed a plant that kept coming back.  I asked my friend Stephanie to help me identify it.  She bravely pulled off a leaf and tasted it.  We finally decided it was oregano.  There is one main "bush" that I keep, but it has smaller growths all over  - those are what I harvested prior to mowing.  This can be added fresh to pastas, sauces or salads.  It can also be dried and frozen for use through the winter.  Oregano helps immunity in several ways, so I've been adding last fall's harvest to meals all winter long.  Oregano oil can help congestion, but as we learned in a winter time experiment - the dried leaves mixed with honey are hard to swallow and thus not recommended by my daughter for cold symptoms  :-)  Because I paid for the seeds probably about seven years ago, and because I do nothing to help it grow, I consider my oregano another yard freebie!

With the harvesting done, we began mowing.  My daughter and I took turns mowing.  During one of my times mowing, I smelled an oniony smell.  After I finished, I went back to the spot and investigated.  Sure enough I had some volunteer onions growing.  I pulled them up and put them in water to replant later.

Onions (volunteer)

Look around and see what freebies your yard has to offer.  Of course, follow standard precautions:  don't eat anything you're not sure about, beware of chemical treatments, use special care if you are pregnant and have stray cats that poop in your yard, etc.  With those cautions in mind, I can tell you I ate everything pictured and lived to write about it :-)  Happy Hunting!