Winter thoughts from a Gardner

Here we are, sliding into winter and almost Christmas! My mind gets very active this time of year, not with 100 things to do like in the summer but rather with introspective thoughts and endless questions of the universe! This is the first year I've gardened so hard in the summer and fall and accomplished so much I set out to do that come November I was truly and genuinely exhausted and READY for an escape from the garden. I walk over to see her about once a week, maybe more sometimes, and I appreciate her calmness. I remember the lushness of summer and not only how gorgeous she was but how much came out of her. In the throws of summer I think too many of us forget to take the time during all of that to stop down and truly be grateful. I know I'm guilty of that and I did try numerous times throughout the summer, more so in the fall, to pull myself back in, inward, to be present, mindful and appreciative. 

This year trying to make my garden make a profit to start a side business of selling veggies and flowers at market, took a whole lot of joy out of the process for me and that was a curve ball I was not expecting. I fought with myself on inner dialogue about the whole thing all summer. I'm very savvy in business and run several other small businesses, quite successfully, so I saw this as something else I could research, study and tackle. Unfortunately, after much effort and countless hours, I came to accept that our local small community is not the greatest market to appreciate and buy fresh, local, organic produce. So by the end of the summer I shifted my focus on how I could produce as much as possible for my own family to can. And THAT mission was a success. We put over 250 jars of food in our pantry and that feels like a win every time I walk in there! 

So this summer and this entire growing year taught me a lot about myself and the garden, as it always does each year. That is another thing that never ceases to amaze me, that I can do the same thing (gardening) every year and still learn so much, have so many failures and successes with the same exact tactics. I think that's why gardening still gives me a childlike joy after 5 years. I feel like I'm just on the peaceful, fulfilling, meandering path with mother nature and together we experiment and a lot of times she shows me who's boss and other times I get big wins and we smile together.

Back to today, it's a cold, dreary, super rainy day in December and we're about to get ready to head to Branson for the weekend for some Christmas cheer and festivities with all the kids. Just before a trip I always feel so full of gratitude because not only does my wandering heart LOVE to travel, but I also love to see new things and show those things to the children, to help increase their world view. So I hope today finds you blessed and if you're a gardener like me I hope you're always counting your blessings, challenging and growing your skills and finding peace and sanctuary in the garden. And in the winter I hope you find the light and blessings in the stillness of winter, to allow your body and soul to truly rest!

xoxo,

Elizabeth

Spring 2020 Plant and Seed Starting

Spring FEVER has hit and is in full swing! This year I'm focusing my energy on planting ALL THE THINGS at my fiance's house, in preparation for our marriage and wedding in the fall, then and after this will be OUR home. In February we put in almost 200 bulbs all over the place and have 60 more on the way from Holland Farms Bulbs!! #hollandfarmsbulbs

In the big tractor tire we put in tulips and daffodils leaving space to add sunflower seeds in the back later in the season! #tulips #tuliplove #tulipplanting

Around the front porch there are some hostas thru the middle so along the back we did tulips and crocus and dwarf iris! #iris #bulbflowers #lovebulbs

Later we went back and decided it was time to plant a few more and we have a small deck beside the above ground pool so we created new beds on each side and planted hollyhocks and gladiolus! The hollyhocks will give us 5-8 ft in heigths to back up the back of the bed and be a real eye pleaser and the gladiolus will fill out the bottom!! #hollyhocks #flowerbeds

I created a new flower bed on the north side of the house. This is the very early stages and I started by putting down weed fabric and planted 3 rose bushes. The opening in the overhead canopy of oak trees will hopefully allow just enough sunlight to this location to allow the rose bushes to flourish! There are 3 different varieties but I'm probably most excited about the bright yellow that I put right in the middle, it'll be under the kitchen window! I plan to create a border for this bed soon, add some perennials, annuals and mulch it...all in the coming weeks!!!

Getting back to gardening season makes my soul so happy!!

Switch on over to my place and in my NEW grow room I've been starting LOTS of seeds!!! I have a ton of perennial flowers and herbs and annual flowers I've been starting, all to fill in these new and established beds at Jeff's house! #growroom

After just almost 2 weeks, things are going SO well in the grow room! I've had a great germination rate on most! #cosmos #yarrow #basils #catnip #catgrass

#lemonadecosmos #hollyhocks #peppers #tomatoes #cucumbers #watermelon #babysbreath #allysum

My grow room has only been established for about 2 weeks now and we grew from 4 grow lights to 6 this weekend so at least 2 more trays to go in very soon! At this point I have started all the veggies that I will be starting from seed and anything else new going in will be more flowers! I think we have plenty of herbs at this point too, lol! This is my grow room on this beautiful Saturday morning in North Central Arkansas and it is just as glorious as the weather today!

The last project I'll share for today is transplanting natural daffodils, my honey prefers to call them Jonquils, lol! They are his favorite flower and favorite thing about Spring and they grow all over the place in the wild. So I took our new Honda Pioneer we recently got (a huge HUGE win for our gardening and veggie growing adventures and love!) and dug up a bed full!

They transplanted so nicely and have stayed alive and happy even after a week. I put them in front of this log that Jeff is working on for me. He is going to carve out a section in the middle for me to plant some spiller flowers into. I already know exactly what is going to go in it, Proven Winners "Supertunias"!!! Come on April!!!! #provenwinners #supertunias #arkansasgardening

Thank you for stopping by to check on what is going on with my many gardening adventures. Now that spring has hit we'll be working on projects EVERY weekend. We absolutely love to be outside and working on things together and including the kids when their attention spans allow, lol! I am going to try to update weekly to create this beautiful log of the creation of a masterpiece, our place!

xoxo,

Elizabeth