Joy in the Garden

I have fallen in love with gardening. I love being outside in the fresh morning air. I love pushing my hands through the dirt to get the weeds out. It is such a blessing to me to watch life take off every year.

It all starts in my kitchen, on the cabinet when I put the tiny seeds in a very small amount of dirt, in a container called a plug. I wrap them in plastic wrap so they will stay moist and within days they begin to sprout. Then off comes the plastic wrap so they can feel the flow of air and life around their infant size plant stock. And down to the grow lights until they are transplanted.

At this stage the plant it called a seedling. These have seedling leaves. When they get their true leaves, their first set of leaves that look like what the plant leaves are suppose to look like, then it is time to put them in a larger pot were they will live until I place them in the ground. 

When I put them in the larger pot they are ready to journey outside to the green house.

The greenhouse protects them from freezing temperatures at night. And provides more intense heat than they would normally get this early in the planting season. Growing them this way gives them a headstart in the garden.

Our first year using this greenhouse. Last year I made a make shift greenhouse like protection over my picnic table.

Inside the greenhouse.

It has been a joyful journey falling in love with this process. I have learned lots of lessons on life though watching the habits of nature.

The joy of learning

I love learning, If I could have someone do all my housework and other responsibilities I would spend the day learning.  I would learn and study anything I could.  It wasn't always like that. When I was younger, especially as an older teen, I couldn't see the point to going to school and learning something I wasn't especially interested in. I knew it was for my own good, so I did some of it. Not all of it. I did a fair job and got C's and B's.

So if I could imagine for a few minutes what the perfect school would of been for me, it might look like this.  Grade school would be just as it was. I loved it.  I loved learning then. I know I did. (when I started first grade, I was so excited to have homework.  When I got home and sat down by my brother to do my home work, I must of made a comment that I was having fun, because he said something to the effect that, "It was NOT fun." I was young then, and I don't remember a lot from my youth, but I remember having this conversation very vividly, because I remember thinking there must be something wrong with me if I loved doing my homework, because my big brother, who I thought was very smart because he was older that me, did not like it.)

Then Jr. High would be different. There you would start learning more about yourself and what you where driven to do. You would get to take any class you wanted, and find your interests. And after a couple of years if your interest changed you would start at a beginning level for that subject.  In my school structure there would still be some instruction in core subjects, but not to intense, unless it was your passion, and you could excel in those subjects. In my school there would be lots of learning about yourself, how I think and how that affects my being, how it plays apart of who I become and how it plays into what I am choosing for life long pursuits.

I can just picture myself enjoying a myriad of things until I find just the right things, and because of who I am, I might of been in a lot of different classes.

High School would be accelerated learning on the subjects that are driving you, and you would know they are driving you. But it could still be a place to start all over at the beginning of a new path depending on how your interest are changing.

Joy With Grandchildren

Grandchildren Joy

Peter and "Papa"

It's always a joyful time watching "papa" with the Grandchildren.  Right now we have 4 beautiful grandchildren.

Evan

Evan born November 21, 2012, 

Peter's 1st birthday, born April 29th, 2014

Peter born April 29, 2014, 

Ivy Adele

Ivy Adele Pace, born February 19, 2015, 

Michael Charels

and Michael Charels, Born November 7, 2015.

My husband Michael recently discovered that these first 4 grandchildren's names make the an acronym EPIC. We have EPIC grand children for sure! :)