Progress in the Garden

Well, the garden is coming along, slow but steady. Our baby plants get no morning sun, which for now seems like a hindrance but may prove later on, in the hottest part of the summer, to be more of a good thing. The tomatoes that we grew from seed in the house through the early part of spring have been in the ground for almost a month now with very little growth. But the very same tomato plants are growing crazily in pots on the back porches of my parents' and sister's houses. While expert gardeners keep telling us to be patient, that the tomatoes will catch up, there's just no way to tell at this point. I'm learning that that's the thing with gardening--it's a learn as you go sort of thing. Pretty much like parenting. Or life, really.

Our lettuce:

Pea pods!

Paul built this teepee for our peas: 

 Our pole beans, which are politely asking for stakes:

Just for fun, here is a photo of Penny having spaghetti for the first time. Paul and I just kept putting pasta in front of her and watching her do this to it, dreading the clean up afterwards.

Paul spotted these beauties in the pasture while we tended the garden, and I was quick to grab the camera: 

And here is one of the flowers on our gigantic magnolia in the front yard: 

What's New at JoyfulGifts

During my blogging hiatus, unfortunately my Etsy store suffered a bit as well, and every listing ended up expiring, and I just left things that way. But I have recently stocked up again, shot new photos, and filled up my store! I'm sort of having a Grand Re-opening, and I'd love for you to come take a look! If you like us on Facebook and then buy something and mention Facebook in your comments, I'll give you a 15% discount!

Come see our baby and toddler blankets, bibs and burp cloths, pencil tote bags, children's aprons, tooth fairy pillows, and wine gift bags. Please also remember that I'm always adding new inventory, and I will do custom work. If you see something you like but might like it in a different fabric or maybe want me to put together a coordinating gift set, I can do that, and I can do it quickly. :)

GOFO Urban Farm Tour

When we moved to South Carolina, Paul wanted to become involved in the local sustainable agriculture scene and ended up joining with this group: Greenville Organic Food Organization. and sitting on GOFO's Urban Farm Tour's planning committe, which happened this past weekend. The tour included 31 sites to visit, all within 8 to 10 miles of downtown Greenville, and all which follow organic practices.
My friend, Joy and her family came down to attend with us. We started out at the GOFO headquarters to tour a couple of gardens there, get acquainted with local businesses, and attend a workshop on raising chickens. We were also able to buy some organic snacks and rub elbows with urban farmers that are in the know! What a treat for those of us who are still pretty new to all of this!

We left HQ and toured a couple of sites with impressive gardens. The first one, Appalachian Feet, contains chicken, bees, vegetables, and berries, all in an 1/8th-acre backyard space! All over the place the owners had posted handy little notes for our reading.

From there we headed to another site, where the owners also raise chickens, bees, vegetables, and berries, but they also have a backyard greenhouse. Just beside the greenhouse we noticed a large raspberry bush, where one of the owners invited us to taste the berries to our content!

At that point we headed home to let Miss Penny nap and have lunch, and then we headed back out to some sites on the other side of the tour. Along the way our trip was slightly delayed by some geese crossing the road:

Once we'd found our way to Blueberry Hill, we were quite impressed with its 120 chickens and huge area of blueberry bushes! This family farm offers pick-your-own berries in the summer, which we will be sure to take advantage of this year!

Our last stop was a backyard garden in a subdivision. It was quite different from the rest of the sites we visited, but equally impressive with its raised beds, blueberry bushes, flowers, vegetables, and herbs:

What I appreciated most about this tour was the manner in which each site owner made the most of his space. Being an urban farm tour, the criteria included being within 10 miles of the GOFO Headquarters, so some of these sites had very little space. Appalachian Feet best exemplified this aspect, for sure!

I was also quite impressed with the beauty and diversity of these sites. It was apparent that these site owners love what they do and are interested in sharing their knowledge with others. I am happy to have made some contacts with businesses and gardeners who can help us get just a little closer to what we as a family are trying to achieve!

Up Close and Personal

We are working hard to teach our kids where our food comes from. One of the ways we are doing this is not only through growing what food we can but also through supporting local farms and even developing relationships with these farmers. I want my kids to see the process behind "Real Food," identify the crops, know the names of the animals that are producing milk, eggs, etc. I want them to have a holistic view of nature and how it relates to man through food.
When we moved to this area, I was so happy to learn that South Carolina is one of only six states where it is entirely legal to purchase raw milk directly from a local farm with no strings attached. We bought raw milk in Virginia, but we had to buy a membership to a farm in Pennsylvania, and we could get milk only every other week, had to pick it up only between certain hours, etc. It was also much more expensive. But it was a good product, so we did what we had to do. I am so glad to say, however, that we now live much closer to a wonderful little dairy farm that we can support any day of the week!
Our local farmer has been in business for many years and has always raised his own cows. Every one he has on the farm he has raised from a newborn calf, the offspring of another one of his cows. He calls them each by name, and when they see him walk out of the house toward the milking station, they excitedly work their way towards him. One can see how much he cares for his animals.
I've spent enough time there lately that I'm getting to know the cows' names, too. And every time I visit, the desire I have to buy my own dairy cow grows a little stronger. They are just the sweetest animals. And how wonderful it would be to have our own fresh milk whenever we want it!
Our farmer's cows have started their calving season, so last week I packed up the kids to visit a couple of calves and a couple of heiffers that seemed pretty happy to have some visitors. The kids were delighted, too!

This poor girl had her calf about a week before this picture was taken--she's giving six gallons a day!

If you're not familiar with the safety and benefits of drinking and using raw milk (the way it's meant to be consumed), I'd encourage you to check out www.realmilk.com. 

New Frontiers

While I'm on my kick, I'd like to share some views of our very first garden. The property that we live on is about two acres of house and yard, surrounded by eighteen acres of pasture. Our vegetable garden is basically in the middle of a huge field, on the other side of a thick treeline through which we have to pass from the house. Here is the view of the pasture once you pass through the trees:

This is just about the most grass my kids had ever seen by the time we'd moved here. Such a different way of life we have now. It's so peaceful.

Our latest, and possibly the biggest, project we've taken on is our garden. We spent the winter months removing sod, tilling, adding various composts, including worm compost, and different organic nutrients since this is basically virgin ground. I have to admit that Paul, along with his trusty sidekicks, did most of the groundbreaking work, while I helped with planning the spacing, buying seeds and starting them indoors and such.

At this point, we have some lovely seedlings and small plants in a fenced-in (we have lots of deer and without a fence would have an all-you-can-eat buffet) 20 x 20 plot that offers just about all the work we can handle. We have planted 4 different kinds of tomatoes (I'm planning on canning quite a bit), 2 different kinds of peppers, carrots, onions, 3 different kinds of lettuce, zucchini, cucumbers, beets, pole beans, peas, yellow squash, and watermelon. We'll see how it goes!

This is the entire garden with some fun edits with my new camera. :)

One of our biggest babies, a garden pea



Here are my other babies, my cilantro, basil, parsley, chives, oregano, thyme, and dill:

This last shot is just for fun. While testing my new camera, I reached up high to catch the top of this nest in the fern on my front porch, not realizing until I looked at the shot that there are a couple of eggs inside! What fun it will be for the kids to have baby birds on the front porch!

New Title

A long while back I wrote a post explaining that I was going to need a new title for my blog, but then I never changed it. It didn't seem fair to name my blog by the names of two of my three kids. And now that I'm older and wiser, I have the sense not to just change the name of my blog from "Charlie and Judah" to "Charlie, Judah, and Penelope," knowing full well that that is probably the best way to ensure that I will immediately become pregnant again. Paul is suggesting, "Charlie, Judah, Penelope, etc., etc." but I don't know. Seems a little hopeful on his part.
So I came up with "Keeping Time." If you're poetic at all or a lover of words, then you get it. But just for fun, and because I like to hear myself talk, I will go ahead and explain the double meaning. I spend a lot of time focusing on our daily rhythm. It's helpful to me (and the kids) to have routine, but it's also such an important aspect to all life. While we're not exactly Waldorf-y around here, I truly appreciate that part of Waldorf training, which is summarized beautifully here. In this sense, "keeping time" speaks to keeping the rhythm. Secondly, I like to think of my blogging as capturing these snippets of our life, thus keeping time. So, you see? Aaahh, yes, you see.
We took quite a hiatus there. Nearly every day I thought about my blog and ached to sit down and write something or post some pictures. But life was just overbearing, and I had to submit. For some reason I feel life calming down a wee bit, so just as blogging was set aside, blogging is picked up again. I don't know if it's the longer days of spring v. winter? We have also finished our formal schooling (I say formal because you know that schooling is always happening, even if we're not sitting at the table doing math worksheets or reading from a textbook) for the year, thus freeing even more time.
Since it has been so long, I would like to take just a minute and update you on my sister's status. She is still waiting. Waiting for a heart and liver. There isn't much to say except that while her physical health is deteriorating, she remains at home for the time being. She is on full-time oxygen and weakens and tires easily, but her spirits are up. I would covet your prayers on her behalf: that she would grow ever closer to God and see His higher ways, and that her call would come in His perfect timing. And of course for her children, husband, parents. siblings, and other family and friends that love her. You might also pray for the family of the donor, whoever that might be, as it is sure to be a painful time for them.
Thank you for reading, and have a beautiful day, wherever you are.

O my God, I offer unto Thee all my thoughts, works, joys, and sufferings of this day.

And I beseech Thee to grant me Thy grace that I may not offend Thee this day; but may faithfully serve Thee and do Thy holy will in all things. Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

May the Lord bless us, and keep us from evil, and bring us unto everlasting life. Amen.

Catching Up

I just don't know where to begin. It's been too long, friend. I'm going to try to ease my way back into the blogosphere again. I think for my first post in seven months (how can that be???), I'm going to begin with a few shots from our recent family portrait session with my friend Joy. She took us out to a park near her home in North Carolina where we tried our darnedest to coax smiles out of a camera-shy Charlie. Of all the kids, she was the last one I had pegged for trouble, but I guess you never can tell with kids, huh? But Joy, armed with some helpers and a quick trigger finger, managed to capture quite a few good moments:

They turned out beautifully, didn't they? Many thanks to Joy and her family of helpers. :)