Pantry talk: When creativity counts

Chocolate cherry cake waiting for frosting

I've been thinking of a post about creativity in the kitchen for sometime now but when real life intervened... it was time.  That was when I wanted to make my chocolate cherry cake but did not have any chocolate chips to make the fudgy glaze.

I thought for a bit and stared at the recipe (which, unfortunately, did not make chocolate chips appear in front of me) and then decided to go ahead and make the cake but try it with my chocolate buttercream frosting instead.  Oh, yum... it was delicious.  A different taste and texture but quite good.

Having lived out of the pantry and now on a very tight budget, I know the value of being creative in the kitchen.  I'm sure part of it has to do with being a "pinch of this and dash of that" kind of cook (except baking must be more precise).  But it certainly helps to have an out of the box way of thinking when you are stretching the budget.

Here are a few lessons I've learned over the years of pantry life:

Knowledge is as important as stocking up - Knowing how to cook from scratch is essential to using the pantry wisely, not to mention cooking on a budget.  The more we do anything, the better we get.  So... one must often throw caution to the wind and try something new in the kitchen, especially when we have basic skills down pat.  Summer is a perfect time for this with all the fresh veggies and fruits available.

There is an alchemy to the kitchen... a chemistry of food... in which it is important to have a basic knowledge.  But that comes a little at a time and hopefully in the kitchen of a parent, grandparent, beloved neighbor, etc.  (If one is not fortunate enough to begin learning kitchen basics early, then it is really never too late to learn.)  The more we become use to putting food together, the easier it becomes to tweak the ingredients when necessary.

I like to have a good home library of cookbooks available so I can find instruction and inspiration.  I look for good cookbooks at library sales and such as well as using Amazon credit once in awhile for books about cooking or gardening (sometimes both together).  My taste in cookbooks has changed through the years and my shelves now reflect a combination of books about fresh foods and local cooking as well as my favorite Midwestern, Southern, Mennonite, Amish, etc. cookbooks.  Long gone are the gourmet books...

I truly have found that just one or two great recipes from a cookbook pays for the cost in the long run (and most have far more than one or two useful recipes).  I usually will look for a cookbook which has been recommended by a friend or blogger whom I respect and I know likes the same kind of recipes I do.  Except for library sales, online book sellers do seem to have the best prices.

Of course, now there are so many wonderful food and cooking blogs to learn from that were not available when I was learning to cook (I still am learning, though!).  My library also has shelves and shelves of cookbooks available to borrow for two weeks.  I have spiral notebooks that I write out recipes in while I have the books at home.  If I really like a library cookbook, it goes on my Wish List.

I took various cooking classes as a young wife and they have paid back over and over what ever money was spent on them back then.  Knowledge learned cannot be taken away (barring brain injury, of course) and all we know about cooking will come together to help us stretch our budget in the long run. 

My local gourmet shop offers classes in all kinds of ethnic cooking, knife skills, tea time cooking, cake design, etc. While I didn't take any of them, I thought they were very reasonably priced.  One could learn to make Indian food for the price of a couple restaurant meals.

The more you know about cooking and baking and decorating cakes and gardening and interior design and landscaping and cleaning and sewing and knitting and painting and making stuff with kids and taking care of pets and all those aspects of the job of homemaker... the easier it is to create on a budget.

Good equipment is important to good cooking - I do know our grandmothers were able to get by with a couple good iron skillets (and I do have two sizes of wonderful iron skillets) but I must say when I make a sauce in my All-Clad saucepan... it is heavenly. 

My local gourmet kitchen store puts one piece of All-Clad half price each month and I used some of my income from a seasonal job for it a few years ago (when I could still work part-time).  I expect it will be in perfect condition for Elisabeth to inherit!  I bought a couple nice Cuisinart pans with that same paycheck.

I have really good cookware, knives, etc. mostly because I budgeted for them or asked for certain items at Christmas and for birthdays through the years.  Thankfully, for the past few years I've found some great items while thrifting or at garage sales since such expenditures are no longer in the budget.

Cooking with cheap equipment makes as much sense as building a house with tools from the dime store  Bad cookware makes bad cooks.  Not to mention... a homemaker needs reference books just as an architect or other creative professional.   This becomes even more evident as we must make a home in the midst of shortages and rising costs.  It can all be done... the building of an excellent cookbook and home making library... a little at a time.  :)

Develop new skills - Decide to learn something new, at least once new skill a year!  I'm determined to finally use my pressure canner.   Re-learning old skills will be like gold in the bank... I'm convinced of it.

Concentrate on the basics and know what is on the shelves - Which means we have to be... ugh... organized.  Really, really organized when it comes to our pantry.  We need to know what we have and how much and use the oldest dates first.  There needs to be a master list (mine is in the Scrapbook Journal) of what we would like to have in our pantry as well as what is essential.

I do not have the ability to keep a deep pantry, anymore.  Funds are getting more scarce all the time.  So that means knowing the essentials and having them on hand is even more important... such things as flour, sugars, butter (in the freezer), other baking supplies, canned tomatoes, pasta, ingredients for specific casseroles, etc.  The essentials will be different for each family, of course.

I was able to think of the chocolate buttercream frosting because I knew I had those ingredients on hand.  Having basics on the pantry shelves certainly encourages creativity and sometimes I like to include a few unusual items.  That's how I started making middle eastern food... adding tahini and new spices to the pantry.

Deepen the pantry as much as possible - That is, to what extent your family decides to deepen their pantry and what is affordable.  But if you get used to a pantry lifestyle, then you begin to notice the cycle of sales and bargains... stocking up on sale!  You will save money if nothing else.

However, if there is any emergency... if there is a problem with the the supply line of food... if there is bad weather and shortages... if there is a significant and long term job loss... a deep pantry is insurance you can eat.

Follow the delights of your heart - People come and go from this blog all the time.  Numbers go up and down (thankfully up a lot more than down!).  I know that the people who read Coffee Tea Books and Me regularly have the same passions that I do about life, Faith, family, friends, books, tea time, etc. but the one subject I hear about the most that people love to read about is... the pantry posts.

I believe that is because God is placing within the hearts of those who will listen (and most often the women in a family) the desire to stock up and learn new skills.  There is a reason for that.  I'm not sure exactly what it is... it could be the economy or the food shortages due to bad weather or any number of things in the world today... but God is definitely at work in the hearts of like minded people.

If nothing else, I hope you get encouraged to learn all you can and stock up on what is possible and know you are not alone.

Note:  This post is being written really, really fast as there is much to do in the real world of cooking and gardening and laundry and making certain Miss Victoria does not get out to chase the squirrels.  Please disregard any typos and grammar errors.  ;)

Scenes from the day...

Dishes stacked and draining

Kale from the garden

Scrapbook Journal and books

waiting for attention...

(Hubby is reading the Glen Beck novel)

Scary feet propped on table

The end of a busy day...

The garden meets the Scrapbook Journal

I wrote down what I remembered about the 2010 garden before starting the 2011 information.

Last year I wished I'd kept a detailed garden diary so this Spring I started a section in my Scrapbook Journal.

If I had a bigger garden, I'd create a journal just for it but this works great.

I don't know why I didn't think of this last year, it is so easy to write it all down.

The date in parenthesis is the harvest date according to instructions.

I had to make a page for raised bed #5 when hubby built it.

I have left a couple extra pages blank to write out what worked, what did not, when items were harvested, etc.

So far it is working nicely and is so simple to use... I love simple.

In case you have never seen other pages from my Scrapbook Journal... below are a few pages to give you an idea of how I use it...

I use it to write recipes... in this case, I made lists and wrote out recipes I used for our graduation open house.  Wow, that seems like only yesterday!

My main stock up list gets added to in the Journal.

I use my Journal to write favorite quotes and Bible verses, too.

There was nearly a year when I didn't write much at all but a couple months ago I dusted it off... all a part of my year to Create!

Of course, it all got started a few years ago when my precious friend, Jewels, showed her Scrapbook Journal and I was smitten.

A link to hers can be found... here.  

Past posts about my Scrapbook Journal can be found... here.

These posts have links to other blogger's Scrapbook Journals, too.

Note:  All pictures may be enlarged by clicking on them.

Sunday Afternoon Tea

Take delight in the LORD,  

and he will give you the desires of your heart.  

Psalms 37:4 (NIV)

My thoughts this week... all week long... have been about the subject of our heart's desires.  I'm not certain what sparked the first ponder but it seems to have been in front of me all week in the form of words spoken by others, written sentences, and even shared Scripture.  It seemed as if our Lord wanted to imprint the idea into my mind all week.

I have often felt one of the most important lessons learned in my life is that of learning to acknowledge the Presence of God in the midst of foggy, cloudy, and hazy faith.  Like most people my age... as I have mentioned before... I was taught what success was suppose to look like, only to realize it was mostly an altar to false gods. 

No wonder antidepressants, alcohol, and drug abuse are so prevalent in our society.  So many people did get what they thought they wanted only to find... emptiness.

I think my first lesson learned about receiving my heart's desires came when I learned what they truly were.  For it was often in the midst of trials and tribulation that true desires of the heart... those things which bring joy to my life... were realized. 

It was not so much the big stuff... although they could bring temporary happiness... the new car smells... a longed for vacation... the new house... the promotion when I was still part of a corporate lifestyle.  They were good but fleeting.

I came to realize that heart's desires were more about a lifestyle than the stuff for which we long.  Which is why the Book can promise us that as we take delight in Him... we will realize our heart's desires. 

Oh, I know the great teachers of the Word tell us that is due to our will being in tune with His will and that He actually places those desires within us.

I'm certain that is true about the big stuff... our gifts and our bents and our great desires... whom we desire to marry and perhaps even the friends to whom we find ourselves drawn through the years.  I know the book of Acts tells us He puts us in the place and the time of history in which He designed us to live.  I know all of that.

But I'm talking about the little things... those which bring joy to our heart and a smile to our face in the moment to moment to moment... day in and day out living of life.  It is as we grow in Him that we put ourselves in a position to be blessed. 

When we can honestly say, "Your will and not mine be done in my life".  When we no longer stomp our feet and pout and shake our fist toward the heavenlies to demand what we want... now!

For when we tell him we have to have this or nothing thank you very much... we are making an idol of whatever this is to us.  But when we lay our Isaac down... sometimes He gives us that desire and we thank Him.  Sometimes He does not but even then we must thank Him for His gifts.  That has taken a lifetime of learning.

So... that is why I can thank Him for seeds that grow, and pretty teacups, and Victoria coming to live with us after Sasha's passing, and five dollars given for gas, and unexpected gifts of herbs and books and pretty things and needed stuff, and the surprise gift just when I wanted to purchase items for the garden.

I can thank Him when the weeds in my yard started blooming with the most beautiful of flowers, and notes or e-mails from friends, and lovely writing by like-minded bloggers, and the lunch-movie early birthday gift from certain sons, and the gift of chocolate and K-cups from my daughter in her father's suitcase, and hubby spending hours getting the lawn to look perfect... etc.

Oh, there have been the big stuff from time to time.  This house at the edge of the forest that I love.  My daughter's healthy birth after her brother's premature birth and passing.  My son's unexpected coming along twelve years later.  Both after being told I may never be able to carry a child full term. 

There have been other houses and cars and pretty furniture and art work and careers and lovely homeschooling days.  There were graduations and wedding and holidays and reunions and all the other longed for events.  All for which I am eternally grateful.

But really... it is the small stuff that makes a lifetime of gratitude.  When we realize it is the stuff found of Eden for which our heart yearns... the beautiful... the peaceful... the people... and most of all... the Presence. 

All found when we yield our desires to the One who Created us.  When our search finds us at the altars of the false gods of materialism and coveting and demanding our way, even if we do get what we wanted... we will still be empty inside.

I have almost heard in the distance... perhaps I did... Godly laughter when I found a gorgeous teacup for my collection at a garage sale for pennies... or when I have become excited over a perfectly shaped garden tomato... or even when I opened a gift and I knew that it all started with His placing thoughts of me in the heart of a friend.

When the stuff of God becomes our delight, He truly takes joy in gifting us and watching our response in thankfulness to Him. 

The herb garden in late June

 

I love the way the herb section of my garden is looking this year.

Most of my perennial herbs made it through a rough winter.  Only one of the lemon verbena plants was lost in the actual herb bed but the remaining plant is so large, I didn't try to grow another.

Everything looks fairly healthy although the constant rain has not been good for any of the garden (I had to throw away one of the kale plants today, it had started to rot).

The basil is growing near the tomatoes (somehow I did not get a picture).  They are just now beginning to grow nicely but definitely could use more sunshine.  I didn't replant rosemary this year... so far.  I'd still like to plant some herbs in containers.

Oh, and I planted lemon balm near the house, I'm hoping it grows there like ground cover.

Rober's Lemon Rose sits in the front and middle with lime, peppermint, and lemon meringue scented geraniums on the porch.  They will at times be moved out among the others to receive full sun.

Rose scented geranium grows in the bird cage

The scented geraniums are doing great in containers this year growing on and near the front porch.

The apple mint covers half the bed.  I pulled out runners this spring that started into an area I didn't want it to grow.  Mint grows so well in our area that it is one of the state's main crops. 

This year I've already harvested the leaves twice (by cutting them back).  I decided to dry most of the apple mint to use as tea later.  To make the tea fresh, I just wash it and then stuff a couple handfuls in my teapot... cover with boiling water... and let it sit about ten minutes.  That easy!

There is a great segment about making mint tea in the West Ladies' herb DVD... which I highly recommend.  I have watched it over and over and plan to watch it again soon.  The Amazon link is... here.

After I harvest the herbs, I wash them really well in the sink and then let them drain.

Then I place them on a big towel and roll it up to absorb all the extra moisture.  This time I let them sit overnight that way since I didn't have time to work with them until the following day.

They dry hung up in the little bathroom where the shower stall is used for storage.  I have had four or five hangers drying herbs at one time (years past).

The dried herbs shown above were all prepared for storage after I took this picture.  I'll talk more about how I do that another time.  The herbs which were drying further in the towel are now happily hanging on this hanger.  :)

Many thanks to Carolee from  Carolee's Herb Farm for her gift of some scented geranium plants.  She took a chance to send some plants and they survived the mail and the heat!  I am thrilled with how they are growing.

How a comment leads to a fond memory

Sally and me (my coat looks like a tent and I was sick but I will share this picture anyway!!!)

I love meeting people through Coffee Tea Books and Me.  Most I won't meet in person (this side of Glory) but some I've been able to meet... even in passing.

Hey, Mom... hurry up

I was so glad to see a comment on yesterday's post from Irina.  We met when Stephanie and I went to a conference where our friend Sally Clarkson was speaking in Connecticut (not far from Steph's place). I've thought of Irina quite often, wondered how she was doing.  I can't believe that has now been over a year and a half.

One of the funniest and most magical events happened that weekend.  Stephanie had been hard at work getting her (former) house ready to become a B&B for us and the Clarkson family.  She always makes visiting her home special.

A friend knew she was going to the conference and mentioned she didn't know why Steph was working so hard, that it wasn't like she was having Sally Clarkson or Elizabeth George actually at her house... hehehe.  I think that was when she found out Sally was one of her friend's all time favorite authors.

Well, Stephanie was telling Sally about it and they both thought it would be fun to meet her friend, especially since she had wanted to go to the conference but it was sold out when she tried to get a ticket.  Although Sally did think it would be better to call first, Stephanie wanted it to be a surprise.

So, Stephanie, Sally, Elisabeth (who was then around age 7), and moi' all found ourselves driving through the quintessential New England town to surprise Stephanie's friend... who happens to have a house full of boys and had just finished dinner.

It truly was a moment to remember and I think enough time has passed that she has forgiven us for not calling first so she could quickly clean up her house a bit (although it looked fine to me). Sally has long been one of my favorite authors but to me she has become just "Sally"... my sweet and talented friend.  But it was still just too funny to see the look on the face of Stephanie's friend when Sally walked in her kitchen.  :)

Now... for the magical part... the leaves had all turned their glorious autumn colors and the town is beautifully quaint, like a Currier & Ives painting... in itself breathtaking.  Then it started to snow... a soft snow... an October snow.  Snow falling on the leaves of rust and gold and red and orange.  It honestly glittered as the street lamps began to glow.

We all agreed it was as if we were inside a snow globe.  I thought it felt we were in Narnia.

Stephanie, Faith, Joel Clarkson, Sally Clarkson

Sarah Clarkson, Hubby, Clay Clarkson

We returned to Stephanie's Bed & Breakfast house and while everyone else watched Bleak House, Sally and I chatted at the kitchen table.  We were all exhausted from a busy weekend.  Sally and Clay had not only been busy with the conference but they were getting by with very little sleep (partly due to a last minute appearance on Fox and Friends in New York).

Traveling is always difficult for me and I was also battling the start of that infection that would later send me to the emergency room twice last year.  However...

Life is never really perfect but often good and that weekend will always be among my fondest memories... all sparked by one blog friend's comment.  :)

Note:  Pictures taken in Autumn, 2009.  I don't know where my son-in-law was at the time, just noticed he was missing!  Probably keeping the other children out of trouble?

The garden in late June

I told you it was growing!

 

I experimented with where I put the tomatoes this year (while at the same time rotating them).  I knew they would grow okay at the one end of the bed but was not so sure about the the two closest to the tree.

The above picture will show you what shade does to a tomato plant.  The one on the right is leggy but at least it is growing.

The one on the left is the exact same plant, planted at the same time but it sits under the tree limb.  Next year I'll go back to planting items which will grow nicely with some shade.

The green beans are growing.  You can't really see it here but the seeds I planted for the second round of beans are sprouting in the middle of the bed.

The kale and cauliflower are both huge.  So far the cauliflower is okay but we've had such a hot spring, I only hope it continues to do well.  I've already harvested some of the kale (which has grown okay for me this year and in the past with heat).

I was pleasantly surprised to harvest one cucumber already.  :)

I love seeing everything grow!  Tomorrow I'll show more of the herb garden.

Homemade tahini and Israeli salad

Well, Blogger is not letting me upload my garden pictures so I thought I'd share this recipe for tahini from Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood (a library book which is now on my Wish List).  :)

She says tahini can be hard to find at stores in the country so she included this recipe in her Georgia Pate recipe (which she calls hillbilly hummus as it uses boiled peanuts).

Homemade Tahini

1 cup toasted sesame seeds

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Blend together (I assume this means in a blender) and store in refrigerator up to two weeks.

Yes, you must try the Jerusalem Salad.  It is delicious.  I first tried it at one of the Mediterranean restaurants near campus.  

There is another similar dish which is called Israeli Salad, which is (or so I have read) the official salad of Israel and included in their daily meals.  I haven't made it but I plan to soon. 

It is very much like the Jerusalem Salad but it also includes onions and it has a lemon and extra virgin olive oil dressing (and does not use tahini).  I did a little searching and found a recipe that is simple but does not include the onions most recipes call for... here.

I'm working on the Recommendations List... slowly but surely.  It is taking awhile but as with most things in my life... it does get accomplished "a little bit at a time".  ;)

Hummus and Jerusalem Salad

I have posted the recipes for hummus and for Jerusalem Salad on Coffee Tea Books and Recipes... here.

If you have never visited my recipe blog, it is actually more of an online bloggy cookbook where I post recipes I've talked about here as well as favorite family recipes.

The recipes are divided by type and links are provided on the sidebar... such as main dishes, salads, cookies, cakes, etc.

Sunday Afternoon Tea

Carpe Diem!

My ponderings this week have been scattered abroad as one would plant wildflower seeds but most come under the umbrella of... Carpe Diem... seize the day.  Although in the heat and humidity of summer I think it would be more like... embrace the day.  Seizing requires too much energy at the moment.

While I am not fond of summer's heat (and this has already been an extraordinarily hot season), I do love the extended light of day and all the life around me.  Well, except the spiders and the mosquitoes.  But you know what I mean... for this is the time of year one can plant a seed in the ground and almost see it grow.

I have come to learn that there are seasons of life in which joy does not naturally occur, that to feel the joy and experience the joy, one must embrace that which brings joy first.  I need to have planted the garden to see it grow and write the e-mail (or better yet, a real letter) for a response and to think about making my husband's favorite cake for Father's Day or look through the cookbook for something new to try.

I can either sit in a chair and mope and mutter or I can put on my walking shoes and go outside to hear the ever present symphony of bird songs.  There is always the temptation to watch a rerun of a TV show I've already seen two times before instead of taking a book off of the shelf which I've wanted to read for ages or sit on the porch reading through Valley of Vision and absorbing the beauty of written Puritan prayers.

To truly seize the day... in spite of any and all adverse circumstances... one has to do instead of just respond and think of ways to take advantage of all that is lovely summer has to offer.  Some days I find that easy as I wake up to beautiful weather and all needs met for the day... and even a few Godly desires.  I feel thankful for the breeze as I'm watering the garden and chat with the One Who Created Me about the miracle of planting and sowing.

I must admit there are other days in which I do not want to embrace the day... much less go about seizing anything.  When I'm not feeling well or the bank account is zero or there is a stack of dirty dishes waiting to be done and I'm already exhausted from getting dinner.  When people are cranky and Victoria is in a snit and my patience has run quite thin and I want to shout out, "Beam me up Scotti God!".

But there is something about Summer which doesn't allow melancholy to last for long.  It is a season which asks to be seized... or at the very least embraced. Those of us who live in northern climates realize how brief are the days of warmth and sun.  Gardeners and farmers alike often feel as if the seeds are planted and they blink and the harvest has arrived. 

Children are the most free in Summer and perhaps more than anyone truly embrace all that the season gives us.  I also must admit having quite fond memories of my late teenage years driving in my Mustang with my girlfriends... the aroma of Coppertone and the sounds of WLS Chicago coming from the radio.

Jesus said we are to "become like little children" and I've been thinking of that quite often lately as I awake with Carpe Diem in my thoughts.  I will embrace each day in spite of some challenges and because of many gifts from Above and most of all because I know I'm just passing through and there will be a day when there are no dark nights or lack or illness or spiders the size of Buicks in my bathroom in the middle of the night.

That is a thought worth embracing each and every day.  In the meantime... He only asks that we lean on Him and His Word and we'll do just fine thank you... embracing and seizing and learning to look forward to each and every day He gives us on the planet.

Dad and the ditch lilies (a rerun)

The ditch lilies are beginning to bloom here in the country.  They always remind me of my father so I thought it appropriate to repeat this Father's Day post from three or four years ago...

I don't have a lot of clear memories of my father since he passed away suddenly when I was only ten years old. However, one memory that I have shared with my husband and children is the clearest of all...that of Dad and the ditch lilies.

We lived in an old farmhouse when I was a small child. It had only enough land for a few animals, some chickens, and a huge garden. It sat across from a grain elevator, at the corner where two gravel roads met. We had a few neighbors, mostly other smallish houses, what we would call "hobby farms" these days. Between us and the various towns in different directions, there were some "real farms" where one would find acres and acres of tall stalks of corn growing each summer.

Train tracks separated our house and the tall grain elevator. To this day, I love the sound of the train whistles in the distance. You don't hear them much around here anymore. I remember taking walks with my dad along those roads when the evening had cooled enough to make the gravel more comfortable...for they can get quite hot for little feet. Dad was around 6'3" tall and I was but a little girl when we lived on this gravel road. So it probably is understandable that my memories of both him and daylilies are that they were both huge!

We didn't call them daylilies in our neck of the woods...they were always known as ditch lilies, for they grew wild in the ditches each summer. That's why I was thinking of him this week. It wasn't the gorgeous yellow daylilies growing along our backyard fence, nor the orange lilies next to the house, both planted by previous owners. It wasn't the lilac colored daylilies my husband planted this year. No, it was the old fashioned deep orange daylilies growing in the ditches on the roads I travel most of the time...the roads that take me "to the country". The same kind of lilies that sent us out for a walk in the evening...on gravel roads.

My dad was not an educated man as such. He only finished 8th grade, a practice very common to men of that and previous generations. Back then, many boys had to leave their formal schooling at that age to begin working. However, he knew a lot about the important things of life like flowers, and building things, stopping on trips to take pictures of animals in the field and whatever else grabbed his attention, hunting, fishing, and how to love daughters. People who knew him used to talk about his kindness.

I've been told many times that he cried when I was born because he had wanted a little girl so badly. Since this was a second marriage for both (he being divorced many years and my mother a widow with seven children when they married), and mom was well into her 40s, my siblings thought their mother had died giving birth only to find out he was crying because they had a little girl!

I only had him around for ten years but I learned a lot from him. Not so much in formal learning but the kind that is absorbed by small children, those lessons we pick up when the older folks don't know children are looking and listening. I've been called a kind person, that's definitely from Dad. I love flowers, gardens, creeks, and small creatures of the woods...definitely from Dad...although I prefer to admire the small creatures from a distance rather than having them for dinner. :)

I never had a chance to say goodbye but I've prayed for years that in the hours Dad knew he was dying, he remembered the Gospel and made peace with his Creator. How I would love to know that the tall, gentle man with the hands calloused from "building things" would be there waiting for his girl. I'm certain God will let there be plenty of ditch lilies in Heaven.

Good enough

It's rather remarkable what one learns while gardening.  I guess that's why Jesus gave so many parables about the entire process of raising food and tending animals... it gets to the heart of... our heart.

Recently I was talking to the smallest of the tomato plants in the raised bed which receives shade.  I had removed the tall green structure from it to use on the cucumber plant which was growing nicely.  Very much a case of "robbing Peter to pay Paul".

However, I was telling the plant that I will buy another large tomato cage when I could budget for it and apologizing profusely for having it grow with no support at all when my eyes happened to land on the three small tomato cages I had thrown in the corner of the garden last fall... after their failure to support those heirloom tomato plants (which were huge).

As I looked from the droopy plant to the unused and imperfect cages, the thought entered my mind that sometimes good enough is... well... good enough.  While I do not really honestly consider myself a perfectionist at all, I do prefer the right equipment at the right time.  But in this case when they are not in the budget... good enough is better than none at all.

So, I brought the best of the cages over to the raised bed and centered the small-ish tomato plant in its' middle and pressed the cage into the soil.  I placed the plant's new growth on the areas of the cage where it could be supported better and it seemed that plant grew a few inches right then and there!  It now had some support and didn't seem to mind that it was not as tall or important as the other plants... good enough was all it needed.  :)

I must admit that stayed with me since then, I even told my husband I had learned a lot about the concept of... good enough.  For I believe we (especially Americans!) are constantly being told that good enough is another word for giving up or even failure.  It must be the biggest and the best and the perfect or whatever it is should not even be considered.

But when one is trying to do anything on a budget, then one needs to do the best they can and remember that there will be times for... good enough.  Just ask my tomato plant.

The garden in early June

I'm a little late getting these pictures posted.  It just amazes me how much the garden has grown in one week.  I'll update the pictures in a week or so.  But all the heat and rain have caused the garden to triple in size (or so it seemed) since these were taken.

Either that or there was some radioactive ray gun aimed at them... or perhaps I've watched to many SciFy Channel marathons lately.

Those are marigolds and zinnias at the end of the raised beds, an idea I swiped read from Manuela's lovely blog.  Actually, I steal get a lot of ideas from her for house and garden.

 

I should go through my pictures and show the timeline of our raised bed garden, which was built entirely when we had "a little extra" money to work with.

The first spring, hubby built the fence and two raised beds (the small bed for the herb garden and the first rectangle bed).  Then later the same season, he built the second two raised beds, which look like one long rectangle in the pictures.

This year we were hoping to extend the garden but didn't have enough funds to accomplish it... so we concentrated on purchasing a few much needed support structures (purchased with a surprise gift from a friend).  If there is one thing I've learned these past few years, many veggies really need those supports to grow properly.

Those very tall red tomato cages came from Lowes, who has them in multiple colors.  I'm hoping they provide better structure than the smaller size cages I have been using.  I'm also trying the green structures shown, one for a tomato plant and the other for a cucumber plant.

This year, he also built another raised bed structure in a corner of the raised bed which was not being used.  He spent part of yesterday taking our wheelbarrow to the dry creek bed in the forest for soil.

The owner of that property gave him permission when we first built the raised bed to take the soil (free soil helps a lot).   As you can tell from the above picture, we still need to budget for mulch on the ground!

We add compost to the soil when possible.  This year I used an organic fertilizer in two of the beds (I'd already planted the green beans when I bought it).  Since we use soil from the dry creek bed, we do have to hoe the weeds quite regularly but I have this wonderful old hoe that is perfect for a raised bed garden and I actually enjoy getting out early in the morning and attacking those weeds.  It's easy when they are tiny... 

The structure has been keeping out critters so far.  It is very simple, as you can tell from the "gate".

I love the way the garden is looking these days.