Gardening 2014: Take five.

Gardening 2014
Take One here.  


 
Garden, oh garden, you bring about such range of emotions for me.
 
I go out there and want to feel success. But instead, all I feel is inadequate. All I see is weeds, weeds and more weeds. In hindsight, I think we should have bought the smaller rototiller so I could handle it. I wish I dragged my husband out there to rototill.  I wish I made more time for weeding. I wish I spaced this better. I wish I tended this better.  I wish I started this earlier. I wish I planted more of that. I wish I kept better tabs of little feet in the garden. I wish these weeds were gone. I wish I had a show garden.

The fact is, I don't have a show garden. Not even close to it.  It is not pretty, well maintained or impressive.  It's far from what I wanted.  I want to do well at that which I set out to do, it's so easy for me to feel defeated in that garden space. 
 
I don't know why I concentrate on the negative when I enter that space, for there's far more positive.
I bought a scale this year, thus far, we have harvested, consumed or preserved 111 pounds of our own produce.  Each meal now, 3x a day, has something from the garden.  Home grown, fresh picked=beyond delicious. 

 
And my kids know where their food comes from.

 
 They can identify the plants. They know when to pick and how to pick. They carry the produce in. 

 
They get out their little kid safe knives and chop. 

They know these foods are good for their body and they actually eat it. 

 
The other day, I had a salad with kale, collard greens, green onion, peas, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers....and my kids ate the whole thing.  I'm bringing in food regularly and we have enough to eat and we've even had a little extra to share.
 
 
I've been avoiding a gardening post for a whole month now, as it's not really something I want to share in the state it's in. But, I'm glad I did, for the last paragraph reminds me that even though the journey getting this produce hasn't resulted in anything show worthy in an aesthetic manner, but it has produced something award worthy in the form of the knowledge in my kids' little noggins.
 
And flowers, how can I forget those?  So many perennials and my first go around with dahlias and gladiolas.  Always a fresh bouquet around this place. I guess there's more to celebrate right there.






 


Bottom line, message to self-You're doing fine. Just fine.  Yes, your garden might not be perfect, but you read 12 books to your kids yesterday, played 7 rounds of 'going on a bear hunt', dressed baby dolls and hitched tractors to their wagons.  There's plenty of time for a show garden, but just right now to be the best mama to a 2 and 3 year old.  Keep on keeping on.  You can't give up now. The elderberries will be ripening anyday now.
 
 
 

11 comments:

  1. Funny how we all look at our gardens and think "Ugh!"

    My first thought when I saw your first picture was "How lovely!"

    Sometimes I think we're too close and we can't see how pretty it all is in spite of the weeds

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    1. Thank you for thinking it's lovely! I agree, it's hard to see the beauty when you're the caretaker. But I go to someone else's and all I see is the beauty. We're too hard on ourselves!

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  2. Kid safe knives...yes that is what I need! My kids will eat anything that we grow ourselves, but if I bring it home from the grocery store they turn their nose up at it. I know it is a taste thing, but man, it makes it hard in the winter! Lovely flowers as well :-)

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    1. Spoiling kids with home grown is a good thing! Although I'm not a fan of plastic usually, these really work and they are kid safe: http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Chef-3-Piece-Nylon-Knife/dp/B002Q5YH9C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407458008&sr=8-1&keywords=kid+safe+chef+knives

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  3. I've been reading your blog for some time now, but I've never commented. However, I really love this post (and your blog!). Your children are so lucky to grow up with the knowledge that you're teaching them in the garden. Those beans look delicious!

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    1. Thank you for following along and your kind words. The beans are gobbled up so quickly raw that we haven't had many to cook!

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  4. I came so close to asking you the other day, how on earth you stayed on top of the weeds in your garden. :) We expanded ours this year and the weeds just got out of control. Looking at our garden I too feel like it is not a show garden. However, we love eating what we grow and my kids love trying new things. Can you tell me what kind of beans you grow? We tried Kentucky Wonders this year and they have tough strings in them..bleh! I want a good tender bean that will grow in the hot humid TN weather here.
    Also I am SUPER jealous you have your own elderberries. I buy dried ones on amazon to make my own elderberry syrup.

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    1. And now you know my secret to staying up with the weeds- I don't! It's really about the fresh veggies though, and we are getting those. The purple beans are an Italian pole bean and the other ones are some sort of bush bean, which threw the package away and don't remember. Some help I am!

      We have more elderberries than I realize...first year actually using them (hopefully!)

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  5. Your garden looks plenty showy to me, but I understand what you mean. Mine is beautiful in bits, but when I take it all in...ugh. Those kid safe knives look like a fantastic idea, I'll have to check them out for my kiddos.

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    1. I bet if I came to your garden, I'd note how lovely it is! Although I am not excited about the knives being plastic, they do work pretty well and keep little fingers safe: http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Chef-3-Piece-Nylon-Knife/dp/B002Q5YH9C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407458008&sr=8-1&keywords=kid+safe+chef+knives

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  6. wonderful fresh produce! well done!

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