On the Homefront

Rain brings lots of moisture and not much outside time, my yard may not look as bad as Laura pastures, but it is sure trying to catch up. My dogs started boycotting going out, I was having to pick them up (they're little) and put them on the green tufts at the back of the yard, as the water pools kept ebbing and flowing all week. I kept reminding them to be thankful they're house pets and not farm animals this week, and to be thankful ;)

My greenhouse floor has been very soggy and I have slowly been bringing more of its contents into my house! As I was not able to be outside much this week, I started playing around with my potting soil mixture to repot some of my leggy plants and take inventory of what I am going to have to reseed.

The bamboo I harvested last week from my neighbors yard is going to be made into trellis's for my new garden out front, so I figured I would experiment with it a little this week, and made my first mini teepee trellis to experiment a little. I learned a few things and positions of the cuts of each piece, and trying to line up where branches were, so I can string it better, this was my first attempt and made this little planter to go on my front porch when the weather is better and planted a few green beans to see how well they do in there.

My other task I took on this week, was pricing soil, compost and gravel for the new garden. We have a local company in N Georgia called Windwood, who makes a wonderful planting mix from mushroom compost, aged soil conditioner, wheat straw and leaves. I topped up my large bed and the new ones I put in out back last year with it and it is a beautiful, but a not cheap thing, but longer term I think is worth the investment. In my research I learned they sell it already bagged at our local Hardware store, which is not as cheap as going down and getting it by the scoop, but a good alternative for top ups and containers as the season goes on. I will be purchasing the planting mix, pea gravel and mulch from Windwood when the beds are ready. Pea Gravel - which I want to use for a walkway in between the bed runs at $45/950lbs, Planting mix runs $30 per 5/8 of a yard (called a Volvo wheel loader scoop) and mulch runs $29 per 5/8 yard-this is pure cypress mulch, not mixed with anything else like the bagged stuff. Once we get the beds properly laid out, I will cost out how much of each I need.

Lastly, this week we have our annual mission conference at our church we attend. They have local missionaries, and ones operating abroad, do a weekend long conference, with a main Keynote speaker and then different individuals sharing their testimonies and what their lives look like. This was a greatly encouraging weekend for me personally, as my friend Lindsey pictured below works closely with an organization we partner with over in Zimbabwe. My husband and I (including one extended trip with 3 of our children) have done numerous trips with the organization and it is very dear to our hearts, and long term part of the reason I am studying Sustainable Food and Farming. Zimbabwe used to be called the bread basket of Africa and literally fed (abundantly) many of the countries in Southern Africa, till political turmoil the last 30 years has left thousands of acres of the most fertile soil lie fallow. There are some organizations in country helping people redeem the land and teaching farming skills. Our long term goal is to be able to take more frequent and longer trips back there and to other countries, to teach sustainable farming on a smaller scale, using the resources that are available to them. Our missionary friends we work with over there were here a few weeks back, and our missions pastor met with them and are considering partnering with them in some degree, so it was excitng to have Lindsey with us this weekend and have her share about something we are passionate about, and to keep my internal passion burning for our long term farming goal.

So this week, we are praying for continued sunny skies as the the dams are still pumping about 1,000,000 gallons of water a second, and even though the rain has stopped as of early morning, the levels are still rising.

TVA Chickamauga Dam, Hixson, TN