Why Garden?

I was kinda whining to a non-gardening friend about my gardening pests and poor yields and freakishly early mornings (5:30-8:00am) and such. She just turned to me and asked, "How the heck do you keep doing it? I would have ripped those plants out of the ground long ago!"

Got me thinking a bit.

I gave her the first answer that popped into my head: because I love it. But that's not very specific. What do I love about it?

• I love that the plants already know how to make fruit. I just create a nurturing environment and keep the pests to a manageable level and they do all the real work. I just stand back and marvel.

• I love nurturing something that gives me food. Food is my love language. Food is almost my *only* language. It anchors me to life and people. It's a creative outlet. A way to explore other cultures. Good food shared with friends/family fills my soul.

Those are the easy parts to love. I also love the harder parts...

• Discovering a new problem and working through frustration again and again before reaching some sort of resolution/compromise. Patience and persistence and more patience.

• Learning in layers. There's no way I can read every book and get it perfect the first season. Or the tenth season. I've got to let go of perfection and simply accept progress as my ultimate goal.

Lettuce patch decimated by bunnies. Rhubarb hen-pecked nearly to death. Green beans happy and healthy and productive!

Sprint Triathlon!

I went to church this morning with big, black numbers written on my arms and leg...in Sharpie...I couldn't have felt stronger!

The body markings came from competing in the Stoneman Sprint Triathlon in Springfield, IL, yesterday morning. It was a team effort, of course :) I swam in Lake Springfield for 500 yards, Linda biked for 12 miles, and Karen ran the 5k at the end. It was kind of a psychological AND physical stretch for each of us, which made it one heck of an accomplishment.

I must confess, though, that my favorite part of this whole affair was spending time with those two...phenomenal...ladies.

Team Wigglytuffs

It's show time, baby!

The end of my swim. Feeling strong and totally awesome!

The lake was a balmy 82 degrees. It tasted like dirt. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face, much less the legs and arms of my fellow swimmers, but it was a pretty good first run. They still haven't posted the results :( but each one of us felt like we did better than our usual times.

[31 July UPDATE: Our team placed third in Female Relay! There were only three teams in that division, but a 14:31 swim, 44:18 bike, and 39:01 run are solid times we're proud of! I'm delighted.]

This was a "Sprint" level triathlon, meaning it's shorter than the average triathlon. I've run a 5k before, I've biked 12 miles before, and now I've swum 500 yards in a lake. Maybe, just maybe, I could do all three in a row someday. Maybe even next year?

I can't believe I'm actually thinking about doing it again.

There's a "Mini" level triathlon only 30 minutes from here happening in a couple weeks. That one is 100 yards in an outdoor pool, a 5 mile bike ride, and a 1 mile run on a shady, paved path. Alice could do it with me side-by-side. I kinda tossed the idea her way and she's mulling it over. She wants to try swimming 100yds at once first. Then maybe we'll go on a couple 5-mile bike rides and see how it feels...

Keep Coming Back

I keep coming back to this blog, wanting to blog about something, but I sit down and open a fresh page and just stare at it.

I don't have anything to write.

But I WANT to write. I want to feel connected to my life again. Present. The blog often makes that connection for me, so I can live my life and appreciate it, too. Warts and all.

So, I can tell you about my life and what I do all day with the kids and the garden. I can post recent pictures and talk about the events, but I'm actually looking for a state of mind...something more elusive...something more satisfying.

*sigh*

I just want life to slow down a little so I can catch up.

California trip!

Prepare for a bunch of photos and not much analysis. This trip happened so fast, so furious, that I never had a moment to reflect or process the events. It's not my favorite way to vacation, but it was fun at the time :) I didn't take a single photo at Disneyland proper.

Bobby and I kept asking the kids what their favorite part of the trip was so far. Probably 90% of the time it was whatever we had just finished doing. I think that's a pretty good success rate, right? Or our kids found the pace just as disorienting as I did :)

This is a nice summary picture. One part of one moment in focus, going somewhere, happy about it, all the rest of the details a bit fuzzy.

I love how putting your palms on the window somehow makes the experience better.

So excited for the airplane!

Had to get a picture next to the "pretend human" that Matthew spotted at the airport.

Hotel pool time with cousins!

Yeah, those shirts are pretty bright. That's why I picked them for our first day doing the Disney stuff.

Matthew couldn't ride on much, which is probably why 2-year-olds are free, but he enjoyed the few bits he could.

Chew-chew train.

Matthew was asleep, or he might have enjoyed the Ferris Wheel with us.

Ice cream and Italian Ice after our first exhausting day. Robert tried Rocky Road for the first time only because I accidentally forgot it had nuts in it. He grumbled a little, but ate every bit.

Matthew + soft serve = a forest of napkins and a bath. Every time.

This was the first time I had seen a berry-flavored dip/shell for soft serve ice cream. James isn't very good with cones, either, but he loves them to bits.

Checking out some tide pools at the beach.

We love cousin time!

Matthew spent this outing terrified of the waves ant water. He kept trying to reach "Dry sand! Dry sand, Mommy!"

I love it when the kids stand in height order. Here we are being brave with the "waves." I'm glad my sister's family came along. They made it much more fun. It was an overcast day and this was a preserved area, so the kids couldn't really swim or collect anything.

Medieval Times!

So, so tired of everything. So many lines. So much sun. Late nights. Fast food. James was the canary in the coal mine, always the first to lose it or wilt or need a break.

Beach walk with our friends the Andersens!

So many little lives to care for. This picture just seems to capture it for me.

The kids love hotels! They share beds and wrestle get annoyed with each other, but always look forward to it again.

We visited a public beach with lots of "dry sand" and Matthew loosened up. By the end of the morning, he was actually standing knee-deep in the waves with me saying "hello" and "goodbye" to each one as it ebbed and flowed.

Bobby took Alice and Robert a little deeper where they could actually dive into the waves and body surf a little. That looked like fun! James preferred to collect sand fleas in a bucket.

At the airport again on our way home. He's trying to look all disinterested for the camera, but he sat on this windowsill for half an hour watching planes take off and land.

Alice and Robert listened to audio books at every available moment on this trip.

All in all, James was scared of everything I thought he would love. Alice loved everything I thought she would be scared of. Robert was somewhere in the middle, but easy-going about it. Matthew, well, was too little to enjoy much of anything at Disney. The boys fell in love with the Andersen's dog, Mara. James was especially fond of her. She's mellowed a lot since her puppy days.

I thought the rides were fun, the time with family was fun, and I'm glad we spent time visiting the Andersen and Jarvi families afterwards...just good quality time doing normal stuff with people I love.

*sigh*

I spent 5 hours in the garden(s) today and I'm still behind. Lots to do before I can even pull weeds! Remind me never to take a week off in July when I have 900sqft of garden in the works. Holy cow!

I screened for insect pests, pruned the tomatoes, reorganized the cuke/zuch tent, and harvested a few things: Brussels Sprouts, green beans, globe onions, zucchini, tomatoes, green peppers, collard greens and sweet corn today. I'm feeling good about that. Ran out of time, though, so I had to leave new potatoes and Swiss chard in the field to harvest tomorrow. Each crop has its own pest issues, but I've learned a lot and remain hopeful that I can improve things this season or the next.

Collard Greens on the left, Brussels Sprouts on the right. Teeny tiny watermelon plant between them. I don't think brassicas and curcurbits get along.

I've been really pleased with the collard greens this year. This was my third 'harvest' of them (cut and come again). I have a couple recipes I really enjoy eating and they require 2 lbs of greens that cook down a lot, so I get my fill and then I get a break.

We are pet-sitting some rabbits. When I say "we" I mean Robert and James under strict supervision. The boys are actually pretty good with feeding and watering the bunnies in a timely manner. Tomorrow is the first time "we" get to clean their cage, though...

The blue container is their "poo corner"...see the pellet pile? That, ladies and gentlemen, is only 24 hours of rabbit waste. Awesome.

One week

Missing one gardening week in July is like missing five years of a child's life. So many things have changed and matured. So many new problem spots to monitor! Even some new stuff to harvest :)

I'm gonna be busier!

Our vacation was seven full days of very good stuff. It happened so quickly, so intensely, that I've hardly had time to absorb any of it. Give me some time to sort through the picts. And recover from jet lag. And jump back into the summer routine.

*groan*

Just 4 weeks until the kids go back to school. Shortest summer ever, by far. Maybe I'm enjoying it more than other summers? Maybe the garden work has made it go by faster? Or maybe the next 4 weeks will make up for it all ;)

1...2...3...4...5...6...yup, everyone's there.

Matthew's Bubbles

Matthew took a bottle of bubbles out to the back porch one morning. I figured they would end up all over the concrete in 5 minutes (like all his 2yo siblings have done before him) but he surprised me with a little game of his own invention:

1. Blow bubbles
2. Catch bubble(s) on wand 
3. Pop bubble with nose
4. Repeat

The trick is sitting down and being careful. And maybe being left-handed helped a little ;) He's so, so left-handed. I took this video from inside the house, so as not to disturb his game too much.

Squash Bug Lesson

My big garden this year is teaching me something about myself. Something big. Maybe you already knew this about me: I freak out when something doesn't go according to plan. Even when I'm conservative with my expectations, an unexpected hang up can put me on the brink of Hulk-crazy, then depressed, then despondent. But then, after some thinking and research and mental restructuring, I formulate a new plan and move forward a little happier.

It happened with the baby tomato plants getting infected with grey leaf spot.

It happened again with the fungus gnats completely decimating my cucumber, melon, pumpkin, and eggplant starts.

And this week, it's the squash bugs.

The rest of this blog post is about my plan to deal with squash bugs. If this topic doesn't capture your interest, feel free to stop reading. I'm kinda working this out in my brain as I write it out here.

Fascinating fact: Squash bugs are TRUE bugs. Many insects are called bugs, but there are only a very few insects that fit into the true bug nomenclature.

Another fascinating fact: their babies are horrifically ugly. I consider myself pretty open-minded about most insects, but squash bug nymphs are a class in and of themselves:

Am I wrong about this? No. Just imagine flipping your pumpkin leaf over and getting an eyeful of those little suckers! They're a visual cross of a spider and a tick, which gives me the heeby jeebies.

The adults look like this:

And they smell funny when you squish them. Please, please squish them whenever you find one. Promise me?

I knew squash bugs were an issue in my area, especially in a community garden where the same families of vegetables are grown in the same little area year after year. Most squash plants need to be pollinated to bear fruit, which means you can't shield your precious pumpkin plants from the squash bugs forever. Unless...maybe I could grow them under row covers and hand-pollinate every day. [Tuck that thought away for consideration next year]

I know what you're thinking. Why not spray and get rid of the whole lot? A few reasons:

• It's important to me to stick to organic methods this year. 
• The adults and eggs are resistant to organic-approved insecticides. Only the nymphs are susceptible. 
• The organic insecticides can be expensive and difficult to apply. 
• New adults can fly in whenever they like.
• There are other methods that work better.

I learned more about the squash bug lifecycle. They only lay eggs once in their lives...bright orangey copper eggs in clusters right on the leaf surface. So easy to spot! The eggs take 10 days to hatch. The nymphs can't fly and they tend to feed off of the leaves in groups. This is very good news!

Well, it's only good news compared to the pests that can destroy the plant from the INSIDE without any clue or time for intervention. Oh yes, there are some of those.

So, reading up on several trusted sources about organic control of squash bugs, I've decided to proceed this way:

1. Don't give up
2. Add squash bug maintenance to my regular garden routine (every other day)
1. Remove eggs from leaves
2. Check around in the mulch for any adults, destroy by drowning in soapy water
3. Squish nymphs by hand. They're hideous, but they're remarkably soft. Their bodies don't even 'pop' when you squish them. One thumb (and my eyes half shut, face twisted in disgust and horror) can eliminate 20 or more of those ugly babies at once. I think this will get easier with practice.

I've already begun this plan and it seems to be working. The plants I combed for eggs/bugs two days ago are significantly less affected than the ones I didn't get to until today. That means it takes more than two days to cause the amount of damage I repaired. Good news, indeed!

I destroyed every egg I could find this morning. The eggs I missed will become nymphs while we're away this week, but not so big that I can't thumb them when I get back.

And once my pumpkin plants get big and strong, I won't have to be so diligent. It's the small plants that can be completely destroyed by squash bug feeding. Bigger plants can take the assault in stride. Theoretically. I'm keeping an eye out all the same.

4th of July

It was a good holiday today. A good family day.

We had American Flag toast for breakfast (Alice's idea) using our own homegrown blueberries:

Here Alice is pouring milk for a sibling. This kind of help is SO refreshing!

It's frosting, not butter.

Then I worked outside to prepare for our dinner BBQ while Alice and Robert frantically did extra chores for some pocket money. Why would a kid need pocket money on the 4th of July? Well, for the food trucks at the parade, of course! They did dishes, exercised, sorted screws, picked up half-chewed peaches in the orchard (curse you squirrels!), and read to their siblings. Among other things. Bobby managed them while the two littlest were outside with me.

Soon it was time to leave for the parade. We biked to our usual spot. I hauled James and Matthew in the trailer, but forgot to put up the stroller wheels, so it was a very difficult, jerky kind of ride for the three of us. James and Matthew were having fun, though.

At the parade, the kids got some candy, purchased their own snow cones, and didn't complain once about the heat or the sun or the bike ride home. AWESOME!

After some quiet time, we finished prepping for the BBQ. This was our first outdoor party of the year. Quite a clean up! The bigger kids ended up in a water fight. The littler kids ended up sweaty and covered in dust. Then our guests arrived :)

Good party. Laid back. Good food. Fun guests. Kids had fun, adults had fun. I should have taken at least one picture. We had the Shaw family and part of the Hoki family over. We ate and played croquet and Bobby ended up giving the kids wagon rides. I'm home tonight with a sleeping Matthew while Alice, Robert, and James are with Bobby viewing fireworks. This is the first year they've wanted to go...thundering noises and fire raining from the sky hasn't appealed to them in the past. And we haven't exactly pressed the issue, either. The fireworks start at 9:15! Too late for my old lady blood.

Robert and James are...Friends?

I think they finally did it. Robert and James found a "friend" groove. My heart jumped into my throat and my knees got wobbly this morning when I heard Robert say, "Hey James, wanna play?" And James replied, "Yah!"

I keep taking pictures and movies of them playing together because I just can't believe it!

I don't remember which game this was. Maybe Robert and Matthew were monsters? It was completely cooperative, though, because James could use pretend weapons against them and they acted hurt. The car was also trapped in the kiddie pool, so James couldn't try to run them off himself. The game worked because both sides were willing to play along.

And today they devised this game in the front room...Robert walks by with the ball and James tries to get it from him. On a typical day, Robert would be running and teasing James with the ball, keeping it just outside of his reach, frustrating James to bits. On this occasion, though, part of the game is to get "caught" by James in the swing and then Robert tries his best to keep the ball away. Smiles and fun all around.

Later this afternoon they spent an hour outside playing various things. One game was crashing into each other with wheeled objects to see who would fall off...like a joust. Then I snapped a photo of the three boys huddled by the play house intent on something. I'm guessing it's a hole. That they just made.

*groan*

Naturally, this leaves Alice to her own devices. She joins in when she wants to, but she doesn't always want to. Lately, she's been spending more time reading and some time with me. She's a pretty good sous-chef and she's proud of her work (e.g. "Hey Daddy, *I* made that sauce you're eating!").

Anyway, this week has been a good one for Robert and James' friendship. They're still brothers, with all the baggage that entails, but this new language they're learning might make the brother thing a little easier to manage over time.

One more thing: James has taken to saying, "[Insert brother's name here] always gets what he wants and I never get what I want!" It's middle kid syndrome complicated by the fact that James' wants often involve pestering other people. LOL! Dear, dear James. What will you become?