Last year we were complaining … and worried … about drought. In the earliest days of Spring it was so dry that most mornings came without dew on the grass. Crops around here greatly suffered and many farmers reported a loss.
This year it’s rain. And more rain. And … well, there’s no lack of dew.
“Shoulda been a little more clear when I prayed for no drought this year,” a friend sighed.
Many of us don’t even have all of our vegetables planted yet which is a bit worrisome for these parts. It’s well into June but oh … so wet!
Rain though it may … nearly every day … there’s something pretty much everyone … even the curmudgeons in my circles are on the same page about for once …. we’re drained by the rain … but … there is a consolation.
Isn’t there always if we’ll just give it a moment?
Flowers.
The rain keeps falling … pouring …. Bucket loads.
But the flowers won’t be stopped. Thank God.
For me, Spring flowers are on par with a National holiday. After all, we wait all year for their brief appearance My husband and I may be a little goofy, but we anticipate and celebrate each bloom as if it’s having its own little birthday.
And this is just the beginning of what’s starting to bloom in our yard. All a little miraculous to us as when we moved here five summers ago there was nothing colorful in our yard except some tulips and a rogue hollyhock.
Life gives you rain … nature gives you flowers … or some saying like that. 😁
I like planting things … watching them grow … anticipating color and edible results … taking credit for beautiful flowers and crunchy vegetables.
It’s the weeding, watering, battling bugs part and then wondering what to do with all this green stuff My Guy won’t eat … that’s where the complications come in. I’m also not a fan of being in the garden on windy or wet days … a must do around here if you plan to get anything started in the Spring. Guess that makes me one of those fair-weather variety of gardeners.
HOWEVER …
In a Covid-stained world, a garden … something alive and bright … feels more important to me than my discomfort, so I battled the “Ugh’s” and set to it. Another motivation has been the bareness of our yard. When we moved in, all that broke up the monotony of yellowish green lawn (Can you call it a lawn when it’s made up largely of weeds?) was a smattering of daffodils and orange tulips along the front porch that our landlord kindly planted prior to our arrival. Oh, and two stubborn hollyhocks survived the town maintenance crew’s attempt to recover alleyways by spraying down weeds.
So … short on resources and green thumb magic, My Guy and I have set about adding color and texture to the place. The yellowish green weed-lawn still is the most prolific thing that grows, but you could say that we’re coming along.
Pause button.
There’s one more confession needed here before I share more pictures. Living in a rural community, I am surrounded by amazing gardens and gardeners. Some of them have been kind enough to let me photograph their gardens. I won’t post those pictures this time, because the confession is that these amazing gardens have brought out the competitive side in me.
Maybe it’s a little nicer to myself to say that they have inspired me. The point is, I could never compete with these master gardeners or the settings in which their gardens grow. So, to not distract from our meager accomplishments, I’m not going to post those pictures this time. Yes … this means that my efforts are pitiful next to there’s so I’m not going to highlight it more than necessary at the moment.
I should explain the backdrop. Those buildings are not our yard. We live in what I like to call the Theater District. The light-colored building is the back of a historic theater that has been restored as a sort of preforming arts theater. (Yes, we like performing arts in small towns too.) COVID has ruined the 2020 season so we’re hoping that we can see it get back on its feet in 2021. The brick building is being restored into a community center. When we first moved in, all the windows were boarded up, so we’re loving the transformation. We’ve planted some apple trees (apple sticks, at the moment) to blend into the view from our vantage point.
It’s going to take a long, eternity-like, long time to create something as serene and awe-inspiring as these garden whizzes around here. It’s fun though, making it our own.
Three Last Confessions:
Garden gloves are for sissies.
I lied about garden gloves … I don’t use them because I’m too lazy to hunt down where I threw them last … even though I own a Costco-load of gloves.
I will put on gloves if it means plucking slugs off of plants … and full disclosure … I have been known to huck a slug barehanded over the fence a time or two. I was aiming for the alley, but with my aim and the ickiness of a slug against my skin … well, I may or may not have populated the neighbor’s garden with a few extra slugs. (Disclaimer: this was my OLD garden back in the city … we do not have slugs here … thank God!)
From back yard to table. Well … not the ribs … but all the veggies.
This is my compost pile. It only makes it into this post because of all the sunflowers that volunteered. Thanks to the squirrels, the yard is of full of flowers I did not plant. Of course!
Thank you for reading “Small Stuff”. This is the second of two blogs. You can find more on my thought&faith blog at rashellbud.wordpress.com. Wishing you a beautiful day full of the Small Stuff that transforms life into BIG STUFF.
A note to my “silent” readers … thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to read my work. I’ve learned that many of you are shy about commenting or hitting the like button, but I want you to know that I appreciate your visits and invite you into the conversations whenever your ready.
There’s nothing overly crazy about snow on the Palouse the last week of November, but our little town is still traumatized from the endless blizzard called February and March … a mere eight-ish months ago. We made regional headlines because the state highway leading out of town got buried by drifts for several weeks. Workers couldn’t even find the road but had to walk in front of plows with their shovels poking through the drifts to locate the pavement.
That was wild.
We’d thought we were getting away with a mild winter last year … but no. BLAHM! After weeks of sunny, frosty days, the wind screeched out of nowhere and snow swirled …
and swirled …
and swirled …
and turned into ginormous drifts.
Most of us are thinking that if we can just please make it to Christmas this year, we might be okay with endlessly shoveling the walks, wobbling like penguins so as not to fall on our butts on the ice, and piling on fifty layers of clothing before sticking our noses outside.
This is what last winter looked and felt like. My lazy person’s snowman re-appeared after the thaw took place in March. Before that, he disappeared altogether under about two feet more of snow.
But the weather man is messing with us, so what am I doing? (And mind you, I like snow … in the “correct” season anyway).
I’m scrolling through my photos looking at all the summer and fall adventures we had, wishing I had started blogging Small Stuff then. So I’m going to back up a bit … right into our garden.
As soon as that FebruaryMarch blizzard stopped, one thing was on the mind of every farmer and every gardener around here …. PLANT SOMETHING!
Gardens and crops went in late … evidenced by the latest harvest known to ‘most every farmer around. Combines were in the field in October trying to snatch a few more garbanzo beans, many having lost some of their wheat crops altogether. And this with snow on the hills from the first freak snow storm of the fall. And as recent as last week (mid-November) we drove by several farmers still doing their fall plowing. Completely unheard of in “normal” years.
After the spring that was really a winter, we were just like everyone else and couldn’t wait to dig our hands deep into the soil. At our house, a rental for the last few years, it meant breaking up long ignored garden beds so that we could bring in bountiful harvests. Our dreams were a little ahead of our energy and actual garden space, but one thing that caught hold of the spirit was the heirloom tomato seeds I started on my own.
Here’s the results in late September.
This was about a third of our harvest, all from about 8 plants. This doesn’t include an equal number destroyed by the freak, early snow I mentioned above. We were gifting tomatoes to everyone we knew. (People turned and fled when they saw us coming at them with a bag in our hand.)
And we ate tomato sauce-included recipes for weeks. Here’s one such dinner:
Crazy as my harvest looks, many of the longtime gardeners around here raked in 3 and 4 times the bounty. They’re hard core gardeners and canners. I’m not up so much for canning tomatoes as My Guy isn’t so big on tomatoes in everything, but I did manage to learn a few new techniques for perfecting homemade sauce.
I’m still divided on whether or not to peel tomatoes first. The experts around here don’t fiddle with peeling … they just cook the sauce for a very long time, getting the skins to dissolve. That worked in the sauce I made above, but not all the varieties I grew were so cooperative.
What do you do?
And do you have any secret ingredients you’re willing to share for the perfect homemade sauce?
I threw in a little brown sugar, other garden veggies, lots of garlic and store bought tomato paste to achieve the consistency and taste I like best.
My garden bed is flattened now, but if the weather man is right, I’m going to be longing for garden beds and spring blooms as soon at the holidays are over. Here’s what’s shaping up for what looks to be a White Thanksgiving. The weather channel shows the cold front and snow continuing for several days into December, past what I’ve captured in the screen shot of my weather app, taken on Nov. 20.
Here we go again!
What’s winter like where you are? Are you dreading it or excited … and what are your favorite winter past-times?
Cheers!
My Guy binge-watched past seasons of Master Chef while I pretended to know what I was doing in the kitchen. Guess I was feeling a little inspired from the shows. You can see that the other thing that grew well in my garden was Spaghetti Squash. They were the only plants left when I went to buy squash plants … good choice it seems!
Thank you for reading “Small Stuff”. This is my second blog. You can read more about my life experiences and the faithfulness of God towards a simple country gal who took a long hiatus in the city on rashellbud.
Please note that all photos, unless noted, are mine and permission must be sought to use them.
Wishing you a beautiful day full of the small stuff that makes life wonderful and amazing.
Small Stuff 
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