In The Garden {February Edition}

It's February in Texas.  Which basically means it's Spring.  There's always the chance that we'll get a late cold front and a late freeze...but it's really not looking like that will happen this year.

Hubster and I have been itching to get in the garden and plant our seeds for our Spring veggies, so yesterday we got out in the drizzle and did just that.

Y'all feel free to laugh at my preggo gardening get-up.  Wellies and skinnies and Hubster's fleece = no chance of me getting wet if it started to pour.  (It didn't start to pour...just wishful thinking I guess.)  Everything else in the garden is budding and blooming so I guess it's only fitting that my belly is budding and blooming, too.  ;)

We planted eggplant, lettuce, two kinds of tomatoes, and dill.  We still have parsley and cilantro left to plant, but we ran out of space.  So anything else we plant will be in a container garden.  All our seeds are USDA Organic from Seeds of Change which we found at Lowe's.  We don't always have luck finding organic seeds, so we're super excited about this find.

Never ceases to amaze me how tiny seeds can give us such good things to eat!

The Daffodils came back!  I was sure the squirrels got them last year, but we are so blessed to have them return.

There is nothing like their cheerful pops of yellow to brighten grey February days.

Our Pink Star Jasmine has made friends with one of our Crape Myrtles.

And she is promising to bloom and smell heavenly very soon!

It seems like I've been seeing a lot of early blooming Texas Mountain Laurel lately, so I had to go take a peek at ours...looks like they will be blooming early too!  

The buds go all the way up to the tippy-top.

I was so sure these Hydrangeas were gonners...but they seem to be returning as well.  South Texas and Hydrangeas are not bosom buddies...but I'm nothing if not persistent in my efforts to have these in my garden.

The Phlox is starting to bloom as well...another surprise since these really didn't seem to take last year.

And these Begonias are still fat and happy.

It always makes me so sad to see our gardens die back every year.  But there is nothing like the hope and anticipation that follows every Spring as we watch the colors bloom seemingly out of nowhere.  Instead of mourning the fact that we've not really had a real winter (yes, I still hope and pray for snow in South Texas every year), I'm choosing to be excited and grateful for our early Spring and all it's beauty.  And instead of thinking about how quickly it's going to be insufferably hot, I'm enjoying the extended mild temperatures while they are here.  Who knows?  Maybe we'll be lucky and won't reach the 100s until June.  ;)

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary...

 

...how does your garden grow?

I admit, when we first moved into our home, I was elated at the prospect of planning how our very large yard would be landscaped.  I had visions of blooms...lots and lots of blooms.  Names like snapdragons, dianthus, geraniums, hydrangeas, and, of course, roses danced through my head.

I was less excited about vegetables.  Herbs, sure...who doesn't like a fragrant bunch of basil or lavendar or sage?

But vegetables?  The 5 year old picky eater in me was quickly surfacing.

But we had this little plot of dead grass in our backyard...a section where no sprinkler head reached...with full sun.  So my sweet hubster labored to create this.

 

A fenced in plot where our pupster cannot enter and our veggies can grow in peace {well..except from the occasional bird or squirrel}.  After our first harvest of a million and five cucumbers which were pickled into the best pickles you've ever tasted, I was hooked.

 

We planted our first crop in August and had a mid-late fall harvest.  And I cannot take credit for the bounty.  I do not possess a green thumb in any way, shape or form.  I am descended from both a legacy of green thumbs and brown thumbs.  My Great-Granny Willie Mae could take the most barren soil and make beautiful things grow.  Ditto with my Grandpa.  And my brother...well if you hop on over you can see he inherited the genes {morning glories were also a specialty of Grandpa's}.

*Ahem.*  So that brown thumb legacy?  I'm thinking it's linked to the eye gene.  'Cause my Granny was not as talented in the green thumb department {though she could keep ivy alive}, my mom is a little less talented with the ivy-keeping, and I have killed every ivy plant I've ever owned.  And we all share the same blue eyes.  Which means...my little Kiddo is likely destined to kill plants. {Hopefully not!}

Our first crop was grown from seeds.  We have purchased plants that have already been started {is that the right term?}.  But this year, we are more budget conscious thanks to my new career.  {I joke that I get paid in smiles and poop.}  So we have gone back to planting seeds.  

And, until today, I never realized that you can save your seeds and replant the next year.  Apparently, that's how heirloom seeds are passed down.  And there is even a whole website dedicated to passing on the know-how of seed-saving {www.seedsavers.org}.  So...you buy your seeds once.  And replant year after year.  

Now seeds are already ridiculously cheap.  We spent $1.38 on a packet of red bell pepper seeds {which, coincidentally is how much they currently cost per pound at my local grocery store}.  And if we save seeds from our pepper harvest...we can replant them again next year...for free!

I'm hooked.  I might not be a coupon genius...though I admire those who miraculously haul in large amounts of food for little or no money...I do not have the time to hunt down those deals.  But drying out seeds and replanting for next year?  Done.  :)

Lake Day

Post Edit: I wrote this Wednesday, started adding pictures and such Thursday, but my little one has been so fussy I haven't gotten to upload it until now!

I love lake days.

I wish we had both a "city" house here in town and a "country" house down by the lake.

Well...if I'm making wishes it would be more than just a house.  It would be an entire ranch right there on the lake {so we're talking acres, not just a plot}.  It would have a farmhouse style, two story house like this, with a wrap around porch and shutters.

And we'd have our own boat launch...and a boat to go with it.  Maybe I'd finally learn how to water ski.

A girl can dream right?

But today I am content to go to the lake and breathe the fresh air

and watch my baby laugh

and my doggie play

and the sun dance on the water.

Those ducks better watch out!

I took Clive Staples with me to read.  You know Clive {CS Lewis}, I know you do.  I was first introduced to Clive as a 6th grader.  We were required to read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe for English...and we were required to read it in increments...no reading ahead allowed.  If you answered a question and it was apparent you had read ahead you were scolded.  I'm a fast reader.  I can't read at someone else's pace.  So I read ahead, got in trouble, stopped reading so the class could catch up with me...and then never finished the book {still made A's though}.

In high school I heard adults talking about CS Lewis and what a great writer he was.  So I gave him another try.  I guess I was too young and too unfocused to appreciate dear Clive.  I read the preface and probably the first 3 pages of Mere Christianity and never gave Clive a try again.

Until now.  Mostly because of Edie at Life in Grace and all of the wonderful things she has written about Clive and the quotes she has shared.  And I have been blown away.  I don't always agree with Clive...but his arguments are well thought out and well written.  And in a time when we are bombarded with marketing campaigns and headlines {most of which are not news worthy} I heartily appreciate his words.  They are thought provoking and I encourage you to give Clive a try...even if you've read him before and thought it was dry reading...give him another chance.  You might agree with him, you might not...but he challenges the individual to think for oneself...which is, unfortunately, not something our society often encourages.

As I sat at the lake, and tried to help my cute-but-fussy four month old sleep, this quote grabbed my attention.  It was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment:

We must not think Pride is something God forbids because He is offended at it, or that Humility is something He demands as due to His own dignity - as if God Himself was proud.  He is not in the least worried about His dignity.  The point is, He wants you to know Him: wants to give you Himself.  And He and you are two things of such a kind that if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will, in fact, be humble - delightedly humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once go tired of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy all your life.  He is trying to make you humble in order to make this moment possible: trying to take off a lot of silly, ugly, fancy-dress in which we have all got ourselves up and are strutting about like the little idiots we are.  I wish I had got a bit further with humility myself: if I had, I could probably tell you more about the relief, the comfort, of taking the fancy-dress off - getting rid of the false self, with all its "Look at me" and "Aren't I a good boy?" and all its posing and posturing.  To get even near it, even for a moment, is like a drink of cold water to a man in a desert.  -- CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

He sure doesn't mince words!  I love Clive.

Happy Friday Y'all! :)

Why I Love Texas...and March...and My New Vocation

So I know I mentioned in my last post how much I love, miss, and pine for California {more specifically the Pacific Ocean}.  Lest you think I have no love for the Great State of Texas, I give you one of my favorite things that can only be found here...and only in March...and only for one week {two tops}.

Allow me to introduce you to the Texas Mountain Laurel.  He is fabulous and is in bloom {though he only graces us with his fabulous bloomy fragrance for a couple of weeks in March every year}.

Imagine flowery Grape Kool-aid.  Really a poor imitation of how good he smells...but it's the best I can do.  And right now my two Texas Mountain Laurels have scented my backyard with their wonderful goodness.  There is no other place I'd rather be than Texas in the spring.

Two years after planting, my yellow climbing roses have decided to bloom...and bloom a lot!

Oh the yellow rose of Texas...I'm going there to see... {my chives also wanted to be in the picture :) }

And this little cheerful window box planter makes me smile every time I see it...

Hello pink geranium!

And lest my sleepy pooch feel left out, here he is in all his cuteness....

Which brings me to why I love my new vocation...

Because every morning while my little one enjoys a morning nap...

I get to enjoy the comfort of this...in pajamas...

And the sounds of this...

And this handsome view...

It's such a peaceful way to "begin" each day.  Granted my day has actually started many hours earlier with early morning feeds, first round of coffee, one more try at getting some more sleep, and then another round of feeding...but I choose to call this time my official start to my day.  It's lovely and restorative.

And to celebrate the once a year opportunity to smell the Mountain Laurel, I'm decking my house out in it....and some yellow rose blooms.  So while my paint scheme says "Pacific Coast", my home smells like "Texas".  :)

How do you welcome Spring into your home?  Any special traditions?