Garden's A Plenty

The kiss of the sun for pardon,

the song of the birds for mirth,

one is closer to God's heart in a garden

than anywhere else on earth.

Oh the joys of gardening! I love love love to garden! Usually! This year was a little harder to enjoy, because I was determined to make it a learning experience for my kids. Let's just say it is much more fun to weed in the solitude of the morning, where you can ponder and think on all that you hope to become, and all that you wish to accomplish. When you add six kids into the solitude of the morning, it no longer is solitude--funny how that is! The kids were great to help plant, and the first time weeding was okay, but when they realized that weeding had to be done again and again, they soon lost their interest for it. I spent more time hollering at them to come back and help than they did actually weeding. But harvest is here! It is now time to reap what we have sown. They are really excited about it now, eating corn on the cob fresh out of the garden, and snapping green beans are more fun to do than weeding. Last night for family home evening, we went to dig potatoes. It was almost like christmas. Max and Mara thought it was so fun to see how many potatoes would come off of one plant, and they got so excited when they would see one that Ryan had unearthed. I was totally caught up in their excitment, and quite enjoyed myself. The older boys were given the job of picking all the peppers. They thought that was fun, because we have been watching them get bigger and bigger, and they are easy to see, and easy to pick. It was a successful night, and all those stressful days, of wondering why I had planted such a big garden are behind me, and the fruit is good! I spent this morning cutting up green peppers to freeze, and we will be digging potatoes for a many more nights to come. It's about time to freeze the corn, and if we get lucky, the tomatoes will rippen before it freezes. Oh the simple pleasures of life!