Farm Dreams...

I have been in bed sick for three days now.  That makes for lots of daydreaming.  The biggest dream these days is to live outside of my little town on a few acres.  Practical?  No. Realistic? No.  But a girl can dream, right?

She can dream of five horses, five cows, and chickens.  A little red barn and a small chicken coop. (Okay, maybe since seeing all the videos on youtube I might take a fainting goat or two!)

There will be peonies and hydrangeas and roses along with corn and tomatoes and squash and potatoes.  And blackberries and grapes.

She can dream of a little lake to sit by in the evenings.  Where Steve can fish and Bear and Kentucky can swim and the frogs can croak all night long.

I think this dream farm needs a name.  Hmmm.... where would a California boy and a Kentucky girl end up?

Calitucky Farms  

There.  I said it.  Maybe that makes me just a little closer.

Thanks for dreaming with me.

White Roses - UPDATED

Original post from OCTOBER 2012:  I love to garden but am by no means an expert.  That would be my Dad.  He can grow anything - he DOES grow anything and everything.  And by grow, I mean it actually comes up and produces.  I grow it and it comes up and disappears.  Ha!  I am working on my skills.

So when I find a fruit or vegetable or flower that is fool proof I have to share it.  I love to grow roses.  I have tried about twenty different varieties over the years.  Some just need to be left for the experts like my Dad.  But last year my Dad gave me a rose for my birthday that I want to share with you.  We ordered a Tineke rose from Edmund's Roses - online at edmundsroses.com.  It has handled the heat and drought of this year beautifully.  But the biggest surprise has been the blooms.  I can't tell you how many vases I have filled with long stem, huge, delicate white roses.  It has been with minimal effort.   (Note: it is a true white - the picture on the left is a little yellow due to the flash.)  Tineke has proven to be very disease resistant, which is a must for any rose variety that I grow.  Look for yourself.  And come spring, buy one for yourself!
 
And just for your information, I do grow Knockout roses - they are by far the easiest, hardiest, most disease resistant roses ever.  Lots of blooms for little investment.  If you are just starting out, start there!  I recommend the red double blooms for heat - the pink is beautiful, but the actual flowers do fade in the heat.   Haven't tried the yellow varieties. 

UPDATE  SEPTEMBER 2013:  So, if you decide to order this rose (in the Spring!) I have another year's worth of observations.  This rose loves loves loves the heat.  But this year we got a lot of rain.  That seems to be a problem.  The leaves yellowed and fell off early in the summer.  But now, in September, after weeks of super hot temperatures it has returned better than ever!  It is again covered in those perfectly formed double blossoms that I love.  My vases are filled again.  So, when shopping, keep in mind how much rain your region gets.  Just a warning.  Still very much one of my favorites.

My Dad

We celebrate my dad in the month of April.  He turned 68 this year.  He doesn't seem 68.  Today I looked at a few wedding pictures - of me and him.  He does look older when I see it in pictures... but every day I see him he seems the same.  Look!

That look in the picture on the right is one of my favorites!!  This is him now.  Isn't he handsome?

I cannot begin to describe to you how grateful I am for both of my parents.  I know without a doubt that they are one of the most amazing blessings I have been given.  As I celebrate my dad, I am grateful for all the ways that he has molded me.  He has instilled in me a deep love for the gospel.  I have watched him fight for the truth of Scripture since I can remember.  He loves the Word of God.  What a gift to all of our family!  He has given us a heritage that will be seen for generations - witnesses who will testify to the goodness of God long after my dad is gone.  

I can remember being little and Dad sitting beside me on my bed as I cried and cried, overcome with worry about who knows what subject - school or snakes or sisters!  He patiently answered each of my questions and helped me to learn to trust God's sovereignty.  I have so many favorite moments:  thinking I was gonna die giving birth to Victoria - and Dad standing at the foot of my bed saying "This too shall pass."; crying together for hours the day before I got married  because I would be moving from Kentucky all the way to California; hiking in the Smokey Mountains thinking a bobcat was going to get me; the joy of hearing him explain the gospel to my children, the list goes on!  

Dad is one of the hardest workers that I know.  He has also given me a love of gardening... not that I will ever be able to keep up with him!  But I find pleasure in it.  I am thankful for what I have learned from him about it.  

How can you describe your dad in one short space?  I can't.  But I know the I love him so very much, just like I love my mom.  I love to watch how both of my parents love each other.  It brings me comfort and joy and hope.  Thanks be to God for this beautiful gift.  Happy birthday, Dad.  

A Few of My Favorite Things...

The middle of winter is the best time to dream about gardening. Ask any gardener - that's part of what we do best! These are some of my favorite things. It is fun to dream!!! Spring planting will be here soon. Until then, what do you think?

Hydrangeas!!




Steve built me a fence and arbor this spring. And my dad just bought me roses for Chrismtas! Can't wait to have them growing in my yard! Spring can't come quick enough.



My all time favorite roses is the Queen Elizabeth.


No garden is truly complete without... Chickens!! Much to Steve's dismay! I have asked for a chicken coop almost every birthday for the past ten years! And this one has room for doves, too! Just perfect.



I can't talk about dreaming without mentioning my favorite dream ever - been wishing for this since I can remember. :) EVERY single birthday candle is blown out with this as my wish. That's 42 years! And LOTS of candles!


Here's hoping some of your dreams come true!

Thoughts on paradise

Yesterday I picked the last few ripe tomatoes of the season. Tomorrow I will bring in the last of the peppers. While doing this I have been thinking about paradise. Not what we picture as heaven, but what was created in the beginning... the Garden of Eden. I have always imagined it in all its beauty. According to Merriam-Webster, paradise literally means an enclosed park. Reading Wendell Berry this week left me with a new sense of Eden. My thoughts on this paradise are slowly changing. Maybe it was beautiful because it was separated from the rest of creation - separated from something outside. Consider this poem:

Enclosing the field within bounds
sets it apart from the boundless
of which it was, and is, a part,
and places it within care.
The bounds of the field bind
the mind to it. A bride
adorned, the field now wears
the green veil of a season's
abounding. Open the gate!
Open it wide, that time
and hunger may come in.
(from A Timbered Choir)

Maybe Eden was perfectly beautiful not because the whole world was new and unspoiled, but because it was separated from the whole world and cared for by Adam and Eve. It was fenced off from the rest (at least I have always assumed this because they were put out of the garden and there was a gate.) A farmer looks at his field and loves it for what it is, but also for what he has made it to be. God separated Eden from the unbounded world and created a caretaker to cultivate it. Did God help Adam to dream of what it would become as two farmers surveying their land? Did God show Adam how to sow the seeds that would grow into produce that would adorn his fields? My father walks his land and plans and cares and tends it. It is beautiful. And it is surrounded by wildness. The wildness is beautiful, but not tended, not cared for. My father's land is full of wonderful bounty. His gate does open and begs my family to come and eat. Was Eden a place for Adam and Eve to come and satisfy themselves? So often I think of Adam as a herdsmen or zoo-keeper, not a farmer. But his garden was paradise. He was enclosed in something set apart for him. Now we have a small, weed filled glimpse of what he had. I look forward to the day when God will open wide the gate and say "Come. Eat. Be set apart forever with the Lamb that was slain. There will be no more hunger or thirst." Or weeds!