Garden Progress

It’s time for another garden update. I promise I’ll write about something else soon, but the garden is something I’m really enjoying and I find I want to share it. I’m especially pleased at the progress we’re making on the garden annex (my name for the expanded area of the garden we started this year). My husband has begun building a fence around this area to match the fence around the raised beds. The deer eat everything here, so all of our hard work, along with all of the plants, will be lost without a fence. Here are some pictures of the latest developments:

The corn has sprouted . . .

corn Garden Progress

Teepees! We have teepees! For the pole beans, of course. . .

pole bean teepees Garden Progress

The kindest garden fence builder. . .

fence builder Garden Progress

The radishes and carrots are up in the raised beds. . .

radishes1 Garden Progress

Garden Helper #1

garden helper 1 Garden Progress

Garden Helper #2

garden helper 2 Garden Progress

This garden isn’t perfect and neither is this life, for anyone. But if I slow down for just a moment and watch the plants sprouting from small seeds, and listen to my children giggling as they stomp and run and swing outside, and watch my husband haul yet another piece of lumber from the garage to the garden as he builds a fence for me, for us, without ever uttering a word of complaint, I think I can almost smell the sweet scent of perfection.

I’ll take these moments and be grateful that I was able to recognize them. Because soon enough, it will be time to make dinner, to fold laundry, to unload and reload the dishwasher, again and again and again. . .

Weekend Roundup

As always, good things have been going on around the web this week.

One of my favorites, Emily, at Remodeling This Life, has written some great posts lately. I especially enjoyed Coffee and Raindrops and her point that we all “value different things” — so important to remember. If you’ve not visited her site before, be sure to look around; her photographs are as beautiful as her writing.

The 10 Cheapest, Healthiest Foods Money Can Buy and Green Kitchen: Why Eat Local — both from Cheap Healthy Good. I am trying to ease up on my use of canned tomatoes, though, because of all the concerns about BPA.

Mother’s Day Gift Guides from GoodLife {eats}: The Edible Gardener and The Eco Mom — these look like great ideas.

Tammy at Rowdy Kittens has put together an amazing collection: The Ultimate Simple Living Guide: 95 Rockin’ Posts.

I really like Jeffrey Tang’s Earth Day post, How to Save the Earth Without Fear. He focuses on the positive results of our actions right now.

And finally, Colin at No Impact Man wrote about the importance of gratitude and encouraged people to tweet their gratitude lists each night using the hashtag #GratitudeList. I’ve done this for the last couple of evenings and it has seemed to make a difference in my outlook. I’d encourage you to read Colin’s post and if you’re on Twitter, think about joining in. Even if you don’t Tweet, consider jotting down a list of 5 things each night that you’ve felt gratitude for that day.

Happy weekend everyone. It’s rainy here, so maybe I’ll actually get some indoor cleaning done instead of playing in the garden all weekend.

Earth Day Pledge

number 1 213x300 Earth Day PledgeMost of you know that this Thursday, April 22 is the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. Rather than trying to accomplish Herculean feats of Green-ness, why not pledge to do one thing for the rest of the year?

Maybe you already recycle, why not pledge to turn off the water when you brush your teeth?

Maybe you’ve already switched your incandescent bulbs to CFLs, why not pledge to use fewer (or no) paper towels?

Maybe you already buy organic at the store, why not pledge to grow one food item on your own?

Maybe you already combine trips to save gas, why not pledge to walk or bike a little more?

The options are unlimited. Ultimately, though, choosing one thing and doing it consistently over the course of a year is far better than doing 10 things for one day and one day only.

Find something that matters to you, that will be fairly easy for you to implement, something that works with your lifestyle.

Then pledge to do it.

Let us know what you chose in the comments.

Photo Credit: Mrs. Logic