My Morning Routine

     I am not a morning person, never have been. However, being the mother of school age children, I must put on a "morning face" and enter the world hours before I would care to.  The way I am able to do this is by getting up obscenely early.  If I am able to have my breakfast, meditate or read, and watch the sun rise, all before waking my children, I find that I am much easier to be around. 
      Summer has lessened this burden a bit, though, since our time constraints are not as rigid.  Now I get up around 7:30 and eat my breakfast, perhaps do a bit of writing.  Then I go outside and water that plants.  This is one of my favorite times of the day.  Here I can see all the changes that took place as I slept.  It may not seem possible, but new worlds can open over night.  In fact, I recently scattered some loofah seeds, on a whim.  My friend was clearing out some boxes and happened upon a plastic bag of these seeds that someone had given her years ago.  I thought they were likely goners, but decided to scatter a few to see.  This is what I discovered this morn:  

     There are several spots where the loofah seeds are sprouting.  I am pleasantly surprised.
    
      I have also found that my beloved Aloe is doing well after the last rain.

       She had babies!!

And remember yesterday?  I mentioned that I LOVE chocolate?  Well my chocolate mint plant is taking off, and I am absolutely thrilled.  I planted her below my kitchen window so that I can catch a whiff of her sweetness each time I open the window.

Wish List

As you may know, if you have read my earlier posts, we are in the marked to buy a house.  This is a terribly daunting, yet very exciting prospect.  Ideally, I want to live one some land in a Queen Anne Victorian home nestled in the woods.  I want to be able to farm, raise chickens, tend bees, bake pies, and drink lemonade while sitting in my porch swing....

However, for my first house, I must be content with something a bit different.... I have made a list of the features which I am looking for.  These are bits that I simply cannot do without:

1)     At least 3 bedroom and 1 1/2 baths - we have 3 wee ones, and less than 3 bedrooms means chaos

2)     I would like a fairly open floor plan, especially a kitchen that is not closed off

3)     I would like there to be a window in the kitchen, one on which I could set a plant or two (i.e. aloe vera, basil...)

4)     A sizeable backyard where we can have a dog, I can plant a garden, and the kids can
 play.

5)     A porch, or room to build one. ( Gotta have the porch swing. )

These are very doable, but we have been having the experience that we will find a house, and before we are even able to look at it, it will go under contract.  This has happened 4 or 5 times already.  (Proof that the economy is not as bad as we are led to believe) 

Today, I will go and look at a house that appears to meet this criteria, and then some....I will let you know

What's Happening in my Garden.....

I am a renter, but currently trying to change that.  My sweet hunny and I are on the house hunt.  Knowing this, I hesitate to landscape and garden since I am always deeply saddened to leave behind plants I have raised and loved.  As a result, it is all about container gardening for me this year.  I still have some more work to do, but I am really enjoying the look of my garden.  I have some photos to share....

This is my lovely little basil plant that was given to me when it had but three leaves on it.

This is a photo of the moonvine and morning glory plants my daughter and I planted as seeds just a couple of months ago.  Unfortunately there are no blooms the day this was taken, but just know they are lovely.  There are white, blue, purple, and variegated varieties in that one box. (Note the thriving okra plant at the bottom center..)

It is not the best photo, but there are two passion vine cuttings that have finally taken root (thank you Katinka) and are beginning to become proper plantykins.  I cannot wait until the precious, unique flowers are in full blossom!!

This is another box of moonvine and morning glory plants my daughter and I are nurturing.  We are hoping they will wrap around and take over the whole bench.  That would be site indeed.

Well, there are many more photos, but I will leave it at that for now.  By the next update on my garden, I hope to have pictures of my herb seedlings, as well as Before and After photos of the back yard.....

Lady Green Finger

I am a small town girl, stuck in the city due to the necessity of my chosen situation. Or, as my dear friend Molly phrases it, I am an "affected provincial."

City-bound though I may be, I still desire to raise my children in such a fashion as they will experience things I benefited from in my own childhood. Not that it is Spring, my desires of this realm turn toward gardening.

As a wee little lass, gardening was terribly important to my family's well being, and so we had a good bit of land set aside for this purpose. The largest plot was the "family garden," where we planted our year-long, staple foods. They regularly crossed our table, fresh or canned, as dictated the season.

The smaller patches/plots belonged to me and my sister. In these spaces we were allowed to plant and care for the foods we most desired to eat during the year, and none of the food that we did not. We were solely responsible for planting, weeding, etc. And, once they had blossomed and ripened, we would pick the best ones and enter then in the fair, where we often won ribbons.

Two other sizable plots we used to plant strawberries and raspberries. The yield was far more than our family needs, and so my sister and I would gather and sell the excess for the money to purchase our school clothes each year.

These treasured experiences I cannot quite duplicate for my children; we simply don't have the land. However, as we prepare our backyard to become a garden, I will include them in each step. This is Spring Break week, here in Texas. By the end of this week long holiday, I plan to have all the seeds in the ground, with their help. I will keep a photo journal of our work and progress......