Thursday, March 31, 2011

New Blog

I have a new blog...it's here. You should go there instead.


-Thanks,


Meredith

Friday, March 25, 2011

my back hurts

My back hurts really bad from working on our garden the past few weekends. It's definitely much harder than I had anticipated. I've been wanting to do a garden for a few years, but thought, "we may move soon, and I would hate to do all this work only to leave it behind." But years have come and gone and we're still in the same place and God's been convicting me lately of using what he's given us now instead of putting it off for later.

My Valentine's Day present...seeds;)

We dug up the sod from the area so we could transplant it in front of our house. This was the worst part. Sod is surprisingly very heavy, especially when your wheelbarrow's front tire is a little low on air. We (my dad) plowed last weekend, bought some dirt mixed with chicken poop, and leveled everything off. I planted my spinach Monday morning. Apparently the frost/cold doesn't hurt spinach for some reason. This is the crop I'm most excited about because we eat a lot of spinach around here. I'm waiting for warmer weather and no fear of frost to plant my other seeds. I started seeding some cantaloupe and peppers about a month ago inside. I had to do some research to figure all this stuff out, but still think I probably messed up somewhere along the way. First sprout many sprouts! I'm hoping these sprouts keep growing, especially when I have to transplant them into the garden. Is it crazy that I pray for my plants? I breathe on them too...heard it helps. I can't help but think about the parable of the sower in Mark 4 every time I check on my plants. It's so cheesy, but I feel sad for the seeds that haven't sprouted because I relate them to people who don't know Christ or who say they do but have no relationship with him. I even dug through the dirt to check on the seeds and put them closer to the top so they could get some sun, but realized that I can only do so much to make these seeds sprout. Just like in peoples' lives, we can only do so much. Ultimately Jesus is the one who saves. It challenges me to be a "sprouter" - to be in the word and constantly asking God how I can change and grow to be a better woman of Him. It's so cool how much I'm learning just from planting seeds. God is pretty cool in how he speaks to us. I definitely recommend starting a garden, even if it's small. Your motivation can be to donate your crops to soup kitchens and food pantries. You can look up which ones accept produce here. Say a prayer for my sprouts;)