The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
We're in that tricky period in the garden where things look like they're growing fine but you just never know, as the only harvest so far has been kale, garlic scapes, basil, and raspberries. Will the tomatoes come in? Will the cucumbers do that overnight die-off thing? Will the eggplants mysteriously refuse to bear fruit?
Doesn't prevent me from being obsessed. The green beans are making a comeback, now that the fence is at least up (it will receive further improvements, including a gate, but for now it fulfills its function in keeping the bunnies away from the green beans!). I have a back-up plan with “pole” (actually old shelving) beans in what I call the “far garden”. The volunteer squash in the compost is burgeoning.
The squirrels and birds have definitely moved in on the raspberries. And the bees love the kale blossoms!
Let's have a little tour, shall we? Edited — I will put descriptions above the photos because a reader asked for captions so that he could identify the plants, and I like nothing more than going on about the garden! So forgive me…
Foreground: cucumbers and beefsteak tomatoes; in the back: a row of Brandywine tomatoes, which is a great heirloom variety IF it comes through, and a row of yellow pear tomatoes.
Foreground: eggplants; behind: garlic, almost ready to harvest.
Foreground: eggplant; next: left to right: garlic; two rows of bell peppers. Next: sunflowers with a couple of ground cherry plants, with a row of cucumbers in that bed as well; and on the right, my recovering green beans (bush variety).
Here is that bed with the ground cherries (also called Cape Gooseberries) — they are still small; and the cucumbers with basil in front of them.
I just really love red geraniums and decided I needed them sprinkled around!
This is a couple of squash plants that volunteered here in the compost heap. I guess they are butternut, but they might be pumpkin!
Here we have a variegated sage plant.
In this bed in front you can see cucumbers and beefsteak tomatoes behind them.
I plopped one of those squash plants that was doing quite well in the compost here, in one of my new beds.
In my “far garden,” which is beyond the raspberries, I have my bets hedged against the bunnies with these pole beans. The shelving was in our garage forever. Since some of us have trouble throwing things away, I decided they would work for the beans!
Kale is a biennial plant — it grows in year one and flowers and seeds in year two. This kale ought to be cut back, but the bees love it! There's a row of new kale (and weeds) growing alongside.
And for good measure, Rosie's kids playing with the rose petals that their Aunt Sister Louise-Marie brought by, just for fun!
On to our links!
Department of “it takes a miracle”:
- It's 1982, and Mother Teresa prays a cease-fire into existence in deepest, most desperate war-torn Lebanon, so that she can take care of spastic children left behind in the rubble. I remember seeing footage of her and the other sisters taking care of the children — the love they showed them with their firm and intimate touch was palpable through the screen.
- An abortionist who left his bloody trade to become a doctor bringing healing to women and their babies tells his remarkable — miraculous — stories of life.
Military-ish:
- Sketchbooks of a 21 Year-Old World War II Soldier — do show your children. Sometimes we despair a little when we are trying to get our kids to write, to learn the craft of writing. But there are many ways to communicate. People are different and their contributions and talents are different. These sketches, which represent an amazing historical record at this point, might open up a different way of looking at the whole topic. Along with nature-journaling, maybe we can widen our horizons and be inspired to try different ways.
- Have you ever seen the U.S. Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon? It's like a dance and (as mentioned in the comments) the world's longest secret handshake wrapped up in one uniformed precision maneuver.
Miscellaneously:
- A forgotten saint with a real-life Cinderella story (complete with evil stepmother) can help our self-absorbed age find meaning in suffering.
- A short and sweet reminder from John Cuddeback to carve out time to enjoy… to do what you like to do (as opposed to what you think others like); perhaps to rediscover some overlooked enjoyment, like sitting on the porch, that may transform the ordinary into… real life. The book he references is one we love, A Pattern Language, by Christopher Alexander. I wrote about it here, just a little. It can go on the shelf next to David Clayton's Way of Beauty, a book that illuminates the patterns Alexander doesn't have the vocabulary for — the transcendent ones of order and beauty in the Liturgy.
- A moving (if shocking — child abuse details alert, not safe for tender-hearted kids) story of a policeman's generous soul.
Happy Feast of Blessed Peter Vigne!
From the archives:
- If you are stressing out about how last year in homeschooling went with writing, I do have posts that might help: First steps in helping a child to write is the first.
- Bees and peas. (My peas were a complete bust this year, boo.)
~We’d like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we’re not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise).~
Rosie says
I love compost volunteers! We have a lovely enormous pumpkin plant growing out of ours, several volunteer tomatoes that are fruiting, and a bunch of happy sunflowers! No-effort gardening at its finest 😊
Dixie says
The plants look great and the rose petals are a brilliant toy! How beautiful — gardens bring so much joy.
I am at the same point with the cucumbers — they look promising, but will they suddenly develop bacterial wilt? I planted radishes and nasturtiums to try to ward of the cucumber beetles that carry it, but I have no idea if that will really work.
On the bright side, three years after planting we have finally beaten the frosts, stink bugs, wasps and birds and this morning I picked the first ripe nectarine from our tree! Peaches looking good, too. I am practically dancing around the house, complete with my 34-week belly!
Cord says
Oh, those sketchbooks! They remind me powerfully of some I inherited, from the same era– my grandfather’s brother died fighting in the Pacific, in WWII. I now own his sketchbooks, which were shipped home with his other effects. They portray tent-camps, thatch-hut villages surrounded by banana trees, and fellow soldiers, in very much the same style (though his pencils had a finer points). It’s a shame classical drawing is no longer taught in schools!
Claire says
I do enjoy a good garden tour! Love those pretty splashes of geranium color amid the practicality.
Very late getting mine in this year — daughter’s wedding, yay! — but it looks like things are catching up. Now if I can just remember to keep an eye out for the Caterpillar of Zucchini Death, we’ll be in good shape.
Seeing the kids playing with the rose petals reminds me of happy times spent in my own grandmother’s productive and beautiful garden. What a smart idea it was to bring them over!
Is that a variegated sage? So pretty!
James Anderson says
Thanks for another great post, a lot of interesting information that I have shared.
One comment, for us city folks it would help to have captions on you garden tours so we know what we are looking at. I know what most of them look like in the grocery store, but in the wild, that is a whole different story.
James Anderson says
Hi the previous post didn’t make it out.
Another great post with much interesting information that I have shared.
One comment. It would help to have captions on your garden tours so us city folks know what they are looking at. I know what most of them look like in the grocery store but not in the wild.
Leila says
Sorry about the weird messages, James — we will try to figure it out.
And as to captions, I agree! Sadly, the caption function on WordPress just doesn’t work very well. But your interest makes me want to go back and try to identify things for you — I always assume that it would be too much!
Leila says
Okay, James — I tried to describe each bed! See what you think!
James Anderson says
Thanks for the captions. Now I know a little bit more. Maybe I need to look for a Field Guide to Vegetables.
Leila says
Haha! I think in a few more weeks it will be more apparent what each thing is — at least, I hope so!
James Anderson says
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Lisa G. says
Yes, this is what I’ve gotten lately here, but my comments still appear. Still, something isn’t right.
Tarynkay says
Ok, I think that kale honey could be The Next Big Thing.
Katie says
Speaking of gardens and (indirectly) pollination, has your extended/kid crew come across the film Wings of Life? It’s a DisneyNature production (whatever exactly that is) and streams for free on Netflix. Absolutely gorgeous slo-mo photography of bees, bats, flowers, hummingbirds, monarch butterflies, all kinds of lovely things. We’d been watching the 4-minute trailer on YouTube, and yesterday we pulled up the whole thing and watched. I will note that the narration at first was a bit . . . sensual . . . along the lines of orchids luring in bees, etc., but our oldest non-adult watcher was 4, and I just oohed and aahed and “Look!”ed over the female narrator until we got past that part. Overall quite beautiful, and includes things both exotic (cactus bats!) and familiar (yellow tomato flowers).
Leila says
Katie, I’ll have to check it out! Thanks!
Elizabeth says
Very interesting article there about pregnancy lost caused by hormone imbalance. I, personally, have had four miscarriages, and began to suspect hormone imbalance after the third. But when I went to my doctor and described my pregnancy losses and other symptoms of hormone imbalance, which I had been reading about, and of which I had several, she zeroed in on my depression and anxiety, and prescribed me prozac. Then she ordered me a bunch of expensive blood tests, and never bothered to look at them, so when I called two months later and said “I’m pregnant, can you tell me what my blood work showed, is there anything I can do to help keep this baby?” they had no idea. They offered me a pregnancy test. (I use NFP; I knew I was pregnant.) I’m very frustrated with the medical establishment.
James Anderson says
http://www.covenantresourcesfcc.org/resources/naprotechnology-trained-physicians has a list of NaPro Technology doctors. I also know that that the Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, NH has a NaPro doctor and they are in the process of setting up a NaPro practice at the hospital. I hope that this helps you. Jim
Leila says
I second this heartily, Elizabeth! NaPro all the way!
Anamaria says
If you can’t find a NaPro doctor near you, a Billings or other NFP-only doctor should know enough to help, too- and actually quite a few decent OBGYNs/midwives near me that aren’t NFP-only apparently know about progesterone. Lots of prayers and hope you find a good, knowledgeable, caring doctor soon!
Claire says
Thanks for all of the lovely inspiration! You are a treasure Leila! Loved your links today.