Green Thumbs: My First Attempt at Growing a Garden

My dad has grown a garden every year since I can remember. When I was younger, I would usually help him plant the seeds and then not visit the garden again until time to harvest the crops. I have strung more green beans and shucked more corn than I could ever eat. However, I never took much interest in gardening back then. I believe it was because my dad's garden was "his" and I was always afraid of doing the wrong thing and killing our food. Plus, I thought of processing the food more as a chore or something that I had to do, instead of something that I wanted to do.

A lot has changed since then. Now, I have moved out of my parent's house and am living (and preparing food) on my own. I work for a nonprofit organization where one of the biggest parts of my job is to purchase produce from farmers to give to those less-fortunate within the state. A combination of these factors are what have got me thinking about food on a daily basis. I see it from both sides of the spectrum...from farm to table, so to speak. I see the struggles that farmers face. I know how much work they put into a crop just to potentially see it all destroyed by insects or the weather. I understand more now about how difficult it can be for a low-income family to provide fresh, nutritious meals for their children. When a 6-pack of Ramen noodles is cheaper than an apple, you are going to choose the Ramen over the apple, because one apple won't feed your entire family.

All of this being said, I feel that there is no better time than now for me to start growing my own food. I currently live in a subdivision and have a small yard, but it should be plenty large enough to grow the amount of food that I will be able to consume as one person. Most of my plants are going to be grown in containers. I currently have planted Swiss chard, bell peppers, yellow squash, and tomatoes, and am starting a small herb garden (all using organic practices).  If I have extra, I will give it away, either to friends or the local food pantry. I have already begin sharing seeds and seedlings with friends and family who are also interested in gardening.

In the future, I would like to grow more produce so that I will be able to share more of it. For now, I think it's best that I start small, though, since I don't really know 100% what I am doing. I would like to get to a point where I am knowledgeable enough about it that I can teach others how to grow their own food as well. People need to have more of a connection with their food. Even if they don't grow it themselves, they should at least know where it came from and what it had to go through to get on their plate.

There is so much more I could say about this and so many more directions that I could go with this post, but I don't want to overwhelm you, so I'll stop for now. I'll leave you with a photo of my heirloom crooked neck squash seedlings that I planted on March 13th. It's amazing how much they have grown!

I'll be back soon to update you on the status of my garden. Feel free to comment if you have any questions or are interested in starting your own garden. I can help refer you to some of the resources that I have been using for help. Hint: reading Vegetable Gardening for Dummies is a good first step!

Until next time, 

-Miss Ellaneous 

My New Roommate

    There are so many little things I would love to share with you all right now, but because I am only taking a short break in between studying for a BIG exam tomorrow, I'm only going to write a tidbit (how appropriate!) on here. The biggest news right now is about my new furry friend and roommate, Cleo.

      It's a trial run for both of us. I'm not used to having a cat indoors and she isn't used to living exclusively indoors but we've both enjoyed it so far. After two days she's getting more used to my apartment and she seems to be fairly happy. Seems like a crazy idea, but I've considered trying to train her to walk on a leash. We'll see about that. And if the situation doesn't seem like it's going to work out, I can always take her back to my parent's house and set her free again. But I'm crossing my fingers we both like having her in the apartment. She may have to visit home with me if I decide to go home for an extended period of time (a couple of weeks), although I already have an offer from a good cat-sitter. Cat...I mean Granny Eyre. The rest of the Twenty-Somethings all need to meet her! Plus, I need to have you all over anyway for a craft party or something.
     Not much in the way of new news besides that. My apartment is quickly filling up with plants. My Mom keeps sending me with new ones and I've got some outside on my porch that are pretty cute. I'll have to share some more plant photos with you all soon, or you can just visit me! :)

That's all for now, better get back to studying the brain (with my brain!)! Haha!
The Farmer's Daughter

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter is always such a joyful time for me because it is a reminder that Jesus is alive. It's also a reminder that I am alive in Christ as well. You should hit play on the song I'm linking here and listen to it while you read the rest of this post.

Saturday was the Easter egg hunt for church. After a lovely bicycle ride to campus, I arrived at Brushy Forks at noon to help set up and hide the two thousand eggs we had. That's right, two thousand eggs! It was a beautiful day to have an egg hunt. The sky was full of interesting clouds and the sun was shining.

The hunt was divided by age groups and because of low turnout most kids left with a booty of treasure. I feel sorry for their parents.

In addition hunting eggs, our associate pastor told the Easter story using eggs that had little tokens that represented parts of the Easter story.

Hiding the eggs was particularly fun because there were so many to hide. Although most of the eggs were just tossed in the grass because the places to really hide them were limited, I did get some laughs watching the three-year-old hiding eggs. He was a big helper.

While most of his egg hiding probably looked like this picture,...

...he also chose to bury some eggs. In fact, we had to go back later and unbury them because kids were not thinking to look in the ground for eggs.

I got a bit sunburned, but all together the day was enjoyable. 

N.B. This picture was taken two days after the burn so some of the red has dissipated. No worries, though, I have pulled my sunscreen out and put it in a visible location so I remember to wear it from now on.

I hope your Easter weekends were fun, safe, and focused on Christ.

Cheers!

P.S.

Here's a picture I dug up of this kid helping set up for last year's egg hunt.

Trains of Thought

*Following my train of thought.*


My time at my current position is drawing to a close in a few short months, which means I have started the search for the next step. Doubt and fear cloud my mind as I begin searching the web for teaching positions. There's also some excitement too that sometimes overshadows the doubt and fear. I've begun making lists of what I know about my educational philosophy and writing out my classroom management plans. Both of these are in an effort to remind myself that I do have a clue about teaching and that I am qualified to apply for these jobs. I think these are normal fears to have about being rejected or failing. It's how I react to these fears that matters. I refuse to sit back and let fear keep me from applying. I am going to be bold and apply. Even if I'm rejected, I'll keep striving toward my goal of being a teacher. I know that my heart is in educating and mentoring youth.


In other news, I've recently gotten my bicycle out and done some repairs. Winnie, that's her name, got new tires and had some of her gearwork repaired. We've been taking trips to work about twice a week for the past two weeks. I could probably do more but tight schedules and rain predictions keep me driving my car on some days. I do enjoy riding my bicycle to and from work. Sometimes I wonder why I'm torturing myself when I'm riding up the hill on the way to work, but it's always worth the ride up when I get to fly down the hill that evening. It's exhilarating! Anyone want to go for a ride?

Cheers!

Hey y'all!

I have officially made my first post onto my new, personal blog. I struggled to come up with a catchy title, but for now it's Ky Bluegrass Belle. I've thought about playing around with the name a little bit more because there seem to be quite a few Bluegrass Belle's out there and I'd like to be a little bit more original. What do you all think? I may change it before you all can even check it out..I'm working on it.

Although it would have been simpler to stick with Blogger, I decided to see what WordPress was like. I already enjoy the variety of layouts better than on Blogger. I hope to keep both blogs updated, perhaps sometimes posting the same information on both, but I would like to make a distinction between the two blogs in some way. It's all a work in progress still, as you can tell.

I am excited about having a new blog though. And I just wanted to make you all aware. I am enjoying my spring break so far...wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! I'll update y'all about what I get into later!

The Farmer's Daughter

Literacy Night and another adventure

Last night I had the opportunity to help out at my former labor position from college. The month of March is somewhat commonly known as literacy month. It is also the month in which Dr. Seuss has a birthday, which him being a childrens book creator, adds to the hype of the month in the education world. Last night the CDL hosted their annual literacy night. This is a celebration of literacy geared toward the youngsters that go to the center. There were many games and activities that related to the happenings in many Dr. Seuss books. There is also appearances made by thing 1 and thing 2, and The Cat in the Hat himself. But what kind of celebration would it be if there wasn't any food? That's where I come in. Every year that I worked at the cdl as a student, I would volunteer in the kitchen making popcorn. Even though I am not a labor student anymore, I got invited to come back and help out in the kitchen again. It was a great night popping popcorn and catching up with people. Seeing the cute little children added to the greatness of the night.

Another happening of this past week was getting to go to a concert for free. Eyre knows people with connections apparently because we both got tickets to see Third Day and Brandon Heath for a night of worship. The beginning of the concert was a bit scary for me because I was sitting alone with a lot of people I didn't know and it was overwhelming for me. But a little later Eyre was able to join me because of an empty seat. During the evening I heard many songs, some I knew, some I didn't but that was okay. I love listening to music because songs tell stories and with this particular genre of music the stories point to God and that is pretty amazing to me. Fun tidbit from that evening is that we went to IHOP for dinner and I got some chocolate chip pancakes and they were scrumptious!
Well that's about it for now. Captain Something Fun signing off.

Third Day and Brandon Heath

Last night I knew someone personally on the stage at the Third Day/Brandon Heath concert in Richmond. My brother's girlfriend, Olivia, was invited to sing as part of the choir for Third Day. It was rather cool. In exchange for her voice, she received two free tickets, and she chose me! I took Captain with me. After some minor disappointments about not being seated together, it was a good concert. The venue was comfortable and the sound wasn't too obnoxious. These two bands perform some wonderful songs. I'll leave a couple here after some of my pictures.

The one thing I did which I highly regret is that I was not fully present for the concert. I very quickly got caught up in taking pictures and videos instead of enjoying the music, the words of the artists, and the experience. 

Brandon Heath: Love Never Fails

Third Day: Cry Out To Jesus

Happy Friday!