Catching Up and Counting Blessings

It has been a very long time since I last posted here on my blog. My life has been such a joy in recent months. As you know, our two Elders came home. Matthew arrived in January from Russia and Jason came home from Los Angeles Spanish speaking mission in March. In between we sent Elder Ryan Otis off on his mission to Everett Washington and cheered on our Senior Hunter Otis in his play Les Miserables. It was a whirlwind to say the least.

It is a joy to have our oldest sons home. They have grown to be fine men and so helpful as always. Matthew plans to attend BYU in the fall and is working at his old job making windows for the summer at Anderson Windows. He lives with friends in Cottage Grove during the week and comes home on the weekends to spend time with us. He is also the Ward Mission Leader.

Jason is still seeking employment. Please remember him in your prayers if you can. While he is looking he's helping me in both our gardens and brushing up on his fishing skills. He keeps our freezer full of fish and I couldn't do without him in the garden. He has made the work so much easier. Now that it's planted and the hot wire is up, he can put all his efforts into his job search. He wants to attend BYU in the winter session.

Hunter has his last concert in High School Choir this week. He has his senior recital on Saturday and his Seminary Graduation on Sunday. He finished his Eagle Scout service project on Saturday! Way to go Hunter. He graduates from High School next week! Wow! He plans on going on his mission next February! We are so pleased he has chosen to serve the Lord.

Ryan is serving the Lord in the Everett Washington State Mission. He is serving presently on Camano Island. It is directly accross from his childhood home in Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island. He is doing great!

Terry has nearly fully recovered from his accident last October. WE thank God each day that he is still with us. He just completed his very first solo project at work and I'm so proud of him. He is such a joy to our family and we love him dearly.

I am now the canning manager for our ward. So much to do and so little time I'm finding. I'm prayerful about preparing our ward for hard times ahead. I'm teaching the sisters how to garden, and store food. I am also teaching bread making classes. In July we'll have a cannery class brought to the church to show everyone how to put dried goods in #10 cans for long term storage. I'm excited about this. I pray that all those sisters involved will gain much needed knowledge that month to prepare every needful thing during these trying times at hand.

Well, that's it in a nutshell. I pray that you all are happily gardening and enjoying the warmth of spring. Tomorrow I post pictures of our beautiful garden as it's first budding out. Soon we'll have green beans! Hooray!

How Is Your "Economic Stimulus" Garden Growing?

With talk of economic stimulus plans in the government and high prices at the pump, our family has taken action. We have gone back to the family garden and are now reaping the fruits of our labors.

In this photo to the left we are trying out two different ways to plant potatoes. At the far end we planted them in recycled tires. Each time the plants peek out of the tires, we top them off with soil and an additional new tire. In theory you can tear off the top to bottom levels in the fall and find potatoes throughout. It sounds terrific. We'll have to see if it works out. In the foreground is the traditional way of growing potatoes. The plants are very healthy. We hope to have a years worth of potatoes from this planting. In the fall I'll tell you how to store the potatoes.

In the photo to the right, we have peas, bush beans, acorn squash, beets and in the very back, corn. We can hardly wait to sink our teeth into the sweet corn next month!

As in the past, I have planned my planting around the way I preserve food. I like to use a pressure canner. It allows me to can vegetables and meats and fruits in pint or quart jars. The potatoes are for the table of course. They are also for my home made beef stew. I have also planted onions, and carrots and thyme and celery. All are the ingredients I need to make my stew.

We have planted pole beans and corn which will be preserved separately for daily use. It's great to see how tall our corn has gotten. The stalks in the first row are now taller than me! We did have some problems this month with raccoons testing the corn for ripeness. Little stinkers! Brother Dumas, my husband Terry and my boys, placed hot wire around the garden after that. We haven't had a problem since then.

With this garden we plan on canning homemade salsa, bread and butter pickles and pumpkin pie filling, pickled beets and spaghetti sauce. We have been enjoying salads and zucchini and soon we'll have peas! Our friend and fellow gardener planted so many beets and brussel-sprouts we won't know what to do with them all when they ripen! Perhaps we can give them to a family who is struggling in the church or our own neighborhood. Larry seems to think he can eat them all by himself! I'll have to take a picture of that one!

There are so many people hurting these days with the high price of food and gas. My husband purchased a motorcycle recently. I can't believe I agreed to it! He had one when we were first married. We sold it when we started having kids. At the time it seemed like a risk and we weren't willing to take it. Now, we seem to have no choice.

We now have a reduced gas bill and we are eating more healthy foods from our garden too. So maybe we need to look for the silver lining in this crunch we are all feeling. Perhaps there is something good that will come out of all the financial strain after all. I know it already has for our family.