Who Has Time to Blog - I've Been Gardening!

Well, the lettuce is by far my greatest gardening success - ever!  I gave away three bags Tuesday morning to my breakfast friends - and that was after eating salad Monday evening and saving some leaves for Paul's sandwiches this week.  My brother dashed over this noon to get lettuce for BLT's, we ate salad for dinner, and I sent him home with a bagful after that.  There's still more - and I planted a lettuce mix in another raised bed this week, expecting the current crop to bolt any day, and leave me lettuce-less for a while.  While I don't think the lettuce has paid for the entire gardening project, it's certainly redeeming the expenditures.   And I'm already planning to grow more in the cold frame in the fall and next winter. 

We made two more raised beds, bringing my gardening space to 64 square feet.  The zinnias, collards, dill, chives and cilantro I started from seed survived the transplanting, but the sunflowers look pathetic, so I think I"ll have to buy a few of them to add to the tomato and zucchini plants I got at the nursery. 

I planted okra which sprouted quickly - but it looks kind of straggly.  Since I've never ever seen it growing I don't know quite what to expect, but I don't think this is it.  But hey, how much okra can a couple of Yankees eat, anyway!  The collards seem prolific - I'll have to figure out how Miss Idella Rawls, from the Baptist Church in Pearlington, Mississippi fixed them for the meal she served to volunteers and neighbors alike when we were there a year ago.  I probably can't even comprehend how much grease it took to make them so yummy. But we like them sauted them with a little olive oil and garlic, and I have a meatloaf recipe that uses the leaves as a wrapper like pigs in the blanket and cooks in the crockpot.  So I should be able to keep up with the collard greens. 

My brother brought over a barrel, went to the hardware store for the plumbing fixtures needed, and even drilled the hole and installed the spigot for a rain barrel by the back of our house.  A couple days later, it started to rain and I hurried home at lunch time to look in the barrel - it was nearly full!  I almost emptied it onto my plants and seeds by the time it rained again on Monday, filling it to overflowingn once again.  God is an on-time God! 

Are we saving any money?  Doubtful - but the satisfaction of digging in the dirt and even playing in the water from the rain barrel are great blessings to me these days.

The $64 Tomato, or the $138 Bowl of Lettuce

We had a small garden last year for the first time in quite a while. I had a pretty good harvest of snow peas, some leaf lettuce, tomatoes and basil, and I even managed to grow some zucchini (I seemed to be the only person I know who failed to produce zucchini in previous years)  I had a lot of trouble growing anything in one area by the driveway and attributed that to the nearby Black Walnut tree.  So I persuaded Paul to build me a few raised beds, and we got started in the fall so I'd be ready to go come spring.

I dug out a couple old books from my stash - The Victory Garden, and Square Foot Gardening, and even  borrowed a few others from the library, including a great garden read titled, The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden.  That gem tells of a man's numerous expenditures - buying loads of dirt (I did that too), fencing to keep out the rabbits (I did that too) and hiring a backhoe (I didn't do that!) to create a garden.  He calculated the cost per tomato at $64.  His conclusion was, that despite the cost, the value and satisfaction of picking a perfect tomato was incalculable. 

I can say that about the lettuce I ate for dinner tonight - surely my blessing for today.  In addition to raised beds, Paul made me a cold frame, and in the fall, I sowed lettuce seeds, eagerly anticipating harvesting lettuce all winter.  Since it was right by the driveway - I planned to shovel right over to it, lift off the glass, and pick a bowl of lettuce whenever I wanted.  Well, it sprouted slowly, and the last time I looked at it was Christmas - I was hoping to treat my daughter, home from Mississippi, to fresh lettuce for dinner.  At that point it looked like very small lettuce plants, so I was excited about that, but was fairly sure they were frozen - and would turn to green slime the minute I picked them and brought them into the house.  So I left it alone for the rest of the winter. 

In March, right after the last snow melted, I wandered over, and peeked into the cold frame - I was ecstatic - there was lettuce growing!  It hadn't frozen after all.  So I harvested a few of the lower leaves and topped off the spring greens I'd purchased at the store with my own fresh lettuce!  A week later, I did it again, and we've now had lettuce several times.  Tonight I didn't need the store greens and even had some leftover for tomorrow.  Seeds I've planted seeds in another area of the cold frame have sprouted so when these plants die off, I can continue my salad harvest.

Since the fall, I have spent $138 for boards for the raised beds, dirt and cow manure (seems I ought to be able to find that for free somewhere!) fencing to keep out rabbits and the neighbr cats, who think the nice raised beds are lovely litter boxes.  I could buy a lot of lettuce for $138 but my price per bowl will continue to decline - and I won't need to buy the boards or fence again.  (May even find a source for free manure!)

I feel like the Master Card commercial, when the tag line says, "The satisfacton of eating your own home grown lettuce in March and April - priceless!"

Snow Day(s)

Snow days - not for me - but the local schools were closed Thursday and Friday.  Thursday's closing seemed unnecessary, but that's in retrospect - glad I don't have to make the decisions.  My Bible Study was cancelled because by evening it was snowing more heavily and they predicted lots of wind - which never really materialized.  I did a little scrapbooking - a page on My Faith Heritage - does that count for Bible Study??  Maybe not, but I did reflect on being baptized and never again darkening the doors of that church.  God put his mark on me that day in 1956, though, and drew me ever closer to him in subsequent years as my parents started regular church attendance. 

Friday morning it felt like the winters of my childhood. Snow was piled everywhere and streets were barely plowed - single lane in places, evena couple days later.  People who had parked on the street seemed stunned that the snow plows had nearly buried their cars.  Paul got out the snowblower and tackled the driveway and sidewalk, while I shoveled steps and out to the cars to sweep them off.  Even with the push broom, it was hard work getting it off the car roofs. I had to shovel just to open my car door and get the scraper out.  At work, by 10:30 I was ravenous - my usual bowl of Cheerioes had worn off.  I guess I should do a little more regular exercise!  People in my building chipped in to buy pizza for lunch, (hoping the delivery guy could make it as it was still snowing!) and we had a lot of fun eating and laughing together at noon.  Even though we worked, it felt a little like a snow day.  My coworker said her 4 year old son told her he was jumping in "snow puddles." 

When I arrived home, Paul's car was on the street - the plow had heavily filled in the end of the driveway - we used shovels for a few minutes, but Paul retrieved the snowblower to finish the job - heavy wet snow is not fun!  I was out this morning for a while, and when I came back, found it again plowed full!  This time the neighbor was out and cleared our driveway with his snowblower. 

Hope the robins I saw last week found a protected place!  Maybe spring's not quite here - but it's coming!

The Blessing of Spring Coming

Move aside Punxsutawney Phil, I saw three robins yesterday, and that's MY predictor of spring!

I went down to Aurora to drop something off for Jason at Wells College.  It was one of those beautiful blue sky afternoons, with a few puffy clouds in the sky.  A couple students were gamely trying to sled down the hill from the Athletic Center, one on a tube, and the other on a sled.  It seemed slow going on the soft snow, but they were laughing. 

On my way back up the hilly country road, I saw that  on some of the windswept lawns and under pine trees, the snow has melted down to bare grass.  Suddenly I saw two robins bouncing along, searching for worms, I guess.  A bit later, I saw one more.  It's almost spring!

A year ago Paul and I went on a get away weekend and saw numerous robins in the still snow-filled landscaping around the hotel property.  It seemed somehow wrong to see them in the middle of the snow, but they didn't seem to mind.  By the time I found my camera they were gone.  The promise of spring - a memory only in my mind.

The Wildfire of the Gospel or a Sewing Project

Martin Luther King Jr Day, was a holiday from work for me. I had planned to spend the whole day scrapbooking - and this time, in contrast to other scrapbooking projects whose subjects were mission trips or a memory page for a retiring pastor, I would be the subject. I'm following a weekly challenge this year to create a scrapbook telling My Lifetime Story. By the time of the earthquake I was already two weeks behind, with the third topic to appear on Wednesday. Monday would give me a full day to complete the title page and the pages about my birth, and maybe learn how to use Photoshop Elements, a new program to me, to edit, crop and resize scanned copies of old pictures.

God had other plans for Monday. THAT plan started last year when we had a presentation at church about a project to support an orphan at a school, which our Sunday School has taken on. At the same time, there was information about Dress our People, a project to make simple shift dresses for the girls and tank tops and shorts for the boys. I ordered a set of patterns and put them on the shelf because they were partial patterns in multiple sizes - you had to cut apart the bodice, add length depending on the size, and repeat for small, medium, large and extra large. All on brown paper or they suggested wrapping paper. A good idea for some day when I was bored or otherwise inspired.

Through an email newsletter I learned that some ladies from the Cazenovia United Methodist Church were gathering to do a sewing blitz for Dress our People on MLK Day, and I knew I had to set aside my scrapbooking plans. With a local volunteer traveling regularly to a Haitian orphanage carrying the simple clothing, this church and others, have provided numerous articles of clothing to the impoverished Haitian children. Sunday, I pulled out my patterns, cut apart a dozen Wegmans paper bags (they like to contribute to good causes - I'll get more for my garbage can next time I go shopping) and started making the patterns. It took a LONG time and I was glad I had sewing experience. A couple of the dress lengths didn't match up with the instructions, so I left them unfinished, planning to get advice from the experts at Cazenovia. With floral fabric I got from WalMart, telling the clerk about the project, I quickly stitched up a small dress for a sample at church.

Mom's old Singer sewing machine in the back of the Subaru, I set out Monday and arrived to see 6 sewing machines whirring, complete with a iron and padded table for pressing in one corner. In another area of the room, tables were set up for cutting - a volunteer grabbed a length of fabric from a large stash, picked up a pattern, cut out the garment, and added it to the pile for the sewers. Two of the cutters were retired men - happily accepting the challenge to fit as many garments as they could out of each length. I met Jeanne, the organizer who told me they've made over a thousand garments in the two years since they've been doing this. She showed me that they use interfacing instead of paper for their patterns - it's easier to handle, and in most cases, sticks to the fabric well enough that little or no pinning is needed - a real time saver. They have two sets, which keep cutters busy. She helped me fix the problem patterns I brought along, and then I joined in by cutting out a few garments, then set up the sewing machine to sew a couple dresses.

On my way home I bought interfacing using a JoAnn Fabrics coupon, telling THAT store clerk about Dress our People. I cut out a second set of patterns, loaned the original to a church member who had called, and later promised to get a set of patterns to a pastor friend whose church members have fabric and a desire to help - back to JoAnn's with another coupon, and I have a set to hand off to the pastor when I see her at Tuesday Bible Study. In the meantime another church member called, so I have the original patterns ready to give to her at church.

The mission to make clothing is spreading like wildfire. A coworker dug some thread, fabric and bias tape out of an old dresser - things her mother had that that she's willing to donate to the project. (At Cazenovia, one package of bias tape was marked 19 cents - it was clearly brought out of a stash of notions someone's grandmother had handed down!)

I am reminded of the Gospel. The news of salvation is so compelling, that each person tells another - or a few others, and it spreads like wildfire. I've had numerous people ask if I'm going to Haiti now, and have responded, "probably not." I should reframe my answer and say that if God calls me to go to Haiti, I'll have to respond. I copied a quote that reads, "If you find yourself in a place you never thought you'd be and doing things you never thought you'd do, you can be sure that it's God's will." My will for Monday was scrapbooking. God had other plans, and I need to start telling people my motivation for these acts of service instead of simply telling about the project.

Who has time to blog?

I intended to take a picture of the cute dress and post this in January. It’s close to a month later, and I still haven’t gotten the pictures off my camera, but my oh my, the sewing project is exciting! Eleven of us gathered at church last Thursday night, and while we didn’t totally finish very many clothes, there was lots of activity! Several people traced patterns – two of them to return to their rural church nearby. One person finished tracing so a set could be sent to a church member’s sister in Massachusetts. Two of our sewers were novices – a thirteen year old girl and her ten year old friend.  We had some things cut out for the planned Saturday sewing session, and a few finished or nearly finished garments as well.

I wasn’t able to be there on Saturday for the sewing session, but when I went to church on Sunday, I wept. A pile of seventeen finished garments – frog printed shorts, pockets added to some garments, dresses with dainty lace around the neckline – covered a table, with a huge stack of cut out items on the chair. My heart was bursting with joy at the results of this effort by people in my church. One older woman glowed as she described the roomful of people, and the pinning, the cutting, and the sewing.  Apparently among the room full of women (plus the two girls from the previous gathering) an adult male member of the church came, as did a teenaged boy. They took my plea that you could help no matter your experience, your age or your gender!

This project is spreading like wildfire and my scrapbook has been set aside for now. The pictures will always be there, but there are hurting people in Haiti right now. I'm so glad people in my church and some of my other aquaintances want to help. We can’t go to Haiti ourselves but prayers are being acted out as people take on a tangible project like sewing clothing for kids so deeply affect by poverty and the tragedy of the earthquake. 

Stop Dithering

I feel in a dither.  The news of the earthquake in Haiti reminds me of the friends I now have on the other side of that island in the Dominican Republic.  I'm learning that the more connections I make with disenfranchised people, the more I care, deeply. Having walked the streets of Los Alcarizzos, DR, I can picture the poverty which the Haitians already endure, made all the more harsh with the loss of their country's pathetic infrastructure.  Having helped build a concrete block house there last summer, I can picture the kinds of homes the Haitian people have seen shaken to the ground. 

In the midst of this, my most profound blessing is hearing from Christian friends of immediate responses that are being made. 

My dear husband asked the guys at our prison Bible Study to pray Tuesday night - just an hour or so after the earthquake.  We prayed for a collapsed hospital - the first of the sound bites he heard on the radio news.  If only it were JUST a single hospital that was lost.

My pastor posted a link to UMCOR - the United Methodist Church's mission organization.  She's much more computer savvy than I am - I searched for too long for a mailing adress to send a check, and posted my frustration on Facebook.  She responded with a link, saying it was easy.  I STILL couldn't get it, but eventually navigated my way to UMCOR, PO Box 9068 New York, NY 10087.

Another friend, Sandi, who got me started in the whole Gulf Coast relief effort, posted information about her Syracuse Presbyterian Church's effort to make health kits to be distributed.  Now that's something I can get  involved in - I've made a few flood buckets myself, in response to floods in June 2006 in the southern tier of NYS  - I sent Paul on a mission to find free 5 gallon pails (pickle buckets from a deli filled our garage at one point.)  Years ago an ecumencial youth effort in Auburn prompted a bunch of adults to get the teens including my son Jason involved in sewing (yes sewing!) kits and filling them.  We had kids all over the social room cutting, sewing and filling more than a hundred school bags.  I may spend a few bucks this weekend making a couple kits, and urging others to join me.

Information about kits:
Health Kit
• One hand towel measuring approximately 16" x 28"  (no fingertip or bath towels)
• One washcloth
• One wide-tooth comb
• One nail clipper  (no metal files or emery boards)
• One bar of soap (bath size in wrapper)
• One toothbrush (in original packaging)
• Six Band-Aids®

Please do not add toothpaste to the Hygiene Kit. Toothpaste that has an extended expiration date will be added to Hygiene Kit shipments just prior to shipment. Seal all items in a one-gallon plastic bag with a zipper closure.

School Kits
• 1 pair blunt scissors (rounded tip)

• 3 pads (or loose leaf) of 8 1/2" x 11" ruled paper
• 1 30-centimeter ruler
• 1 hand held pencil sharpener
• 6 unsharpened pencils with erasers
• 1 eraser, 2 1/2"
• 1 box of 24 crayons (only 24)

Prepare a 14" x 16" (finished size) cloth bag with handles and an optional closure (Velcro®, snap or button) and place items in the bag.  (I'd make a bag if anyone wanted to buy supplies)

And finally, Henry, an aquaintance from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance's Gulf Coast response has posted a desire to help on his blog, http://knockatthenarrowgate.blogspot.com/.  Looks like he's dithering too.  But having met this gentle but determined man when we were in Mississippi last year, I just know he will find productive ways to serve in Haiti.

Time to stop dithering.  Gotta keep praying, write my check, collect a few supplies, and listen for other ways God's calling in the midst of this disaster.

Like Goldilocks - Just Right!

Earlier this week, I put my skis in the back of the car, planning that I would ski after work.  Today I carried my ski clothes into the office, in preparation for going straight to the nature trail on my way home.  Unlike our pre Christmas skiing, this evening was perfect - not too little snow, and not too much snow as was the case Sunday when I went out, but just right! 

Several people before me had skied, and no one had come along with snow shoes to mess up the tracks.  There was lots of nicely packed powder snow.  I was all alone in the small woods, and there was just enough light in the sky to show the path.  The wind blew fiercely as I crossed the open space alongside the middle school field - my face hurt from the cold!  But as I went into the woods, it was sheltered, and was just about perfect.

I am reminded of being a kid and going sledding - dragging sleds from our house to Pierce's hill to play all afternoon before treading back home - feet numb, and mittens caked with snow.  Or walking the block from home with the guards on my ice skates to Lincoln School, where the ball field was flooded to make an ice rink.  Once, I skated with my hands in my pockets, tripped, and banged up my chin - it was sore and scabbed for days!  I guess I'm glad my parents urged us outdoors even on wintery days.

I debated making a second loop around the nature trail and decided to just do it!  Am I glad I did - as I rounded one corner on the far side, three deer stood alongside the path.  I came within 20 feet of one of them before it took off into the woods.  As I turned the next corner, I saw two more - they froze in place - did they really think I couldn't see them?  I continued on, up a slight hill into the trees, and them down a nice incline - makes me feel like a real skier!  The blessing of today was a ski trip that was just right!