KinderGARDENS 2-Clean (Muddy) Slate -Week 4

Iron Man tilled the gardens for the second time this spring just as the rains started up again.

He was drenched when he was done, and it continued to rain for 5 more hours pretty steady.

So now we have a clean slate to work with, albeit a muddy one!

But it must be all figured out by Saturday, we're supposed to have sun

 (or at least not more downpour)
Saturday and Monday.

  So my plan is to have the gardens planted by Monday night!

I did get half of this section of the Salad garden done. 

 (L to R) Walla Walla, Leeks, volunteer parsley, last years onion and garlic (2 rows),

 and then the spinach against the fence.

But this weekend my offspring are supposed put the KID in KinderGARDENS.
So check back next week to find out if they can handle
the implementation of their garden plans!

Attempt at Sestina

Recently I have had two friends remind me of this poem I wrote years ago.

Michelle told me she found it and re-read it.  

I praised her for  probably being the only person who has read it twice!

Kirsten's son, wrote an acrostic poem, and that reminded me of my attempt at sestina.

So I thought I'd post it in case there is anyone interested in poetry AND gardening!

I wrote this as I was trying to model poetry for my children.  HSLDA had a poetry contest and I wanted to encourage my children to enter, so I told them I would write a poem as well.  They have very direct guidelines as to the poetry style for each year's contest and I was intrigued by the Sestina.

Here are the guidelines for a Sestina:

The Sestina is a French form divided into 6 sestets (six-line stanzas) and 1 triplet called an envoi, which is just a concluding stanza that is half the size of the rest. Thus a Sestina has 39 lines. Lines may be of any length, but usually the length is consistent in a single poem.

The Sestina is usually unrhymed and works by repeating the end words of each line. The six words that end each of the lines of the first stanza are repeated in a different order at the end of lines in each of the subsequent five stanzas. The particular pattern is given below.

(This kind of recurrent pattern is “lexical repetition.”)

In the closing envoi, each of the six words are used in any order with one in the middle of the line and one at the end.

The pattern for repeating the words is like this: (stanza A) 123456, (stanza B) 615243. This 615243 pattern is how each of the “next” stanzas are made based off the previous stanza.

If this is confusing, the best way to clear it up is to look at some examples and watch how these poets move the last words of their stanzas. Pay special attention to the last, shorter stanza and how they put one word in the middle and another word at the end.

As you can see, this was no easy task.  I owe thanks to Iron Man for patiently editing and offering his support and honest critique.  Also thanks to my friend Michelle who took the picture of the forest fire recovery while she was on vacation in Yellowstone.  

Attempt at Sestina                                    29 April – 14 July 10:33p.m. 2009

“Love is a great beautifier.”  --Louisa May Alcott

In the vaulted canopy, songs of love

ring triumphantly as autumn is

full upon us.  Heavy boughs of great

emerald growth declare the crowning beauty

of many fruitful decades without fire

to spoil comfort or prune what may

be needed.  Yet in the changing seasons, one may

observe displays of the Creator’s love.

Angry lightening strikes the towering structures and fire

engulfs our understory.  To denizens there is

no mercy for young or old, all beauty

is on a perilous flight from this great

destruction.  Amidst the terror the great

giants topple, although embers, dust and flame may

still lash out to destroy unseen beauty.

Ferns and moss, lichens and all those who love

these shaded groves find the revealing heat is

too intense and wither in the face of fire.

The high and storied boughs curse the purging fire

for they are taken from lofty places and reduced to ash.  Great-

ness, all consumed, lies in heaps on the forest floor and is

once again nothing more than dirt:  basic elements which may

serve mankind when combined together in their purity and renewed with love

by the coming cold, harsh winter.  Beckoned by a longing for beauty,

the cleansing storms of spring are penetrating and beauty

can be felt in the warm breezes that once fanned the blazing fire

but now bring bended knees to the soil to work humility and love.

Seed-filled pods and cones, having fallen earthward like great

scales, now open and release what finally may

prove for the forest a restoration as pure sunlight is

again reaching long obscured ground where dormant power is.

Now begins a new song of love.  Natural beauty

unites sun, rain and soil that they may

test the worth of the seed.  After the trial of fire

the faithful seedling pushes upward against great

odds to restore another generation of love.

Love is a great and beautiful fire.

When who we are is challenged, adversity may,

if we allow it, reveal God’s love and His works of beauty.

Is anyone up to the challenge to write a poem and share?

Would anyone like to "attempt a sestina"?

Teenage Chicks

The "little ladies"

 are now old enough to move out of my kitchen and into the chicken area,

 but not old enough to be with the other chickens.   

So here is their new home:

The top of the 'A' frame is nice an warm at night.

They get to practice 'roosting'.

Looks like I have the same problem Faith had trying to get the shot:  "Can you just stand still!"

now turn...

not that way...uhh

...Oh, just sit down then!

Thank you!
At least I don't have to get these guys to smile!

They are losing their cute downey fluff,

 and have gigantic talons,

 they are gawky and exhibit bursts of undirected energy 

which propels them flapping and chirping to run right over everyone else in haste

 to go "nowhere in particular!" 

Does that sound familiar of teenagers?

But they are inquisitive and still quite cute when you look at them closely.

Here they are experiencing grass for the first time.

This brood hen was quite anxious about them.  I'm just certain her clucks meant,
"Be careful!  Remember who you are! Don't talk to strangers!"

So now they have two mother hens to give them sage advice,
"Don't get stuck in the fence! Eat all your greens! Watch out for hawks!"

I'm sure that's just what every teenager wants!

KinderGARDENS 2-Discoveries -Week 3

This week we had a few days of sun!

 "and the peasants rejoiced!"

So out to the garden we go,

and this is how it went...

First I discovered this change in the salad garden.
Does this count as a hobbit hole, Kim?

Seeing that the other gardens haven't been tilled enough yet to work in, Princess and I

needed to get the salad garden "dialed in" for the first rotation.

This was her reaction to being in the garden.
Did I mention she is a pre-teen?

She discovered that she would rather help Laddie with the potatoes than
learn about successive plantings of salad.

Pretty sure she will wish she had opted for salad later on, 

but hey, potato salad is good! 

These onions over-wintered and I am wondering what to do with them.  Some of them are going to seed, and I need the space for this year's stuff so...

I picked them and WOW, they are either really big green onions, or really small walla wallas,
I'm really bad at remembering what I planted, and I don't keep a record of it, but either way they look and smell edible so I'm going to roast them tomorrow for dinner.

  

The spinach is doing pretty well,
 especially considering I haven't even looked at it since it was planted!

This is my favorite new herb:  Pineapple Sage!
I don't know what recipes to use it in, but it smells so delightful!
Any suggestions?

Little Sister came along just in time to give you perspective as to how large this celery has grown.  It  also over-wintered with just a small cover.  I tasted some and it's a bit strong, a little bitter, but I wonder if more sunshine will fix that?  Or maybe once cooked it'll be okay.
Anyone have experience with 2nd year celery?

Okay, so have I told you how cool it is to grow volunteers? Oh yea, I have.  Well I'm finding lettuce as well, just popping up here and there, so I move it to where I want it in the garden.  This is how I do it: 

Just scoop up a handful around the root system and carry it to where you want it.

Carefully plant it in like you would any transplant.

Look how well it fits in with all the others.
 About half of them were moved here.
Looks like I have Red Sails, Romaine, and Green Leaf lettuces.
(I know that by some fluke of nature. I'm pretty sure that is what I planted last year, and it looks like  they have not cross pollinated.  I'll have to check into that to verify)

Here's and shot of "scooping it up".  I love this garden tool.
Notice the serrated edges, they make the job so much easier.

These are alyssum.  I use them as borders for the walkways.  They bloom and smell wonderful all summer long but they don't re-seed in a straight line! Go figure. 

So then my back was yelling at me, reminding me I'm old, and out of shape,
so I sat down on the bench and look at what else I discovered!

I have actually created a beautiful garden!

We've Passed Another Milestone!

First Tooth,
First Step,
First Birthday.
No More Diapers,
No More Tying Shoes,
No More Driving Him Everywhere.

Now a new first is upon us:
 
We now have our FIRST SIX FOOT CHILD!

He will probably also be our ONLY SIX FOOT CHILD, and this is really COOL!

Who would've guessed?

The wall of heights.  We measure friends too.

Typical teen: Ipod, and texting while I document this auspicious occasion.

This is a photo I enlarged 'cuz it was so darn cute; the three oldest when they were
9, 4, and 2.  Is it possible that was 14 years ago!!

KinderGARDENS 2- Kids' Plans -Week 2

It wasn't too hard to get the kids to commit to helping with KinderGardens this year.  

After blogging about them and showing them how cute they can be, and then reading them the comment from 'The Author'- that her son Matthew ran to watch the kids singing the "Banana Bread" song--well they feel like rock stars now and don't want to disappoint their "fan base."    But please, you have to know this will probably only buy me a couple, maybe three weeks of momentum, so any encouraging comments from your kids will really help me out!

Anne with an 'E' has a fun plan this year.  She has been working on a Personal Progress Program which teaches young girls how to set and accomplish goals over a 6 year span.  The areas of focus are: Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, Integrity and  Virtue.

She has decided to plant a garden which will qualify for a Faith project.  (Planting a seed is certainly a Faith building exercise!)  But not just any garden, she is going to plant a "Chicken Soup Garden!"

I asked her what she wanted in her chicken soup and she listed:  potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, sage and parsley.

Anne with an 'E',  loves to cook.  She actually like to cook much better than she enjoys gardening--But-- I see a bridge between the two developing here!  I am soooo pleased!

Bear immediately jumped on the opportunity to be in charge of the beans.  He wants to do green beans and purple beans.  I suggested he do a tunnel like Kirsten and her family did last year.  I think he is up for it!

Little Sister, chose a few veggies she was interested in:  carrots, radishes, beets, and I suggested that they work as a team this summer and help each other out.  It will be fun to see how the incorporate the root veggies with the tunnel.

The Princess heard about Anne's plan and thought she would do the same with the goal setting.  She chose to do the Salad garden, so I am turning that garden over to her and we will work on how to schedule and plant successive plantings throughout the summer.

And then there's the "Nearly- Full -Grown -Man" child:  Laddie is 18 and has his first full-time job this summer.  He has in the past, dug all my potatoes for us.  He agreed to be the potato man again  this year with the caveat:  but I'm not digging 80 holes!  I told him we only had about 40 last year, we would only need 40 this year.  (Hopefully he's not remembering that it is 40 holes to plant them and 40 more to harvest them!)  He is really into building his muscles at this stage of his life, so I'm not too worried about 'cramping his style' or any nonsense like that.  As my Dad always said about the stuff we didn't want to do: " It'll put hair on your chest."  (He claims he doesn't want hair on his chest.  Do I hear an echo?!)

The Blessing of Volunteers

English Daisies are my new favorite border; all volunteers!

Cats can be so annoying in the garden!
Evidently, Berlious thinks she is 'Queen of Sheba' today! 

After winter clean up can be a treasure hunt of sorts.  I have lots of things that self-seed, so I hand-weed and save whatever "free food" I can.  As I pick my way through the garden I do my thinking about where I want to put what I have.  I design what the garden will look like as I see what I have this year.

I can always count on borders of alyssum.  I bought a dozen starts about 5 years ago and now each spring I have it coming out my ears and I move it to wherever I want it on the Farrm. (That means: wherever I will remember to water it!)  Alyssum is pretty hearty, keep the roots moist and covered with soil and get them moved within the hour, and the result is a good 95% transplant.  If you let them dry out or break the baby roots they don't do well.  I usually scrape a shovel full of dirt and starts about 4 inches deep and set it in a tray and work from there.

Dill, on the other hand is delicate.  Keep all dirt around the roots and still it wilts.  Maybe I should try it when they are a bit bigger.  Or maybe I'll just have to leave some where they are.

Alyssum and Dill

Is this celery or parsley?
Either way I want it, but not the three weeds also pictured. 

Marshmallow, clover, camomile, weed,weed, dill, alyssum, weed.

I had a medicinal marshmallow in the herb garden 3 years ago, it is now a weed.  If you look closely you might just want something that is growing and if you hoe it all you will miss it.  The closer you look the easier it is to distinguish the weeds from what you want.

Check out the blog tomorrow...

 you won't BELIEVE what I found growing that I have now potted!