(Warning: Longer than usual post.) I love volunteers! Not the kind that make the bake sale a success (though those are lovely and needed as well!), but the kind that appear in my yard and garden without human agency. These are the plants that appear somewhere I didn’t intend for Read more…
When I began to grow grapevines, one of the hardest things to do was to prune them. I understood that pruning was necessary if I wanted grapes and not just vines, but apart from that, I had no idea what I was doing. It was heart-rending to remove so much Read more…
Speechless in the blessed music of rain! Thank You. Thunder rumbles – a long, low growl over my head from west to east. Palm trees roar in the wind and bow to the force of You — bent but not broken as the giant grasses they are! The leaves make Read more…
Last week I promised some more answers…not solutions, mind you, just answers…you know, like in a conversation? About a month ago, a dozen of us went out into the gorgeous Arizona desert on a brisk Saturday morning (Yes, it does get chilly here in winter!) for a few hours of Read more…
I have had the most disappointing garden season ever (and in our part of the country, winter is prime gardening time)! Most of my carefully tended, pre-sprouted seedlings got eaten by snails, birds or a rat. The few that remained have not been productive or sturdy. Only the radishes flourished, Read more…
As the okra plants reach the height their genes call for, they start to blossom and put out fruit on secondary branches, lower on the main stem. This makes the hunt for fruit like a Where’s Waldo puzzle. I can’t just reach for the top of the plant to snap Read more…
It has been an almost unendurably hot summer! Many trees in my neighborhood are brown and crispy. Even the heat-loving vegetables in my garden have struggled to produce. It was even too hot for my okra! The temperature has exposed weakness in the care we give the plants that don’t Read more…
My garden…yeah, about that… My Asian yard-long beans are climbing and blooming, but not bearing. My okra is beautiful and growing, but not blooming. The oregano and mint are threatening to take over the planet! Almost the only things out there I can eat are the weeds! The point of Read more…
Good morning, Papa-God. Thank You for cool air, A table and chair, Smoke to ward off mosquitoes, Bird-call to welcome the sun, Kingdom work to be done. Thank You for a place to welcome others: Teenage son and weary mother. Thanks for seeds to grow and feed, Abundant meeting of Read more…
Lest you think that my life of following Jesus every day in the everyday is somehow floating blissfully over a verdant landscape flowing with milk and honey, it’s time for more full disclosure. Sometimes, my relationship with God looks more like a slugfest. On Sunday Pastor Adam gave up stepping Read more…