How does your garden grow?

I am extra busy growing things this summer!  First and most importantly, these 3 little sprouts; a little sunshine, a little food and water, and lots of hugs and kisses is all they need, and they are turning out beautifully, if I do say so myself!  Secondly, we are cultivating a garden - much improved from our last year's attempt.  If I ever get around to taking a picture, I will post it, but The Mr. has constructed a beautiful raised bed garden, complete with 2 stone/rock paths and a fence (to keep out the friendly woodchuck and raccoon who made off with some of our produce last year!)  This year, our garden boasts raspberries, squash, melon, carrots, eggplant, cucumbers, lettuce, cabbage, beans, celery, basil, chives, rosemary, sage, a few species of flowers, and several undetermined plants.

You see, much of our garden essentially grew itself this year!  For a year, we've been composting food scraps, and last month the Mr. laid the rich compost out over our garden, rototilled it into the ground, and we then left it for about a month while we waited for our little seedlings to start.  I noticed some weeds coming in, but decided I would wait to deal with them until I was ready to plant the seedlings.  Last week, when I went to plant the seedlings, I realized that most of the 'weeds' in the garden patch were actually little plants - sprouting up from our compost.  Apparently the seeds from our food scraps had not completely decomposed!  We were unsure what most of them were, so we thinned them out enough to make room for our seedlings, and left some remaining just for fun - to see what comes up.  It was a funny little surprise that helped us realize we have a lot to learn about composting and gardening.  But we are happy to be learning together as a family!

Keeping with tradition, we had our "Garden" Family Home Evening, in which we discussed the prophet's recommendation to plant a garden, sang songs about it, and, of course, topped the evening off with "Dirt Cake".  It was so cute to watch the horror on Wiggles' face as we offered her "dirt" (crushed oreos) to eat....and so tender to see the trust/faith she placed in her older siblings as they reassured her "It's OK, (Wiggles!) It's yummy! Try it!"  One bite and she was hooked.

Though I sometimes feel overwhelmed at keeping up a house and yard, most often on my own, moments like these remind me of how truly grateful I am to have a home and yard to call my own!  I'm so grateful to the Lord for all with which he has blessed our family, and to the Mr. for his tireless labor on our family's behalf!  I am one lucky woman! :)