I know it is January, and it may seem a bit early to think about gardening, but I need to get plans in place before life gets more chaotic.
In an effort to simplify my tasks and create a more peaceful routine, I had already made up a file card system… the problem is that I keep misplacing it as it doesn’t have a true home yet. I will attempt to outline the major tasks in this post, so I can access it from anywhere 🙂 You may feel free to use it or copy, if it suits you.
Hey everyone, I hope you are all doing well. We are coming out of a cold spell here, and happy to see some warmer temperatures. We have not set any New Year’s resolutions as we want to develop some lasting habits and routines that help draw our family closer. We will continue to work on routines that we have established, while adding new ones slowly.
I have a lot of plans for our family, home, and blog this year, and I pray that GOD will lead me in a way that I can inspire others and help them to create some simple habits that lead to a peaceful year. We will be focusing more on intentional living, making rest more of a priority, and creating a more peaceful rhythm for our family.
We love Rosella here… it is known as the Florida Cranberry, and I love Cranberries, so this was a must for our garden. Rosella is a very pretty plant, and we use the leaves in some recipes, like Butternut Squash Medley, as well. We have been trying to use as many plants as we can from the garden, and this one gets used in so many ways. Mr. Awesome also wants to try some in our favorite cream cheese cookie recipe. I’m also going to try this in our Christmas Bread this year!
Last year, we made a bunch of Rosella Jam, and we still have plenty left, so this year we did something a little different. We have frozen several gallon bags of Rosella, dehydrated some of it for teas, and made some Rosella Sauce… it is so good! We served this at Thanksgiving, in place of the traditional cranberry sauce. I do want to try boiling some of our lemon grass to make a tea to try in place of the plain water for this recipe, but I keep forgetting.
This would probably also freeze really well and make a great gift! It can be used as a jelly or jam as well as an alternative to cranberry sauce.
How are you doing? I’m praying all is well… everyone here is good. We’ve really enjoyed having a week of reflecting on our blessings, and eating outside was a hit with the weather being just right. We will definitely be observing Sukkot in the future and plan to make a few small changes in the future.
This week, we are taking a breather from school for ‘Life Skills’ as the gardens need a little attention and revamping. I’ve had a vision for part of the garden, and we’ve been working on making it a reality. We haven’t had to buy any materials as we have been repurposing some things that we already had on hand. I am contemplating the purchase of some fencing for the garden, but seeing it come together makes me second-guess that idea.
You may remember the Pallet Gate project that we did a bit ago… this is another baby step towards the goal! We put together a small raised bed just enough to allow the guys an edge to weed eat and maybe save my chives… lol.
It’s been a bit since I’ve posted any garden updates on the blog… most of them have been going on our YouTube channel so I thought I’d show you what we’ve been up to:
If you haven’t liked and subscribed to the blog or our YouTube yet then please don’t forget to do that today!
We’re still in the middle of celebrating Sukkot so there hasn’t been a lot of gardening happening. I have a pile of plants to get in the ground and even more seeds to scatter around.
We have several beds to build and areas to clean up… then we plan to make another hoop tunnel to grow on for next year.
We’ve also got plans to build a new chicken coop and convert to old on for quail. We would also like to add some rabbits soon… hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop, and stop… that’s one of Shyanne’s favorite songs.
So many things to get finished but there is only so much time in a day. We just ask God to show us what needs done and ask for the strength and patience to see it through. He provides what we need, when we need it so we consider ourselves extremely blessed.
He will do the same for you, just trust in Him and hand your life over. It’s an amazing experience!
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