Blueberries, Baby Oaks, and Beets

Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. ~Lou Erickson

I never should bring my husband with me to a nursery. I planned to get a few organic herbs and tomato plants on Saturday, but he eyed the blueberry bushes. The greenhouse employee assured us that blueberries need at least three bushes with at least one being a different variety. If we had not read some on blueberries previously, it could have sounded like a lame sales pitch. After spending over twice what I had planned, we now have a three blueberries bushes all of differing variety. Today my husband had to take out two large woody bushes and move a scotch broom to place the blueberry bushes in the best setting for them...so he has paid for them in labor. With a daughter who loves blueberries in her morning smoothie and the price of organic blueberries being so high, I suppose those bushes could pay for themselves within the year, but that depends on how many the birds leave us.

Which brings up the subject of the baby oaks. Not only are our outdoor cats, the mitten kittens, doing a wonderful job catching mice, but they also are doing a very good job of keeping the squirrels at bay--too very good a job and when I write they, I mean mostly Sharii, the tom. I have watched, with fascination, Sharii wind his way up a tree mirroring a squirrel, who worked hard at staying on the opposite side of the trunk, wondering just how high the cat would go after his prize. Because of his prowess, acorns from autumn and winter were not cleaned up by the squirrels, so we have baby oak trees all over our yard and in the gardens. Most of the garden soil is loose, so they come up pretty easily, but the yard is more work. I have been plucking out baby oaks all week, particularly the last three days as we are preparing our front gardens. The good news is that I am fairly confident that my feline tuxedo twins will also keep squirrels from the peach tree, so we may actually get peaches this year. I am hoping they will do the same for the blueberry bushes with the birds.

As to the beets, I had some vegetables actually mature during the winter because it was so mild. We had a few hard freezes but they did not last long and I did not pull out all the root vegetables last fall, because some did not do well in the warmer autumn. After my daughter, pestered me about pulling some of the beets, my husband cooked them up for dinner. She was not as enthusiastic about the taste, but they were actually quite good.

You may remember that my husband was in the UK last week. He came home Friday and was given Monday and Tuesday off this week. We went to a sunrise Resurrection Day service with two other small churches, one Lutheran and the other Seventh Day Baptist, and also had breakfast at the Lutheran church. Later we went on to our own church to have our service and a dedication of the three crosses that are now permanently erected in front of our church in hopes that people passing will now recognize the house as a church.

We did not color eggs, hunt eggs, or do anything "Easter," except have some candy. (Chocolate is a necessity that does not require a holiday to be enjoyed though.) The Princess did not even ask if we would do those things this year. The boy next door thought it was awful, but she is growing up, becoming more aware of spiritual matters, and I think she is ready to completely shun the pagan-based traditions. Next year I am hoping we will try to have the Passover Seder.

Tomorrow we have the horse barn and a 4-H meeting in the evening. My husband was going with us, but he decided that he needs to burn all oak leaves and acorns we cleared from the gardens. He also needs to get more mulch...lots more mulch.

~ My Lord, as tired as I am, I am so very thankful that we did so much today. There was a time I thought I would not be able to do such laborious work as gardening with my back and yet I have had no back pain at all these last few days. Thank you so much, my Lord ~