Getting gardens ready, mint and today's reading

Dude brought in the big guns to help me with my smaller kitchen gardens. I was so grateful for his help. 

 I found our old garden arches for our grapes to grow up and support. 

I am going to work on this peach "stick" that the dog gnawed at when a pup.  There are new growth shoots at the bottom so I am hopeful. 

Before we moved to the homestead we took down and brought our old wooden fence with us.  The winds picked up so we just laid them out for today. 

Our mint is always the first thing in our garden to show off how well it does here. I love the stuff. 

We celebrated the beginning of spring with a water of lemon and mint. I will have many of these this week. 

Next I got the Quinoa out to make tabbouleh for Meatless Monday. Quinoa is a grain full of protein. 

It is delicious and uses great herbs that easy to grow... parsley, basil and of course, mint! Looking at the picture, I think I need to add a little goat cheese.

I later got ready mailed a few squares for a yarnbomb project in Virginia. I wish I had more but I was only able to get four finished. 

Today's reading John 15: 1-8

Today's reading, like so many, are relatable on the homestead. 

Gospel  

Jesus said to his disciples:
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.
You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.
Remain in me, as I remain in you.
Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own
unless it remains on the vine,
so neither can you unless you remain in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,
because without me you can do nothing.
Anyone who does not remain in me
will be thrown out like a branch and wither;
people will gather them and throw them into a fire
and they will be burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.
By this is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

It is so hard to prune when a plant appears to be doing so well and full of life but if we don't it won't grow full and beautiful the next year.  It is often hard to let go of our way of thinking and the material world  to the way of God but once we do the results are beautiful. 

We ended the day with a walk.  The dog is behaving more (well, except for when a butterfly flew in front of us and he took off after it).  It was windy and overcast but we had company with a hawk who followed us. 

We hope you had time to rest today. You deserve it. 

peace 

Northern Colorado landscape and what I am reading

We headed north this morning to get hay.  It was in the same area where Dude grew up and where he and his family farmed.  It is much greener than where we live now.  Here is the homestead we went to today.  

The sheep they raise are all nestled cozy in the little gulley.

They have a steer. 

And some fuzzy pigs... I don't know they name of them. 

Twenty bales loaded and we are on our way. 

Fields are getting ready or have just been planted. 

The mountains have been getting snow while we are a bit dry. 

You can see Long's Peak in the background with snow in the mountains. 

We came home, unloaded the truck and worked an hour in the gardens before heading to a family birthday party.  As always, it was great fun and we were glad to be with family. 

Time to settle in with a book. Here is what I am ready. 

This one is a nurse's diary during WWI.  It is so interesting how people deal with stressful times, survival and even help others along the way. 

Always looking to improve. Plus, I had a sister who died of a brain disease... you never stop looking for answers. 

I love this book. It has a lot of information and beautiful pictures.

peace

Another day of recycling and creating

I did another day of recycling.  Dude saved a peanut M & M bag for me so I could , make a lined zippered bag.  I have never made one before and was very excited to give it a try. There is a piece missing for a usual recycled candy zipper pouch and that is a cover of vinyl over it. I didn't have a piece of vinyl and since I was recycling I decided to give it a try without it.  The reason you have it so the plastic bag doesn't rip but with the top stitching it did fine. If you want to give it a try just search YouTube for recycled zipper pouch and you will find tons of tutorials and they are all about the same. 

Here is mine.  I can't wait to make more. 

Remember this old dictionary?  

I am making cards out of it too. I had to be careful. It is so old that it had a tendency to rip.

The other day I asked my mom how I got my name.  After telling me all 5 of my siblings name origins she shared that I was named after my Great Grandmother who lived to be in her nineties living strong on a farm in Michigan.  That lead me to want more information about growing up. With six children it was a tiny bit difficult for my mom to remember details. That lead me to begin notebooks for my grandchildren.  Whenever we talk or see each other I put an entry in the book about what we talked about , things they like, what they are doing, wearing, and even the struggles they might be having. I hope to give it (and more) to them when they are 18 years old. 

That's it. 

peace 

Another day of recycling...

Today I continued my recycling but this time with sewing.  I have so  much stuff in my sewing room. If I never buy another thing for sewing I will still not run out of projects to do! People also know I recycle a lot and give me stuff from relatives who have either passed on or who can no longer use fabric, sewing items and other stuff to recycle. 

I started with some old jeans a friend gave me to recycle. I cut them straight across the crotch area and then the front from the back so I could get two aprons. 

 I wanted to make one apron for egg collecting. I cut a leg of jeans apart to make the pockets. 

I found some old but very relevant fabric in my stash and made a ruffle. 

Added some ribbon for a bow. 

I really like the way it turned out. 

Old jeans also make great 

pocket purses to take with me walking to carry my phone and prayer books. They work great. Here is an old one of mine. 

The extra leg I used to make my dog a little pillow. He loves to carry them around, not sure why but he does.  I stuffed it with extra lamb's wool .

Next was to recycle an old dictionary I had. So I covered a Christmas ornament.  Can't wait to make cards from it. 

It's not dried yet but you can see how it turned out. 

I did have time to go see one of my grandsons.  Boy did that give me a boost!  Plus went for a walk. 

I can't wait to see what I create tomorrow... my last day off then back to work. 

peace