fruit of our labor

Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right. 
 Proverbs 20:11

The kids have been working hard lately and helping me with the gardening.  I would like to tell you that they are excited and absolutely love the time spent in the garden, but that wouldn't be completely true.  Actually, most of the time they are acutely aware that it is hot and they are sweating and their are bugs and many of the plants make them itch.  But, they are slowly learning that complaining does more harm than good and that doing a job correctly the first time means that they won't have to redo it later.  They are even managing to find a little fun in the work as well ... especially in hunting for and picking the ripe tomatoes and when Papa lets them pick up the freshly dug potatoes.  I think they were a little proud the other night when I cooked fresh green beans and mashed potatoes from beans and potatoes that they had helped harvest and prepare.  They all three snapped beans and D was Papa's official potato washer (in other words, he wanted to play in the water and Daddy just put that desire to good use!) 

Truth be told, I didn't like gardening much as a child either.  I did like picking cucumbers and snapping beans wasn't too bad, but our family of six canned or froze massive amounts of summer produce each year.  When my uncle, who was a farmer by trade, would call and say that the corn was in, Daddy and the boys would load up early one morning and head south.  They would return hours later with somewhere between 500-800 ears of corn.  We would spend the next few days shucking, silking, cutting, blanching, cooling, bagging, and freezing all that corn.  And corn was just one of the things that would fill the freezer or line the pantry each year.  One year we canned 300 pounds of tomatoes in one week, making my Mama's special concoction that we call relish but that is really more of a base for everything from soup to chili to spaghetti sauce.  That meant not only washing, popping the skins, peeling, and cutting the tomatoes, it also meant washing and chopping bell pepper, onion and celery.  Not to mention washing the hundred or so jars that would be needed for the canning process.

And then there were the peas and the snap beans and the cucumbers and the squash and the butter beans and the blackberries we would pick in the woods for jelly and the potatoes we would sometimes dig in my Grand-daddy's garden.  Weeks each summer were spent picking, shelling, snapping, cutting and perserving.

I know that, even today, this is not abnormal to people who live on farms or for those of us who would like to return to a simpler life, but let me tell you that this was abnormal in my society as a kid.  And, when I knew that my friends were spending their summers swimming or vacationing or just hanging out and doing whatever they pleased, I was a little jealous. 

But, my Daddy believed in the importance of the family working together toward a common goal and didn't like things that interfered with those goals. 

I thought that he was either crazy or just didn't understand what kids were supposed to do in the summer.  I mean, none of my friends had to do those things, why did we?

I can only hope that my children grow up and have the appreciation I now have for those lessons learned when Mama and Daddy wouldn't let us complain as the sweat was dripping from ... everywhere and when I would have rather been curled up with a good book than contributing to the family economy.  I hope they learn earlier than I did to enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that every member of the family profits when we all work together without grumbling or complaining ... and it doesn't really matter if you are complaining for the whole world to hear, or just doing it in your heart ... the results are about the same.

I hope they grow up to be jealous of the time spent with their families and with a strong desire to protect that time from too many outside interferences.  I hope that they will see the family as a unit that works best when all are working toward a common goal.  And I hope that they will want to pass on the things that we have taught them to their children.

Which reminds me of how important it is that we teach our children things that are worthy to be passed on to our grandchildren.  Sometimes this task seems overwhelming to me.  But I know that with such an enormous responsibility comes an awesome blessing.  I can see that now in how much my Daddy loves to see his grandkids in the garden ... and how I love seeing him pass on his knowledge to them.  It is wonderful to see this come full circle and know that what was only a drudgery to me as a child is now a gift that I can give to my children.  They may not understand that for a long time, but that is okay ... someday, they'll get it ... I did.

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A few more pictures of our gardening experience ...

That little bit of yellow is D hunting in the jungle for ripe tomatoes

JW in the taters

Silly kids with green beans stuck to their shirts

grandaddy's hoe

I really don't have much time to post today ... we just got home from our monthly book-report day with our homeschool group.  This month they had to make puppets, which was quite interesting ... in our house we had three socks transformed into Hank the Cowdog, the Grinch, and Mike Mulligan.  The kids did a great job presenting their reports and had a lot of fun.  The report time is followed by the moms' favorite part, where we eat lunch while our kids play and we enjoy a few minutes of adult conversation.  This is one of my favorite days each month, but today, I didn't really have time for it.  But we went anyway and now I have to get the kids' rooms clean this afternoon.  I think this would be easier if I had a dumpster in the back yard, along with some place for the kids to go so they won't be lamenting the things that are going to be leaving the house.  Hopefully, we will all survive to make it to church tonight ...  we'll see!

Anyway ... in case you couldn't tell, none of that has anything to do with the title of this post.  I figured since I don't have much time, I would just share a few of my gardening pictures with you.

This is my Grandaddy's hoe and my Daddy's rake ...

look closely at the rake, that is my Daddy for you!  I love anything that can be considered nostalgic, so I just had to take this picture of a little bit of family  history.

JW and LB planting potatoes ...

notice which one has her hands in the dirt!

Daddy showing LB just how to cover the potatoes to protect the little shoots already growing.  He showed her how to do a couple and then she finished the other two rows by herself.

a random look at the week

I have been wanting to post all week and just haven't been able to find the time to do it. So today I thought I would just go a little random in looking at the week. It has been a good one, not nearly as busy as the last two, but still not as "normal" as I would like.

Bright and early Monday morning I took the kids to sing "Back at the Creekbank" with their home school group at a local assisted living home. I met one of the residents there who taught school for 40 years, first in the public school system and then in private schools. I'll be honest, I was a little nervous because former educators are not always accepting of home schoolers, but I was pleasantly surprised by her reaction to our group. She was very complimentary of what the children had presented and very positive about homeschooling in general. She also asked me some questions about what and how I teach. She was particularly interested in whether or not I am teaching my kids to put their own ideas down on paper and I told her that we have struggled in that area and asked if she had any ideas on how to get them to write. She did, of course, and I really like the way she did it in her classroom and plan to try it with the kids. I think that once we get a story written I will try and send the lady a copy of it.

The other side of this story is that my children are typically terrified of dogs and I had to take them to a place where the residents are allowed to bring their pets with them. I had to speak very carefully when I told them where we were going and that they must go in and they couldn't do anything crazy like climbing furniture (or me) to get away from the dogs, they would just have to be calm and know that they wouldn't have dogs there that would hurt children. I was amazed by the kids ... they didn't go berserk and they actually petted some of the dogs ... I think we have made a real breakthrough here.

I have had two very interesting meetings this week. The first was our local home school group mom's meeting. One of our members spoke about dyslexia. Both of her younger sons are dyslexic and it is the reason she is homeschooling them. The information she shared about learning styles and the importance of understanding how your child learns was great even though I don't have children with this particular challenge.

Last night, I met with our local "area team" for Operation Christmas Child. If you aren't familiar with what this is, it is a project of Samaritan's Purse (which is Franklin Graham's international relief organization). One of these days I will do a post dedicated to OCC. This is the mission project that I do all year long and absolutely have no doubt that God has called me to be a part of. Our group last night talked about goals for the year and ways to involve more people in the project and we listened to two people who were able to go and actually participate in shoebox distributions in the last year. It is amazing to hear these stories of how God uses simple shoe boxes to touch the lives of children and to impact their families and communities. Anyway, I am looking forward to the coming months and being more involved this year. *If you aren't familiar with this project and would like more information, just ask, I will be glad to talk about it!

Okay, now to my final bit of randomness for the week ...

What I learned in the garden yesterday ...

1. I learned that I wish I had my Granny's knack for using a hoe. She made it look like an extension of her arm; I look like my 4 year old using a farm implement much too big for him.
2. I learned that it is hard to tell the difference between weeds and cucumber plants.
3. I learned that my 9 year old daughter really likes playing in the mud much more than she likes planting tomatoes and while she is pretty good with the latter, she is even better at the former. I really wish I had taken my camera to the garden to capture her hands covered in mud almost halfway up to her elbow ... so ladylike!
4. I learned that my sons would much rather watch their uncle build a storage shed than help their Mama plant tomatoes. (Okay, so there is no big surprise there, which would you choose as a little boy, playing with a hammer or helping in the garden? That's what I thought!)
5. Last, but not least, I learned that the morning after you spend 2 1/2 hours hoeing and planting 78 tomato plants, it is best to get out of bed slowly!

The Simple Woman's Day Book

FOR TODAY Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Outside my window... Cloudy and warm ... the weather man says today will be the last dry day for the week.

I am thinking... that I really need to get school started.

I am thankful for... being able to garden with my Daddy yesterday, and not to be where I was a year ago.

From the learning rooms... catching up from the busy day yesterday.

From the kitchen... dirty dishes, lettuce to wash, and minute steaks thawing for tonight's supper.

I am wearing... sweats and a CHEB t-shirt, no shoes

I am creating... a cleaner, more organized home and school for my family.

I am going... to stay home until I have to take my little dancer to class this afternoon.

I am reading... Back to Basics trying to learn more about veggie gardens.

I am hoping... for a calm day of school.

I am hearing... the kids playing in the living room.

Around the house... lots of laundry to do today since we didn't have water yesterday.

One of my favorite things... a day at home!

A few plans for the rest of the week: continuing our bedroom project, a trip to the library, and preparing for Granny's visit next week.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Papa teaching the kids how to plant tomato seeds.

If you like this day book, there are lots more at
The Simple Woman's Day Book