The other morning I woke up, opened up our curtains and looked out our big picture window and saw that our street had become a river, sort of, at least it looked that way….not too bad though, just lots of lots of running water. There was a surreal feeling of being in a dream as everything outside was surrounded by a fine mist of water. I thought to myself…

“Is this what it feels like to be in a big fluffy white cloud?”

It rained and rained and finally it stopped, then it started up again a day later and it rained and rained some more. This is what it has been like for days, lots of beautiful rain. The loud thunder was a bit intense at 2am in the morning, shook the whole house. That was not so fun but I went back to bed anyway.

We started our garden late this year. This is because we decided to do a garden at the old 1930’s home as well. Which took more time then we thought. At the 1930’s home the dirt is so much more richer.

I was told that the woman that lived there back in the 30’s loved gardening and canning goods. She would do all the canning and storing down in the huge basement below the top two levels of the home. She had set the basement up as a second kitchen down there with a stove, a fridge (ice box?) and lots of shelves everywhere to store her mason jars on. I have an old photo of her down in the basement kitchen working. That was a treasure, that day I came across old photos.

I didn’t realize how hard it would be to get a garden going. We are also tearing the old house apart to redesign rooms. The tilling of the dirt, the planning of what seeds to use, the upkeep, the protecting that garden as well.there is so much to do. We have lots of wild life around us. That’s part of the challenge of living in the Ozarks. We lost a couple of our new chickens to raccoons this month…that happens, it’s all part of life.

Now we have the electric fences around the chicken coops at night, as well as our gardens. We had one off for awhile, that was a mistake. We let our chickens have free range, they love exploring around the garden and our yard.

At the 1930’s home we have chickens there too, a cute little couple, a rooster and a hen. They were being picked on by the other chickens at the other place, so we took them to the Ozark house and let them have the whole property to explore.

It’s so nice there at the 1930’s home, so many trees, little bunnies and squirrels. The little rooster and chicken are having the time of their lives I believe. They have a cute little house my husband and son made for them, to keep them warm and safe at night. It was made quickly with some scrap building materials around the property. The hen lays one egg every day, and they both eat bugs all around the natural garden that grows there.

At the Ozark house we have added a garden of grapes, wheat, corn, tomatoes and I believe some melons. Oh…and lots and lots of wild flowers. I can’t wait to see the flowers. The bees will love them.

We got a little honey this month from our bees, by mistake that is. My husband was checking on the hives and part of a comb broke off, so my husband brought some honey home that day. It’s been two years with our Arkansas bees, and we haven’t harvested any honey yet. We are still getting used to beekeeping in another environment.

Arkansas honey is darker then Arizona honey we have discovered. We still get Arizona honey from a friend of ours…a Marine that started beekeeping to help with PTSD. Him and his wife are really sweet. Beekeepers have a different type of personality…they are some of the best people out there, just something I have noticed by meeting other beekeepers out there in the world.

I found some cute decorations to add to my porch garden. A sunflower pick and a little beetle. I went to one of my favorite thrift stores on .25 cent day and found the sunflower pick and the little beetle was at Hobby Lobby for $$3 I believe, they might still have some if you have a Hobby Lobby where you live. I like that they add a bit of sunshine to the porch, a bit of cheer.

The porch garden is my favorite garden right now, although it’s pretty close to being a tie with the 1930’s natural garden at the Ozark home. We have a name for the home, just like we did when we rebuilt Our Little Red House in Arizona…we named this newest home project too. I like the name, it goes perfectly with the property.

We only share the name of the home with a few very close friends of ours, just friends and no one else, people we trust for now. I jokingly call that house a jungle right now. It’s so hard to keep up with cutting the grass. The rain is making everything out there grow like crazy. I like how green it is over there, but my little porch garden back home is so peaceful and I like that too. It’s a great place to sit and relax. …it really is hard to pick my favorite garden area. It’s all good, so much to be thankful for. This all takes work of course, and what a pay off when all is said and done.

I love foraging over at the 1930’s home that’s why I think it’s a tie, it’s hard to choose.

But the porch garden is the perfect place right now to sit out there in the evening and watch all the fireflies put on their show. The fireflies remind me of my husband’s aunt. Her place in Tuscany was overtaken by so many fireflies every summer. Every summer we would go to visit her, they were all over the place like teeny tiny stars floating around.

Looking out our window at night, at the rolling hills of Tuscany, with a tiny hint of light from the moon…and there they were, hundreds of sparks of fireflies dancing around the vineyards. As long as I live, I will never forget that image. How many times do I share this, well here we go again… there is so much beauty out there, all we have to do is open our eyes to it. And now here where I live, when I look out at our garden area I see the fireflies and it’s just as pretty. Just open your eyes to it you guys.

I bought an old jug vase at a church sale a couple months ago, wait…is it just a jug? or a vase? What ever you want to call it, well…I bought one a month ago, and this month I added some flowers to it. I had been drying the flowers for awhile. I was able to finally make a bouquet with them. The little pink flowers are wild roses I picked on the side of a country dirt road. It was on the way to a beautiful waterfall trail my husband and I like to walk. I need to share that walk with everyone one of these days. It’s where they shot Where the red fern grows. It’s a very sad movie, but then I do love little animals.

Another item I purchased at the thrift store was this kid’s craft project for $1. It looks like a little green house to me. I repainted it white and adding some plants to it, and a little miniature bird bath with tiny pebbles as a trail. Just adding a little whimsy to it.

Some of the things we have planted in our garden are beans, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, sunflowers, melons, grapes, wheat, and some fruit trees. I just love seeing the whole process of what a garden produces and if it even produces. Last year we got so many tomatoes we canned a bunch for our pasta sauces. Years ago my husband’s Italian aunts taught me all about making pasta sauce. That was a gift they gave me that just keeps on giving.

That’s it for our garden updates. How are your gardens coming along? Remember, teach your children how to grow things. Even if you live in a city and you only have room for a tiny porch garden, it’s still really nice to have. Happy gardening everyone. Stay safe out there and God bless you all.

Another prayer update….another child who went missing from Mesa Arizona has been found alive. Keep praying everyone…there are so many out there that still need our prayers. Our prayers are being answered. 1 Chronicles 16:34