Cover crop parallel

Cover crops. I had never heard the term before my husband became a farmer, but it's something you grow not for the harvest you will reap but for the improvement of the soil. Farmers interested in sustainability consider this the backbone of any annual cropping system. There are "legume cover crops" like clover, alfalfa, or soybean and these serve to fix atmospheric nitrogen into a form that plants and microorganisms can use.

We have clover in one bed. This one has flowered. Pretty isn't it?

 Then there's non-legume cover crops like oats, wheat, and buckwheat which recycle existing nitrogen and other nutrients in the soil and reduce leaching losses.

This is oats. Looks like grass :)

Most harvest-able crops are grown from March to possibly November so this is what farmers should do with their fields from December till February. According to an article by Ohio State University, cover crops 1) improve the quality of the soil, 2) reduce erosion from wind and rain, 3) improve fertility (by balancing the nitrogen levels and reducing the leaching of other nutrients), 4) suppress weeds and 5) control insects by encouraging beneficial ones.

So why do I bring this up? Well, as I've been going back and forth, and back and forth to our little tank to fill up my watering can, at first I couldn't help but think, "This is lame. We aren't even going to be able to eat any of this stuff. This is a lot of work for something that's just going to be forked back into the soil!" Then I heard a sermon at church that really got me thinking.

He started out by sharing an article that talked about how the worst place to be when you are sick is a hospital. Hospitals cause 100,000 preventable deaths each year. Why? Dumb stuff like a surgeon nicking a healthy blood vessel; a nurse mistakenly administering a toxic dose of medicine or the staff failing to adequately disinfect a room. Read the statistics on these pictures - it's crazy!

"In another key study published last spring in the journal Health Affairs, researchers examined patient charts at three of America’s leading hospitals and found that an astounding one in three admissions included some type of harm to the patient." Ahhhh! That's enough to make me want to eat my veggies and go running every morning! (Just for clarity, I have several family members and many friends who are nurses and I think they are great...but
 the truth still stands "to err is human")

So what should be done about that? For one, many hospitals have started using simple checklists. But if our educational system would incorporate the counsel in the following quote, when they became professionals,  many lives would be saved.




The benefit of manual training is needed also by professional men. A man may have a brilliant mind; he may be quick to catch ideas; his knowledge and skill may secure for him admission to his chosen calling; yet he may still be far from possessing a fitness for its duties. An education derived chiefly from books leads to superficial thinking. Practical work encourages close observation and independent thought. Rightly performed, it tends to develop that practical wisdom which we call common sense. It develops ability to plan and execute, strengthens courage and perseverance, and calls for the exercise of tact and skill.  {Education 220} 

This is SO true! I can totally get straight A's, be considered by others as a bright, talented, responsible person but since moving here and having a garden I am CONSTANTLY humbled with the shameful truth that I do not have the skill of close observation or independent thought and I often realize that I don't have common sense! More stories to illustrate that later...I'm learning those things though. Slowly  but surely :)

 Partner that quote with the next two thoughts:

Now, as in the days of Israel, every youth should be instructed in the duties of practical life. Each should acquire a knowledge of some branch of manual labor by which, if need be, he may obtain a livelihood. This is essential, not only as a safeguard against the vicissitudes of life, but from its bearing upon physical, mental, and moral development. Even if it were certain that one would never need to resort to manual labor for support, still he should be taught to work. Without physical exercise no one can have a sound constitution and vigorous health; and the discipline of well-regulated labor is no less essential to the securing of a strong, active mind and a noble character.  {Counsel to Teachers, 307} 

When we found out our well water was toxic to our soil we started doing the research on what we should do. There's only a couple of options. 1) Spend tons of money to get our will drilled deeper and still not be guaranteed that there would be purer water. 2) Install a rain catching system (put gutters around the garage and house which directs rain water into a huge tank which then gets pumped underground to our garden) Still pretty pricey. 3) Quit gardening. We are probably going to do #2.

Although right now my kids are enthralled with dirt and tractors, when they grow up they may never become farmers. And they may never have their own personal garden when they become adults. So why are we spending so much time and money investing in it? Because gardening is valuable for their physical health, it's valuable for their mental development and it's really great for their character development. I liken it to a cover crop for the soil of their heart. It's one of those non-urgent but important things that will help them reap higher and better yields later on.


We know a kid who is only 7 and is already learning two foreign languages, can play very well on the piano, and reads on a 5th grade level. It looks pretty impressive. Sometimes I ask myself if I'm short-changing my kid's from reaching their full potential academically by spending more time outside working.

 If the youth can have but a one-sided education, which is of the greater consequence--a knowledge of the sciences, with all the disadvantages to health and life, or a knowledge of labor for practical life? We unhesitatingly answer, The latter. If one must be neglected, let it be the study of books.  {Child Guidance, 358}  

soil nutrition

If we ever move and want to buy a house again, we've learned that getting a water test done is essential. When we got our soil test back for the second year of being here the analysis showed that boron and sodium levels kept increasing and were nearing toxic levels. Why were they so high? Our well water. So...using the hose or our fancy drip irrigation system is suddenly not an option.

That means we've been hand watering everything using water from the farm, transported in a huge barrel on the back of David's truck...

Orion is my "filler-upper"

...which then gets transferred into a barrel in our garden, thus enabling me to fill up my cute little yellow watering can.

What once took me 5-10 minutes to check everything and make sure the soil was moist, now takes me over an hour every day and more on Sundays. I get to walk back and forth for refills. (More on how we are going to resolve that later). On the bright side - at least my arms are getting stronger and my legs are getting more tan!

I get really tempted to just use the hose and get the job done but my conscience won't let me. On Tuesdays we invite Jane over for supper and then David, Jonathan and her listen to a farming lecture. I hear bits and pieces as I get the kids ready for bed and it sounds way over my head. What I have gleaned though is that your harvest all depends on the nutrition of the soil. Believe it or not, buying organic doesn't guarantee that you have a more nutritious vegetable. It only guarantees that you DON'T have a toxic vegetable. That's why you can get a tomato from the store and it is tasteless and if you grow one in your back yard it makes your mouth want to dance.The one grown in your back yard has more nutrition and therefore more taste than the one grown on a commercial farm. If you want nutritionally dense food, your best bet is to grow it yourself!

The kids are helping me harvest lettuce

It makes me think of the soil of my children's heart. There are two lessons that stick out to me. First, if I want them to bear delicious fruit as they grow older (patience, kindness, self-control, love, perseverance, etc.) I need to sacrifice what is convenient for what is best. Like yesterday, I got a phone call right after lunch. The character training I'm focusing on right now with them is work ethic. It's their chore to clear and wipe the table and wash the dishes. But it takes a lot of coaching and I didn't want to get off the phone so I just did it myself. I know one time of "getting off the hook" from doing their chore is not going to make the difference in them being hard workers or not, but it's all those little decisions combined that factor into their "soil nutrition." Or like the other night we were running late on our evening routine so I was going to just get them to bed and then tidy up the living room by myself. David intervened and said I should make them help before they went to bed. I was so exhausted from working outside in the sun all day and hadn't drank enough water that I didn't want to risk any conflict with the kids trying to get them to clean up. They are generally pretty good with cleaning up but there's always the possibility that in their tiredness and my tiredness something small and easy would turn into something bigger and harder. My husband was right though. I had them help and we were done in a couple of minutes. 

Parents frequently pet and indulge their young children because it appears easier to manage them in that way. It is smoother work to let them have their own way than to check the unruly inclinations that rise so strongly in their breasts. Yet this course is cowardly. It is a wicked thing thus to shirk responsibility; for the time will come when these children, whose unchecked inclinations have strengthened into absolute vices, will bring reproach and disgrace upon themselves and their families. They go out into busy life unprepared for its temptations, not strong enough to endure perplexities and troubles; passionate, overbearing, undisciplined, they seek to bend others to their will, and, failing in this, consider themselves ill-used by the world, and turn against it.  {CG 178.1} 

Secondly, I need to make sure that the fountain of my heart contains no toxicity. 

Everyday it's like I'm watering my little saplings and although it looks the same, not all water is same. One thing that I've been trying to be careful of is irritability - especially during a certain time of the month ;) I've found this quote especially interesting regarding that.

  Sometimes when fatigued by labor or oppressed with care, parents do not maintain a calm spirit, but manifest a lack of forbearance that displeases God and brings a cloud over the family. Parents, when you feel fretful, you should not commit so great a sin as to poison the whole family with this dangerous irritability. At such times set a double watch over yourselves and resolve that none but pleasant, cheerful words shall escape your lips. By thus exercising self-control, you will grow stronger. Your nervous system will not be so sensitive. . . . Jesus knows our infirmities and has Himself shared our experience in all things but in sin; therefore He has prepared for us a path suited to our strength and capacity.  {Child Guidance, 246} 

So, although my husband and I were disappointed when we found out our well water had toxic levels of boron and sodium, at least it is providing an important object lesson to me. First, when it comes to making the decision between what's convenient and what's best, I hope that I routinely and habitually chose what is best. Secondly, I pray that as I exercise self control I will grow stronger, my nervous system will not be so sensitive and I can maintain a calm spirit and not poison my family with fretfulness and irritability.

Scars

When I was little I hated okra. My mom would get the frozen kind and heat it up with water and salt and it would get all gooey and I felt like I was eating snot. I would literally have to plug my nose and chase it with milk to get through the meal.My mom was pretty stern about eating everything on your plate. Those were vivid memories. Okra got cataloged in my brain as the one vegetable that I could honestly say I despised. Then I met my husband who is from the mid-west. Okra is a welcomed veggie there. The reason why? They bread it and fry it. Now that is more palatable.

This is not from our garden, but thought I'd throw it in so you can see how beautiful an okra plant is.

We grew it in our garden the last two summers and my kids ate it like they were M&M's....well, my kids have never actually had M&M's so, maybe they ate it more like popcorn. They seriously devour okra. (I don't deep fry them of course, but I do throw in bread crumbs to soak up the slime. Then I bake them). So I thought I was free and clear from any vegetables that I don't like...and then we grew turnips.

Jonathan likes them raw. David likes them steamed. I just don't like them. They are bitter. I tried to talk David out of growing them this winter but he insisted. So, grew them we did. In winter we keep things covered with a layer of plastic and then a layer of frost cloth. I really only had to water them like every couple of days because it would stay pretty humid and warm inside. They thrived. The leaves were full, perky and luscious. I was proud of them, if not for the taste, at least for how healthy they looked.

So, one day it was really warm and I thought "I better uncover them or else they'll bake underneath that plastic." It was late afternoon, maybe 3:30 or so. I came back to cover them around 5:30 and to my shock they had wilted. I asked David why they did that and he explained that it was too much of a shock. They were used to being protected from the wind and suddenly they were exposed to wind. They were used to humidity and suddenly they had dry air. They were used to shade and suddenly they had direct sunlight. I said, "Yeah but it was only two hours!" He said if you are going to try to acclimate them, you have to do it really gradually, like in 15 minute increments or something. 

This is what "frost cloth" looks like. You put it over 1/2 inch conduit that's been bent into an arch....or you can use PVC pipe.

The next day I was eager to see if they recovered or not. To my surprise they had perked back up but the leaves had what I call "scars". The plant survived but there was irreparable damage.

Most people just eat the flesh part that grows under the soil but the leaves are edible too. (The Smiths steam the leaves and then puree it with some walnuts, garlic and salt and spread it on toast). They think it tastes pretty good but I think I'd rather have butter on toast ;) 

I learned something interesting from all of this. It made me think of how children are like vulnerable plants. They need shelter, protection and a mild, non-abrasive environment. I've been reading a book called "Mind, Character and Personality" and I have been intrigued with how early development can affect the entire adult life of an individual.Speaking about teachers it says that they may have sufficient education and knowledge in their field to instruct, but they need more than that. They need tact and wisdom to deal with human minds. Without this they can leave upon the mind "scars and bruises that will never be removed" (1 MCP 81).  "The minds of youth may become so warped by injudicious management that the injury done may never be entirely overcome. {1MCP 79.1}  Humility and to be honest, fear flooded my soul when I read those words. How careful I must be as a mother and educator to have the wisdom to deal justly while loving mercy. I have begun to pray earnestly that I would teach my children with the Spirit and manner of the Great Teacher.

Regarding the friends children choose, it says that "injurious impressions are far more readily received by the young than are divine impressions" (1MCP 113) and "When a wrong impression is left upon the mind in youth, a mark is made, not on sand, but on enduring rock."(1MCP 114) My kids don't have many friends here to play with. But because of that they have become best friends to each other.And what one does, the other is certain to follow.

They are wearing tights so they can run around and slide on the wood floors.

I'm thankful that when we travel we can spend time with friends that I know have left positive impressions upon my children. The generosity and kindness of Savannah and Heidi in handing down their clothing to Omega has resulted in wanting to do the same for other children. They are so welcoming and affectionate too. Omega loves to go visit them.

Amber and Esther have also made a positive impression. There was a period of time when my kids would fight a lot. I focused on that issue a lot, stressing conflict resolution and honoring each other. After going to Amber and Esther's house one day, afterwards Omega says, "Mom! Do you know what? Amber and Esther don't even fight! I want to be like them!" She would even pray, "Dear Lord, Help me to be like Amber and Esther who don't fight. In Jesus Name Amen." Made my heart happy :)

Addressing  parents it says, "Fathers and mothers, be on guard. Let your conversation in the home be pleasant and encouraging. Always speak kindly, as if in the presence of Christ. Let there be no faultfinding, no accusing. Words of this kind wound and bruise the soul." (1MCP 178)

Ultimately, "Dealing with human minds is the most delicate work ever entrusted to mortals, and teachers need constantly the help of the Spirit of God, that they may do their work aright." (1MCP 81)

I may not like the taste of turnips, but whenever we harvest them, I am reminded of these great truths. For that, I am thankful.

Keep bending the twig

About a year ago I was really discouraged with the results of trying to train Orion to have self control and stay composed when he didn't get his way. It seemed that no matter how consistent or firm I was, there was no improvement. I asked Janice (a woman I really respect when it comes to parenting) and she just looked at me with knowing eyes and said, "Hope, you're doing a great job. Just keep bending the twig." Honestly, that buoyed my spirits so much. I wasn't doing anything wrong. I just needed to stay faithful. I had the expectation that it was supposed to be like potty training or something. Give it a week of consistent rewards/consequences and "this too shall pass". After she said to "keep bending the twig" I was reminded of some trees I saw at the Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park with my mom when Omega was just a year old.

Here are some powerful quotes that I believe should instruct and encourage every parent.

Many parents forget their accountability to God to so educate their children for usefulness and duty that they will be a blessing to themselves and to others. Children are often indulged from their babyhood, and wrong habits become fixed. The parents have been bending the sapling. By their course of training, the character develops, either into deformity or into symmetry and beauty. But while many err upon the side of indulgence, others go to the opposite extreme and rule their children with a rod of iron. Neither of these follow out the Bible directions, but both are doing a fearful work. They are molding the minds of their children and must render an account in the day of God for the manner in which they have done this. Eternity will reveal the results of the work done in this life. "As the twig is bent, the tree's inclined."  {4T 368.3}

A woe rests upon parents who have not trained their children to be God-fearing, but have allowed them to grow to manhood and womanhood undisciplined and uncontrolled. During their own childhood they were allowed to manifest passion and willfulness and to act from impulse, and they bring this same spirit into their own homes. They are defective in temper, and passionate in government. Even in their acceptance of Christ they have not overcome the passions that were allowed to rule in their childish hearts. They carry the results of their early training through their entire religious life. It is a most difficult thing to remove the impress thus made upon the plant of the Lord; for as the twig is bent, the tree is inclined. If such parents accept the truth, they have a hard battle to fight. They may be transformed in character, but the whole of their religious experience is affected by the lax discipline exercised over them in their early lives. And their children have to suffer because of their defective training; for they stamp their faults upon them to the third and fourth generation.  {CG 275.1} 

Every act of the parents tells on the future of the children. In devoting time and money to the outward adorning and the gratification of perverted appetite, they are cultivating vanity, selfishness, and lust in the children. Mothers complain of being so burdened with care and labor that they cannot take time patiently to instruct their little ones, and to sympathize with them in their disappointments and trials. Young hearts yearn for sympathy and tenderness, and if they do not obtain it from their parents, they will seek it from sources that may endanger both mind and morals. I have heard mothers refuse their children some innocent pleasure, for lack of time and thought, while their busy fingers and weary eyes were diligently engaged on some useless piece of adorning, something which could only serve to encourage vanity and extravagance in the children. "As the twig is bent, the tree is inclined." As the children approach manhood and womanhood, these lessons bear fruit in pride and moral worthlessness. The parents deplore the children's faults, but are blind to the fact that they are but reaping the crop from seed of their own planting.  {CE 169.1}

The reason why the youth of the present age are not more religiously inclined is because of the defect in their education. It is not true love exercised toward children which permits in them the indulgence of passion, or allows disobedience of parental laws to go unpunished. "Just as the twig is bent the tree is inclined." The mother should ever have the co-operation of the father in her efforts to lay the foundation of a good Christian character in her children. A doting father should not close his eyes to the faults of his children because it is not pleasant to administer correction. You both need to arouse and with firmness, not in a harsh manner, but with determined purpose, let your children know they must obey you.  {1T 546.2} 

I've discovered that pregnancy was a breeze and parenting infants was easy (for me at least). I thought I was the "model parent". My kids always slept well, ate well, and giggled and smiled when I would look at them. Then came the toddler years. Parenting toddlers was pretty challenging. Ages two and three take a lot of prayer and humility (especially two toddlers at once!). Temper tantrums and testing boundaries characterized many days. Whew. That's when I started feeling that I was the worst mom in the world. But, I diligently bent the twigs. Every day I recognized that being a mother was one of the highest callings a person could have. It was one of the most sobering responsibilities too. I felt like I had to consume parenting books constantly to know how to train my saplings. Now that Orion is 4 and Omega is turning 6 I feel like some days I just "coast". There are challenges to be sure, but the boundaries are erected. The expectations are clear. It's more like maintenance at this point, keeping them going in the direction with the momentum that has been established. I like the direction my kids are headed. I'm proud of them. They are turning into fine "trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord." (Isaiah 61:3)

Here are my growing sapplings....

Speaking of trees - here's a picture of our budding Pink Lady Apple tree

Omega's decoration

After a little while playing outside in their playhouse, Omega comes to me in the garden and says, "Mom, do you want to see my decoration?!!!" What else can you say, but "Of course!" So, she leads me to her "fancy" home and here is what I see....

What was really cool was the use she made of these other things....

They found these rusty "antique" decorations in the junk pile behind the barn. When we bought this house there was a moving van with busted windows, flat tires, and packed full of  stuff sitting on our property. We went through all the boxes and basically burned whatever we could. There was a huge bonfire for about three days (including stuff from inside the house like doors, baseboard, carpet, etc.) I happened to get some nice dishes out of it though :) The remains of that pile are still sitting there, on our to-do list to get rid of.

I'm often impressed with the thought that my kids do not need store bought toys. Their imagination is so active that they can make anything be what they want it to be. I've still never heard my kids utter the words I used to say all the time as a kid "I'm bored."

Do not give the children playthings that are easily broken. To do this is to teach lessons in destructiveness. Let them have a few playthings, and let these be strong and durable. Such suggestions, small though they may seem, mean much in the education of the child.  {CG 102.1}

Empowered

While my computer was out of order I "blogged" on a word document. I'm playing catch up now. : ) 

Several weeks ago I tried to wash out paint from a roller and the hose broke off the spigot. When David came home from lunch, one of the first things I said to him was, “I need man help” while batting my eyes and flattering his ego.  He went outside with me and I showed him what happened and after trying to hammer it back on with no success he got his utility knife and cut the hose. I was thinking, “What? He just cut it! What in the world….how is that going to fix it….)Then he gave the utility knife to me and told me that the other hose in the garden is starting to bust and I needed to cut it too. Not getting what he was trying to tell me, he said, “Do you realize what color sweatshirt you’re wearing?” (Yes…pink). So, he went out to the garden with me and cut that one and said, “Bring these with you to the hardware store and tell them you need two hose end connectors and this one needs to be male and this one needs to be female but make sure they are the right size.” (I was thinking, “Okay, I better write that down because I have no idea what that’s supposed to look like, but I’ll say the words and I’m sure they’ll understand what it means.” Then I also thought, “How do guys just know this stuff?” So, sure enough the kind man at the hardware store got the parts for me. (Customer service is AWESOME when you live in the country!) Then the next day I went out to water everything and… “Oh no…I can’t water anything with the hose all cut up. David won’t be home to fix it till like 5:00 and that will be too late to water….Oh great….What am I going to do?” Right then I felt like a helpless damsel but there was no one around to take sympathy so the distress act did no good. So, I had to resort to option #2. “Use your brain”. So, brain went into gear. “You know…I could probably fix it….I mean….I could try at least…After all I did figure out how to install the mini-blinds at the church….It can’t be that hard…” So off I went to the garage and Omega and Orion toddled after me, eager to watch and help. To be honest, it was super easy. Seriously. And, I felt empowered. I think girls (or at least me) get intimidated by repair jobs and  I have played the “damsel in distress” act so often that it’s my default setting to believe that I can’t do something that usually men do. Buying a fixer-upper house and having a garden have definitely given me opportunities to learn things and do things that have taken me out of my comfort zone and equipped me with confidence to figure things out and not be so helpless and dependent on my husband. 

Since both men and women have a part in homemaking, boys as well as girls should gain a knowledge of household duties. To make a bed and put a room in order, to wash dishes, to prepare a meal, to wash and repair his own clothing, is a training that need not make any boy less manly; it will make him happier and more useful. And if girls, in turn, could learn to harness and drive a horse*, and to use the saw and the hammer, as well as the rake and the hoe, they would be better fitted to meet the emergencies of life.  {CG 351.2}

*NOTE: THIS WAS WRITTEN IN 1903. THE PRINCIPLES ARE FULLY APPLICABLE TODAY.

I'm glad that as my children grow up they will be able to learn how to work. Every Sunday we do projects around the house and they are exposed to the use and function of tools. 

 

Sometimes when David has a lot of tractor driving to do, they ride along for a little while. 

Our focus right now is loading the dishes without playing...or at least getting the job done without taking an hour ;)

Why I haven’t blogged in a month

To all my blog fans…you may have wondered where I’ve gone. (Most likely no one has noticed).  I have not written for the last month because my computer got a virus on it and when we ran our antivirus program, the computer shut down before it could complete the entire scan. So, David was afraid of letting me connect to the internet, thus my absence. Thankfully, he's a brilliant problem solver and fixed it for me. :)

So, let me update you on one of the latest happenings. 

Bath time:

The kids were squealing with delight as they took a bath.  As every mommy knows, that could mean two things. Either they are just having innocent, acceptable fun doing something creative and silly that only they could come up with or they are doing something creative, silly but messy and it will take a lot of cleaning up and lecturing about not getting water everywhere. Thankfully, in this case, it was the first. I walk in to find them filling up a cup with cold water and splashing it onto each other as they fall down and laugh hysterically. They explained that first they took a hot bath and then they turned it cold. They thought it felt “fresh” to pour cold water onto each other and told me that it actually made them warmer.  For those of you who don’t know, this is actually called hydrotherapy. When you are sick, it will boost your immune system to take a “hot and cold” shower. First you get super hot, and then turn it cold for 2 minutes, then back to hot, then back to cold. This stimulates the circulatory and lymphatic systems. I found it ironic that my kids discovered this while playing in the bath and that they actually like it! (A long time ago when Omega was 1 year old she got sick and I tried giving her a hydrotherapy treatment. She was afraid of the bathtub for a solid two months after that.  I haven’t tried it on them since.) It’s good to know they like it now!

This picture wasn't taken during this incident, but nonetheless they always have a fun time in the bath together and I love to capture it.