Harvesting

We've been eating fresh, home-grown vegetables, the best part of gardening! Anybody want any cucumbers?

It's getting difficult to walk through our green jungle, which is threatening to swallow the fire pit.

And the neighbor's fence!

We hope we like this squash. There are a lot of them!

The melons are doing well. They seem to like this very hot weather. Neither of us has ever eaten a vine-ripened melon from a garden, so we're excited to try it.

The Purple-Hull Cowpeas (similar to black-eyed peas) are doing very well too.

Here's a basket of them ready to shell.

Blooming Sunflower House

End of May Garden Update

The Wade family garden is doing well. We've been eating a good harvest of TASTY GREEN English Cucumbers, even having enough to share with family and friends. Other things we've been harvesting include parsley, MERALDA Italian pole beans, and HOT BANANA peppers. The Pedersens were kind enough to water for us in our absence last week, which kept the garden alive and growing!

KANDY KORN:



A view from the northwest of part of the garden:


Zucchini. Hopefully will have fruit within the next week or so.


Winter Squash plants, out to conquer the yard!


Pole Beans and Cucumbers. I put in 8' poles for the cucumbers and they are at the top already.

Garden progress

Our garden flooded twice in April, including one flood that left NW Houston with more water than Hurricane Ike.



The flooding caused some significant damage, and the plants also took a hit from an oil spray I had applied for aphids. Apparently it was too concentrated, as it burned the leaves quite badly. All that to say, two weeks ago, the garden was looking pretty rough!

It has regrown quite nicely though, and we've been pleased with with the improvements.

Marigolds framing sweet corn:



Cucumbers climbing up their bamboo poles:




Squash out to take over the world!



The garden filled up very quickly, we had some 'surplus' melon plants, and no room to put sweet potatoes in. Katie suggested we add on another bed now, instead of waiting 'til the fall, and I thought that was a great idea. I staked it out Monday after work, and made some significant progress removing sod. Toward dusk, however, I discovered *something* that was unlike the tree roots I had been cutting out. Turns out it was a small power line buried in PVC pipe leading to the outdoor light near the garden:



Tuesday, I made a run to Home Depot and got some 3" PCV pipe. That evening, we went up to Berea and borrowed the Pedersen table saw to slice them down the middle. I then tapped these custom 'covers' over the existing power pipe to add an extra layer of protection. I also marked where the line is, so that this area will be a 'no-till' zone!




This 'Half-Bed' is almost ready to plant!




It has been wonderful having my first family garden here in Texas, and very special seeing Katie become interested and involved in the process. We are praying for a bountiful harvest.

The Baby is Growing!

It's so much fun to start to look pregnant!

More Wildlife

This mean-looking turtle likes the ditch too.

Wildlife Comes to Visit

This bird was in our ditch this morning. After the huge thunderstorms we had recently, conditions there are quite swampy, and apparently he liked it.
He crossed the street when he saw me coming......but then he came back.
Our ditch must be better.

There Really is a Baby in There!

We had the delight of hearing our baby's heartbeat earlier this week! There's nothing quite like it, I'm sure. We are praising the Lord for the wonder of new life, and for entrusting us with this blessing. I'm also trying to figure out how it's possible to be falling in love with a tiny person I can't see or feel and who makes me sick!

The Promise of Future Fruit

Wednesday evening, I planted a TEXAS EVERBEARING Fig and a SATSUMA Mandarin Orange in our front yard.

There’s nothing quite like planting a fruit tree to remind one of the promise of future fruit. There is a permanence, a stability, that trees provide. If the Lord blesses, we can anticipate years of juicy, tasty and nutritious fruit for our family.

I was reminded of the fact that we are ‘planting’ each day in our lives. Will the ultimate fruit that comes about bring glory to God? Will it be the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, or will it be the bitter, insipid fruit of the consequences of sin?

May God grant physical and spiritual fruit from the work of our hands, and the work of His Spirit in our lives.

RW

Camping Trip

We spent last weekend camping with friends and family. Except for a short-lived light rain shower, the weather was beautiful.

We enjoyed getting to use our new camping equipment. We realized that almost everything was Coleman brand, and so it became a joke that we should name our first baby Coleman. It's not a bad name, but we're not at all sure about naming a child after camping equipment!
We enjoyed wonderful fellowship with our fellow campers, visiting and getting to know each other better.
We hiked to a small lake one afternoon.
We also went rappelling. It was quite an accomplishment to find a cliff that would work (small though it was). Quite a few people tried it, most for the first time.
The children, and several of the adults, enjoyed scrambling up and down this big log.
There was a burn ban at the park, but we were allowed to have charcoal fires, which worked for roasting marshmallows. The charcoal didn't give off much heat or light, but we just set up a bright lantern next to the fire pit, and it worked fine.
The trip was a restful, blessed time. We're looking forward to our next campout!