Tidy Flowers

"Flowers appear on the earth;
 the season of singing has come,
 the cooing of doves is heard in our land."
 Song of Solomon 2:12

hyacinth anemone  and bumblebee

Proverbs 16:7

When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even
 his enemies to be at peace with him.

The hot house was budding. Flowers were sprouting and
the odd bee was seen already at work on them.
It was a good idea to surround the place with used hay
to keep the warmth inside and yet provide the sunlight
in the day time.
It didn't smell the best but did the job.
In winter one could see the smoke coming out of the hay pile
 when the sun came out
Now in spring, the hay could be mixed with soil and put back as fertilizer
in the garden outside.
Nothing is better for roses than used hay to keep the roots warm too.

Empty 12 inch pots were waiting for composted earth and
I had plenty of it to fill them with.I'd use grocery store boxes when I could.
I lived too far away to collect them but making bags from old clothing to fill
with soil was good since you didn't have to worry about them like plastic.
People were good and donated a lot knowing I was out here by myself, thanks to
Pastor Gibbons..

I checked on my grape vines. They were budding.
Pinto beans and mixed dry beans from the grocery store were waiting
to try their luck in the pots.Corn. All could be started in March and planted
 into the outside garden in June so birds did not eat the seeds.

Seed potatoes were good to grow in material tires sewn together and
 filled with soil.
They were easy to empty as well. One could grow them practically all winter
 in the hot house.
Tomato bags had to hold 50 lbs at least but if you hung them upside down,
 the tomatoes would grow down. Large rice bags could do the job very nicely.
You had the advantage of the forest trees to
 help you hang things from out of reach of the little critters like rabbits and mice.
25 plants had me stocked with tomato jars for most of the winter.
Black berry bushes made me lots of jam for my sweet tooth. They grew out here like
weeds.

Living out here, one tries a lot of new things to scrimp to
 save time and money.
Dreaming, designing ideas, took half the morning to play with.

I concocted a manual air tire pump to suck air out of a hose dipped into the river.
It was fun to use and you felt like you were syphoning gas out of a car tank.
It gave me what water I needed without having to run around with buckets.

A little technology never hurt but it took some getting used to no lights at night.
 Electricity was hard to come by and the radio was my sole life support so the batteries
always had to be charged using what water current and sun I had.

With Gods' will and a bit of old Irish luck, you can live the best of lives in peace and
 harmony with the land. It also left you with time to do the other things you wanted to do
like read, paint, do craft work, do my shows with Beau, ....chase cows .....

I'd sell my stuff in the summer/fall and it kept me going for another year.
Bob kept me updated as to what
was going on where. He was a very good and loyal friend to have.
I counted my blessings every day.
xoxoxoxo