2014 Spring Garden
It will never fail to astound me when seemingly intelligent people refuse to see the hand of God in the intricately designed earth and it's inhabitants. Even a simple seed that can start as a hard lump devoid of life to the naked eye can in a few days turn into these tiny little green sprouts.
In less than a month they are these delicious greens.
The greenhouse was a wonderful addition to the garden. I have added two new grow beds to the aqauaponics and a couple of deck walks over the ponds for easier access and more plant space. Today I added a miniature lime, lemon and fig and also moved the pawpaw tree inside the greenhouse. It will be a couple of years before they are big enough for fruit but it will be fun watching them grow!
We had fresh greens most of the winter and the thermal mass of the ponds kept it warm enough for the plants all but a few of the coldest days of the year, on the coldest days I used small heater fan which kept everything from freezing. I did learn that air movement is a must as I battled mildew and fungus until I put an oscillating fan in the corner and now no more problems.
Enough of the talk just enjoy the pics.
The totes are full of different kinds of potatoes all sprouting nicely and almost every available inch is covered with babies waiting for warmer weather to go out into the garden.
Fresh sugar pod peas in March! Oh yum, my favorite veggie!
The hillside garden is ready and waiting for warmer weather, even now there are signs of spring. The onions and garlic are sprouting, the comfrey is peaking out of the ground and the lilacs are ready to bloom.
Even the strawberries are ready for spring with blossoms busting out and new plants sprouting everywhere.
One more new addition...I got tired of looking at my cobbled together compost bins so I scoured the internet and came up with plans for a much better solution.
Morning and Evening, Charles Spurgeon
Evening devotional for Friday March 21, 2014
"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?" — Job 38:31
If
inclined to boast of our abilities, the grandeur of nature may soon
show us how puny we are. We cannot move the least of all the twinkling
stars, or quench so much as one of the beams of the morning. We speak of
power, but the heavens laugh us to scorn. When the Pleiades shine forth
in spring with vernal joy we cannot restrain their influences, and when
Orion reigns aloft, and the year is bound in winter's fetters, we
cannot relax the icy bands. The seasons revolve according to the divine
appointment, neither can the whole race of men effect a change therein.
Lord, what is man?
In
the spiritual, as in the natural world, man's power is limited on all
hands. When the Holy Spirit sheds abroad his delights in the soul, none
can disturb; all the cunning and malice of men are ineffectual to stay
the genial quickening power of the Comforter. When he deigns to visit a
church and revive it, the most inveterate enemies cannot resist the good
work; they may ridicule it, but they can no more restrain it than they
can push back the spring when the Pleiades rule the hour. God wills it,
and so it must be. On the other hand, if the Lord in sovereignty, or in
justice, bind up a man so that he is in soul bondage, who can give him
liberty? He alone can remove the winter of spiritual death from an
individual or a people. He looses the bands of Orion, and none but he.
What a blessing it is that he can do it. O that he would perform the
wonder to-night. Lord, end my winter, and let my spring begin. I cannot
with all my longings raise my soul out of her death and dulness, but all
things are possible with thee. I need celestial influences, the clear
shinings of thy love, the beams of thy grace, the light of thy
countenance, these are the Pleiades to me. I suffer much from sin and
temptation, these are my wintry signs, my terrible Orion. Lord, work
wonders in me, and for me. Amen.
