I’ve been helping Michaela start her gardens this past month.  This particular garden has a variety of pumpkins on the cattle panels, cucumbers and winter squash on the white frames, flowers on the outside borders, and a large space where we’ll add our fall cabbage crop.  We like running our pumpkins, cucumbers, and squash vertically. This is only the second summer we have grown them this way, but they’re absolutely beautiful once the cattle panels and trellises are full. But it’s so much work!! Let me clarify; it’s work, but it’s better work than letting them vine horizontally on the ground. Either way is hard; gardening is always hard.  I suppose it’s a matter of choosing what kind of hard you want? We choose to go up with them because I don’t like to bend over and we love the way it looks. One huge payoff is that the kids will spend their late summer hiding under all of these “tents” and “forts” having picnics and reading books and playing hide-and-seek or war games. They’re very magical. But still….such work!!

One of my biggest struggles is guiding the vines. I’m constantly talking to Father as I go. “Oh my word. How do I train this vine to go up without breaking it?” (Pumpkin vines snap very, very easily.) And, “Where should I tie it so the pressure is on the pole and not on the vine? I don’t want to stress the plant.” And then, “How do I prune this for better airflow? I don’t want the pests to have a hay day! And I don’t want disease to spread. But which part do I prune?  Please help me not to wound it and stunt it’s growth; or worse yet, kill it. Help me Father!” It’s a constant conversation. I have no idea what I’m doing. Like everything else, I’m learning it as I go. Ahhh!! But I’m doing it with my girl, and we’re doing it together with Father God, and Daddy is helping us in the evenings; and we’re having fun. We’re praying for a good crop in late summer, much learning as we grow together,  and lots of memories for a lifetime. I’ll make a note to post some updated pictures as the panels fill in. 

In several upcoming episodes on the Give Me Your Heart podcast we’ll be talking about prayer.  The single, most influential relationship in my life is my relationship with God through prayer.  I have a running conversation with Him almost constantly during the day, starting from the time I’m consciously awake in the morning until I fall asleep at night.  We’re going to be talking about what that conversation sounds like, where I get my guidance for “how to pray”, who and what I pray for, and how I involve my children in my prayer life.  If that sounds interesting to you, or even a little sketchy, then tune in. I love to share my journey in how I relate to God, because it’s the experiences of other older women that have guided my walk and influenced my Christian growth.  Join us here on the website under the podcast tab or look for us on Spotify.     

Do you have a garden? Do you prune and train the plants or let them run wild? Or somewhere in between?! 🤣 I’ve heard it said somewhere, “All of life is a garden”.  That’s definitely something to ponder during these long summer days and evenings.  Send us a picture or two of your gardens.  Weeds don’t scare us, so don’t worry about a picture perfect scene; we just want to see what you’re growing.