When we are at home,we can do all sorts of things we always wished we could.
I often use my home time to tend, grow, and spreadmy herbal landscaping plants. A wonderful feeling rises up within me when I stir the earth, something like being in Eden, in my imagination.
Rosemary in Bloom
Of all the herbs I tend, of all the herbs I have ever tended,rosemaryis one of the easiest. You can find seed for it, but starting rosemary from seed is really rather difficult for the novice grower.
I like to begin with a scion. (Pronounced: sigh un, by those who sell cars or write dictionaries, or sky un, by plant people.) A scion is merely a small branch broken off. With the rosemary plant, the best way is to find a woody (not new or green) sprig and break it off backward, causing a bit of bark, called a heel, to peel along with it.
Well-heeled scions, stripped
Actually, to be sure of success, perhaps more like six scions would be better. But if you do not already have a rosemary bush, you can have really good success also, by buying a packet of fresh sprigs often available at a grocery. If they look limp, wait for a fresh delivery to buy them. These will be clipped, and not have the heel, but I’ve gotten them to grow, before, using this method.
Strip the leaves (needles) from the lower half of the sprigs and insert them all, stripped end down, into a pot of good soil. Dampen well with warm water and enclose the entire pot and all the contents in a clear plastic bag and tie shut, creating a little greenhouse. Place in a temperate area with good light, but not direct sun, and then wait.
Sprigs in soil
After about 3 weeks, check to see if roots are forming. If so, you may set the plant(s) out where you want them to grow, permanently. That must be a sunny place; on the east or south side of a building is good. If the scions have not developed roots by six weeks, probably they will also be showing some signs of decay and will need to be tossed out. Too bad, but hey, try, try again!
Once you have a rosemary plant up and growing, do not worry about it much. If the weather is really hot and dry it will need irrigation. Otherwise, remember that these plants grow wild from Europe to Australia, so yours will likely be a tough one.
Snow on Rosemary
Mine has withstood lots of cold and lots of drought, just fine, not to mention kitties playing tag in the lower branches. So fun to cuddle them all perfumed!
Something about owning a rosemary bush makes a person feel like experimenting with Italian cooking, too, so you’ll be glad tomorrow is another at-home day!
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Hooray! My post with a brand new rosemary recipe on it just appeared at Arkansas Farm Bureau’s Taste Arkansas blogsite! Run on over there and see what I’ve been inventing to DO with all these branches! Thanks!
As a counselor and a retired professional mom, I must say:
Raccoons are incorrigible wasters, ruiners of all things good, heartless beasts that care neither about boundaries nor animal rights. Their ability and seeming desire to inflict gross horror is limitless.
As people who tend six hens, our job was keeping them safe at night in their own warm place during the past winter, and one we did not mind at all. In fact, I found myself enjoying the challenge and making sure my hennies had fun treats to ease their trials during the cold. I carried all sorts of tidbits down the hill to them, through all sorts of weather, and thawed their water tank I-don’t-know-how-many times, even adding sugar to it, to assure meeting their energy needs. I literally had one of them eating from my hand.
And that one is among the five survivors, I’m glad to say.
We lost one, in a most horrific way, which I will not detail here.
And I had nearly to rebuild our chicken coop and to visit them often, really often. Hourly. And they were terrified, of course, and were slow to re-learn their trust of me.
Today, though, when they hear my footsteps approaching their little home, although they still grow very still, as if trying to be unnoticeable, if I call out to them, they answer me with seeming great excitement.
I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a blogging class for kids for a while. I homeschool my kids and for some reason it is so hard for me to get my kids blogging. I suppose it’s the old shoemakers kids scenario. Finally, I decided the best way to get them blogging would be to offer a class to my homeschool group. Committing to working with the children of my friends would mean my kids could ride along.
After talking about it and talking about it, we finally did it. Last week, I had six kiddos in my house, sitting around the dining room table: taxing my wifi, setting up blogs and publishing their first post and second and third in some cases). In case anyone is interested in replicating this experiment, here’s how it goes:
For weeks, a wonderful guy in Ireland has been helping this Grandma with WordPress questions/problems. He is instant and constant and cheery and seems to LOVE helping. Makes life so nice.
He never made me feel dumb and never asked for a thing except a chance to help a bit more, if needed.
I checked out his site (shared with a brother) called Happy Guide, which is all about helping folks be happy.
Anyone would be happy to claim two such sons.
I haven’t read the whole thing, but I have read one page: “How to Overcome ME/CFS” and I was shocked and amazed.
It was so Biblical, and therefore, useful for me, I can only be glad–happy–to find it.
A couple of years ago, I read Katharine’s series on friendship. This blog series triggered some major self-reflection and prayer. It arrived at a time when I was struggling with too many commitments to too many people, and was finding myself utterly drained, and struggling with guilt that I could not be everything to everyone.
I have always surrounded myself with a lot of people, wherever I go. As an extrovert, I tend to befriend nearly everyone I meet. I have since found that I also have a strong introverted side, so I crave time alone. I need balance to maintain my sanity, but I had no center of gravity.
To be honest, I could see that I had an inordinate desire to be loved and liked by everyone, to be worthy of being called a friend by everyone. Essentially, I wanted to be popular. So, I over-extended in every direction. I allowed myself to be pushed and pulled from all sides. It didn’t matter how good my intentions were–I was beginning to drown.
Something had to change.
I had to stop, examine myself, and explore a better way for me to balance friendships with a limited amount of time. I found that what matters is choosing carefully where to spend my non-refundable time.
So, I questioned and re-ordered my priorities. I didn’t want to cut anyone off completely, just to make sure that the right people topped my list. It was a painful process.
I wasn’t really sure what to do, or how to do it. Katharine’s series supplied the springboard I needed to dive into the Word of God, learn from Jesus, and change. If anyone had innumerable demands on his time from innumerable directions, it was the Son of God. How did he order his friendships? Who did he give the bulk of his time to?
His timing was perfect in drawing me to Katharine’s corner of the Internet.
When I came to the conclusion of the series, I was struck by the outline of how Jesus’ friendships were structured. I really began to apply what I had read to my life, and this is what I learned.
Jesus, while on this earth, befriended thousands…
Jesus had a wide circle of acquaintance, numbering in the thousands. Mine is more in the hundreds, but I definitely have a wide circle. When you really think about it, we are all connected to more people than we realize, and that is a good thing.
120 who believed in Him, followed Him (Acts 1:15):
I have four children who love me and follow my every move everyday, all day. They believe in me and trust me. My doula clients and childbirth education students also have a level of trust they put in me. They hire me to influence them, so they put a lot of stock in what I have to say. In this sphere, I make a difference–for good or ill, remains to be seen.
72 who did ministry for Him (Luke 10:1 & 17):
I have many friends who are willing to minister with me, or to me. This is the wide circle of people I would run errands for, help with their children, and who would gladly return the favor, but we don’t necessarily spend a lot of time together.
At the time, this was where I felt the biggest stretch. I had a hard time saying “No.” If I didn’t have something in my calendar, I didn’t feel justified in turning anyone down, even if I was in desperate need of a quiet day of down-time. I have since learned that it’s okay to say “No,” even if I don’t have a “real” reason. It’s still hard for me, but I have found that people usually understand.
12 whom He discipled, whom He called “friends” (Mark 3:14):
Jesus had twelve disciples, to whom he actually applied the term “friends.” They were always together, sharing life. Sometimes fighting and bickering, but always together in the end (except for Judas).
In the past, I was trying to stuff everyone I met into this category. After a couple of years of practicing the art of saying “No,” I think I finally understand what this level of friendship entails, and I have made changes accordingly. If I named names, I would probably have about fifteen or so in this group, and these are the ones that are worth saying “Yes” to.
3 whom He granted more insight and understanding (Mark 5:37, 9:2, 14:33):
Jesus had three people–Peter, James, and John–with whom he shared things that he did not even share with the others he called friends. He spent more time with them, and asked more of them than anyone else.
I probably have five of these. I call these my “iron-sharpens-iron” friends. They are the ones who love me enough to call me out, or encourage me in ways no one else can.
In the past, I felt guilty if I spent more time with one or two than any other in my close circle. Now, I don’t worry about it so much, because I never see Jesus expressing guilt for singling out his three closest confidants.
The one whom He loved, who leaned upon Him at meals, to whom He entrusted His last revelation (John 13:33, 21:7, 20, Revelation 1:1-2):
Jesus had his close three friends, but out of those three, he had brotherly intimacy with only one. Just one person to whom he opened up completely. Besides my husband, I have two people I would consider myself to be this close to.
They are my “besties,” and I no longer feel guilty for keeping this circle closed.
Probably, the most important thing I have learned is this: Even the perfect Son of God couldn’t please everyone, or even all of his closest friends. Who am I to think that I, in my fallen state, can be anyone’s Everything? So, rather than be a friend to none, I choose to follow George Washington’s advice:
“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.”
What have you learned about friendships in this life?
Grace & Peace,
Tiffany
Tiffany blogs at The Faery Inn, where she shares her Fellow Inn-mates’ lives with anyone who cares to escape into amazing escapades. She is the happy wife of one super-understanding man, a home-schooling mother of four, a childbirth doula, and a childbirth instructor, in a breath-taking land of delirious mountains and devastating losses. I’ve reblogged her heartfelt posts from time to time and often wished to make it official. The happy event of my 30,000th visitor, (which she just happened to be) gave me the excuse I needed to invite her on over. Tiffany also is my most frequent commenter for 2013, which I also intended to celebrate, so here she is! A beacon in her honesty and constant in her loyalty, she has agreed to grace our day with the above, beautiful work. Go visit herand thank her for this lovely piece!
Do you live in a slum built around and with the contents of a huge landfill?
Read on.
In our country living near garbage is considered dangerous, toxic, and illegal. Especially if you have children, it is wrong to attempt such a life.
In other countries, though, life with garbage is the only method of survival. No one cares if that is where you choose to live. Therefore, since sometimes people throw away great stuff, it can be a means of income, recycling and selling one man’s trash, which can become your treasure.
Raccoons are incorrigible wasters, 
Home's Cool! 