Sunday, January 11, 2009

simply natural..



These photos of our container gardens were taken about 10 days ago. In that time, the tomatoes have grown a lot more and are now growing small fruit. We also have other containers growing with different herbs and carrots. The lettuce we've grown has been delicious - so crisp too. The kids love helping out with our garden. The main reasons we're doing container gardening is so we can take these with us if / when we move; they're easy to move around depending on needs for rain and sunlight; the present garden is already pretty full with other trees and plants. Mostly 'pretty' plants. If we weren't renting, I'd love to pull out a whole lot of those and fill it with fruit and vege plants and plants that attract beneficial bugs.
My morning so far: read a 'Magic Tree House' book with the boys. We've been working our way through the series and are currently up to number 25; did 3 loads of laundry and hung them out on the line; prepared a new broccoli box and, with the kids we planted more lettuce seeds; rearranged our excess food supplies after a big shop yesterday; enjoyed cuddles with Cary and the kids; drank a very large green smoothie (water, baby spinach, 4 bananas, coconut oil, & pineapple); tended to some nasty ant bites on Nicholas' feet using just white vinegar on a cloth (these black/green ants are a problem, anyone know of a natural, humane way to get rid of them?); put away the dishes that were left to drain after last nights delicious dinner of a huge salad and home cooked refried beans. Sure, I did some other things like get Nicholas 4 pieces of jam toast (that boy can eat! He's also had some of Cary's bacon and eggs and a bowl of cereal!), and help AJ work through a major upset he was experiencing in his mind just by being a calm presence for him. AJ so rarely gets upset. Cary was a wonderful calm presence for him as well and was able to make him feel better with some humour.
Right now, I am watching Summer and Nicholas play on a maths program on the computer next to me while AJ is sitting on the bed behind me talking about making a banana smoothie. Outside, I can hear Cary using the push mower on the lawn.
Our life is fairly simple and natural and joyful. For years I've owned several domain names, with the intention of starting web sites for different things. I did build a couple of web sites but by the time I went to launch them, the host no longer accepted that software. I would like to work on a website project but find that I get so into it that I then feel I'm neglecting the family and then I feel like I can't keep up with the project and start wondering what's the point of that anyway? Two names that I've had for years are freespiritlife.com and simplynaturallife.com. I'm feeling more inspired to do something with the snl one, but feel more connected to the fsl one after having this blog. Who am I kidding? I can hardly get a moments peace to finish a blog post let along a web site. But I would like to incorporate more 'simply natural life' info into this blog so that's my compromise for now.
My turn to go and have a workout with the pushmower!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooooh, I can't wait for our summer and things growing again!!

Can you plant in between the regular stuff planted on the property? You'd be surprised what will snuggle in and benefit from the "prettys".

I hear ya on the website dreams vs family. That's why I periodically take time off from the internet; I get too sucked in without regular "aways". It's a tough balance.

I like your domain names. You could always point one or both of them to your blog. Looking forward to some of your 'simple natural life' info!

~Tara

Annette said...

Hi Tara! I do have a few things planted in the main gardens (watermelon, more tomatoes which didn't take well due to the sandy soil, and a few herbs), I'll have to look for some more space after we do some much needed trimming.

I love taking breaks from the computer. Life seems simpler without it and I feel calmer. But it's always nice to get back on and reconnect with friends and the rest of the www. Yes, finding the balance is tricky.

Eli said...

Tara has me trying to start this year's garden from seeds! I just can't figure out how I'm going to get 16 hours of sunlight to them when they become plants! I'm not sure what I've got myself into!

Eli said...

OOps! Forgot to say how envious I am of your evening on the beach. Your Sunday is a great reminder of how we all want to live every day!

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