My attempt ....

...so after reading Cheye Haste blog this morning about her square foot gardening I decided I should post about mine. This is not a "im better than you thing" but merely it is something I am proud of, much like her, and I want to share. My desire to start a garden began a couple years ago with a short conversation Crystal and I had about how little we truly understood what things where like for our parents and grandparent. Both of my grandfathers had been HUGE gardeners. My dad and mom both grew up gardening. My "papa-grew"(my dads dad) would get some much stuff "granny-grew" would can so much food they could feed the whole family(7 kids and 2 adults) for the entire winter. Papa-grew worked as a school teacher, a pastor, and a gardener. This was truly a man who spent his life living out the providers role for his home. The arts of gardening and canning are becoming a lost art to my generation because we go to Kroger and get canned veggys and fruits. So I wanted to learn a little bit about what has been a large part of my family history and an added bonus was it was alot cheaper and as we are coming to find out now a whole lot more tasty. I started last fall with turning over the soil and prepping it for the winter frost. I have worked weekly on it since the final frost of the year up here and I REALLY enjoy it. I am growing in a traditional garden method of rows and mounds and am pretty satisfied at this point with my progress. I enjoy it so much I am thinking about doubling my size from a 10'x15' to 10'x30' next year. Crops this year are: Lettuce, Broccli, White Onion, Cucumber, Squash, Zucchini, Ocra, Green Peppers, Roma Beans, Celebrity Tomatos. Pics below.

Mothers-Day isn't just for Moms

Ya know every year mothers day rolls around and it goes just a fast. This year however did take on a new meaning for me as a man. I absolutely adore my wife. I would not/could not be the man I am today without her. She is an absolutely amazing woman or God, Loving wife, and AWESOME mother. Sawyer and I are both so blessed by her. The traditional "mother-day" is a time to reflect on moms and show our thankfulness to mom. Now I didn't get to take Crystal out or buy her a big fancy present(I would have but she had already picked out something she wanted) but I did spend some time in reflection. As I look at the way she handles our family I am consistent amazed at how much this woman can take on. She is a full time mom, works 20 hours a week in marketing, does the laundry, cleans the house, puts food on the table, feeds the baby(Im not blessed with the right equipment for that job being that Im a man) and puts up with me just to name a few. Now no one of these items is overly difficult but you pile them on top of one and another and HOLY COW! All that and she probably doesn't sleep 6 hours a night. Now all of that has made me fall ever more in love with her. The final thing that consistently amazes me is how much of herself she gives vs how much she gets in return. Crystal and I always joked before we had sawyer that we knew then we weren't ready for children because we both were too selfish. When we decided to have children it is because we both came to a point that we became ready to try to take away the selfishness of our lives. Is it easy.....NO but it is worth it....YES. I am amazed every night when after I bathe Sawyer and she feeds him and puts him down she comes in to the living room and just about nearly collapses. She has given everything she has that day to our family. Not just me, not just sawyer, not just work, not just home but to everything. There is nothing left in the tank. She is always absolutely beat and yet she finds energy for me! I won't begin to compare my wife to anyone else because my bias would shine but lets just say i don't know anyone that works harder than Crystal. There might be women that work just as hard but no one works harder.