Warning this is a picture heavy post…

The past few weeks we’ve received heavy downpours of rain, and our garden has shown it’s appreciation through the overabundance of produce we’ve received.

Watermelons picked from our one acre garden.

Early morning is my favorite time to do gardening work, and so you usually can find me in the garden shortly after 5:00 am. This morning, I was pleased with the amount of watermelons we had in our garden. I needed a wheelbarrow to get all  the watermelons. We also have cantaloupe, and honeydew melons.

My daughter placing her toys amongst the watermelons

This morning my daughter awoke early enough to join me outside, and while I wasn’t expecting her to be awake at 5:30, I enjoyed her company!

Amineko and Barbie, basking in the early sun rays…

She and arranged one of the collectible Barbie dolls that I’d given her onto the watermelons. Mario, one of the crocheted amineko’s I’d made, joined Julie the Barbie (my daughter named them both) as they basked in the early morning sun rays…

Beans from our garden, they were dried in the sun, shelled and are stored in jars.

Here’s a photo of some of the beans my daughter and I shelled, last evening. There were a lot, so it took about two hours to complete the task. The time flew by quickly as we worked, we chatted about the day, and talked about upcoming activities we’d be doing, such as the chart recently mentioned on Curls&Q, my daughter is a list maker. Of course, my fingertips are still numb from shelling all those beans.

Gardening can be hard work, but I enjoy it immensely. If you put effort into your crops, it can be rewarding.

Last evening, I did knit a few rows of my Elizabeth cowl, but it wasn’t completed. I could if I’d pushed myself, but I was exhausted from yesterdays activities.

My knitted Elizabeth cowl, it still needs to be blocked.

This morning, once my gardening was complete, I was able to finish the Elizabeth cowl! It’s not exactly like the pattern, since I added extra stitches/rows, and I opted for a heavier yarn (worsted weight) I still like how it’s turned out. I might keep this cowl for myself, since I do prefer them over scarves.

Weekends a time to rest? That’s crazy talk. Weekends are a time to pile all the stuff you can’t get done during the week.

This morning, around 6:30, my daughter and me were outside pulling weeds from the garden. Well… I was doing most of the weeding. She was getting distracted by all the dirt, insects, and flowers. So after, a bit I sent her off to play.

10:30 this morning, I had a meeting that took us away from home. It lasted an hour; it was extremely productive. I’m not going to say too much about it, since it’s for a brand-new committee that’s forming,  but it’s church based, and I must say I’m really excited about this opportunity and see this as another chance to interact, network, and engage others.

The Bible tells us to go out and share with others. How many churches or people are actively doing that? I must say; I’ve been in many churches where people are content to say within their comfort zone. You know, just interacting with one another in church. It’s so nice to be part of a church that has ministries; food pantry, homeless shelter, quilts for those in need that regularly reach out to others. My Lutheran church isn’t all talk, and that has me on fire. It’s nice to be surrounded by other like-minded souls

Back to the house, and more gardening work, tilling, a bit more weeding, and laying down mulch. The mulch was placed where the sweet potatoes will be planted. We have a huge mulch pile for our garden.

I took three loads of mulch from the pile, piled it in the wheelbarrow with a pitch fork, and dutifully wheeled it to the garden. Each load produced some interesting things; Massive wolf spiders were in each load,  a harmless garter snake was in the first and third mulch dumping, and a skink in the second. The skink was plump, and  I suspect it was pregnant. I did halt my mulch spreading to retrieve the skink and return it to is home. Snakes and spiders were ignored. They’re good at keeping down the insects and rodent population.

Why is that I remember to take photos, after the work is completed? I must get better at taking garden pictures.

 My daughter helped with the gardening too, but I also believe children should run around and play. And so, after she did her chores, she was free to play in the area of the garden that hasn’t been planted… yet. 

I had every intention of grilling, but with how busy I was that wasn’t happening! However, I did fix my daughter homemade burgers, fries, lightly steamed veggies. And a homemade strawberry smoothie.

My crochet hooks have been calling my name all day. Maybe they’re annoyed that I’ve ignored them. I haven’t had the time. Who knows, I might later squeeze in some hooking time (this evening.) It won’t be much, just a few rows…

Within the next few days, I’ll be posting my Christmas craft list. Nicole was the first person I saw mentioning this, and then I saw it recently when I visited Marie, certified crochet instructor, who also happens to own the site The Underground Crafter. You know what? It’s nice that others are starting their holiday crafts early too.

This is the first scarf that I’ve crocheted, and it’s given me ideas for Christmas gifts, and so I’ll be playing around with different types of yarn, and adding beads to some of my creations.

The above quote, was taken from a post I wrote in April. The crocheted swirly twirly scarf, gave me ideas for the upcoming Christmas holidays; and since the first scarf creation. I’ve made a few more of the scarves, and have set them aside as Christmas gifts. It feels great, getting my handmade gifts completed early. I like having my holiday gifts completed in advance.

There’s no way I’ll be making a lot of handmade Christmas gifts at the last minute.