Friendly Gardeners

Yesterday, my neighbor called and had a favor to ask me...you see, the first owners of our house, planted a pint tree right on the property line, and it was growing into the her yard - kind of into their garden. So, she asked if I minded if she cut it back. Ummm, that took me all of 3 seconds to answer that one! Usually, I would think that your neighbor would ask you to take care of it...not to volunteer to do it! So, I said, "sure, it will be less work for Dawson to do!"

So, while I was taking care of the kids, and getting dinner ready, etc., she took care of the tree.

Then, when both of my kids woke up and I was trying to get the dinner in the oven, there was a knock at the door - I thought in my head, "you've got to be kidding me!" - the oven is done preheating, the baby is crying because I need to feed him, Brady wants to watch a video and now I have to answer the door!!! (I think that being tired may have caused some over reaction too).

Well, I opened the door and there was my neighbor - with a huge smile. I think that she is always smiling and laughing - she is fun to be around. Anyway, when I opened to door, she said, "Hi, it's your friendly gardener!" She then went on to let me know that they trimmed the tree back and that she planted 2 cherry berry tomato plants in an area in my back yard that she got from another neighbor - she watered it with miracle grow and put a little wire fence around it. I just could not believe that she did all of that for me! I was so amazed by her kindness! We had talked about where I would plant the tomatoes when I got them from the neighbor, but I did not expect her to do it for me! Oh, she also said that she pulled up a few weeds that grew back in the area that we weeded!

She really blessed me.

Today, I had a visit from my MIL, Nanny. We were talking and she asked how the weeding was going. So, I told her about all that my neighbor and I did, but how there is that huge middle area to do. So, do you know what she told me? She had brought over her gloves and tools and was ready to help me with some of the weeding! It is a little humbling in some ways to have all of these weeds to get rid of, but I am so thankful that the Lord has been sending some people over to help me out with it!

So, Brady went outside with her and was "helping" her and ended up coming inside to rinse his mouth...somehow some dirt got into his mouth! So, I did the best that I could to get most of it out...but some of it was not going to come out of the grooves of his teeth unless I brushed them or he ate lunch. I was getting lunch ready anyway, and they say that you eat about 20 pounds of dirt in your lifetime anyway...so, I opted to not worry about the little bit that I could not wipe out. I figured that he would get a little head start with the 20 pounds! :)

I am so thankful for these two helpful gardeners that have helped me to begin to get my landscaping in order again. It has been a boost that I needed to continue to find the time to get out there and continue to work on it.

Any suggestions on what the best way(s) to keep the weeds from coming back? I would love to hear them! I am new to this gardening stuff - so, any suggestions are welcome! :)

The Last Pear...

Yesterday, we decided that it was time to pick and shake the rest of the pears off of our tree. It is amazing how quickly pear season comes and goes. I actually think that waiting for the pears to be ready to pick was the hardest part and seemed to take a long time!

Now, we have over 100 pears that I need to do something with! So, last night, I was looking at recipes online - pear crisp, pear syrup, pear smoothies, and other delicious sounding recipes. I think that the hardest part of making these recipes is peeling, coring, and chopping the pears. However, the result is well worth it!

So, I am trying to enjoy every last bit of each pear that we have, because after they are gone, I will not eat another pear until next pear season - I am spoiled by my pear tree, and the ones in the supermarket cannot compare!

So, the next thing that we have been thinking about is planting a peach tree...because I LOVE peaches too!

Our Pear Tree

We have two edible fruit trees in our backyard - a pear tree and an apple tree. The pear tree produces many, many pears. The apple tree may produce about 30 apples if we are lucky, and I think that I overestimated!

Last year we were kind of learning what to do with so many pears and when to pick them. This year has been a lot of fun with our pear tree. We have read that pears are ready to pick off of the tree before they are actually ripe to eat - then they will ripen in a day or two on the counter. I must have over 50 pears in my kitchen right now! Every morning, I go outside to find pears that have fallen off of the tree during the night - some have been munched on by the wildlife, and others have not. So, I quickly place the "good ones" into my bucket, and the others get placed into a plastic bag and into the garbage can. This morning, I found 11 munched on ones and 7 good ones. Then, throughout the day, I am on a look-out for any others that have fallen, and try to "beat" the rabbits to this delicious fruit! Usually in the afternoon, we go out and check to see if more pears are ready to be picked.

So, today, my sister and her boys came over to pick some pears. Jeter and my sis enjoyed it the most - or for the longest time! Brady tried to pick one, but was not able to get it off of the branch - it was not ready to be picked yet. He did enjoy finding a munched on pear (which I placed on the patio - I thought out of his reach!) and squishing it in his hands until mommy came over and "ruined" his "fun"! He loves to get messy - but the animals that snacked on the pear could have diseases! So, he got a good hand washing! Barber got a little help from his aunt to get a pear off of the tree - he enjoyed picking a few pears, but then the swing set won his attention!

I am so thankful that we have this pear tree. It gives us a lot of tasty fruit, and it is also something fun that our kids can look forward to every summer. When I was young, we had a garden and it was fun to pick the vegetables - the weeding was not very fun, but I do not remember having to do it that often. So, although we do not have a garden at the moment, we do have a delicious pear tree that we can have some fun taking care of!

So, now I need to decide what delicious recipes that I am going to make...definitely Fresh Pear Crostata, maybe some pear butter (sister's idea), and I will have to search for a few others. If you have any ideas, I would love to have them!

Heart Check

Yesterday, after dinner, we went outside to play before Brady went to bed. We were in the backyard, and the weeds were staring at me, so I decided that I was ready to do more weeding. So, I started to weed while Dawson and Brady were playing outside.

I was happy to be outside again, enjoying God's creation, and helping to make our flower beds look a little nicer. As I was pulling out the weeds, I noticed that some were really easy to pull out, some required a little tug, and others required me to use my little digger tool. Even with using the digger tool, I was not successful in getting to the full root of some of the weeds. So, they might be back again. Eventually, I will get those weeds out of the garden too!

As I was working in our flower gardens, I was reminded of a luncheon that I went to. A godly woman told us a story about when she was growing up. Her family had a large garden, and when she would weed with her dad, he took the opportunity to ask her how her heart was, and if there were any "weeds" that needed to be "pulled." As I was weeding and thinking about this story, I thought about offenses that we hold onto. It is much easier to give them to the Lord right away, rather than allowing them to get rooted into us - and make our hearts start to take on an "ugly" look. So, while I was out there, my Father was asking me that same question, "How is your heart?" It was a great time spending out in nature with my Father and checking out my heart.

I woke up in the middle of the night with extreme left forearm, wrist, and hand pain, so I iced it - it felt a little better by morning, but still ached. Dawson and I prayed, I took some Tylenol, and I am happy to say that I am feeling COMPLETELY better! PTL!!! Although my heart check was not a painful process last night, the pain that I experience in my arm reminded me that sometimes the "weeding" process can be a little painful (we may not "want" to give up an offense), but He is faithful in even healing us completely, and taking all pain away - and we are set free from those "weeds" that were taking up room in our lives!