Garden Girl

A few years ago Cayli wanted to plant a garden. So we bought seeds, soil and tools. We planted. We watered. We waited. Nothing happened.

The next year: same scenario, nothing grew.

Apparently the horticultural knowledge of my farming grandparents (my grandfather was a peach crop inspector and my grandmother grew her own food every year) and parents decided to skip my generation.

So I did what any other brown-thumb mother would do: enroll her green-thumb wannabe in a Jr. Master Gardener program. Our local botanical gardens offers this 4-H program to homeschoolers. We were the first to sign up!

The program answered all Cayli's questions and gave her specific how-tos. Using the botanical garden's greenhouses she learned about the parts of a plant and the water cycle, the correct way to sow seeds and how to cultivate and ultimately harvest.

Recently we've enjoyed her cucumbers and carrots:

We're currently waiting on her tomatoes. Don't you just love her handmade cages (pieces of scrap wood held together with crochet yarn?)!

What we're reading

Fabulous book about the Dani tribe! Until the 1950s, this tribe was an unknown warrior group living in the Stone Age. Christian missionaries flew in during the 1960s and, because of the grace and love of God, helped to radically transform these fighting men and women into a God-fearing civilization.

Last Sunday our church celebrated the Lord's Supper, which took on a new meaning for us since we had just read about the Dani's first observance of the Lord's Supper. We may use wafers and grape juice, but they used their staple product of sweet potatoes and red raspberry juice served in bamboo bowls. I had never thought of how other people partake of the Lord's Supper so this was a good glimpse into another culture.