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Hi Everyone,
Today we celebrate Mother’s Day—and I must say that my Mother is worth celebrating. I am grateful that she is not only my Mother, but my friend—we do just about everything together! Over the years Mother has patiently taught me to read, do math, cook, clean house, fold laundry, make a bed, set a table, sew, and crochet. She shared her love of gardening with me, and challenges me to tackle the hardest weeds and never give up. Most importantly Mother has taught me to love the Lord Jesus Christ and to live my life for Him. It is a blessing that Mom and I have the same likes and dislikes and enjoy the same hobbies. We spend every morning together in the milking parlor milking cows together, and then when we can—we spend the rest of the morning and some afternoons in the garden. When it comes to cooking we make a great team—I stress out over lunch (so she fixes it), and she stresses out over dinner (so I fix it).
Speaking of mothers—we had two cows give birth last week (Emma and Honey). They were both due in April, but both were overdue. Emma delivered May 1, and Honey delivered May 2. Emma’s little calf is a heifer, and Honey had a little bull. Summer calving has begun and we have three more cows due this month and three or four more due next month. The calves are spaced out just perfectly so that when we have to dry up a cow—which will give us less milk, another cow or two is calving—which gives us more milk. We hope to have one or two cows due every month which enables us to have a steady supply of milk—at least that is the plans, but sometimes “life” happens and things get all messed up.
We try to spend all day on Monday’s in the garden—but sometimes something else comes up. Last Monday Papa, Mom, and Steve worked on the roof to the cow shade. I wanted to go to the garden but I had to make kombucha, then I had to do the lunch dishes, and then there were customers to take care of—and then it was 3:00 in the afternoon and I just had to resign myself to staying inside and finding something to do (which really isn’t that hard). I decided to pullout the vacuum cleaner and organize the pantry.
We did manage to get to the garden Tuesday morning and all day Thursday. Just when I think that we have planted the last of the garden seeds or plants in the garden—I remember another vegetable or flower. I have trays and trays of flowers that need to be transplanted into the garden—but the beds need weeded first. I am going to once again see how long I can grow lettuce. I transplanted a whole tray of lettuce into the garden and then I started another tray of lettuce seeds in the greenhouse. The squashes and pumpkins are coming up—and some of the plants are getting quite big. The cucumbers, cantaloupe and watermelon vines are growing slowly—but looking good. We still have roselles, okra and sweet potatoes to get planted—and lots of prep to get the beds ready for them.
Friday afternoon we did manage to take off and have a girl’s afternoon at the Rose Petal Nursery in Newberry, FL. They specialize in antique, historic and old garden roses. Mom and I left the house around 1:30 and stopped to pick up my sister Nichole, and my niece Makenna. We got there a little before 3:00 and left there after 5:00. We walked around looking at the roses in the gardens, and then we walked up and down the sales table’s eye-balling this one and then that one. I think that my niece was the first to pick one out and start the begging—“I want this one.” She had perfect taste, and that rose did become hers, but the next seven foot tall rose with five inch wide pink blooms did not get to come home with her—but you couldn’t deny that she had a great eye for gorgeous roses. I finally found the name of a rose that a friend had given me for my 40th birthday—for which we started two more from it giving us a total of three. The rose is called Mev. Nathalie Nypels and is such a delicate beauty of flouncy pink roses. Needless to say, we all came home with eight new rose bushes—3 went to my sister’s house and 5 came to ours. I think that most of the roses bloom pink—but I did manage to grab up a climbing vine with white cluster roses called Prosperity, and my sister came home with a climbing red Alachua rose. We all had a lovely time looking at the roses and spending time together.
Friday night we were blessed with something that we have been praying for lately—RAIN!!!! We are out of hay, but the grasses are not growing very fast and we haven’t had any rain in about four weeks so things were starting to look a little dry. We only got a half an inch—but it was a very welcomed half an inch. Papa say that we need a half an inch every three days—too bad you cannot order rain like you can groceries.
This coming week we shall be busy in the garden and busy getting ready for the “You Can Farm in Florida! Seminar” that happens next Friday and Saturday. If you want to come and haven’t registered yet, you can get your tickets here: https://youcanfarminflorida.rsvpify.com
I hope that all you mothers have had a blessed day.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare