Life IS Abounding

My oh my.........this week has certainly been a highlight of my life...........On Wednesday, May 4, 2011 my 2nd grandchild, a boy, was born.............Welcome to Life my dear Ryan Thomas Duran.  He made his entrance weighing in at 8lbs, 4oz and 20 1/2 inches long.  He's already sleeping 4-5 hours at a time and the whole clan is a very happy family.............!

Another first on that same day was Gabrielle's first black eye/shiner.  She was playing in the hopsital room and "connected" with the sink - as you can see, the sink won.  Just had to share!  Here's what it looks like!!!

From the beginning we wanted this garden to be about faith, family, friends and food!  It's kind of come to be our "motto"! 

On Saturday, we had the privilege of brining Gabrielle (3yrs. old) to the garden and spending most of the day with her.  Daniel came by as well and spent time.  Wow, three generations together on a beautiful day, working, talking, sharing, teaching, just plain interacting without any electronic device to aid us.  Talk about experiencing all of these in one fell swoop.....This IS what life is about.  Here are some pictures from our time spent together AND some of our harvest for this week!  Just as a side note, we enjoyed a wonderful salad last night at dinner on the patio!!!

Our sunflowers are now taller than a 3 year old!!!

Conversation between Daniel and Gabrielle went something like this:  Gabrielle:  Bubba, let's play bubbles.  Daniel:  I don't have any.  Gabrielle:  Well, buy some.  Daniel:  I don't have any money.  Gabrielle:  That's OK, Gammy has some!!!! (BWAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHHA)!!!

Of course, Gammy just HAD to get her her own garden tools........just like Gammy & Papa!!!

AND, she certainly put them to good use!

I have to say, she LOVED the green beans - ate them right there in the garden.  She was so excited that she got to pick them herself and the EAT them!!!

Here's some of our harvest - green beans, zucchini, radishes and a WHOLE LOT OF LETTUCE!

So, as you can see, our "little" garden has been and continues to be a source faith, family, friends and FOOD!

Happy Mother's Day to all those who give birth, who bring children to live with you in your home forever or for just short period of time, who nuture, mentor, love up close or from afar, teach, coach or in anyway interact with children...........that IS God's GREATEST (and a lot of times, the hardest) gift!  How blessed we are to be the recipients/vessels of that gift!

'Tis the Season (cont.) - Pictures

As promised, here are the pictures..........enjoy!

Prepare the land

Tilling the soil

Planting the seeds

Watering

Watering (irragation)

Tending

Pulling weeds

Zucchini

Lettuce

Corn

Tomato

And many more...........

Until next time.........may God prepare you, plant in you, nuture you and bring new life to you during this most holy season of Lent, Holy Week, Triduum, and EASTER!!! 

Wishing all of you a blessed Easter...................

'Tis the season.......

No, not the Christmas season, but a seaon that is quite poignant, nonetheless.

A season of preparation, reflection, waiting and anticipation, nurturing, hope, forgiveness, and finally, new life springing forth.

I look at our garden and reflect…..reflect on the preparation of the soil, the planting of the seed, the watering and tending (weeding, fertilizing, etc), the hope that the seeds will take root (deeply and hardy), the anticipation and excitement we feel waiting to see the first sprouts of life push through the soil bringing new life that will bring our bodies sustenance.  This garden is truly in its season.

This year, a season of awaiting the birth of our 2^nd grandchild (a boy) due ANY DAY certainly fills the bill of many attributes of “’Tis the season”.  It’s been one of preparation, waiting and anticipation, nurturing, hope and new life.  This child and new life is truly in our season.

This is also the season of Lent.  Again, a time of preparation and reflection.  A time of waiting and anticipation.  A time of forgiveness and mercy.  A time of great hope.  A time to prepare our hearts for the most glorious gift given to us – the Resurrection of our Lord.  It is the completion of God’s promise to give us eternal life in heaven even after our earthly bodies have died.  This Church is truly in its season.

Reflecting on all the facets this life has in this season I cannot imagine how anyone could not BEE in awe!

Praying for a Spirit-filled Triduum and a happy and HOLY Easter!

Jane

(Pics to follow)

"Everthing Old is New Again"

I'll bet many of us 50 plus boomers can recall some attempt during childhood of a garden, or raising some chickens, or even having pantry with real staples like flour,beans,rice and the like.  No one could ever imagine or conceive of a 24 hour grocery store.  You went out bought your staples (usually more than one or two meals at a time) put them away and bingo "time to eat".  Well, we can thank our parents for some of that, but greater thanks goes to the grandparents who instinctively knew to have some of the basic stores on hand.  Many remember Grandma's small garden of tomatoes, green beans, some simple herbs and the like, and this for me was in an urban environment (tract homes no less) in west Texas. 

Well as Cindy mentioned this is an effort on the part of some very dear friends to recapture some of that "can do" spirit that was so inherent at a time when progress didn't mean casting aside what it is that makes us wholesome.

Perhaps with a little work, commitment and becoming important to one another we can once again discover the old and enduring truths that some of us have devalued in the name of progress.  My bad knees, hips, and Jane's back not with standing " Everything Old is New Again" 

Thanks for checking in on us
Ric

The Plan

The Plan

40 different vegetables & herbs

Beans, squash, zucchini, radishes, green onions, peppers, lettuce, spinach, cherry tomatoes, corn, more tomatoes, carrots, beets, watermelon, cantaloupe, basil, red onions, chives, oregano, cilantro and a whole wall of sunflowers.

I've heard it said that the best part of gardening is

looking through all the seed catalogues and dreaming.    We're dreaming big.

My favorite catalogue (the most beautiful pictures) was Gurney's www.gurneys.com

Great prices, great quality ....and they had a coupon!!!!

Bee happy,

Cindy

The Plot

We are fortunate that Matt's father has a large home on 2 1/2 acres right here in the city.
The land has not been worked in over 20 years, we'll need to work on the irrigation, prepare the ground and put up 200 feet of horse fencing to keep the livestock out (wish us luck!)

The plot is 40 feet by 60 feet.  Ric & Matt are staking it out and preparing the sprinkler system.

Until we saw the cleared area - it had not occurred to us that this is a 2400 square foot garden!!!  Bigger than our houses.

It Begins!

Welcome to Bee Satisfied.    

We are 4 great friends who share a love of family, friends, faith, food and now....farming!!!!

We've been talking about the promises and challenges of the future.  After many late nights of discussion (and pizza & wine at our local hangout!)  we found agreement on so many principles -one of which - talk is cheap - put your ideas into action! 

Instead of complaining about the economy,the rising cost of gas and food, the brokeness of our society, all the bad news in the media - we started talking about what we could do about it - here and now.

An idea emerged-
Let's start a garden, relearn the skills of our ancestors and pass them along to the next generations.

Now this is not just any garden - this is a "huge" garden and it's right in the middle of the city.  None of us have any farming experience, we have very limited gardening experience and  to top if off - we live in the Arizona desert. It's a good thing that we're not afraid of hard work and commitment.

We'd like to share what we learn along the way.  We will all post to this blog and hope that you join us on the journey.

Jane, Ric, Matt & Cindy