AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I have been plagued with blog block.
marriage issues
kid issues
de cluttering
STINK BUGS
and the odd heat wave have been the life things I have been dealing with since my last post.

and now I am on a crocheting kick I am getting some inventory together for my Etsy store and making baby gifts for family that are about to have new additions.
I am frazzled with many tooo many distractions every 10 seconds.
My Etsy store hmmm that has been and excitement and a heavy doomed feeling of possible failure. (will anyone buy the things I make)
I am now over it and am going to do it and don't care if it takes forever to get a sale, I will get a sale.
i am working on a private sale as I am writing this and am stoked about it. feeling good that I amd something that someone really likes and wants 2 for there twin grand daughters.....wooohoooo

I have yarn and I have fabric from worn used stained clothes that I will upcycle and use to make toys and things to sell. I cant wait.

Martin Luther King "I have a dream"

47 years ago today these words changed our world.

This is the entire speech and still holds true.

Today it is illegal immigrants and Muslims and the Gays that these words hold true for.

This country was founded by illegal immigrants, whats the line "the Indians called them, the white man"

As I listen and let these words sit heavy on my shoulders then I allow the tears to fall and I listen and feel the power of these words rise me up and fill my heart with hope.

Today we soooo need hope for our future.

We have become such a judgmental society and we lack the courage to hold those judgments up to our own mirror.

When did we stop caring for the next person because they were a person?

When did we stop helping someone who was struggling?

When did we as a society stop being polite and respectful?

Todays young adults have no clue how to make a buck and hold on to it for later. We have stopped teaching value of self, money and objects to our children.

We throw so much stuff away and we waste soooo much food on a daily basis.

We have learned to throw away our souls for the next shiny thing/bling

We judge and disregard our family and those that are our true friends for superficial and fake people that leave us out in the cold when the party and money is gone.

I am so grateful to have grown up in a time (the 70's) because my family knew all the other families that lived in the 8 houses on the right and maybe up 6 houses on the left and then the scattered kids I played with all the way to the train tracks and one block over in either direction.

We knew them, really knew them. We played football in the street and roller skated and rode our bikes all over.

If the dog got out people knew where it lived and brought it home.

We BBQ'ed with the people next door and across the street.

We watched each others homes when we were away for the day or the weekend.

We took care of each other, we spoke daily and shared smiles and laughs and for many hugs and well wishes for a good day.

We as a nation need to go back to the basics of why this country was built.

Freedom to choose how we wanted to live, to not be oppressed by a ruler. To stand up for what we know to be right.

I have yet to see anyone really stand up and get people moving for change.

Was the 60's the end of people that can make change. Where are our modern Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's and our modern Kennedy's and our anyone that can bring hope to people to stand and make right be right just because it is the thing to do.

BE the voice in the PTA/PTO of your kids schools to make changes for healthier food and search ways to raise money so that great teachers can teach.

BE the voice that opens the door to abuse in the home or the church or where ever you know it to be happening.

BE the voice to help someone whom is struggling to feed there family or cloth there kids.

BE the voice to stand up for neglect and abuse of animals, children and the elderly.

Volunteer with your kids to clean a park or beach, plant a tree and flowers in the center of town, or in an elderly neighbors yard.

Be the person that goes into the hospitals and holds the babies that no one holds or read to the kids that are so sick they are stuck in there beds all day. Visit an old folks home and just pop in and smile at them and spend 5 minutes talking or reading or just open the curtains and let them know someone does care.

BE THE VOICE OF HOPE, CHANGE, LOVE, CARING, COMPASSION, JUST DO SOMETHING, ANYTHING.

USE YOUR VOICE AND THE FIRE IN YOUR GUT, YOU KNOW THE ONE THAT YOU SHUT UP WHEN SOMETHING MAKES YOU ANGRY YOU WANT TO SCREAM THAT IS JUST WRONG. but you never do.

BE THE VOICE!!!!!

city girls adventures in gardening

I am a city girl born and raised in Southern California and am now living in Virginia. 

I am trying to learn to garden to sustain our family with healthy veggies. this year it was not such a success but it was a start and next year will be better.

I came across this great Facebook page(Straw Bale Gardening - No weeding, no hoeing, no tilling) where I got excited about straw bale gardening as you can tell from the picture above. I planted 6 bales. the picture shown is of 3 tomato, a green pepper, 4 pumpkin and a cantaloupe.  For a first try I am happy with what has come from it. there really hasn't been a harvest per say. More like a battle of the hornworms that ravaged my tomatoes and the cantaloupe.

There were a dozen hornworms before I got them all and found out how to keep them away (cyanne pepper a bit of dish soap and water in a spray bottle applied liberally, to both sides of the leaves) Oh and crushed egg shells around the base just past the leaves. I am pleased to say the tomatoes are making a great comeback and I am looking at about 3 batches of black bean and corn salsa in the next few weeks ....yuuummmmm O

I thought I would be bold and try turnips well they are growing but I have no idea when to harvest and I think they have bolted due to the heat

this was taken about 3 weeks ago and now the leaves are leggy and the turnips are getting bigger......:)

My punpkins, ahhhh my pumpkins they suffered so during the heat but now they are gorgeous and thriving

the picture above is from the end of June beginning of July (look at the pretty blossom) and below are my pumpkins today almost 6 ft. long and moving fast towards the grass.....LOL.

 I so cant wait to harvest them for Halloween. that is the only reason I will ever grow pumpkins for the time being. I love Jack o lanterns..

Next year I will begin in March trying to start seeds that I can transplant and also in the middle of April, weather permitting I will begin to work the ground and making the rows  for some plants and then I am also going to try square foot gardening to see which one is more suited to me.  Agreat book that I have been reading on the subject is Square Foot Gardening ~ Mel Bartholomew. there is also a TV show of the same name with him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Lu-7FIj_g

I hate to weed so I am hoping that this will be the way for my family to get a bounty of fresh veggies and herbs.  And of course me being up for a challenge I am also gonna take a lesson in canning from my neighbor across the street in hopes that we will be able to have our home grown tasty goodness in the winter. 

Keep your fingers crossed . 

As a friend says the is another Oprah show.....LOL