Tag Archives: urban garden

I was Inspired by the Trees

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I was inspired last week. I came up with a great idea and got excited about it. Today, I am not so sure. Story of my life. This is our first spring on #itsnotta farm and I’ve already ordered my seeds for this year’s garden. I can handle that. What else happens in Canadian spring? Maple syrup. Nothing more Canadian than the sticky, sweet sap of a sugar maple wrapped up in a glass bottle with a custom sticker on it, right?! I was inspired last week. The previous owner left buckets and spigots and assured us there were trees in our forest patch. We went looking the other day. We have maples, yes, but do you think we know the first thing about gathering sap and tapping trees?! Google on the hubby’s phone and wikihow didn’t help much either. It’s early February. Days are warm and nights are cool. ”They” say the sap is running. Whoever “they” are. ”They” aren’t helping.

Photo by Matt Barnard on Pexels.com

I was inspired last week. I put out a plea to a local Facebook group for sap mentoring. I sent an email. I inspired someone else in the group to try syrup again this year! I have yet to have help. There’s still time, I tell myself. Just drill a few holes. Spend hours in front of a fire, boiling down sap (that apparently lines the walls in a gooey condensation). Use up firewood and propane. The results will be worth it. It can’t be that hard. I’m still inspired. 

Did you know that trees defy gravity? Huge, round maples, towering out of the ground in multilayered trunks and limbs cannot move, but they do defy gravity. Without boring ya’ll with the science behind tree sap, just know that due to a bunch of root pressure, certain temperatures, and the need for leaf food from root nourishment… sugary sap flows UP. Against the grain. Trees fight gravity and win. (If you really want to know all the gory, science-y details, here’s a good article to read: Maple Syrup Mechanics).

I am always amazed at how God has designed nature to defy the odds and win. Nature in its simplest form declares the Glory of God. Wholly and uniquely. Creativity in the max. I’m still inspired. Hands that flung stars into space, also created the mighty ant who carries up to 50 times its own body weight. Furthermore, so much of that creation was given to us to enjoy! The fruits of the vine. The sugars of the tree. The sun on our faces. The colours of the sky. We should all be inspired.

The crew has been learning to adjust to a new culture here. Things are slower. Things are both good and bad. Things are certainly different. We don’t know anyone. We have no roots here. We have very little history with the people we have met, and we are still trying to maneuver our way around without the comforts of “home”. Some days it feels like we are trying to defy the laws of gravity. Pushing upward in an attempt to feed our souls. Trying to fit in but not really knowing where we belong. We want the sweetness of real friendship but it’s just out of reach. Thus far. Like the maple trees, we need the right conditions to “get things flowing” so to speak. We have to keep trying. We have to be patient and kind and understanding. We hope that those around us do the same for us. 

If there is one thing we can learn from God’s creation it is that we can do hard things. We can be inspired to push onwards and upwards. A friend used to tell me that she could only love certain people because of an “extraterrestrial force”. She meant that only God could give her that unearthly dose of love for that person… she didn’t have it in her own heart. She couldn’t do it on her own. Inspiring. 

I’m still hoping we will tap some trees in our little woods. I’m still hoping we will not be disappointed in the effort and get a few bottles of syrup. I hope we will try to do hard things and be rewarded for our efforts. Because the results are sweet, aren’t they? I’m hoping we get some response to our cries for help. Maybe we have to bite the bullet and just drill a few holes and see what happens. That’s what Youtube is for, right? I’ll keep you posted on that adventure.

Photo by Marta Wave on Pexels.com

As to the rest — pray with us that we take inspiration from the trees and do hard things. We know God grants us the ability to do so. We must continue to plug on through the cold winter season, knowing that soon the spring will come and new life begins to literally flow in our veins. Then we will reap the sweet reward of our labours and enjoy the taste of lasting friendships and new beginnings. I am inspired once more.  

Roots

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Happy New Year, my beloveds! Wow, so much has changed in the last twelve months, and here we are at the beginning of another collection of twelve. Like most people, I try and take the new year as an excuse to reflect, recollect and do a little introspective digging. Instead of resolutions, if you’ve been following along on the blog, you’ll know, that I have chosen a word of the year for the last few years. My word for 2023 was “magic”. It was chosen with the intent of adding a little pizzazz to celebrations. To include decorations, fun, festivity, and go a little “over the top” for friends and family on a more consistent basis. I failed miserably.

Although quite a bit of “magic” happened in 2023: our son got married, we bought a new property, we moved to a new place, some kids flew the coop, and we all had to adjust. There was certainly little time for adding anything extra to moments… I was barely holding on to the bare minimum requirements! As I look back, yeah, I don’t think my magic mantra was adequately applied to the year, as I had hoped. And so I acknowledge that and move on (which is what we do when we reflect, recollect and delve into your persona, right?)

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

So here we are in the middle throws of January already, and another collection of months lie before us, with the possibilities of a new word of the year. Wanna hear it? Drum roll. ”Roots”.

Roots is the word I have chosen for myself for 2024. It’s a complex word, really, with the full definition almost a page long… roots as in part of a plant, roots as an origin, a base, a support, the core of something, or to root about and dig into deeper. What image does it conjure up for you when you hear “roots”? Can you see how it could apply to you in the coming year? (I’d love to hear about it… contact me!)

I got a “sprout” kit for Christmas from the hubby. Essentially it’s a bunch of stacking trays in which to germinate seeds… for eating. Those “microgreens” that appear in all the healthy eating commercials. (I since have learned that microgreens and sprouts are technically different things, but I digress). When a seed germinates, the seed opens up and “sprouts” first… shortly after, the roots appear. The roots are stronger and thicker and provide a support for the plant. It nourishes it and branches out to seek water and food. I’m sure you all are familiar with tree roots and how they support the tree. 

photo via Heartlight

The Mitton crew has moved into a new place. We are just now beginning to meet some new people. Friendships are developing at school, work, and our new church. These are people who are still “sprouts” to us. Tiny friendships full of potential and nutrients, but no support or root development yet. It takes time for roots to grow. I heard somewhere it takes events, or shared experiences to create a history with another person. A root, if you will, that stems growth between the two of you. We have yet to develop those here. Perhaps in 2024, we will.

I’m excited about our big garden space at Itsnotta farm. It was too late to plant when we moved in, so I’ve been dreaming about it. What growth will take place? Will we fail miserably at certain things? Likely. Yet, this is the way we grow figuratively, too! We try, we dream, we reach for the sun, and turn our little heads toward the light and put down strong roots to stabilize and secure us. We seek nutrient rich sources that help us grow and flourish.

What does it mean for me this year? Maybe it means rooting around into things a little. Maybe we will have to dig a little deeper to get to the heart of our relationships. Maybe try things a little differently. Who knows? Eleven and a half months are left before us to get to the “root” of 2024. Won’t you join me on the journey?!

Hope and a Rock

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Welcome back, my beloveds! You’ll forgive me for missing last week… it was a crazy time and I just couldn’t get there. Or here. Or wherever, whatever. I’m back now. We had a few first world crises which made my momma’s heart heavy and the words didn’t want to translate on the page. This week, however, that heavy heart reminded me of a story about when we first moved in to “Itsnotta” farm. So, let’s have a go, shall we?

It was mid summer and I was excited about the new property and all its potential. We may have been here about six weeks or so. The previous owner had finished the back patio as part of our final agreements, and it lacked a little lustre. The property has a big front garden and I knew I didn’t want to get in over my head just yet with a bunch of new planting in the middle of summer, but I had splurged on a couple of chicks and hens and needed a spot to put them. So I dug out a little diagonal spot next to the patio, adjacent to the back porch. We had been finding a lot of little toads hanging out back there and in the spring of this year, the youngest and I are going to make a “toad abode” so they don’t end up in our window well. (Have you ever had to rescue a toad? … they are cute but not so fun to handle).

Photo by Kolin Smith via thisoldhouse.com

It’s a tiny spot of garden so I am not super invested – but decided it needed a rock. Now imagine with me our new property, a tiny garden spot and us city slickers with little cash and next to nothing in the way of large garden tools. We didn’t even have a wheelbarrow at that time. We did, however, have a large boulder with pretty red streaks of some mineral running through it, roundish and seemingly the perfect shape to put next to a toad house and some succulents. Only issue — it was on the other side of the pool, on the opposite side of the farm field from said tiny garden plot.

No problem. I am country woman now. I can do it. So, as my hubby and fully capable children sunned themselves in the newly discovered pool, I hauled that 60-70 pound rock! I had to toss it several times like a wanna be lumber jack learning log toss to avoid dropping it on my bare feet, but it made it through my “rests”. I plunked it down on a patch of dirt where it currently sits awaiting spring and the emerging toad friends.

Why do I tell you this? The memory came to me as I was fretting over the hard weekend last week. It seems appropriate that this, the first week of Advent, was the Sunday we light the Hope candle. I needed the reminder that life is hard sometimes. Even so, there is Hope. We struggle and push through with determination – often because we are stuck between a “rock and a hard place”. God gives us challenges to help us grow. Not that that thought makes it any easier. Rocks (and our burdens) are heavy. Sometimes we have a vision in mind of the final picturesque garden with spring flowers and where warty toads have their own spaces and don’t get in your way. Yet, the rock is there to remind us, that yes, we can do hard things. The rock provides our shade for growth. Our security and stability to plant roots deep and protected.

Overcoming challenges provides us with a reminder of the Hope Christ gives us. We anticipate it and push through the hard stuff because we have it. Given to us in a little baby whose birth we celebrate at Christmas. Still, Christmas brings its own set of “hard things” for many of us. Memories can be both joyful and sad… sometimes at the same time. Here’s praying you see and feel the Hope more than the heartache this season. I am looking forward to digging through the old decorations – and adding more this year as we decorate our country porch and the barn. Maybe I should stick a poinsettia out next to my garden rock and bring a little pretty to the hard stuff. A decoration for the sleeping toads.

…I will show mercy and compassion to anyone I choose… stand near Me on this rock. As my glorious presence passes by, I will hide you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by…”

adapted from Exodus 33