Wow, can you believe it has been a full year since a HUGE tree took out our house?...
No longer will we hear a great wind and not consider the powerful crash that can follow it. There are things in life that will affect you the remainder of you're time on earth, this experience is one of those...
Planning a year in the future seems like such a LONG time, but considering a year in review makes you wonder if you could have done more!

Cold!!! Wet!!! Not much fun to work in...

Okay, so really, it's typical Washington weather but interestingly enough, things in the garden kept going for quite some time...I still had strawberries growing in November! That's unusual for us, but our first true, cold freeze didn't happen until pretty late this month. Typically we have our tomatillo plants growing late into October, and they were, but because we decided this summer to put a lot of effort into our 2017 garden, the plants were excelling from our extra effort.

Yes, it's true, we are still working through the many challenges that the crash has brought to the homestead.  We are learning much through these months of interaction with the mortgage company, the insurance company, General Contractors, the abatement company, the tree service, storage facilities, the rental company, the hotel, private RV sellers or dealers, and a real estate company that require as much dedication as a full time office manager. Not to mention, life's agendas throughout these processes: finishing our school testing (which happened to be during a heavy sickness we got in the hotel), Tech finishing his driver education and then researching care and purchase of his first vehicle. All of this accompanied our diligent pursuit of quality homes for our livestock, sifting through  of our 10 years of accumulation and deciding what to keep, give or toss; and above all, the many interactions with neighbors, friends and family members who had their own tidbits of advice, methods of support and ways/times of contacting.
After months of daily dealing with so many business personnel completely unconcerned with your family & home situation and crazy upheaval to your 'regular lifestyle'; it can be so frustrating that you may be tempted to walk away from it all and leave it to anyone else to figure out - 'Throwing in the towel', as they say. Many tears may be shed, many times on your knees, many times of confusion...but having the Lord on your side is how you overcome these temptations and the only way we'd every want to go through life's trials.

In the wee hours of December 9th, 2015 a harrowing wind, like we've never heard before, slammed this giant Cedar tree through our home and caused a LOT of damage. The great miracle here is the fact that not one hair on the head of any of our family members, nor animals was harmed during this crash that brought the tree in right at the head of Mom and Dad's bed; both had been woken up and were in other areas of the house.
These situations in life force you to consider what really matters. When you're evacuating at 3 a.m. in the pitch black of a forest night, trudging through the sucking mud, wind whipping your face, wondering if more destruction is to come; you ask yourself, "What is the most important thing to have?"                                                                          

Remember the swarm of bees we brought home and an extracted hive Dad carefully removed from an abandoned church building; only to have them both swarm again and leave? Both bee families have settled high in two different very tall trees. The hive from town in our neighbor's tree bordering our garden and the other, in the woods - both with easy access to an abundance of flowering plants and several clean springs for water. They know how to pick the perfect location!
Although we cannot harvest the honey, we are blessed to have them happily pollinate all they want and it is a treat to hear their harmonious hum as they bumble about the gardens and native plants, even late into the season.

I couldn't capture, with Dad's phone, all the humming on this large Sedum as there were far more than each photo shows...How many bees can you find?

We know our Lord created a harmonious world where all things work together for His good. Although we don't see them often, we know our creek has a cleaning crew, going about their business as part of our Savior's grand design.

We had this guy take a break for a quick pictorial interview of sorts!

Although he looks like he wants a hug, those little pincers can cause a bit of pain....

We opted instead to offer him a rest and send him back to the job!

It is such a blessing when the Lord shows you something that just pricks your heart and encourages you in your walk. Such is the case with dear Pa Mac at Farm Hand's Companion. We have been inspired, uplifted and encouraged with his journey on another homestead adventure of his own.  An endeavor he began for a second time in what some would call, his 'later years'; his dogged diligence, youthful enthusiasm and toe-tapping music engage you from the start. Pa Mac's unique historical accounts and educational adventures are woven with humor and scriptural relevance that will have your whole family dreaming of future homesteads! Learn more about his clever chronicles at:  www.FarmHandsCompanion.com.
And his amazing videos linked below.

Mom was thrilled to harvest her first larger heirloom tomatoes that had ripened. We learned from Farmer Daryl (at the Black Diamond Farmer's Market)  that tomatoes will actually go dormant and not ripen as they are saving their energy during excessive heat cycles. We learned from Frankie (at the Orting Farmer's Market) that California growers all plant their tomatoes to grow along the ground (like indeterminate vines), rather than being staked, to keep them cooler in the high heat. Interesting! We love learning tidbits like this, just from talking 'shop' with other farmers in the region. So, this year our first BIG tomatoes didn't ripen until August 12th. Even though they are quiet large, their skin is soft and they are sweet and delicious! Oh, nothing from the store tastes like it does from the garden, trust us on that!
This pumpkin, and several others like it are coming up from an heirloom, organic pumpkin we had picked up at the store, but had rotted before we got to eat it. What we bought was not ripened (although we didn't know it at the time) and was a beautiful dark green and yellow speckled squash. This is how it should have looked, and will likely store better because it was able to complete it's growth cycle. The rotten squash was just tossed onto a bed that hadn't been used much along a path to the rabbitry. This year, we dug out the pathway, filled it with wood chips and piled up the extra dirt on these seeds and decaying shell. We are blessed with a large number of squash plants happily growing in this sandy soil we didn't even need to amend!

This is a great example of how we are blessed by the natural fertility of the Lord's creation but things can be very different  - here's another experience we had:

This summer we have been hard at work maintaining garden moisture while trying to keep up with our weeding and successive planting.  Successive planting essentially means that you are continually planting and adding to your garden as the season persists and/or while you harvest. For instance, when you pull up a delicious beet, put another seed in the ground - it could be another beet, a radish, or perhaps heirloom lettuce- and you'll be harvesting again soon enough! You must take care to consider when the plant will mature, how big it will get, if it will cast shadow on the crops, (sometimes you may want that- to shade a lettuce crop, for example) and ultimately, know what you want to eat.
This year we have done the best yet, but we've had help from our dear friend Miss Judy who started a few more plants in her cold frame (article 2) than she was able to use. Her generosity became a successive planting of cabbages, cucumber, kale and lettuces - what a treat!

Lil Miss has taken several photos of her growing garden and we wanted to share them with you to inspire you in your own gardening endeavors. If you are concerned that you are too late for a garden, don't be discouraged...there is always something you can do! There is still plenty of time to plant and plan for an abundant harvest. In the past, Mom has direct seeded zucchini plants in July and still gotten more produce then purchased starts planted in June. You can do it!