Boys vs. Girls

Today we spent the day canning peaches. I only bought two "lugs" of them this year, although I might have to go back for another box. We have four of us now, and I don't know if 22 quarts of peaches is truly going to last us an entire year.
Off and on Ryan's job in the canning process was to put 6 peaches into a bowl that were then put in the boiling water to loosen the skins. At one point about halfway through the day he took to a peach.
When I say "took to a peach" I mean, he started calling it his baby, rolling it up in his shirt, putting it down for naps, etc. He told me at one point he was going to go get the mail. I asked him to leave his "baby peach" in the kitchen while he went outside.
"Weeeelll, I think he wants to come with me."
"Maybe he just needs a nap, Ryan."
"No. He's NOT tired." (just so you know mom, Peaches only take three naps a day, not more!)
I started to get worried. A few minutes of fun banter is all well and good, but I didn't need him coming up with some attachment to such a volatile fruit. I mean, at least an apple would last a few days in a bed made of towels! A peach?? No chance. I envisioned swarms of fruit flies overtaking our home, or else a sobbing, writhing child wondering why I was slicing his baby up and STICKING IT IN A JAR!
Just as I am going through all of these awful scenarios in my head, Ryan looks up at me.
"Mom?"
"mmm?"
"Can we eat my baby all up?"
And at this moment I was both relieved and...a bit concerned.

To those who wait...

In this day and age where quick results are the norm, a garden still unwaveringly demands patience. A seed still must germinate and sprout, and a plant must still grow two leaves before it grows twenty. Still, there must be a flower before there is fruit, and that fruit must ripen before it is ready to be enjoyed.

Patience is one thing that I am still working on learning. I realized just how deficient I was in this area when I found myself resisting putting seeds in the ground. Because do you know how LONG you have to wait to get food from that seed? Might as well just buy everything and have it right now. And if for only this reason I am thankful that I have my garden, because I am learning right along with Ryan that good things really do come to those who wait. I see him eyeing those pink tomatoes…and I encourage him "just wait another day or two, they will be much yummier (it’s a technical term)” Sometimes, he is strong. Other times, the plant will be completely stripped of any tomato with the faintest blush.

Seeds are really quite incredible. For those of you who grew up gardening, or truly who have ever gardened, you know what I am talking about. But one day I would love to actually take a picture of something like a zucchini seed through its stages. Talk about a prolific seed! In our first Iowan garden, Phil encouraged me to plant 5 large hills of zucchini. Apparently he was planning on feeding the entire eastern half of the county with zucchini fricassee. With nightmares pleasant recollections of that garden, this year, I planted only one hill. I eyed those tiny sproutlings warily- will you truly amount to much? Maybe I should have planted two hills this year, I need to replenish my supply of relish…Today I looked out my office window and lo and behold, the plant is enormous! Overnight it grew from a wimpy, spindly Olive Oyl to a regular Bluto.

Patience, I tell you, is something to strive for. Also, perseverance. This, ironically, can be learned through dealing with garden produce.

Brotherly Love

If I were to pick a recurrent event to consider my favorite of each day, it would be the moment my oldest son wakes up. David, almost a year old now, is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 6am most days. His older counterpart, however, still likes a healthy 8am. Bleary and coffee-laden I spend the quiet morning hours with the One Who Cannot Yet Speak, checking email, building block towers for him to tear down, etc.



Around 8am we hear thumpthumpthumpthump and immediately David leaps/squeals/laughs and zooms toward the door of the stairs.



Ryan, who has taken his time upstairs usually comes down completely dressed in mismatched and backwards clothing (which is especially charming when the shirt has a collar), starts talking animatedly. Take this morning for instance:



"Good Moooorning!"
*insert David squeak*
"I hadda good dreeeem mom!"
"Oh really? What was your dream about?"
*insert squawk*
"Um, I dunno...YOU didn't havva good dream!"
"I didn't? Hmm. Do you remember what your dream was about?"
"A...a bible. And then I stopped dreamin'."


At this point David can hardly contain himself and starts to laugh and jump at the door. A bonafide Good Morning if ever I saw one.


Its the time of day that everyone is most rested, on their best behavior, and happy.
It lasts minutes. And I love it.

Because through the rest of the day there will be spells of screaming, grabbing, crying, laughing, biting, yelling, and scolding. And this little respite each morning reminds me why siblings are truly such a blessing. Like the ebb and flow of lifelong relationships, good times and bad times come. Long after we, their parents, are gone, God willing they will use the foundations they are building now to give each other strength to fight the good fight, encouragement through trials, and laughter reminiscing of events that only family can provide.

And maybe I am a bit more excited about it because I am lucky enough to have one such sibling. Even if she was the biter in the family. It was her, I swear.

Hello? Tap Tap...This Thing On?

Oh my goodness.

Did you know that it has been SINCE MAY 22nd since I have updated you all on everything back here? There is so much to update you all on, and truly, I might just have forgotten everything but the last day or two worth of information. I swear, those brain cells never fully return from pregnancy. (Sorry Tif and Emily...it's the sad, sad truth.)

SO I am not going to try and give the complete all-inclusive run down. I am going to just start with this.

1. We did not blow away in the tornadoes that swept across Iowa, although we know many people who had family who were affected (i.e. lost homes, etc.) Parkersburg is about an hour and a half north of us, and though we have never been there, the tragedy sent ripples through our communities as well.

2. We did not float away in the floods. The flooding here this year was...incredible. Thousands of acres underwater- whole fields that should have been corn or beans looked like lakes and ponds. And that was in the areas least affected. Levies broke, water supplies were threatened, and again, people lost homes. We knew people with six feet of water in their basement and quite a few farmers with cropland that will be considered a loss this year. The rain has lifted, hay has been cut, and many fields, thanks to the record high prices of corn and beans, have been re-planted. Though wounded, I believe many are starting to come through it all.

It has been so cool here that it still feels like spring. Which is good, because it still felt like winter through April. I was three months behind getting my garden in, and only two days ago did we savor the first red tomato of the season.

So, there is more to share, but I will start with this:

Phil has been working on this pony cart for quite awhile now. He started with a falling-apart shell of a Doctor's Buggy that was used many, many years ago. The dashboard was mere shreds, the boards were rotting and coming apart. He stripped everything off, sandblasted the metal and painted it black, and started to design and build what you see above.

I can't explain how neat I think this thing is. Let's just say that while most of you know I don't favor the idea of more animals running about our property, this cart made me long for a pony. The curved back and sides, the black-lacquer varnish, the cherry finish, the hand turned spindles and the delicate style of the cart make me swoon. I know. Strange. But truly, it was just beautiful.

None of my pictures do the curved wood justice- the sides and the back of the cart are curved (these pieces of wood sat in vices for months acquiring their new shape).

The back has a door with storage underneath for a nice picnic blanket or whatnot. Now, I know I am his wife and all, but I think that this move alone sold me on the pony cart. A place to stash my stuff! What more could a girl ask for?

Two weeks ago we delivered this cart to its owners, who (we think) were pretty happy to have it. I can't wait to see it hooked up to their pony.

You know, I have no eye for process. I can look at a board, Phil can explain to me what it is going to "do" in a piece, and still, I'm lost. Its not until he starts to piece it together that I really get the whole picture. And truly, its not until it is stained, painted, and assembled do I really understand why each part was so essential. Maybe this is why I am so bad at chess. But Phil- he sees each tiny element, how it will fall in to place, its structure and how it will add or detract from overall function and beauty way before the piece is ever cut. I think it is that same brain structure that affords him the ability to re-do our plumbing from scratch. And beat me at chess. Amazing, it is. And now that its finished, he will be sleeping for the next two months.

Ok, not really. But I bet he wishes he could.

So, there you have it. Post one of hopefully quite a few more updates on the goings-on out here in the stalks.