It's Wednesday! New Bucket Garden Zen Post

(Pictured above is my tomato seedling)

Happy Wednesday, my blessed friends!  I hope this post finds you in good spirits!I posted the other day about my new zen, bucket gardening.  I'm already so happy with the process.  As a quick refresher for those that didn't see the post a couple of days ago: I have had a garden in the past and have enjoyed the "fruits" of my labor, but I never really enjoyed the work.  However, this year, I am going to enjoy the process.  And the buckets I am using help with the weeding.  This has always been my least favorite part of it.  But with buckets, the weeding is very minimal.  

Other than perhaps getting some strawberries going, I have pretty much finished the planting.  I planted my seedlings this past weekend, as a backup to the seeds I started in case they don't make it.  I have roughly 4 tomato plants, 4 peppers plants, cucumbers, and crookneck squash going.  I even started some carrot seeds!  Even though it's not much yet, it's still nice to see the progress up to this point.

I do have concerns that maybe I sprinkled the carrot seeds a little too close together.  I am using my raised garden on my porch for these.  I've never planted them before, so if it doesn't work out it will be a lesson learned.  I don't think it's too late to plant a few more, I'll have to think about that.

I hope this inspires you to find your zen.  Please feel free to share either your garden ideas or your zen.  I'm all about learning what others do. 

My green pepper seedling:

My carrots (and one cucumber seedling):

My bucket garden: (the plants clear in the back are my sister's)

Gardening: My New Zen

(Picture isn't mine, just using for reference.)

Happy Memorial Day, my good friends!  I hope you all are enjoying the beautiful day!  Plenty of sunshine all around in my neck of the woods.

I have had my own little garden for years.  Even when I was knee high to a grasshopper, I would be out in the garden with my dad.  Now he had a decent sized garden.  Everything from tomatoes, to different varieties of peppers, cucumbers, beans, etc.  I remember loving going out in the garden and picking those fresh veggies and eating them!

I plant just the basics: sweet peppers, tomatoes, and I normally try cucumbers (sometimes they work for me, sometimes they don't).  In the past, gardening has not been my favorite activity.  I love eating them and giving them away, but I don't like the work that goes with it.  Especially the weeding.  Weeding sucks.

However this year, I have a different mindset.  With the motivation of family and what they have been doing, I have told myself that I am going to enjoy gardening this year.  

I recently moved, and the yard that I have is very rocky.  Long term, I will probably be doing raised beds.  This year, I am doing bucket gardening.  Thanks to a good friend, I was able to get almost 15 buckets at no cost.  I just needed to buy the soil.  And since this wasn't my original plan (I was going to plant in the ground), I didn't have time to research
the best mixture.  I just ordered a whole bunch of potting soil bags from the big box store.  I put some drainage holes at the bottoms of the buckets and threw the dirt in.  I started from seeds, so I was able to plant them.  I will say that they are growing pretty slow so far, so I got some back up seedlings just in case.

I already am enjoying 'the work.'  I have enjoyed the process of getting them going and watering them.  Oh, I should also say that I have a planter 4'x2' container on my porch that I have planted carrot seeds in.  I may be sharing pictures in the future, I think it would be nice to share with you the progression of my bucket gardening.  

The best part, little to no weeding necessary.

Please feel free to share your ideas for gardening.  Have a blessed day!

Be Who God Wants You To Be

Hello, my friends!  I hope you are having an amazing day, wherever you may be.

It truly is a beautiful day in my neck of the woods.  It's abut 80 degrees, sunny, and low humidity,  It's a great day to be sitting on my porch as I am writing this.

I was thinking about a quote that I received several years ago.  I was taking an individual where I work on a walk in a local park.  We were walking around the track that they have and I believe that we had just finished the one mile loop.  There was a group there from the local Lutheran church handing out water bottles and giving out notecards with inspiring quotes.  We gladly accepted the bottles of water and the inspiring message.  "Be who God wants you to be, not who others want to see."

This has stuck with me for the past 6 years.  Whether you're Christian or not, the underlying message is be a good person and make the right choices.  Regardless of what others are expecting or doing.  Do the right thing.

I was raised Lutheran.  While I may no longer attend church, I try my best to make the right choices.  I know I am not perfect, but am I doing the right thing in any particular moment.  If He is watching, is he seeing me trying my best.  And even if there is no He, am I making the world a better place one choice at a time.

So, I am trying to be who God wants me to be.

Tolerance

   

tol·er·ance

noun

1. 1. 

   the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with.

   
   

   
   

   Hello, my good friends!  I hope this blog finds you in good spirits!  

   Summers is inching its way towards us, and I am excited!  I love being able to throw my tank top and flip flops on when I get home from work!  I haven't been able to go on any good hikes lately, I have been working extra to help out.  I'm going to have to squeeze at least a short hike at some point.

   
   

   In a world where there are so many differences of opinions, it is important that we be able to tolerate ideas that we may not agree with.  It should go without saying that I mean things that aren't harming others.  For instance, things such as racism, bigotry, homophobia, stealing, etc should not be tolerated. But there are so many other ideas that we should tolerate.  I consider myself to be a Pagan Christian.  It may sound like being this is contradicting itself to some, but I believe that the earth is a powerful force and we should respect it.  I also believe that something created us, God perhaps started the "Big Bang."  I respect that others may have different ideas, whether it be strictly being Christian, being Muslim, or perhaps being an atheist.  

   We also have different political ideas.  We may also have differences of opinion on what we eat.  We may have different ideas on how to raise children.  And that all is ok.

   We can agree to disagree on many things.  What's importance is that we can tolerate each other.  At the end of the day, most of us what the same thing.  We want people to be living in harmony and coexisting.  We just may have different ideas on how to get there.  This doesn't make either one of us completely right or wrong.  

   We don't have to agree with one another on every single topic.  The world would be boring if we were all the same.  Let's work on tolerating other people/ideas.  

   Many good vibes to you!  I hope you have a blessed day!