Radishes May Help With What?

So last week I said to come back and I would share something else that radishes were good for. Well to be honest I used to not like radishes. I didn't eat them for a long time. But over the last year or two I have come to appreciate them. And this newest thing that radishes do- has me planting them even more. 

So I was looking through some posts on a gardening facebook page that I am a member of and I came across a comment where someone said to plant radishes around your squash to help with squash bugs. Well that got my attention really quick. I love yellow squash!! But the last year or so I have had the biggest fight with squash bugs. Last year I may have gotten 1 squash from the 3-4 plants I planted. I was very sad. 

This year I planted my yellow squash and then planted some radishes around the outside edge. I also planted a marigold plant in each garden box. And between the garden boxes that house my yellow squash plants - is this galvanized steel wash tube of nasturtiums. I share all of that because it could very well be the combo of all of these flowers - but my plants have done so much better. I have still had a few squash buts but they have not been invasive as before. When I see a bug - I grab it throw it on the ground and squish it with my show. 

A youtuber said to be sure and look on your leaves and when you find the squash bug eggs- to wipe them off and that will also help with bugs. All these are things you can do to help yourself have more success with squash. I had started several more yellow squash plants - because someone said that they just plant new squash plants ever few weeks. Well like I said I love squash enough that I planted a couple more plants once I harvested my red potatoes! 

I also planted a butternut squash for the first time this year - I can not wait to see how it does. I may have shared that I had started some earlier - but I hadn't hardened them off enough and the plant died. Last week I planted my newest plant that I had started after my first one died and it seems to be doing really well. 

"Don't Forget Who He Is" | Part 3

So today is part three and I think that this one is the best so far. I hope you all are as blessed by it as I was. And I am so excited because I have a great series coming up. I can't wait to share it with you all. God bless you as you grow closer to Him!! All glory to Him who created us and redeemed us!! :O) 

What the Love of God does...

 "With untold love our God has loved us, and our love awakens towards Him as we comprehend something of the length and breadth and depth and height of this love that passeth knowledge. By the revelation of the attractive loveliness of Christ, by the knowledge of His love expressed to us while we were yet sinners, the stubborn heart is melted and subdued, and the sinner is transformed and becomes a child of heaven. God does not employ compulsory measures; love is the agent which He uses to expel sin from the heart. By it He changes pride into humility, and enmity and unbelief into love and faith." 

quote from the great little book - Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing pp. 76-77

His Robe or Mine...Favorites...5

 "It doesn't matter how close to the genuine a counterfeit is. A counterfeit is still a counterfeit. The closer it looks to the genuine, the more deceptive it becomes which is why 'The strongest bulwark of vice in our world is not the ..life of the abandoned sinner or the degraded outcast; it is that life which otherwise appears virtuous, honorable, and noble, but in which one sin is fostered, on vice indulged,' 

That sin may be small. But it is not the size of the sin that is so important as is the refusal to recognize sin's malignant nature and surrender our rebellion to Jesus. it is resistance to His work in our lives that grieves His heart, for there is nothing He can do until we are willing to be yielded as the clay in the potter's hands." 

His Robe or Mine...By Frank Phillips 

Did You Know That These Are Edible?

So here is a beautiful bed of nasturtiums that I planted for the first time this year! I have learned that it is a great idea to have flowers around your garden- not only for beauty, but also to attract pollinators! 

So I planted these from seeds. And they have filled up my galvanized steel wash tub! 

I was watching a youtube video and the lady said - oh did you knw you can eat these - in fact you can eat the leaves and the flowers. I have not tasted a leaf yet - at least not at the time of typing this up anyway. I have eaten a few flowers. And I have to say they are pretty good. There is a bit of a spicy kick to them - but that is towards the end. The lady said she slices the leaves up and adds to salads - just gives a bit of a kick. I will be trying that soon. 

Then someone said that the radish seed pods were edible- so one day when I was walking around my garden - I pick a couple and tasted them. they are pretty good. They say that when they are young they are the best - they are not as good when they have been growing longer and get bigger.  

It's interesting what all is edible and it is neat to try new things. You never know if you will like it unless you try it. 

Come back next week when I tell you something else that radishes are good for! :O) 

 

Sabbath Equals Seven - WHY I SPEAK - Episode 5

"Master & Lord" | Part 2

Happy Sabbath! I hope you all are doing well. May God bless you in a special way :O) 

Freebie Friday

 Sometimes what we get for "free" isn't that great. And this week is one of those occasions. This week I got sick...ugh. So I have not been out and about at all. Tuesday it hit pretty fast with elevated heart rate and blood pressure. I was very worried about myself to be honest. That first night was a super rough night of being chilled for most of it and then I went through a whole lot of being hot and burning up. I think it has been about 8 years since I have been this sick. 

And as of today I am still running a temp and feeling very run down, achy and pains here and there. So anyway this week I got sick. :(  I hope you all are doing well and staying well. :) 

No Best Deals of the week either - since I have been home all week. 

What is Happening in the Garden This Week!

I am enjoying my garden so much this year!! 

I have learned that when you really apply yourself to learn - you will have more success. But I can not take all of the credit. I have to give credit to those who have gardening youtube channels who share what they have learned. I also have to give credit to a couple of great gardening facebook pages that I belong to that have so many very knowledgable people who are will to answer questions. And if you will read through postings and comments - you are sure to pick up a lot of pointers here and there! 

I have tried to take notes when I am able to and I am trying to organize my notes into a gardening binder - so that I can put the little tips under each plant. So that when I want to plant something - I go to that section of my binder and read up on what all I know so far. There is so much to learn in gardening! 

Sabbath evening after I put my chickens up - I walked through the garden like I do quite often after putting them up ( or letting them out. The garden is right there and easily assessable. While I was checking different plants out I noticed that I have some eggplants!!! I was SO excited to see this!! What a blessing!!! 

Last week I finally was able to get my malabar spinach planted - I was so happy to see that just a few hours later - my little plant was winding its self around the fence we have for it to climb. 

I did figure out something - that will need to be changed next year. This year we just took some 4 foot fencing we have and put it up in my malabar spinach box - only problem is that I think that it won't be tall enough. So my plan for next year will be to get a 8 foot cattle panel and put it in that garden box- going up 8 foot. This will give my spinach plenty of room to grow. Wish I had have thought to do that this year. But that is the thing about gardening - you are always learning. And the secret is to do what you can to retain what you have learned so that the next year you are able to expand from that point. It seems that after several months pass - many times all the cool things you learned see to be gone and if you don't make an attempt to keep your information together - you might just have to almost start over the next year. That is kind of how I have felt in the past. This year it has been different. I have made so many changes so far and I have expanded my garden - well maybe doubled it or more. And I am so happy with everything that I am learning. I have made mistakes but they are just helping me know where I need to improve. 

His Robe or Mine....Favorites...4

 "Jesus promises to take, purify, cleanse, and return that will to you linked with His own. 'When you give up your own will, your own wisdom, and learn of Christ, you will find admittance into the kingdom of God.' 

There is no power in heaven or earth that can force us to take this simple step. Let us keep in mind that it is the simple steps in God's plan of salvation that Satan tries to keep us from believing and implementing. His power us can be broken with such a simple step as keeping our will surrendered to God every day. He knows that we hold the key in our hands. Will you take this step and use this key? It will open to you the power of heaven as you link yourself with God." 

quote from the book - "His Robe or Mine" by Frank Phillips 

Work Smarter, Not Harder

My husband was called into work Saturday night so he was very tired Sunday afternoon and decided to take a nap. I just happen to wake up around 6:30am- on a day I didn't have to get up at any certain time. So I decided to get on up and take advantage of the "cooler" morning. I say "cooler" because although it was in the mid 70's it felt more like 80's/. And when I say take advantage- this is where the working smarter comes into play. But first let me explain why I came to my conclusion. 

Many times I have driven passed people who are out mowing their yards in the middle of the day or in the afternoon. This is when the sun is beating down on them and it is HOT. This is not working smart. I know that some people may not have any other choice than to mow when they do - but if you have a choice -work smarter. Work smarter by choosing a cooler time to work like early morning or late afternoon. 

So after I had taken care of the animals and had my quiet time I got dressed in work clothes and I proceeded to work towards getting as many things knocked off of my "to do" list. I was able to weedeated  around the RV and along the fence line and also around things in the front yard. I mowed the front yard, the back yard and push mowed the garden. I had weedeated the garden on Friday. I moved a pile of branches to the burn pile, I had trimmed from a tree on Friday. By the time I was done it was like 84 and felt like 90's out there.  As I type this up it is 2:20pm on Sunday and it is currently 95 and feels 106 out side. I will have a few jobs I want to get done today - but I will be working on the computer for a while and then I think I will pop out side here and there to get a job done here and then later another job. 

I watch a youtube channel where a lady lives in London and she has an allotment. So to garden she has to walk to her garden. Right now I am feeling grateful that I can pop out in the back yard here and there throughout the day to work in my garden. And I can look out the windows when ever I want just to see how everything is doing. Every morning when I let the chickens out and every evening when I put the chickens up - I am tempted to take a walk around my garden. Most days I do take a walk around. Here and there I will find little odds and end jobs to do, prune the tomatoes, pick a cucumber or two, deadhead some flowers, etc. 

So today I decided to work smarter not harder, by taking advantage of the temps not being quite as high as they are later in the day - and I got a good number of things marked off of my list. And now while it is pretty hot outside- I am working on some inside jobs. I might pop out to get a job done here or there but I will make it short and sweet and back inside to the cool of the AC I will come. 

This time of year there are many jobs that need to be done - but I implore you to work smarter. Make good choices of when to work outside when you can. You will enjoy those outside jobs a lot more if you are not burning up or sweating to death. I know I sure do. :O) 

PS -So Sunday I did a Best Deal post about my cute little blue and white pan, but I forgot to mention how much I paid for it - $2.99! I thought that was a great deal! :O) 

I Was Deceived - WHY I SPEAK - Episode 4

Best Deal

 As I shop at thrift stores - I don't always know what I am looking for until I see it! This is what happened to me on Thursday this week.. I was walking around a local Goodwill and all of a sudden I saw it! 

This beautiful blue and white metal pan with a lid! I know it looks cream colored in the photo but it is actually white. It was super hard to get a decent photo of it. It really is a crisp blue and white color. 

What I am hoping to do with this - is to have my husband drill some holes in the bottom of it and use this pan as a planter. I thought it would add some beauty to my garden. And I am kind of thinking about maybe planting cilantro in this pan - and that way when it starts getting hotter and the plant starts to fail in health - I will bring it inside and hope that I can keep it alive through the summer. Just an idea I am thinking about. If you all have any ideas about what to do with this pan - just let me know. Thanks so much! :O) 

"Bleeding Out" | Part 1

So the series I have had going on Sabbath - has not ended up being what I had expected  - so I will be moving it to Mondays. And today we will start a little series of great sermons. As you all know by now I really like the Author - Morris Venden- He was also a pastor. Well this series is by his son - Lee Venden. I have really appreciated his sermons and wanted to share so you are blessed as well! :O) 

Freebie Friday

 Well todays freebie Friday is a bit different than usual. 

So several years ago my Dad sent me some seeds for Malabar Spinach - I had never heard of it before. But I planted it and it did well- as well as it could do when I had not planned for its need to climb- ALOT. 

It was super easy to collect seeds from it. The next year I tried to start seeds and for some reason I could not get it going. I had thought that maybe my seeds were bad. But this year I bought a package of seeds from Baker Creek Seeds. So several of these plants- are from Baker Creek - but I was going to send some seeds to a friend - so I decided to try the seeds I had saved and sure enough they came up! So some of my plants were from free seeds. And let me tell you - I have REALLY enjoyed starting plants from seeds. And it is so much more cost effective to do so - if you are able. So I plan to save seeds from my plants at the end of the season and then keep the cycle going. And until then I will enjoy my malabar spinach! 

His Robe or Mine ....Favorites...3

 "Both powers are seeking complete control of the mind to the exclusion of the other. God, by man's willing surrender to Him; Satan, by man's insistence on independence - a gift from the devil himself...

Jesus promises to take, purify, cleanse, and return that will to you linked with His own. 'When you give up your own will, your wisdom, and learn of Christ, you will find admittance into the kingdom of God.' "

~ His Robe or Mine by Frank Phillips

I Challenge You - WHY I SPEAK - Episode 3

Happy Sabbath to you all. It has been another busy week - and when it wasn't that busy - I really needed some down time and so as you have noticed - I took it. I hope you all are doing well. Have a great week end! :O) 

Freebie Friday

 Hello friends! 

Today I don't have any photos - I don't have much time and just thought I would jump on and tell you the blessing I received this week. A dear lady that I meant about 2 years ago in the community that I live in sent me a text Sabbath morning- asking me to call her. Well come to find out she had some things to give me. She had seen that I make apple butter and such and when she was blessed with a box of red delicious apples - she decided to give me a good amount of the box! Along with that she gave me some boxes Kind Bars. I divided those up along with some apples to each of my son's and their families. It is so nice when people have such kind hearts and share their blessings with other. This is something I try to do as well. 

God had worked it out that we had a great amount of hand sanitizer - and I had been impressed to take several bottles along with me when I went to pick up the apples. Come to find out her husband has colon cancer and had just recently had surgery to have ostomy done and having the hand sanitizer in many different rooms was very helpful. God is good in his leading- her to bless me and then in turn Him speaking to me to give her those extra bottles. What a blessing!! 

His Robe or Mine...Favorites..2

 "The human mind is the battlefield for the most deadly conflict ever fought on this planet. Christ seeks to control our minds so that we might reach the highest fulfilment of the capabilities that He, Himself, built into that marvelous organ. Satan, on the other hand, seeks to retain control of that mind which is "enmity against God." Romans 8:7. The human mind has been compared to a computer in which the memory bank is being programmed every waking moment by 1 of 2 sources; Christ or satan. Like the computer, the mind's function depends upon the information it receives . Having analyzed the information, the mind then determines its decision and subsequent course of action."

~His robe for mine

By Frank Phillips