Woooo 2016! (Note the unicorn sculpture; made by Babyzilla)
WOooo!!! 2016!!! Happy New Year!!!
Since this is the first post of the year, I figure I had better enthusiastically set the tone! haha
January mushrooms
January colors
Lion’s tail
Pumpkin (from the grocery stote; going to see if pumpkin plants will grow from this)
Woooo first snow of winter/2016
Dexie struggling to keep her eyes open on New Year’s Eve
‘Zilla also struggled to keep her eyes open till midnight (but awoke after this photo was taken to celebrate east coast New Year’s at 11PM ahha)
Disco Nap haha
New Year’s Eve
Sitting outside by the fire on New Year’s Eve
Embers
Making a torch
Fire
Making a torch seems like a good new year’s tradition, doesn’t it?!
When it comes to gardening goals for 2016…
I’ve always been really focused on edibles. Radishes were the first thing I ever grew. As I dug in each tiny seedling into dry, clay soil I remember thinking, “This is a lot of work for a bunch of radishes!” Hahaha but there was obviously some allure; and I was hooked! I think I took about 20 pictures of those radishes I grew Hhahaa.
But this past year edibles just didn’t seem like my forte (aside from a prolific garlic harvest); and so in 2016 I am going to focus on flowers (edible flowers mostly!) and probably will try pumpkins (since they are my absolute favorite!). Also, houseplants. I was so inspired by a post Eliza Waters wrote entitled “Breathe Easy” citing a NASA study about how important plants are for cleaning indoor air.
Very Wizard of Oz. It is good to open all the windows in your home and let the fresh outdoor air circulate throughout at least 5 minutes per day.
Inside/Outside
Train painting
Outside/Inside
Gluing
Living room looking into dining room
Playing with filters
We still have the Gingerbread Empire State Building. It is such a nice smelling decoration and I bet more graham crackers and ginger snaps (etc.) have sat for months in dingy storage warehouses…so when you think about it a few weeks (going on 3) for a fresh-baked good isn’t that old! If you’ll notice, some pieces are missing and tasted quite fresh; crispy and spicy, not stale at all! Though I didn’t eat the icing. Eventually we have to take it down. I have a friend who is setting firecrackers off in her tall gingerbread house to say goodbye to it!
Hahahah.
But setting fire to the Empire State Building would seem really terrorist-y so we’ll not do that. For now I will just keep eating it; maybe let Babyzilla go to town on it.
Rrrraaaghhhh hahah
She’s really not all that destructive, I jest. Check out how clean her kitchen is!
Two kitchens
I spy a white-tailed deer
Doe a deer (we loves the movie The Sound of Music)
Little roses
Living Room
Headless Dexie
Haha
Orchid
So I’m [insert branching out pun] from growing tomatoes/vegetables and want to explore other healthful uses of plants in 2016. Definitely want to make it to the MOBOT herb show and Shaw Wildflower market in 2016!
Love-in-a-mist seedlings popping up everywhere; they are quite hardy.
January sky over Forest school
Violets
Mushroom
Vertical garden panel (needs to root for 2-3 weeks)
See the dog picture on the rock?
Snowy white kalanchoe blooms
I’ve been prodding the kids for things they would like to do and accomplish in the coming year and mostly I have gotten some pretty mundane answers.
“Go to City Party!” (She means Party City, a party supply store like 7 miles from our house that we went to around Halloween just to browse for random spooky decorations). She also wants to visit the children’s garden at MOBOT again, which of course I am all for!
The Spy wants more baseball cards (“10 thousand more”) hahah and he is continually working on a list of players he wants to get cards for.
He has baseball cards on the brain 24/7. Hahha
Mushroom
Mushroom
Stump…kinda looks like a bear face
Mushrooms/Fungus/Lichen
Winter is my favorite season!
Winter greens; kohlrabi
Painting in progress
Playing with filters
January garden
Snow!
At Forest School
Living room
Driveway
A blessed and healthy 2016 to you all! Do you have any New Year’s resolutions?
I started a new goal of writing in a journal. The journal is one I got for Christmas and only has a short space to write, with a Bible verse (365 of them). So it’s no pressure; just jot a few notes down. I haven’t kept a journal ever (maybe sporadically in 5th grade?), so it is fun to try a new hobby. In response to,
“He fills my life with good things, so that I stay young and strong like an eagle.” Psalm 103:5
I wrote,
Honey, tea, water, lemon, legumes, rest, stretching, hiking, running, juggling, gardening, dancing, wash face 2x day, swimming, eat tons of vegetables, grains, oils, protein, facials, good posture, taking deep breaths, painting/sculpture/art, walking. Prayer. Paint nails/toes, clean bathroom, organize closets, vacuum, dust, slackline, arabesque;
Plus I wrote a list of places/parks in my area I would like to visit and included some other things; 10 glasses of water each day, tons of vegetables, lots of hot tea, write in journal daily, “Sophomore Year” of DNP Program, watch more TV, learn to unicycle, play outside often. And try out the canoe, of course!
Starting off the new year very under the weather I interpreted as a reminder to rest more (hence the “lots of hot tea” goal haha). Snuggling on the couch watching the X-files (sooo 90s it is great), movies (Jurassic World, The Sound of Music, etc.), is something I’m doing more often; no matter how much writing or reading time I need to put in for school. In order to be productive, creative and spiritual one needs to be well-rested!
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:6
Happy 2016!!!
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Babyzilla asleep and log rolling Dexie steal the show for me this post. Your edibles didn’t pan out? You probably struggled to keep up with them with work and study etc. I am guessing. It was the same here to be honest but I am still going to garden. That space is what keeps me sane sometimes. No resolutions per-se, just a whole lot of faith and hope that this year is going to be one of the best yet. Happy New Year Spy Garden! :)
I enjoyed your post on epiphanies. My favorites were the pale rose and that cool purple pineapple-looking plant. Not ALL of the edibles didn’t pan out here; I think I just tried for too many varieties. I will definitely still garden; just want to add more perennials and do less annuals; expand the herb collection, grow lots of edible flowers, etc. I just got the grow lights out (supposed to be 5 degrees Farenheit this weekend!!!) so am going to start some cabbage and other things (Romaine, kohlrabi, lavender, cilantro) today!
The perennials are a whole lot less work. I would be planting out fruit/nut trees etc. and letting them get on with looking after themselves especially if you get good rainfall as they practically do the work for you. Underplant with perennial food shrubs and interplant with glorious flowering things to bring the birds and bees. We have had the hottest and driest summer on record here in Tassie. It’s been energy and hope sapping to be honest and we might even have to have water restrictions soon if we don’t get a bit more rain but that’s what the 10 000 litre rainwater tank is a backup for and fingers crossed we don’t need to use it. Your selection sounds like it will be pretty and useful. My kind of garden :)
Really enjoyed all the great pictures and script! You are truly amazing, friend, and have such a wonderful family. God’s bless you all with health (He may accomplish this through all the great plants 😃) and happiness in 2016!
Thanks! A blessed 2016 to you!!
Great pictures as usual! Lovely home in the country. Happy 2016.
Thank you for the kind comments, as usual! ;) Happy 2016!
Always happy to see a post from you in my inbox. Thanks for the mention…I see you have a couple dracaenas and sansevieria in the living room and I love the box of succulents, etc. Changing the air, too. You’ll be breathing easier! ;-)
I look forward to seeing your garden of flowers next summer (and arrangements!) with edible flowers, too. ‘Zilla can wear flowers in her hair and daisy chain necklaces like a meadow sprite!
I think keeping a daily journal is a good way to put things down to clear the mind before bed. A friend does daily gratitudes, which I want to emulate, but here it is the 9th and I’ve yet to do it! But I’ll get to it eventually. :-)
Hope all your dreams come to true in 2016!
Yes, and more dracaenas in the kids’ rooms (and our room!) and the man cave, plus another sansevieria in the bathroom (the sansevieria I put up high just because there is still a risk of Baby eating plants; HAhah!) Though I noticed at Baby’s school they have tons of plants, some of which are poisonous but the kids do adhere to the rule of not eating decorative plants hahaha. I also got a ZZ plant plus everything else that is pictured. I got all the plants within 24 hours of reading your post! The only thing I had in the house was a Meyer lemon tree (might be dead? Baby picked off all the leaves late in summer…), I was in a panic “How can I, of all people, not have houseplants??!!” When Baby came home from school after I had arranged all the plants she said “Wow, how did you get it so clean in here?!” ;) Thanks again for a great post; happy to share it!
That’s great, glad to be such a healthy inspiration. :-) Baby’s remark is precious – she picked up on the clean air that quickly! ;-) In tune, that one.