Garden, Casserole, and A Heavy Heart

The last several days have been busy.  Since having all the rain, our grass needed cutting again.  So, I pulled out the Zen machine (tractor) and cut the grass. 

This year, I used soil inside the tires to plant my potato seeds.  I want to compare growing potatoes in soil this spring, to planting them in straw from last spring.  I’m waiting for harvest time when I can tell if this spring planting in soil was better than straw planting from last spring in Oklahoma.

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Update on conditioning straw bales, I finished the final fertilizer steps.  Now it’s on to just watering the bales daily until they reach the temperature of 99 degrees or lower.  Once the temperature is below 99 degrees, I can start planting on top of the bales.  More updates will follow.

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Several raised beds now have new marigold plants in them in preparation for the planting of vegetable seeds and seedlings.  Every season I plant the marigolds to help prevent bugs from targeting these beds. 

Onions have been planted in one end of the large raised bed. On the opposite side of this bed are asparagus popping out of the ground.

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In front of the house we have two brick garden boxes.  Each year we plant something a bit different in the front of the house.  This season, Bulldog Man and I tilled up the garden boxes by hand because they’re narrow, and added more soil and compost.  Then we planted all kinds of seeds;  Four O’Clocks (from Gail), Lupin (from Kymber), Blue Bonnets, Wild Flowers, and Zinnia’s.  These two garden boxes should attract all kinds of bees and butterflies this year.  My camera is prepped and I’m looking forward to taking pictures of my flowers, the bees, and butterflies in several weeks. 

 

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Before heading for Texas, I was planning on trying out a recipe from M.E. Masterson  over at Adventures- -of- - Life Blog.  The recipe is for Mexican Cornbread Casserole.  I made this casserole, and my family loved it.  Hubby suggested I place chopped red peppers in the casserole next time.  Thank you for the recipe, M.E. Masterson :-)

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Saturday, March 22^nd hit all of us here pretty hard.  Dear friends of ours (E and his wife) lost their son, Terick in a house fire.  The Memorial Service was this weekend, Saturday, and approximately 400 – 500 people attended.  Our friend (E) and his family are members of the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc).  Members of this organization came from all over the United States to show their respect and help the family.

Terick Robert Jackson was born January 3, 1999.  He was only 15 years of age when he passed away. Terick, was an accomplished musician; proficient in 6 different instruments.  He was a nationally awarded student of Judo and achieved the rank of Green belt.  As a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, he studied medieval history, excelled at youth combat, archery and bard craft.  He was looking to become a page and further pursue his love of the martial arts into adult chivalric combat. 

Terick you’re a fine young gentleman with a big heart.  You touched everyone you came in contact with.  You’ll remain in our hearts, and never be forgotten.  All of your friends promise to take care of your parents and siblings.  God Bless You, Angel.

Blogger friends, you may have remembered a post I wrote back in April, year 2012 about Medieval Festival, (E) and his family was part of this presentation.