Gardener/Farmer/Landscaper

I love fall gardening in the desert! It is beautiful and rewarding and green (green isn't my favorite color, but when the summer is nearing it's end...anything green outside is BEAUTIFUL)! This year our front courtyard is amazing, thanks to Ryon's drip system. Every year I get my spring planting done and along comes Ryon "improving" only the flower beds I have just planted by making big trenches down the middle of the new flowers and putting in irrigation pipe...I can be a bit frustrated to say the least (since I've never used the pipes he put in in the past). This year I just resigned myself to accept his gardening help, even if it comes in the form of recking my hard work just a few weeks after things start to sprout. But he was definitely right. Having just a few drips of water every few days makes for a dense green garden full of treasures (watermelons and gourds). I am happy every time I pass the front door and see the colorful zinnias, the tall Castor bean plants, and the vines taking over the front courtyard. Our vegetable garden has green onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, arugula, basil, oregano, thyme, and a lonely strawberry plant that made it thru the summer. The peas and beans (remember the 100's of them) that I planted a few weeks ago, they are doing well. The broccoli hasn't come up yet, but the garlic I just planted is taking off! I'm still waiting for the lettuce and spinach to get started. Those are some of my favorite winter garden plants, a salad everyday from whatever is growing. I really do love to pick and eat, that's my style. Oh, and the mesquite trees are growing like crazy! They grow about 3 feet a week, I'm so serious! This spring I bought a wimpy electric chain saw, and now I officially love it! I use to use our Christmas tree hand saw to cut large limbs off trees, some times taking 30 minutes to take off one branch. This morning I trimmed back 5 trees in 30 minutes. A woman with the right tools is quite a force:). With that in mind, I tilled up my herb bed yesterday. I left the herbs that made it thru the summer and plan to plant more in the next few days, once I figure out what amendments I'm going to add to the dirt to make it a bit less like concrete. I better get the last few loads of laundry washed for the day and pick up Ryon from kindergarten. I want to make a space in the laundry room for backpacks, I'm tired of seeing them on the window seat at night...it's so cluttery! Life isn't just a list of to do's...but once their done I feel so much better. And I thought of a saying that applies to my life, "MY payment is YOUR love." As a stay at home mom I listen to my kids complaining about not wanting to do chores because they don't get paid to do them. And wanting to have privileges that I can't afford and I think about the payment I get as a homemaker...it's watching my kids grow up, seeing every first step, every first word, every happy smile, being the one they want to tell about the art project they did at school, being behind the camera when they are loving life, and being the arms to hold them when they aren't. I don't get a paycheck for what I do...how could it ever be enough money to compensate for all my hours and effort? But the love of my husband, my children, and my Savior. They make it all worth it.