God's Green Earth

Today was a good day!  To start off with it was a Sunday so it was a lazy morning followed by church.  After 15 years at an Anglican church we needed a change so we now attend Bradfield and Rougham Baptist Church or BRBC as it's known and service starts at 11.00 am which is so much more civilised.  It's surprising just how much difference an extra half hour can make.  We spent a couple of years at a baptist church in America and really enjoyed it then.  We are loving this new church.

Then it was home for lunch and down the allotment to enjoy the sunshine and it's one of the few times I get out into the fresh air right now so I especially enjoy it.  Dave helps me out of the car and to the plot and once I get my cushion and hand tools I can sit or kneel at a box and weed away merrily - and boy is there ever weeding to be done.  It is never ending!

But isn't it all just looking green and luscious?  I'm loving that Maddy and Grandma have a herb and flower garden down the centre this year.  The other long, thin box (with green netting & bottles) is full of peas but next year it will be turned over to more flowers and more herbs I think so we can make use of fresh herbs and attract more bees, butterflies and ladybugs.

To the far left of this shot is the potato box, then peas down the centre, then hidden behind the corn is the squash patch with turnip, leeks, chard & celery around the edges.  In the fore ground is the pumpkin patch on the left, our flower garden down the centre and then the salad patch on the right with cucumbers, tomatoes & lettuce.  In front of this (and out of shot) is the green beans and then Maddy's box on the left, the zucchini box with beets and then Kaleb and Zach's boxes.  All in all it's a busy little plot.

This is our bean teepee.  Our neighbour had these on her plot last year and I admired them so much I was determined to try this myself.  There are both climbing beans and bush beans in this box plus we added celeriac in between since it probably won't be ready until just as the beans are finishing or later.

This is the pumpkin patch and although you can't see them yet, you can just about see a touch of yellow flower peeking through.  There are lots of iddy biddy baby pumpkins lurking under those lush leaves.  We also have some lettuce around the left side (out of shot) plus our first sweet potato plant and pepper plants.  We decided to mix things up in each box for a change to make better use of space.  

Dave and I revamped the plot this year thanks to a couple of generous donations of old bricks and some freebie offcuts of wood from work.  Hubby makes bespoke cabins and garden sheds at work so he gets to work with the smell of wood all day long.  There are now lovely brick paths to walk along so the kids don't get muddy boots plus having everything in boxes makes it easy to tackle a box at a time.  All this hard work has paid off since it's now even more of a joy to work on it.

And this is the sweetcorn patch which is coming along nicely and getting lots of lovely sunshine as you can see.  Vicky came along and helped out for a few hours and then later on the kids came along and helped water everything.  

By the time we were done it was about 4.30 pm so it was home and cook dinner with a nice fresh picked salad on the side and then back to church this evening.  We're having a series of teachings on Proverbs 22 and 30 sayings on how to live as a child of God which have been really interesting so far so I don't want to miss any.  Then it was home, a few last minute chores, a bit of blogging and catching up with family via the net and then I'm about to head off to Bedfordshire and call it a day.

For me this is an ideal Sunday, except that we passed on a chance to all have a meal out together as a family and let Vicky and the kids go without us.  I chose instead to stick rigidly to the diet today and cook something simplE and low calorie and that's just fine.  The weight won't go if I don't help it along now will it?  Besides - a little sacrifice now will all be worth it in the end.

Oh and before I go I just wanted to share a really lovely song we had this evening - one I haven't ever heard before.  It's called 'Father, I place into Your hands' by Jenny Hewer.  I thought the words and melody were just perfect to round off today.   I found a video recording and lyrics here if you want to check it out.  It's a bit of a kiddie version but it's similar and you'll get the idea.

Well I hope you all had a lovely Sunday.  Wasn't the sunshine glorious and so very welcome after so much rain - even if it does mean a whole round of watering trips from here on.  Maybe we will still get a summer after all.  Share with me your perfect idea of a Sunday if you feel like it - I'd love to hear what you do.

Suezie