April, What a month!

Whew!  What a busy month.  The dumpster was filled and is gone.  I was getting a little concerned that we might not have enough room for everything, but we did.  We emptied out the barns and our huge metal building.  We had a huge family garage sale and a lot of people were blessed with a lot of treasures and some really nice clothes.  We have a lot extra room inside and outside of our home.  :)  I still have a pile of magazines to go through in our reading room.  Laughing, this is hard for me.  When I look through magazines I see recipes I want to keep or ideas and instead of pulling it out at the time, I think I will go back and do it later. Thus, a huge pile!  I've decided I'm not looking at the magazines just going to throw them away and it's really hard for me to do that. But I'm doing it.  :)  I will then be finished with the clean out.  Yeah! 

I got my tomatoes and herbs planted the first of the month and they are coming right along.  As you can see, to the right of the picture is our original garden spot with our raised beds.  They had deteriorated so bad, we pulled everything up and we are going to put in new raised beds this year.  With everything else that's going on, tomatoes and herbs will be all I can handle. I planted the tomatoes in our old chicken pen so they should do great.
  I started a new compost pile.  I tried doing the separate compartments but it was hard to turn and just didn't work for me.  This style is easy - just throw it in, I use grass clippings, dirt, some fertilizer and water.  I had a potato plant growing in the middle of the compost a few days ago.  I can never say enough about how great it is to have a compost pile.  It is truly black gold and you literally see the growth difference in your plants when you use it.  I hadn't had a compost pile in quit a while and I started feeling guilty throwing all the veggie clippings and everything else that is good into the trash.  So, a year ago I started it up again.  This time it is a lot easier for me to handle. 

Our little hummingbirds have returned and I have already refilled the feeders once.  They are so cute and hungry.  This year they are perching on the fence around my herb garden, sitting on my rose bush limbs and really going after the lavender blooms.  Get a feeder if you don't have one, they are a joy to watch.

This is something I'm really excited about. I was called and asked to teach a gardening class at a home for mothers-to-be.  They are just getting there raised beds in.  We are a little behind the gun as far as the planting schedule is concerned but it won't matter.  I think it is going to be fun and I'm looking forward to it. 

This month we also celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary.  Forty-three years......that's a long time.
I like this quote by Eleanor Roosevelt, Success in marriage depends on being able, when you get over being in love, to really love.  That says it all for me.  We received a wonderful surprise from our children for our anniversary, an Alaskan Cruise.  Wow! Very generous and giving human beings.

The outer is supposed to be a reflection of the inner.  All of the clean out just evolved none of it was planned.  Things have already started to change in our lives.  I'm excited!  In the later part of our lives I'm expecting adventure and fun!