Spring is Here


It's officially spring and I thought I'd blog about a few gardens I've come to know.

Homestead Garden
My mom planted a vegetable garden and every year we'd harvest it and can green beans and freeze chopped up tomatoes and carrots but what I remember best was weeding and "my mistake" sometimes pulling up those fresh carrots, brushing off the dirt and popping them in my mouth. Sweeter than candy. The memories of my mom in her housedress, ankle socks and white nursing shoes as she crawled on her knees pulling weeds is also a sweet reverie, especially since this month marks the anniversary of both what would have been her 92 birthday and her death. Sorry, no photos of that Wisconsin garden.

When we began our grand adventure with our homestead in Oregon, my friend Sherrie Gant and I planted a garden... in August! The photograph doesn't do the garden justice as the sun beat down on our carrots and peas and beans and lettuce but you can see in the background how we were roughing it those first months while the barn and later the house was being built. We pulled our trailers into the shade of ailanthus trees where our neighbor had both running water and an old machine shed. Now that site is the home of wonderful people who built a lovely house there. They don't get to spend much time there so...no garden.

Our garden was well fertilized with the goose guano we scooped up on the gravel bars of the John Day River. We mixed the guano with the soil that hadn't been tilled for thirty years or more and it produced a luscious crop. In the fall, we moved our compound to the actual homestead site but I'll never forget the camaraderie nor the good memories of that first garden along the river.

This Spring it's going to start getting busy around here....
  • April 17th Where Lilacs Still Bloom will finally be in stores!
  • WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers is giving away a Flower Membership for a year.  Who wouldn't want flowers delivered every month for 12 months! Enter here
  • April 23rd will be the start date of one great Blog Hop to meet some other creative authors.  Of course there will be some prizes to give away.
  • And for fun, a Pinterest Community Board has been created to share your Spring Pins. 
  • With the release of Lilacs, lots of events are scheduled.  Maybe I will see you at one of them?
Share your Spring photos with me on Pinterest, or feel free to load them on my facebook page too.

Do you have a garden tip to share? Please do!

Comments

Jane said…
That should be "weeding" in the first paragraph instead of "wedding". I like weddings too, but not in the vegetable garden. Jane
Sherrey Meyer said…
Jane, your comment made me laugh! When I saw the word "wedding," I thought she doesn't mean that but should I tell her. Didn't need to -- you caught yourself! :)
My mom had a big garden in the country and I helped her all the time. Weeding and then helping can and snap beans. Sigh. I thought it ok and then when winter came it was always great to eat the harvest. I always liked the squash but my family now doesn't like it much. I do a bit of gardening now. It's fun and love to watch the plants grow and hope something comes of it. Last two years haven't been good here. Take care and see you sometime!
Karen said…
Your life and books tell stories of pure adventure. Love the photo of the rustic life along the John Dan River. I can remember working in the garden with my Dad. He would instruct as we worked. I still love gardening, often remembering his words. When my own children were small, we would stand in the garden and eat edible pod sugar peas--good memories. I need to go get your latest book. I have already read your other books, often not wanting to put them down. I hope you have a wonderful day! It's time to start gardening here in Ohio.
Jane said…
Oh Karen, I love the image of you and your dad in the garden. One of my discoveries in researching this book was how many men enjoy gardening. I should have known that. I can just taste your pod sugar peas! Thanks for visiting. Warmly, Jane
Jane said…
Yes, the harvest is always good in the winter but so demanding in the summer! My fingers would be red for days after we hulled strawberries. But I remember it now as a really fun time with three generations of women doing what women still do, keep their families fed. thanks for commenting Grandma Becky! Keep taking those photos! Jane
Jane said…
I can always use a good copy editor :) Glad I could catch it before you had to tell me though. Thanks for stopping by.