"Balm brings you sympathy and Marjoram joy

Sage is long life...Sweet Woodruff augurs well for health-

A blessing richer far than wealth.

While Lavender means deep devotion,

Herb of sweet omen, Rosemary conveys

Affection and remembrance all your days.

May Heaven and Earth and Man combine

To keep these blessings ever thine."

-Rachel Page Elliott

Start Quote

Each herb has its own history, significance, 

and use for either cooking or remedies...

Herbs were considered essential for a 

long, happy, and healthy life.

Herbs are another avenue of creative expression 

for the apartment dweller, because a marvelous 

windowsill garden of herbs can be grown year-round...

Herbs adapt beautifully to container gardens because 

they don't need much space and are very gardener-friendly. 

A delightful kitchen herb garden of 

basil,     

dill,

parsley,

 sweet marjoram,

thyme,

and rosemary 

can be cultivated in a large terra-cotta bowl or cation, 

a staple in Italian kitchens. 

The fragrance will perk you up 

every time you walk into the room,

 and fresh herbs will encourage you 

to be more adventurous in your cooking. 

End Quote

Basil is definitely one of my favorites.

The only thing I haven't killed yet is my green onions. 

Did you know that after you use them from the store, 

you can put them in the ground and keep growing them?

Every basil plant I've ever had dies. 

Maybe one of these days I'll have more of a green thumb. 

I guess I'll just have to keep trying.

I'd love to have a bush, so I could also have basil flowers. 

You want something that smells good, 

this is what you want to grow.

I learned about these when I bought 

the last bouquet of flowers for my sister. 

They were gorgeous, and made the bouquet smell heavenly.

***

Gratitude Journal

***

1) Bad days come to an end. 

2) Good friends that help you through them.

3) Benadryl. I have like 10 bug bites on each leg. My toe is so swollen that I can't bend it. 

4) Working out. The body is an amazing thing.

5) Sleep.

June 26th - Paradise

Start Quote

It doesn't matter where you live, 

every woman can delight in this simply abundant pastime.

A wonderful way to begin is by bringing the outdoors in

with plants that bloom all year long.

But not just any plants.

Please leave the spiny spider ferns or rubber plants

in the office reception area where they belong.

Instead, consider fragrant plants redolent of romance:

camellias,

freesias,

narcissus, 

hyacinths,

heliotrope,

jasmine,

[which is one of my favorite scented flowers, btw]

violets, 

scented geraniums.

[which are edible?] 

 

End Quote

Small world isn't it?

Today, before I read in the book, 

I asked Robbie what he felt about putting more plants in the house.

I was thinking something like this.

 

I was thinking that I wanted a small garden, 

whether it was herbs or flowers 

or the poor succulent I have outside in exile,

and I want it inside my kitchen window over the sink. 

Robbie just said yes. 

YES!

When it'll happen, I don't know. 

"Gardening really has no beginning and no end...

Bottled under glass, blooming at your elbow, 

the indoor garden has an immediacy 

that gardens outside cannot match. 

The aromas impart an intensity that will not be ignored...

Deliciously distilled, delectably varied-

that is the essence of paradise."

-Tovah Martin 

I can't wait!

I wonder if Robbie's allergies will allow me 

to have fragrant flowers inside the house though....

hmmmm.

***

Gratitude Journal

***

1) A 90 something degree day felt amazing compared to the triple digit heat. Thank you Lord.

2) Chick-fil-a, and one of my very best friends. So we haven't seen each other in 2 years, and after a couple years you maybe start to wonder if they still love you or not. And then you meet up finally and realize there was never any need to fear, you were both just extremely busy, for 2 years. She was getting her master's degree, I was raising two one year olds and a two year old. It made my heart so happy to hear about her life and what she gets to do for the next two years, to hug her and talk to her...Good friends are one of the greatest blessings God has given me. I am truly blessed. 

3) Taking care of my roses. The last week of triple digit heat really did a number on them. I knew I hadn't killed them, it's not like I stopped watering them or anything, the heat was just really intense and there is no respite for them from the sun (at least not for a couple years, the tree needs to grow a little more). But then out of all the burned leaves and death, there was new growth. Stronger and brighter than before. It made me think of life, and how where there is a will there's a way. It also made me think of the refiner's fire, how you can just choose to roll over and die or you can choose to continue to grow and have hope.

4) Little things that lead to other things. We were in the car and Usher's Yeah came on, and I immediately thought of this scene. Well, thinking of that led to a movie night with Robbie. It's nice to sit and laugh and hold hands etc etc...

5) FHE. It felt so good, to go see Grandma Great, to watch a scripture video, and feel the spirit. On Sunday the lesson second hour was how to prepare for the second coming of Christ. One of the things was that we have to be valiant in our testimony of Him. That's all I could think about as we watched Stephen be stoned to death, and Paul risk his life to preach the gospel, and ultimately lose it because of his testimony and missionary work. They were valiant in their testimony of Christ. I love this gospel, I love my Savior, and I love that I get to try every day to become more like Him.

June 25th - Getting Started

Start Quote

How does your garden grow?

Does it grow at all?

If you're having a hard time realizing the garden 

that lives inside your heart, 

there's a way, 

if there's a desire.

Perhaps you don't have a backyard...

that doesn't have to stop you.

Some of the prettiest gardens I've ever seen 

have been on front stoops. 

If you have a balcony or a patio, 

you can create breathtaking container gardens...

If you don't have a balcony or a patio,

interior window boxes can provide you with 

blooming miniature gardens of seasonal plants all year long. 

[My window box is this one, and the birds pick it to shreds. 

Never again.]

If you're fortunate enough to have a bit of earth 

to call your own, make the most of it...

Decide to concentrate on just one spot this year.

Now get yourself a copy of Barbara Damrosch's 

The Garden Primer.

 

[Barbara advises us to] "keep the green side up...

Good gardening is very simple, really. 

You just have to learn to think like a plant."...

A wonderful way to actually start gardening 

is to send for spring bulb catalogs now. 

Bulbs need to be planted in the fall, 

either in late October or early November before the first frost, 

so the summer is the right time to start 

stockpiling visions of grandeur...

Pay little heed to the accepted wisdom 

that instructs you to space the bulbs apart. 

I did that when we first moved into our home 

and ended up with the most pathetic border ever grown...

I asked a gardener his secret for abundant blooming. 

He told me to plant at least six bulbs in each hole 

(create a circle of bulbs in the hole with one bulb in the center) 

and space your holes closer together. 

The result was stunning. 

End Quote

"Let no one be discouraged by the thought 

of how much there is to learn...

Each new step becomes a little surer, 

and each new grasp a little firmer."

-Gertrude Jeykll 

I love bulbs. 

I love them because they are very low maintenance, 

they come back every year, and they multiply!

I had a bunch of naked ladies surrounding my garden at Delbert. 

We didn't stay long enough for them to bloom.

Which made me super sad.

So I googled bulb catalog and here's what I found.

Dutch Bulbs will send you a free catalog,

so will Michigan Bulb, and Breck's, John Sheepers, 

and the Kitchen Garden Seeds for vegetables. 

And so much more! 

But I'm exhausted and ready for bed. 

I signed up for these catalogs, 

I'll tell you how it goes! 

***

Gratitude Journal

***

1) Sundays. Today was a great day. I totally needed a spiritual pick me up, and I got it. 

2) Watching my kids do really cool awesome things. Like be reverent during sacrament meeting. Sharing with each other. Being kind and comforting each other. 

3) It's bed time.

4) Finishing season 6 of Supernatural.

5) Second chances.