Extra Bonus - Gardening

*To find out what gardening zone you live in,
visit The National Arbor Day Foundation
at www.arborday.org

Gardening-

it's satisfying, rewarding, stress-relieving, and healthy for our bodies

when we eat the produce of our labor.

It's what God designed for us to do since the beginning of time.

"God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put man whom he had formed.

...A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden..." (Genesis 2:8, 10)

"The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden

to till it and keep it."  (Genesis 2:15)

Have you ever thought about God planting a garden?

And when we plant a garden, we are being like Him.

Notice how He planted the garden near a water source.

These are things that you learned in lessons 16 and 17 on pages 212-215 and 226-228.

Below are photos that have been taken over the years of various gardens.

Gardening has always been an important part of my life,

just as the Master Gardener has been.

We must remember that "neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything,

but only God who gives the growth."  (1Corinthians 3:7)

This is my brother-in-law harvesting the wheat field next to our house in Michigan.

This is my daughter, Corinne, standing in my herb garden at my Michigan house.

It's hard to tell, but it is designed as the example on page 265 in the appendix of your book.

There are stepping stones, and a bird bath in the middle.

My children started helping in the garden when they were very young.

When you have children someday, give them the love of gardening and good food.

They'll learn to love fresh fruits and vegetables if you start them out that way,

instead of an unhealthy diet of chicken nuggets and fries.

My oldest son, Skyler,

holding a turnip that he picked from the garden:

My children harvesting fall pumpkins with their grandparents:

Can you guess what this is?

Friend or foe?

This is a praying mantis cocoon

that will turn into this:

Praying mantis's are a gardener's friend,

as are lady bugs;

they eat unwanted pests that eat our herbs and vegetables.

 When we moved to Florida, we didn't have the space we had in Michigan.

So we made due with what we had.

The first year we planted our garden in pots and hanging baskets.

These are cucumbers that we grew in hanging baskets.

These are a variety of herbs and vegetables that I planted in pots.

I could move them easily into the sun in the morning,

then into the shade during the hottest part of the day.

We also planted our first pineapple

by cutting the top off of a store-bought pineapple and sticking it into the ground.

The pineapple starts out as a beautiful flower

then turns into the fruit.
It takes about 3 years to get the fruit.

We also planted an orange tree...

and a lemon tree.

 One February spring day in Florida,

an old swing set started falling apart.

When we tore it down, it left a large area under it without grass.

We either had to lay sod,

or

plant a garden

(which we did!)

Notice the string attached to 2 sticks.

If you plant right underneath the string,

the rows will be straight.

Planting marigolds at the end of each row helps keep bugs away.

Planting onions and garlic on the end-rows helps, too.
(Positioning moth balls around the perimeter also helps deter unwanted pests and animals.)

This is a tomato plant:

A cucumber plant:

(The flower turns into the fruit.
The same is true in our lives.
We are like a beautiful flower when we become a child of God.
As we grow, we produce fruit 
Mt. 7:16 - 20; 3:8; John 15:4-8; Phil.1:11)

A green pepper plant:

A hot pepper plant:

We rototil the garden at the end of the season,

and then again before planting in the spring.

Plan on planting your garden before a rain.

(Watch the weather forecast.)

Here are some gardens we visited in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.

 

 

Then we moved back to the Midwest, to Ohio,

and started planting gardens and fruit trees all over again.

We planted a smaller garden near the house

and a large garden at the back of our pond,

but so that both were near a water source.

We also stock our pond

for fresh fish.

These are chives:

Picking raspberries:

Blackberries:

Grapes:

Rhubarb:

Grow your own sunflower seeds,

and enjoy the beauty of the flower while you wait.

This is aloe vera that I took a start from the one I had planted in Florida 

that grew to be about 4-5 foot tall,

and brought it back with me to Ohio.

Aloe is great for healing minor burns, especially sunburn.

This is a quince bush,

given to me by a friend.

You can make an all-natural cough syrup
by boiling and canning quince and honey together.

Bay Leaf:

Basil:

Cilantro:

Peppermint:

Carrots:

Beets:

Cabbage:

Onions:

Lettuce:

Tomatoes:

Kale:

Peas:

Butternut Squash:

Pumpkins:

These are my 3 youngest children.

We still love picking pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.

This is our little garden.

Picking apples from our tree

to make applesauce:

Picking peaches off my peach trees.

Aaron won a ribbon at the County Fair

for his watermelon.

 

Roto-tilling the big garden at the end of the season:

Whether or not you have gardened before

or are just beginning,

we have the promise that:

Isaiah 28:23-29

"Give ear, and hear my voice;

hearken, and hear my speech.

Does he who plows for sowing

plow continually?

does he continually open and harrow his ground?

When he has leveled its surface,

does he not scatter dill, sow cumin, and put in wheat in rows

and barley in its proper place,

and spelt as the border?

For he is instructed aright;

his God teaches him.

...this comes from the Lord of hosts;

He is wonderful in counsel,

and excellent in wisdom."

Let God teach you.

We will harvest our vegetables from our gardens,

but we must always remember that there is a bigger,

more meaningful harvest...

the harvest of souls.

"...therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest

to send out laborers into his harvest."

(Mt. 9:38)

Will you be a harvester of souls,

telling others about God's kingdom

that is coming soon?

 (Revelation 11:15)