I Have an Itch

Well, winter seems to be tapering off around here. For the last several weeks I can see my perennials beginning to grow. The corkscrew willows have buds on them large enough to see from my dining room window. Strawberries and chives are peeking through last years growth. And looking really closely, I could find faint little baby buds peeking out on my raspberry plants.

I love it.

There is much to do to get the garden ready. And I am so anxious to get out there and begin creating. Last fall my husband covered our back patio, and the project will need finishing this spring. So that will have to take priority. But in the mean time, I will be digging up and moving our raspberries to give them more room. I found some old salvaged handmade bricks on craigslist, that I would like to border some beds with and hopefully make a meandering path from the patio to the garden. I will need to fence the garden this year, due to a small 160lb pony we have living in our backyard, that, well, seems to always find something to do in my garden (even if it is laying in my strawberry bed).

All this being said, I must keep my focus on what the Lord has given me today. My heart, my roots, would love to be on a rural peony farm, watching them rise from the wet ground a few weeks from now. I would love to be cultivating with my children all our food from hard work, learning and teaching all that we have learned to those who want to learn as well.

To have a root cellar, and a compost bin, and a large clothesline outside. To wake up with my cup of coffee and not hear and see my neighbor's roaring engine, and to sit on my front porch in my pajamas and watch the sun come up in peace, being sure, that no one will be driving by to see my crazy hair (there I said it).

For now, for some reason, this is where God has us right now, and today I will rejoice in Him. Discontent comes so naturally. Even Paul, whom the Lord broke many times over, had to learn to be content.

"I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content." Philippians 4:11

My spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak. I might be here at this address a very long time.