Julia came home from a trip with her in-laws and made this announcement: “Juanita and I think it’d be fun to get the cousins together and make mini gardens.”

I’ll be honest- I really knew nothing about mini or fairy gardens. So the research began. Sherman even bought Julia book on fairy gardens for Valentines Day. She was all inspired and found 21 red clay mushrooms on Amazon for $.79 total and free shipping. So she made a big purchase.

Suddenly I realized that if I didn’t get inspired- my garden was going to be practically a “graveyard of buried hopes” (thanks Anne of Green Gables) So- I started looking up ideas and chatting about it with the people I was traveling with- my many trips to Lancaster these days provided lots of opportunities for “the quest”. Juanita spearheaded the project and so we all knew that all plans needed to be in place by March 26.

Obviously the first thing we needed was a container and a theme. I had bought a cute little stucco house in Nicaragua and I found a wash tub/planter. But then I picked up a table and chairs and came to the sad realization that my house was smaller than my table. Ooops. So I spent a lot of time trying to plan out my garden in my mind- where things weren’t so out of proportion. And it wasn’t until the morning of- as I was discovering I was running out of time- that the solution hit me. Typical

First stop on our day was the greenhouse of my mom’s green-thumbed cousin-in-law. Wow and what a stop that was! Anne had piles of succulents and cacti and lots of wonderful advice- we left with the trunk full. We ran down to Millmont to finish the quest and then returned to where the fun began.

It was getting close to lunch- but we spread all of our scenes out and had a blast finally seeing everything take place. And I’m not sure any of us wanted to take a lunch break. 🙂 We filled our containers with pea gravel, then the charcoal product the professional recommend, the moss also advised and lastly, potting soil.

A game plan is really important here- and I know I still did some replanting whenever this plant needed to be moved here or there. Plants went in first, then the path, and fences and last the little extras. Julia made a bunch of little wooden benches and chairs. Juanita provided picket fences.

We had a wonderful supervisor team too 🙂 When they saw how many plants we had, they voted that we had WAY too many for the amount of containers we had- so Plans B and C were implemented, and more containers showed up 🙂 The thing that’s fun about a mini garden is that any container works. So we ranged from a piece off an old tree to a tea kettle, a honey dish, and a goblet. The best thing about working as a group is, there were so many more people to exclaim over each new production. I know I’m sounding like I’m raving- but we had so.much.fun!!

We laughed at how our personalities came out in our gardens. Some of us spent a bit more money than others. Some had perfectly neat paths, while some… Let’s just say that quite obviously VDOT was not planning my roads. Conrad’s wife Sarah had some sort of salt clay that she’d molded, then baked and painted. So she created the sunflower scene. God know what He’s doing when He handed out talents, if I were capable of such things, I’d be out of control.

Julia also had a Nica house. She made this one for a friend- be sure and notice her bike parked by the door 🙂 Meanwhile, I’m obsessing over my chickens 🙂 I loved the fact that Anne had the plant called “hen and chicks” How appropriate is that?

And my solution to my quandary: Layers. I found the bottom to an old clay pot, and added that to my scene. I wanted the house to seem like it was back a ways from the table scene and I think this helps with that feel. A little ladder works for the neighbors to visit, and Julia donated a mini bike to the cause. (Also notice the broom by the front door 😉 )

So here we are with several of the 26 created 🙂 Would I recommend this? Absolutely! But do it with a couple friends. 🙂 Ideas, plants, advice, cheering over some perfect discovery- creating memories that will long outlive these little planters; It’s meant to be shared!

Easter blessings,

Kendra

Bonus Pic:

I had two social events this weekend where my newfound bunny friends added to the occasion. Who wouldn’t want to eat soup with this little guy watching every move? 🙂

The latest adventure around here, was the purchase of “Windy Hollow Farm” in Singers Glen. “Windy Hollow” is a Century Family Farm, which means that it’s been in the same family for over 100 years. The original family kept the old house and barn and part of one pasture, so their heritage remains intact. We are so excited to fall in love with a place that has loved so well. .

With the warm breezes sweeping across the Valley, it was the perfect chance to start prepping the land for spring planting 2016. Father had his “high hoe” whipping in the wind: clearing out fence rows, taking down trees, digging out rocks…

View from back yard, happy high hoe operator in the back ground

While most of the land requires very little TLC before planting season, there is a handful of rock breaks. So, Father dug them out, and my job was to tear back and forth with the Bobcat skidloader delivering the uprooted objects to a gigantic hole created especially to house these offending rocks.

So tear I did! Back and forth, back and forth.

Father had a head start on me and it seemed like that part of an acre stretched on and on. Meanwhile, I bravely rocketed back and forth. But my mind was as busy as my skidloader. I tried to distract myself envisioning that I were a coal miner, but these thought kept showing up…

“Really what is the advantage here? Wouldn’t it be just as easy to leave these rocks here happily sticking their heads out of the earth, and just farm carefully around them? The way this is working, we are getting the big rocks out, but we are creating a million smaller rocks that will have to be dealt with too… ”

As I was rapidly heading for the depths of despair, Father came over with his hungry machine and started sorting out rocks for me. With him sorting, and me hauling, things picked up speed and progress went into overdrive. The sun shone again and the happy miner whistled as she worked.

My dad -with all of his farming experience- definitely knows best. It will be so much easier to have smooth sailing, rather than picking around a rock break or two, when it comes to harvest time!

There’s an moral to this tale: Sometimes there are things in my life that seem easier to just “farm around”. Sure, the end result would be much of an improvement- but it would take SO MUCH work to get there… So I just let it go. Or eventually things come down to a great earth moving, and I work by myself and feel so frustrated. But when I allow God to work with me- fighting whatever battle I’m in- THEN the break through happens and things look so much brighter…

Are you farming around rocks in your life? Allow God to work with you- it’s much much easier than trying on your own…

Blessings,

Kendra

Bonus Pic:

The first of many pics of this pond 🙂