Baird's first garden!

Well the weekend started earlier than usual for the Baird family! Thursday I had the entire house cleaned and neat so my eyes became focused on this dirt patch we have in the back yard. We had a swing set on it but I decided it needed to become what it was made for, a garden!! I had a plan! The kids looking at me, watching why is Mommy doing this and that and sometimes I forget and get so busy I forget to get out of my pajamas and into real clothes. First we picked up lots of dishes and toys and trucks! Then I along with a really strong neighbor I like to call Mother Teresa moved the swing set over to another part of the yard!I was determined to get the rotor tiller out and use it and impress Steve that I knew how to use it myself and that I was quite resourceful to have a garden!! Hauling the thing over to our back yard was enough to almost be enough of a job! But I was fiercely determined today!It's amazing what a women can do when she is determined and sets her mind to it! I know you know what I mean :) After doing everything I knew to do on how to start an object like this Mother Teresa came over gave it a few pulls and I was off! Steve had let me till a few rows in the past but he was there to guide me and take over when I needed. This time I was the only one in control so I better be smart and know what I was doing I mean I'm running a tiller with 3 children close by!!! They all watched and clapped every time I came down where they were and turned around. I had instructed them to sit on the step and not get off! I felt like a real women, I even kinda hummed some Shania in my head as I slowly moved along. I thought after a while it would be fine if the kids wanted to play in the freshly tilled cold soil, so I said you can get in. Then I motioned to Brady if he wanted he could walk behind me to feel the soft dirt. I love dirt, and mud! Mattie definitely gets her messy muddy ways from her momma! My mind drifts back to when I was a kid I remember clearly walking behind my dad while he used a tiller to make our garden, it's funny I didn't really know what he was doing at the time but I am so glad I have that memory of stepping into his big foot steps they were kinda hard for me to reach one to the next. I have been a parent for five years and have thrust myself into it quite quickly so I find I am always leaning on how my parents parented me and following in the deep imprints they left on my heart to help guide me. I am so thankful I have a clear place to know where to step.

As I tilled along I tried to remember all my garden memories. I remember me and Randy my older brother sneaking into the garden and hiding behind really big broccoli bushes and snapping them off and eating them. We weren't suppose to do that, but isn't that like kids sneaking to eat fresh vegetables??? We played hide-n-seek in the garden. We played in the sand for hours fixing our ranches and plowing our fields, Randy always had the best land and spread, but nobody really taught us how to do that we just did and we dreamed about our future homes together and now it's funny we are all working on our homes today but not in the sand.

Steve planted a dozen tomato plants and four pepper plants. He worked really hard on a fence to keep kids and small animals out. He built cages to provide support for the plants when they get bigger. This is going to be a fun project that our whole family will get to be a part of this summer. The kids are so excited to learn what we are planting and how we are going to do it! Now it is Monday and I've just planted two more rows of green beans and okra today I hope it comes up! As I planted today I used many references to the parable of the sower in the Bible it was so fun to have a hands on experience with them that related to God and his word, maybe as we go along something will stick with them!