I'm BAAACK!!

After a year of telling you all about our life here at Cold Comfort Farm, I thought you all would be tired of hearing about our life here so I dropped out for while.  But after talking to two of my sister-in-laws and a few close friends, they suggested that I keep going, so I hope to give you a little of us about twice a week.

Summer on the farm took over our lives.  We spent all our time gardening, working on the barn, and on anything else that kept us outside so we could enjoy the exquisite Michigan weather, all the time knowing that the season of snow would return soon enough.
I did write some blog posts, but decided not to post them for one reason or another.  I wrote one about our experimental vegetable garden and some observations I had about how much plants are not only a part of us but mirror us in many ways.  After re-reading it just now, I still think it is relevant so I'll share it now.

With all the gardening I'm doing these days I have LOTS of time to think.  After spending years in an office reacting to others needs and demands, I feel very blessed to have the time to think and reflect.  I don't mean to sound philosophical, but I'm having small awakenings, so I thought I'd share some of them with you.

As I'm on my knees or butt, planting, weeding, or harvesting, I have time to examine the plants and I'm amazed all the time.  Most of us don't realize it but we all NEED plants, they are a part of us. If it were not for plants, we would not be here.  They provide food, work, and beauty.  And plants are more like us than we know - here are some of my observations, some of them are "duh," but keep reading, the observations have a purpose.

Weather has a huge affect on plants as it does us.  Like us, each plant has its own schedule -it takes the time it needs to grow and mature. I can add fertilizer or grow it in a greenhouse; however, I can only affect it slightly.

• Some plants are light, airy, with lots of blooms and flowers for us to look at.  its purpose is to give us beauty.  It doesn't produce anything but beauty...and that's a great thing! We all know some folks like this - they give us beauty!
  
  
• There are some that are large, strong, and naturally bug/disease resistance, just like some of us!
  
  
• Some are very showy, REALLY big, and leafy but don't produce much fruit or vegetables - I'm sure we all know someone that is just like that.
  
• Some are small, hardy, and create more produce/work than similar types of plant twice their size
  
• A few start out small but once they catch up to others, they exceed the fast starters - they just need a little more time

  

  Notice the larger plants in the front of the photo and the smaller ones in the back - the smaller ones caught up and ended up larger and produced just as many butternut squash as the early bloomers

  
  
  
• Some are naturally weak - they get attacked by bugs. Once bugs see weakness, they attack in numbers

 But this bean one plant just amazed me!  I transplanted this plant to a new location because it was too close to another plant.  I moved several plants that day, thinning out so all the plants had room to develop to their potential.  It was doing fine until I affected it.  It obviously did not do well in its new location - either the soil, heat, less water, maybe all of those things was not what this plant needed.  However, it was strong and didn't die.  In fact, even though it was planted in adversity, it has grown (it's not a pretty plant, in fact not it doesn't have many leaves at all).  BUT what surprised me was that it has developed produce, providing as many green beans as a leafy plant twice its size.  I wondered, what makes this plant produce in adversity - inner strength??  We could all learn something from this little plant.


I know, you're probably thinking that these are some odd thoughts, but this subject brought me back to memories of my father.  As a child, any time I was in a place I didn't like or I was out of my comfort zone, he used to say to me that life does that to you and that you need to bloom where you are planted...then I married a Bloomfield.

So, gardening has reinforced that lesson and plants have been my instructor!  I encourage you to add a plant to you life to remind you to "Bloom where you are planted!"