Currently in our garden...
Fall 2024. After 15 months commuting from our home in Ventura County to serve a church a church in North Hollywood, the yard was quite neglected. But I "came home" to stay rooted in Thousand Oaks when I began a new pastoral position at Ascension Lutheran Church on October 1. I have been slowly working on the yard again. Jude has helped trim overgrown branches. Weeding and soil prep has been done. Winter vegetables are beginning to be planted. And as I return to Ascension, I get to have moments of connection with the garden there as well, including a recent shopping trip to a butterfly plant nursery with students and their outdoor classroom teacher. I ended up buying more butterfly plants for my own backyard!
We got our latest flock from Dare 2 Dream Farms in Lompoc, CA when they were baby chicks. We have had backyard hens for over a decade and love the fresh eggs. Our chickens have an affinity for drinking from the fountain.
I am a big believer in always having fresh herbs for cooking. You can have herbs anytime of year and it also works to grow them inside in the winter for those who live in cold places.
So here is the truth... the garden isn't always pretty. This was a dead cucumber plants that hung on the vine for too long.
We are big morning fruit smoothie drinkers, adding a handful of fresh kale.
Pruning my roses every winter always gives me a pang.
Yet I know that their health and bountiful flowering depends
on pruning. Of course, this is true in the spiritual life as well.