Wow!  I gave up on blogging for quite a while!  I'm back now, mostly because I have begun a square foot garden this year and want to keep a log of how it goes.  I'm excited about having lots of veggies to eat.

For the past two years I have tried the straw bale gardening method.  Basically, that method involves placing straw bales on their sides and planting stuff in them.  It's pretty water intensive, but as the wet bales decompose from the inside the rotting bale is supposed to provide nutrients for the growing garden plants.  The first year it worked pretty well, and although I only had eight bales I got a lot of tomatoes.  The peppers didn't do well, but I have never had peppers do well.  I had a few green beans too.

Last year I had good plants but low yields.  Dunno for sure why.  Fewer bees to polinate?

Anyway, Cathy and I were in Salt Lake City earlier this year, and during our obligatory visit to Deseret Book I found a book on the New Square Foot Garden method by Mel Bartholemew.  I bought the book and became fascinated by his method.  As soon as it started to warm up I got busy and began building garden boxes.  I ended up with four, pictured below.

The only things planted so far are strawberries and garden peas.  It's a little early in the season to plant much else yet because it's probably going to freeze again.    I will update as I get things going.

I also recently found an item called the Grow Box.  I ordered my seeds from Gurneys and when the arrived the came with an ad for the box.  It looked really good too, so I bought three of them.  What's cool about the grow box is that it can be used anywhere, and contains its own water supply.  I am going to compare the square foot garden to the Grow Box garden and see how they do.  Below is a photo of a grow box ready for planting.

The square foot boxes are situated so that the irrigation for the lawn will also water the boxes.  The Grow Boxes have their own four-gallon water supply in the base.

Thought for the day

"We are not human beings on a spiritual journey, we are spiritual beings on a human journey."

--Steven R. Covey.

The generations of heaven

I went to the temple in Monticello today, and while I was driving down I pondered on the plan of salvation, where we all have the chance to grow, progress, and maybe eventually become gods. I thought about Jesus, when he said that he was doing the things he had seen his father do. When you think about that, then at one time God the Father was once mortal, or half mortal, on an earth, and atoned for mankind on his planet. How did Jesus see him do that when our Heavenly Father was still mortal and didn't have any spirit children yet? One of the prophets, maybe it was Wilford Woodruff or John Taylor, said that Jesus saw what his Father did through revelation. Anyway, what got me thinking was if Jesus was the atoning sacrifice for us, then doing what his Father did must mean that Heavenly Father was also a Savior during a mortal ministry, which would mean that Heavenly Father must have a Heavenly Father. So do we have a Heavenly Grandfather, or does everyone become equal when they reach godhood? Are there generations of Gods like there are generations of humans? Dunno on that one. Maybe becoming a god is the final progression, and you just add glory and dominion after that. I am sure I won't know the answer to that in this life, but it was a lot of fun to think about. I will have to think about it some more.

Lincoln goes to Hollywood

Ethically, morally, I submit to you that one of the highest privileges and responsibilities of a woman is as custodian for the rights of her child. The child cannot protect itself, in the womb as well as for some years after birth, and it counts on the mother as its protector. This is a high calling of womanhood, one that breeds great nobility of soul.

The above quote was written by Jay D. Homnick in an article titled "Lincoln Goes to Hollywood" written on 2/28/11. It's in answer to a question regarding whether a slave owner's rights over his slave could be compared to a woman's right to choose (abortion) over her child. It's one of the best answers I have ever read to the abortion question. It was posted in the American Spectator online.

Have a great day!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope 2011 brings prosperity, happiness, joy, trials, and an increase in love for everyone in the family. Grab paper and pen and sit down and figure out your goals for the coming year, even if they only last a month. It's a new beginning, in a way, and a chance to focus on what really matters to each of us.

We partied down at Ann's house for New Year's Eve, and everyone stayed up and hailed in the New Year. I think they did anyway. Cathy and I left at 7:30. Close enough to New Year's for us. She had some Master's work to do so we bugged out early, which is kind of a trend for us. It was a fun party, with too much great food.

Wow! I've blogged every day this year!

So, what is she?

Is she a Pixie, or a Fairy, or a butterfly, or a superhero, or what?

Throw Mama off the Train

"Mama" is a whole bunch of liberal democrat spin-suckers, and they all just got thrown off the train. And who threw them off? We did. We, the rubes and dolts who don't know when to sit down and shut up when our leaders are doing what's good for us. Also known as Americans.

When the human projectiles quit bouncing in the gravel, they can pick themselves up and wander home. Question is, will the libs who dodged the bullet this time and are still riding the train learn enough from what just happened to their now gone friends to back off the spending and socialism, and let America be America. Should be fun to watch.