My Garden Within the Garden

May has come and gone, and I'm thinking June has a spring in her step, much like May's!

My tulips put on a glorious display in my garden which lasted for several weeks.

Their bright happy faces a welcome sight to see after waiting so patiently for flowers to bloom this spring!

We've had several days of quite warm weather (high 80s, and some days in the 90s) so much that Annie was wishing for snow again, lol... seeking out the cool shadowed places to rest in.

The chickens enjoy the sunshine as they take their daily dust baths.

I've been having fun "puttering" in my little garden shed.

A peek inside at my work space, I'm loving it!  It is great to have a place to organize all my tools for the garden, to pot plants, and such.

I have plans for a proper potting table, but for now, this old table I scavenged will do!

My "Garden Within the Garden" is coming along nicely... the plants are starting to bloom and fill out, and it has become a quiet haven of peace and rest for me.

My plan is to eventually have it bordered on one side with raspberries, and roses down the other, and someday, a trellis with roses to enter it... someday!

An weathered ladder I found at a yard sale has a couple of old metal tackle boxes filled with succulents bordering one side of the little garden space.

My tea pot is filled with dianthus, which overwintered in my greenhouse, and are now blooming again!

An old wagon that works! It was found by my husband and father at the dump, and has found a new reason to live again :)

I found a place to rest my hat from last summer on this weather-worn chair and old tool box.

An old rusty tea cart has found its place in my garden too.

This vintage, worn-out high chair is a perfect resting spot for some pansies and succulents.

I've got my garden fully planted now.  I was late starting my tomatoes from seed (due to my Easter Texas visit I didn't want to start them until I got back), so I had to purchase some tomato plants from a lady in town who starts them in her greenhouse.  On the left hand side are planted my tomatoes, and on the right hers.  It will be interesting to see if mine can catch up!  :)

Maybe one of you can tell me what this barrel's original use was, I can't be sure. However, I picked it up at a yard sale several years ago and have turned it into a home for my columbine.

When we first married, my husband gave me a gorgeous lamp one year for Christmas. Unfortunately in one of our moves, it suffered a huge hole in its side.  I've kept it for years, just hating to part with it.  I finally found new life for it!  In my garden, it now is a support for my columbine growing so prettily. I also had a gorgeous flower pot that had broken, and it too, has found new recognition in my garden of re-purposed things!

My corn is in the foreground, strawberries in the background.  A saying around here about corn is that it needs to be "knee-high by the 4th of July"... well, many of my corn are already close to knee high, so I hope we are ahead of the game this year!

This is a painting that my daughter just sold to a local college satellite campus, and it was a pretty exciting event for her.  She is part of an art club at the college, and will be getting more exposure with her paintings this summer.

Now that many of the dead trees have been cleared away, I have a clearer view of the mountains from my kitchen window.  About 8:30 a couple of evenings ago, this gorgeous sunset graced the skies.

And it is now the season for our wild roses to be in bloom! Oh it is just beautiful to look around in the yard and see the beautiful pink blooms everywhere!

Lots of these pretty yellow wildflowers are blooming everywhere too.

And of course, the lupins have finally made their glorious debut!  I am telling you, between the blues, yellows, pinks and white wildflowers blooming, it is truly beautiful to see.

'Ole Sal out in the yard, enjoying the nice weather, with his momma close by, although in the chicken world, we don't talk about such things, lol!

He is sure a handsome fella, as is his brother, Mr. Pepper.  They have a funny relationship.  Mr. Pepper dominates the landscape and 'Ole Sal trails behind. Occasionally there is a bit of a scrap, but 'Ole Sal just runs, and no fights ensue, for which we are thankful for.

Annie walked with me through the yard, and as I snapped a picture of the yarrow, she stuck her head into the picture :)

Mr. Simba was trying to tell me it was past his bedtime, and to let him inside.  In the summer, he sleeps all day and roams at night.  I was keeping him from finding a comfy bed inside that was cool and quiet by roaming around the yard with my camera. Cats don't fancy any business that is more important than theirs! LOL...

One of our large woodpiles of dead wood, waiting to be split and stacked this summer.

My strawberries are in full bloom, and making great progress, I expect to be enjoying my first ripe strawberries very soon.  I planted 100 strawberry plants last year, and this will be their first year of a real harvest, so it is very exciting.

So that is my update for progress in the garden thus far.  With all the beautiful blooms around me, and the happy sight of plants growing in the ground, I imagine June will slip by far too fast as well. We are enjoying every minute of the sunshine and warm weather, although we are in for a bit of cooler weather now and some rain, which will be welcome too.

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On a different note, if you believe in prayer, I would ask that you pray for a couple of serious requests from two of my dear blogging friends.  Kelly-Anne who blogs at http://kellycountrydiary.blogspot.com wrote a post this morning sharing how her family narrowly escaped a fire that destroyed everything in its path, including their home.  This is a precious family who loves the Lord, and who now have no place to call home.  I was amazed as I read back through a couple of her most recent blog posts, and how it seemed that the Lord was preparing her for such an unthinkable thing!

She wrote on Tuesday, June 6:

In our lives, we need to realise that we will face challenges of many kinds (James 1:2-3)....  We are not promised a life of ease or comfort, but rather of trading our selfish motives and desires to physically pick up our cross and follow the Lord Jesus (Luke 9:23).

But in the midst of difficulty, pain or trial, we need to maintain an Eternal perspective and embrace what the Lord is teaching us and lean more on Him... Our fight is not against flesh and blood (Eph 6:12)...  And this is just our temporary home...

This dear girl and her large family lost everything in a fire last night, and are coveting prayers for the Lord to help them find a place to live.  Thankfully, all of them escaped, even their animals.  8 lives were lost in their area last night, but thankfully their lives were spared.  Pray for this family in the loss that they have suffered. 

And I also ask you to join in prayer for Kristen, whose story can be found here... she has a blood clot in her right lung that could let loose at any time, and is in her last trimester of pregnancy.  The doctors need direction on how to go about delivering the baby safely and keeping the blood clot from moving.  It is a very delicate and desperate situation, and Kristen and her family would appreciate prayer for them as the next few days will involve the delivery and the precarious situation of the blood clot.  

There are many other needs of dear friends and family that I could mention here, but the Lord knows them all!  Your prayers will be most gratefully appreciated for both these families, and for those families in the UK and around the world whose loved ones didn't make it home in the recent attacks.  

This world is so full of heartache, sorrow, suffering, pain, and distress.  How thankful I am that in the midst of very dark and difficult situations, that we can go to the Lord in prayer, and find strength that we need for whatever we face.  

As I spend time outside working in our yard, and garden, I find peace, solace and comfort as I work, by praying and talking to the Lord and lifting up the needs of my friends and family.  There is something quite comforting about the earth, soil, flowers, blooms, trees, skies, the sun, and clouds around me and as I lift up my eyes to the heavens, I know the Lord listens, loves, knows and cares about all these needs, and my heart is quieted within me.   

This passage in Isaiah 26:3-4 never ceases to comfort and bless my heart, and I will leave you with its message today... 

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, 

whose mind is stayed on thee: 

because he trusteth in thee.  

Trust ye in the Lord for ever; 

for in the Lord JEHOVAH 

is everlasting strength."  

Isaiah 26:3-4