A First Time for Old Times

Hello....really old friend. Life has been a little busy the last few months.

The last photo blog I did showed pictures of our garden starts. All of those are huge plants now in white pots...except for the slow cilantro. The squash and beans have blossoms, the basil is huge, the raspberries have already fruited, there are two baby cucumbers, and we've picked three vine-ripened Roma tomatoes off our plants already.

We finished putting up concrete blocks for three raised bed gardens, filled them with wood chips, and have since three days ago planted tomatoes, basil, cucumber, watermelon and squash. Our raspberries and sweet potatoes have been in the ground near our beds for a week now.

Basil and Tomato plants

Watermelon

So exciting! After we put the plants in, we could just hear them going, "Ahhhh! Thank you!" Many of them were not producing fruit, leaves were turning odd colors and dying because of the lack of nitrogen in the soil they had already used up.

I am Lizzie Brown. 

One day an email popped into my mailbox, and my name was listed as a reenactor. Somehow, I got pulled into reading a letter this young lady wrote to her cousins about the raiding and battle of Harrisonville. After reading through the information on Lizzie that Mrs. Bohl gave me, I realized there was too much good stuff to pass up NOT telling. So, using Lizzie's very own words she wrote from a long reminiscences later in life, I managed to write up 12 minutes worth, memorize almost all of it, and gave my very first first-person impression ever this Saturday. 

Taking a rest in the woods

I feel like I am Lizzie Brown...so much in common. Loves playing piano, but the outdoors call her name. Loves spelling. Hates wearing ridiculous high fashion clothing, and would rather run in the wind. Doesn't like evil, murderous men (Kansas Redlegs) but still shows kindness & a loving attitude to them because that is the Christ-like thing to do. Confident in God for her nation's status, because He will judge all deeds in the body on the Day of Judgment. Keeps bees and makes everything by hand.

Blessings: a garden, a fun hobby, and Jesus Christ!

Finally got my corset a month or so ago...love it! The steel boning does not bend like the plastic did, and keeps my back feeling very good. Gives me the right lines for the period but now my bodice doesn't fit so well in the waist. The one thing I'm stuck on is Gram's sewing machine: all the bobbins and foots are gone along with the instruction manual. I've got muslin to learn to make petticoats with but if only the sewing machine had parts. Oy. At least out at Mo-Town I can borrow two pettis and look the width I want. 

Even though I don't look as period correct as I yearn to be, I'm making tiny baby-steps. Just yesterday when doing my hair for the impression, I was trying to figure out how to hide my growing-out bangs ends even better...and figured out how to do under-rolling! Ladies did this in the 1850's for side width and usually pinned a hair rat underneath for more poof.

In Christ, Kendle

"For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." Psalm 103:11-12

Garden Start Photos

I'm finding I like photo blogs. Hope you do too.

Cabbage

Tiny Genovese Basil

Almost all our garden starts + some yummy Pantry Garden Herbs Sweet Basil

My cat Benjy

Did you notice the white, flaky dots on the plant leaves? It is called DE, which is short for diatomaceous earth. I don't know the details for it, but its a diatom from a tiny, microscopic organism. When an insect lands on the plant and ingests this, the DE literally rips up the insides of the bug and kills it. My late Grandma Laycock who lived up North in WI mixed this with her water and sprayed it on her plants....the bugs wouldn't go near her organic garden. They'd get a few inches away, and then leave. I saw it with my own eyes. All-natural herbicide and pesticide. Yes ma'am, yes sir you better believe it. :-)

We also use it to de-worm our chickens, help with illnesses, preventing chigger bites, and it's in our face wash and toothpaste. We also lightly dust all our cans, bags and buckets in our food pantry in the basement with DE. Keeps the bugs out of it and from burrowing into the bags & eating our food.

In Christ alone....who shed His blood on the cross for my sins, and rose up again from the dead victorious,
Kendle Laycock

"The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life." Proverbs 31:13-14