July 12th – July 18th, Week 16
RuthAnn’s Weekly Garden Diary
Documenting Progress and Reflections in the Garden
My attempt to document the planting, growth, harvesting, and preserving of our family’s 8000 square feet of garden.
Northeast Iowa Gardening in growing zone 4
Last frost date May15, First frost date September 15
July 12th to July 18th, WEEK 16
The honeymoon stage of the garden is officially over. Forgive me if this post is a little more melancholy than usual. I miss the thriving June garden already.
Potato plants have fallen over, (because they have reached maturity) allowing sunlight to reach the soil that was previously shaded and weeds are taking over fast.
The onion tops have all fallen (because they have reached maturity) and I miss the texture and depth they added to the garden.
Brassicas and their huge, beautiful, blue green foliage have contracted soft rot and are dying and stinking up the garden. I usually allow the broccoli to go to bloom for the pollinators, but the soft rot has caused them to die before they got to bloom.
Raccoons got into our sweet corn (more on this later in this post).
What we harvested this week:
- 50 pounds of red beets (preserved by pickling and freezing) Watch the video here.
- Red raspberries, by the handful for snacking and for smoothies.
- Early red potatoes for fresh eating.
- Cucumbers, everyone is tired of cucumbers, so I am collecting them in a shopping bag in the refrigerator drawer until I have enough to do a batch of fermenting.
Other Garden Tasks:
- The Heat and humidity continued this week, with humidity levels ranging near 100% overnight and only dipping to 80% during the daytime. With those humidity levels and heat and little to no wind, the blight on the cucumbers and tomatoes gained some ground and I treated again with peroxide (1/2 cup 3% peroxide per gallon of water. Applied every 7-10 days). The cucumbers are still producing on their new growth, but the older growth is ugly and appears dead.
- During a walk to the garden one morning, I discovered that a racoon or 2 had come and tasted the sweet corn. About 6 stalks were down and their cobs exposed and half eaten. From experience I knew this was an emergency and needed immediate attention, at least before night fall again! because those 1 or 2 raccoons will bring all his relatives the next night for a good ole sweet corn party. It only takes a few racoons to destroy and ruin an entire crop of sweet corn. The boys and I set to work setting up an electric fence low to the ground but again the next night more sweet corn was down. The following night we added a flood light and a radio to play music all night. We haven’t lost any corn since adding the flood light and radio and are planning a good ole sweet corn party of our own for family dinner this week! (Find this in Saturday’s YouTube video)
Reflections
As the kids and I worked together on different garden and homestead projects this week I was reminded that even when things are going wrong, like racoons in the garden or blight on the tomatoes, or cows not staying where they belong. The things that leave a lasting impact are not sweet corn in the freezer or tomatoes in jars but the relationships that are built while we share the experiences.
Years ago, I learned that relationships are primarily built on positive shared experiences. The more positive shared experiences people have the stronger their relationship is, the closer they remain throughout their entire lives.
This changed the way I approached chores around the home and homestead. Instead of primarily seeing the work as things to check off the list I began viewing it opportunities to work together and build relationships.
Milk the cows
Moving rotational grazing
Weeding
Harvesting
Canning
Laundry
Dishes
It all became the tool for binding the family together. There was only one smallish problem that kept coming up again and again. Keeping the experience positive!
Relationships are also built on negative shared experiences, but these are not the kind of relationship that families are drawn back to because no one choses to repeat a negative experience more often than they need to.
I would love to say that the reason these experiences kept turning into negative experiences was because the children frustrated me, bickered and whined and complained until I lost my cool. But the truth is it was all me. It was my lack of staying emotionally regulated amidst normal pressures of parenting. And as usually happens, the more I tried to keep my cool and create positive experiences the more I failed.
When I finally remembered to take this issue to God in prayer, he gently remined me of what I had learned about babies and emotional regulation as a foster and adoptive mom.
Infants and toddlers (and older children too) do not have the development or skills to self-regulate their emotions. They depend on the proximity of caregivers whom they are bonded with to regulate their emotions. The calm breathing and heart rate of a mother (or caregiver whom they are bonded with) helps to not only calm a child but teaches them how to calm themselves. Simply staying in contact with a bonded caregiver is essential to an infant, toddler or young child’s survival and proper emotional development.
If I, as an adult was struggling to stay emotional regulated under the pressure of motherhood who was I to draw close to?
My Heavenly Father, that’s who! The more time I spent in prayer and His word the more bonded I become with my father and consequently the more my emotions and reactions can reflect that of the Father. The more I leaned into this relationship of my own the more emotionally regulated I became and the more positive shared experiences I was able to successfully create for our family.
Creating positive shared experienced through mundane everyday life is the greatest advice I could give you about supporting sibling and family relationships. The foundation of family bonds and relationships is not found in grand vacation memories (although these are great memories too) but in the nitty gritty everyday shared experiences that compile together to make a cement of sorts that binds families together for many generations!
19 Responses
I just recently found you on YT and am enjoying every episode! Thank You for sharing your knowledge, family and love for Jesus with Us. God Bless You and Your Family Always.
Now I’m looking for info on your books
I look forward to reading and watching the life of the Zimmerman’s!!! This family reminds me of my childhood. The farm and all it entails. Good memories
thank you! I appreciate you!
What a timely blessing your post is for me this day. I agree and join you in leaning in to our Heavenly Father and taking His guiding hand to help me/us stay the course on this beautiful day He created.
You are such an inspirational person, I tell everybody about “Ruth Ann.”
I also do not attempt to preserve anything without watching your videos at least twice and I’ve been canning for 40 years.
My children are now adults and have littles of their own. I wish I had known you when our children were young! Bless you for sharing your knowledge and Gods’ word!
Amen, Ruthanne! Being a dutiful mother, wife and farm manager/worker seems thankless, BUT…imagine the day when your children grow up, and move away, and most of your family elders have passed away and your own health is flagging. One day you may long for your days of usefulness, when you felt like the tomatoes would never end, like the laundry would accummulate to the moon and back, and you thanked and praised God for your working washing machine. God sees us working, and will bless us for any drudgery cheerfully, and well done. Be of Good Cheer, God is Over All! He sees and loves all of His children and wants us to overcome this world, and return to Him one day.
Love this, so encouraging!
I can relate to you as far as animals getting into your garden. I have rabbits and deer. They eat the leaves off my beans and strawberries. Funniest bean plants. Straight stalks but they did leave the blooms. Very funny looking. I put some stuff around the garden that is for deer and rabbits. Seems to work pretty good. They even ate the ends off my cucumber vines.
Another thing I have had this year is, it seems like something is being done to the seeds. They don’t germinate like the did a few years ago. Have you noticed that? You are so helpful to me. You don’t know how much I do because you have taught me so much. I have canned for years but guess I only thought I knew how to can. Thank you so much for the great knowledge that you have. God bless.
Thank you for sharing your experience, knowledge, and family love and respect. It is a joy listening to you teach us and your children. You give so much and show such grace. God bless you.
Wonderful ! Thank you for sharing ! It is encouraging & inspiring !
Beautifully stated Ruthann.
Thank you for your wisdom. I struggle with staying calm with my grandchildren.
I’m really enjoying your garden updates!
My own garden hasn’t produced much this year, but I did get some medium sized garlic bulbs, hot peppers are doing pretty well and basil is doing well.
I found 3 big fat tobacco hornworms on my tomatoes, but before they’d killed anything. I broke off all the eaten stems so I can more easily tell if there’s new caterpillars. I only had 4 cabbage seedlings Survive in the garden. 2 are growing nice little heads and 2 are just stunted. This is my year for cucumbers- so I’m making a delicious chilled cucumber soup that I drink for breakfasts, and I already started 3 jars to ferment, and have given a few to my adult kids & mother-in-law.
My okra and beans got a late start due to weird weather. Hardly any beans even sprouted, both early in trays, or later in the garden. So I’ll be saving seed of what beans grow instead of eating this year. I’ll have to go to a local farmer market to get some for eating and canning.
Thanks again for sharing your life with us! You’re an inspiration
Enjoy your videos. You have a beautiful family! I have learned a lot from watching your videos. Thank you for sharing yourself and your family with us.
Another good word, RuthAnn! I enjoy your garden posts, and hearing everything you’re learning (or reminded of). Thank you for taking us along! ❤️ xo
Such a great reminder for me. Our life has changed drastically in the last several months. My husband was laid off after working at his job for 22 years. He worked in the field of technology, and since he was born and raised in a farm, his heart was never in his job. Farming has always been too expensive to get into on our own, so we took this moment to look at it as a blessing from God that it was time for a change. He is now self-employed, which we hope will eventually bring great rewards in many ways, but has yet to earn from it. After being home for several years and finishing raising our girls and becoming a grandparent, I am returning to teaching this fall to help out financially. It’s hard to stay positive in such unknown times. But, thinking about how I can still nurture and love my children and grandchildren, even if I have to go to work each day, gives me hope. I may not bake as much and canning season has become a shorter amount of time as i prepare to go back. But, I know that leaning on God will bring me peace and protection, and this fall, when our black walnut trees lose their leaves and the nuts fall, we will gather as a family on the weekends to pick walnuts from the field, drive them to the harvester, and hopefully spend time around the campfire singing and eating hot dogs and snores. Thank you for helping me see in encouragement today.❤️
Thank you 😊
Thank you so much for those reminders. Praise the Lord for the insight He gave you and for passing that on to me. Even as a grandmother I needed to be reminded. I have made mountains of mistakes and had unrealistic expectations for our daughter. Prayerfully He is teaching me still. Thank you Lord. Have a blessed day