Mountain Gardening Take II

   Last year was our first year living up at 9,000 ft.  I love gardening but we didn't have space in our old home.  Last year was a big experiment to see what would flourish up here and what wouldn't do so well.  I have a considerably shorter growing season up here than I did in town.  I think I have about an average of 85 growing days.  I wasn't able to plant till mid June in 2012 because we got a late snow storm just as I was about to plant our little seedlings.  I've already got seedlings going this year but I'm scared to put them out lest we get hit by another June snowstorm.  

   Gardening, especially growing your own fruits and vegetable is so incredible.  Especially if you have kids.  Seeing something grow from a tiny seed, tending to it, weeding around it, feeding it, and harvesting the fruits of your labor is something that can't be duplicated.  Watching a seed germinate is miraculous in and of itself.  Gardening provides so many opportunities to speak to our kids about God.  We are seeds after all aren't we?  If we don't bath ourselves with daily prayer, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, Confession, etc. the weeds of sin will overtake us and choke our souls.  The light of Christ provides the nourishing grace that leads us to him.

   As you can see these little guys are just aching to get put into the ground.  If the weather hold I'll be transplanting them this weekend.  I didn't even realize seed packets had listed the days till maturity listed on them.  I was very careful this time to pick varieties that will mature before the fall frost kills them.  One gourd/squash that I'm experimenting with again is pumpkins.  I got pumpkins last year, but they were the tiniest, saddest little things that you've ever seen.  Growing to the size of a golf ball.  That is one of the difficulties of mountain gardening I've discovered.  Things grow really small up here.  My carrots were like 2 inch long pencils.  

  

 Some other equally infuriating challenges are the wildlife.  My corn was growing really well when some elk decided they needed pruning.  Just like that, my corn was decimated.  I had wanted a fence but my husband couldn't see bothering until he knew stuff would actually grow up here.  We'll see if we can keep them out this year.  Gardening is an art, especially at 9,000 ft.  I'm fine tuning things and I'll be posting my progress and things I learn along the way.  So even if you're in an apartment with only an available window sill, plant something.  Plant some flowers, plant some herbs.  There is something about interacting with the world that God gave that is peaceful.  Giving a sense of wonderment.  As we go about our busy daily lives there is a whole other quiet world of life all around us.  Diving into that world can help us slow down and appreciate the beauty that surrounds us.  

    Watching a quiet little seed come out of it's shell, grow tall, and provide for us is somethings we should all experience.