The Variety of March in Miami

 In addition to Pina Nina growing every day, there are bananas coming along. What I had mistaken for kumquats, simply because I guessed, are really loquats. The three trees have a large crop this year. Tomatoes, potatoes, basil, mint, spinach, watermelon and sage are all doing well. The grape vine has burst into bright green.  I still struggle with oregano and cilantro. For some reason, I just haven't been able to convince them to germinate well in three tries.  And I sadly buried the habenero. Looks like a soil problem took it from the bottom up. The tropical climate of Miami has so much going for it, but I think the humidity lends itself to strange molds and mildews. I'm going to try 'solarizing' that particular bunch of soil before mixing it with compost and trying something else. 

Baby Pina

It's a baby pineapple being born!
I think this plant has been gestating for 3 years. It was the top from a willing participant in my gardening experiments.

 Slice the top off, remove extra juicy bits. Let it sit to dry out a little. I think I sat mine next to the sink for 3-4 days. Then plant it into the ground and water.

Three years later, viola'.   Although I read it would only be two years. Oh well. Since this one, I've started 6-7 others.

Look what God grew!

I've been on a kick of posting photos of warm & sunny So. Florida on to Facebook. Last month I had the honor of attending the youth worker Extravaganza in Kansas City and the APCE Conference in ABQ. In both cases those locations received record snow falls and low temps the day I arrived.

All that travel just made me love this place more. Giant spinach leaves growing in January. Potatoes growing from the peels I threw out after Christmas dinner. Pineapples making little baby pineapples from a top sliced off the grocery store fruit (after 3 years of waiting!)

When it gets cold in SoFla

From time to time the temperatures really drop...even in sunny South Florida. Tonight is one of those nights with temperatures expected to get down into the 30s...there is even a frost watch.

So, if you find yourself in such a situation regardless of where you live, be sure to cover your plants. Tomatoes, melon, cukes, lettuce and herbs are particularly suseptible to the cold. Old sheets and towels work best but you can also use a bucket or old tire, if needed. Try to stay away from plastic or tarp, if you can. Even though they provide some protection (and are better than nothing, they don't do a very good job keeping the cold out. For some added protection spray down your plants before you go to bed or, if you have a drip irrigation system, you can mist them overnight. Any ice that forms on the plant will provide some insulation and protection.

Things are coming along in the new raised garden

The garden took off after the weather started to cool down. The cukes (to the right of Jonas) and lettuce (to the right of the marigolds in the foreground) are particularly happy. The tomatoes are a bit slow this year and peas got a bit of blight which I was fortunately able to treat before too much damage was done. I've also been very happy with the marigolds...as I haven't had to deal with a single bug issue so far.

At this point the garden is really low maintenance. I go out to pull the random weed a couple times each day and turn on the drip irrigation for about 10 minutes every other day. It's great therapy and gets me away from my desk and into the fresh air. It also gives me some opportunities to do a little "teaching" with the kids. I'm proud to say that they know how their food grows and that it doesn't come from a room in the back of a supermarket or a truck. It actually grows somewhere.

Here I plant

Traveling a lot can do funny things to you. It can certainly keep you from posting on a blog.

When I travel, I have odd habits getting more ingrained as I go. I always get a meal just before getting onto a plane. I carry some snacks that could be shared easily with seat mates if we’re all stuck on a runway for hours. Almonds and peanut M&Ms are favorites.

When I get home there is a list of items I need to check through. I first check in with the important people in my life- just to touch base at least a little. I get laundry caught up, unpack and pack the clothes I only wear when traveling away from Miami. The turtlenecks & wool socks go right back into the suitcase when they are clean and ready. We don’t usually need such clothing down here in sunny Miami, although I wear them if it gets down into the 60s. yikes.

Traveling could keep me from tending my garden. But it hasn’t. Instead, every stretch of time I have been home this last month, I’ve planted something. Honestly, I have killed as much as I have planted. Irregular irrigation probably.

The important part to me, is the planting. It is a very real physical representation that HERE are my roots. This is where I hope to produce fruit. And later, it is the great hope to feast together on all that God has grown.

I leave for another meeting this week. Today I planted more spinach.

Vines of Stories Intertwine

It is so much easier to write about plants. I know less about plants than I do about people.  We’ve been in Miami for nearly 15 years. We packed up the essentials into our “Old Man” Van and moved from comfortable, friendly, cute and Christian Nashville to Miami. I’ve been involved in urban cross-cultural nitty-gritty, super fun heart-wrenching ministry ever since.
In the beginning we moved 12 times in 9 years. We finally settled into out our current house (insert “Gift from GOD!”) I’m settled enough to have had a garden for 3 years and I love to talk about it. 
I like to go out to water at 10 pm after the kids are asleep. I like planting seeds in strange places to see if they’ll grow. I like starting pineapples from the tops of the store bought fruit. And I love talking about it all.
Maybe it’s because it’s easier to tell you of the trials of the fruit and the pruning of plants than the fruit or pruning in a life. I can’t even begin to tell you of the many wonderful people God has in our life.
Their stories are their stories except when we are tangled up. And of course we are because our lives are intertwined like my cucumbers that are growing through the bushes.
Whose story is it?  Is it the cucumbers sprawling ways? Or is it the bush with the strength to hold up the dear vine? I feel like both at different times.