Lasagna Gardening and Layering Faith

Welcome! So nice to see you....

Thanks for coming to visit today. I'm sorry I've been in ex-communicado. In the last month, A LOT of stuff has been going on at the homestead.

Of course, Easter came and went. The kids above, William, Victoria and Kathryn with their eggs they decorated and my classic bunny cake in the fore ground....this was coconut though so it was even yummier than usual. (I will do a blog post about my coconut cake baking of late)

Then,


 A month ago, on Earth day, I started working at my gardening gig.

 I love it!

I love being around the plants, the people and the staff who work there.

 It's a perfect fit for me since I'm a green ambivert. I get a real high being and talking with people, especially about growing plants and helping them select flowers and veggies for their garden. It takes me into a BLISSFUL state.

You know you have found your calling when time flies and you are in BLISS.

But I also love when we have time at the garden centre to meditatively maintain the plants and the crowds have slowed down. Making the garden centre look great is also a blissful process.

These cute planters are made by one of my co-workers...she's very creative and they were perfect for Mother's Day!

Yes, all was well at first but ya know, when you are running the ship all year round and you take a bit of a leave, the balance shifts and the ship starts to list. When at I'm at work, the house work isn't kept up, groceries aren't purchased, healthy meals aren't produced AND eaten. Then we are scrambling to take kids to school or pick them up at the end of the day and take them to their activities or in our older kids cases; THEIR jobs.

Yes JOBS.

Now it feels like our whole family is working outside the house. So grateful for the work!

 Of course, like Murphy's law the week that I start working, our oldest son Clark, who has been working part time at his Science centre job since finishing his degree last June, also gets another job. And this landscaping gig is full time and GREAT. Also, it will provide the financial boost he needs to start law school, which hopefully he will start in the fall. Fingers crossed, still waiting to hear if the ONLY law school he applied at will accept him. A whole other story! But hey, I'm holding the vision and having faith... that everything will work out there.

Anyway we are happy and excited to see more money roll in but of course my number 1 helper for driving little kids around and pitching in around the house and yard is GONE now 7 days a week. Yep, he's been working now over 21 days straight since he has kept his weekend job going as well.

Clark helping dispose of all the stumps and roots from the plants we dug up in our beds....some were 200 hundred pounds....here are only a few

Oh, and yes, then there is also our 18 year old son, Harrison, who will graduate from high school soon and decided  he needed to start looking for a job a bit before summer and beat the hordes of kids who will all be looking for summer employment. Thankfully, the first place he applied at hired him but interestingly enough his job started just a bit before I started working too. OF course! His dad is thrilled though since his part time job is at Home Depot. This massive store has to be my husband David's favourite place to shop.There is something about being around tools, lumber and all that hardware that puts a smile on his face.

So we were happy for Harrison, even though now that he is working, it adds another twist tp our already busy schedule. But since he will be off to University soon, and can use the money from his job to offset school expenses we will be thankful. With the gain there is a loss and in this case my lawn mower, and number two cook and bottle washer in the kitchen has left the building to carry lumber and plant material to people's cars. BOO!

So with everyone working, and our usual busy list of  kid activities and school affairs, the ship was listing badly and although we weren't drowning, I had my eyes on the lifeboats.

                              Then the storm came.

It was three weeks ago when I woke up out of the dead of night to hear a seal barking. Odd. Was that in my dream? As I came more fully awake, I realized it was coming from the twins room. I grabbed my robe and went to investigate. I found our tiny Kate,one of our 5 year old twins sitting up in bed barking with a terrible croupy cough.

 Oh, I have heard that before. Funny none of our older children ever had it but when our 6th little one was a toddler he had several very scary croupy sessions. One night we flew him to the emergency room extremely worried we would lose him as he was turning blue trying to catch his breath. I kept thinking that I had worked so hard to finally bring him to earth and then we lose him at 18 months..... but in all the in and out of the car and the cold night air flowing, by the time we got to the hospital, while he was still coughing his colour was better.

Kate turned to me with panic in her eyes and I knew it was critical. I swooped her out of her upper loft bed, wrapped a big comforter around her  and flew out our master bedroom door to our back deck and into the cold night air. Please let her breathe, was what I was thinking.  As I held her close, her little body wracked with a loud barking cough. I could hear tiny gasps of breath wheezing through so I told her to take little breaths. "Little breaths Katie, little breaths." The night air hit me like a freight train and I shivered as I held her close, pulling the comforter around her shoulders and neck. I was praying and praying that the coughing would ease and she would be able to breathe easier.

If you have ever experienced such a moment with your child, you know you pray with all your being. In my case, I was just thinking, let her live and I will be a better mom. It's scary out there in the dark night air and not knowing if this will be enough to open up her airways. Thankfully, after what felt like hours and was really only about 1/2 hour her coughing eased but I kept her out for another 1/2 hour more until the coughing was just intermittent. Finally, I stood up with her bundled in my arms and took her to my bed. My husband hadn't woken up at all but he has been known to sleep through all of our 8 babies crying, even the twins, so I wasn't surprised.

I got the vaporizer set up beside my side of the bed and putting Kate on the outside of our bed, I  had her face in the flow of cool air. I crawled in beside her and held her close. Somehow we drifted off to sleep. When she woke up, while she was extremely tired, the worst was over.

Or I thought!

Although she recovered, a few days later William came home coughing from school and for about a week he was under the weather but he pushed through school for a few days and then seemed to recover over the weekend. Then he returned to school but while at his first day of swimming lessons with his class, he crashed and that day his fever spiked. When I picked him up after school at the end of the day he was laying in the school office's sick room, burning up with a fever. He kept saying to me, "I had to push through" I felt so bad because he was one sick little boy.

For two days I nursed him with Tylenol and fluids but when he didn't improve we took him to the Dr. It was then that we discovered that his virus had turned into a bacterial infection and he was promptly put on antibiotics. Also, they wanted a chest X-ray. The next morning, I got my sick little boy dressed and I took him down to the X-ray clinic only to find out their power was out and we would have to come back.

Do you ever feel like the world is against you? Well, this was one of those times. Everything felt like it was ready to collapse. Later that day I roused him again and finally we got his x-ray done but you know your child who has TONS of energy normally, is really sick when he is quiet and listless.

Of course William wasn't the only one sick at this point. Grace, our 14 year old was battling what we discovered was the same virus which by the weekend had worsened and when we took her to the Dr. we found out she had a throat infection and was also put on antibiotics....and William's x-rays confirmed our worst fear; pneumonia!

I still find it interesting that Will's infection manifested in his lungs and Grace's in her throat. Sadly, she had been chosen to sing for a voice scholarship at our music school and she could hardly talk, let alone sing so she missed that opportunity. Why do things like this always happen? 

The other kids also had varying ills; sore throats, runny noses, tired, and over all we were all falling apart.

Oh, on top of all that, did I mention that my husband David had to go out of to work for a few days AND our washing machine decided to stop working. Yes! Don't you love it when things really fall apart?

Because that is when your faith is really TESTED!

Thankfully, my employers were so understanding and even though it's their busy season my boss kept saying to me, "babies come first." I was able to focus on nursing my children, making sure they took their medication, they were hydrated and once they turned the corner which was days, I was able to ease them back into eating food. Mostly smoothies at first and I made a chicken and noodle soup with ginger and on another day a minestrone.

 I must have traveled from the kitchen to their rooms about 50 times a day but by the end of the week they were able to get out of bed and lay on the couch in the family room.

When I wasn't nursing sick kids, I was sterilizing our house. I went around and washed down door handles and bathrooms and I scrubbed our house with sudsy soapy water with vinegar...everywhere. When the kids finally were feeling better, I was exhausted but I went to work for the weekend as David was able to take over. Our washing machine was still broken though, so we had to take loads of wash to the laundry mat....oh that weekend was fun.

Minestrone recipe coming soon....it was sooooo good!!!

Although I felt like I was fighting something, there is power in having a purpose, and also being out in the fresh air, albeit mostly cold as it's been such a rainy and wet spring, (I think this has been part of the problem as we need to all dry up!!!) that kept me going.

So while I did have to put my family in their life jackets and we got in the life boats for awhile, we 
never drowned.

William starting to mend and was very hungry....check out the quote on his shirt...empowering our children with their own mantras and building layers of faith is an important way to give them life long tools

There was even a day at the end of the week when the kids were watching movies in the family room that I was finally able to get out and fill my two, newly made raised beds with the LASAGNA gardening method. David had built one and then another 4x8 raised garden beds and it was my job to fill them.

It's really a fun way of creating lovely garden soil for your plants and instead of just bringing in a truck load of top soil, it's a lot easier and more in line with how Mother Nature makes rich hummus.

I started by laying a thick layer of newspaper in the bottom of the bed to cover the grass and then I laid large pieces of heavy cardboard on top of that. I made sure to water each layer as I went. On top of the cardboard I put about 6 inches of chicken bedding. The last time I had cleaned out the chicken house was at the end of November. All winter we used the deep litter method; where you just keep laying down a fresh bed of pine shavings and the chickens dig that in with their manure.

After laying down the newspaper and cardboard I watered it really well...note nearby hose...

Time to really clean out the chicken run and coop...here is Sadie in the run, she loves to get underfoot and get a pet

I thought I would be cleaning out their chicken house long before May but it had been so cold that I kept putting it off, plus the bedding helps to keep the chicken's warm. Cleaning the run and coop was perfectly timed with building the raised bed as this dirt/ pine shavings/ chicken manure, although not composted, was good fill for next to the cardboard.

After that layer, I mowed our lawn which was really long with all the rain and I added the lawn clippings on top of the chicken run material. Then I added the dry leaves I had kept from last fall and after the leaves, I added another layer of newspaper, just 'cause I had it and I wanted to bring the worms to the surface.....since they love wet newspaper. To top off the bed I had some aged compost and finally I added a few bags of organic dirt since I would be planting right in this bed.

You can see some of the layers in this picture

Although the ideal time to make a lasagna bed is in the fall, you can do it any time as long as you make sure you are planting in aged compost or soil as I did this spring.

Here's a great video from the "Garden Fork," showing Lasagna Gardening in action

Once my beds were ready, it was time to dig up my old strawberry bed that was getting old and needed to be refurbished. Plus, with my cedars growing tall beside the old strawberry beds, they really needed more sunshine so moving them to an all day sun location will allow the strawberries to produce sweeter and more abundantly. So I dug up the newer plants in the bed, (which were created from the runners from the mother plant) and moved them all over to the raised garden beds.

 I was able to get 32 plants in each bed so with two raised beds we now have 64 strawberry plants. Although we will be taking off the blossoms this year to allow the energy to go into the plant, next year we should be able to get .5 to 1 lb of strawberries from every foot of garden...which means 32 to 64 pounds of strawberries next year. So worth the effort to make these beds!

(Note; strawberries like the soil a bit more acidic so adding some peat moss and digging it into the final compost is ideal) Also, if you have some hay or wood chips you can mulch around the strawberries....this will keep the weeds down, keep the bed evenly moist and prevent the strawberries from getting wet and going moldy.

As I was layering in all the garden waste, and planting the beautiful strawberry plants on top, I was thinking about life. Being out in  the garden always gets me reflecting on my life and how I walk my path.

I was thinking about the last few weeks and how I have had to draw on my layers of faith that I have been laying down my whole life.

From my childhood, I learned many Bible stories and how to love God. I learned how Jesus came to earth to be able to experience this human condition (really tough at times even in 1st World countries) and how God so loved us that he was willing to let Jesus die on the cross for us. (If you are turned off by words of God or Jesus, hang in there 'cause I'm making my point...this for my daughter Alyssa and others who may feel the same)

On the days when I think I can't go on, what keeps me going is a bible verse  I found as a child on a bookmark in my mom's Bible. It read,

 "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me."

                                                                Philippians 4:13 of the New King James Version

Surely, as a young widow of 40 with 4 daughters to watch over, my mom had to use that verse daily to get her through the first few years after my dad died and I have found great comfort and inspiration in using it as well. On my darkest days, I recite it with each breath. Just as my little Katie was gasping for air when she had croup, I breathe it into my soul and it sustains me.

But for me, my faith is multi layered and I often think of my Buddhist teachings as well; reciting more wise words;

"What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create."

Knowing that my mind is powerful, when I stay present and focus in on what I'm thinking, what I'm experiencing, what I believe and what I want to achieve, it moves me forward with intent.  I am grateful that I learned early in my life that I am not alone, that God always walks with me, and I have been given powerful tools to create  a rich and meaningful life.

 But the inspiration does not end there.

 Oh no!


I think of Mother Teresa and her endless compassion when I parent my children and her loving words come to mind,

 "We can do no great things, only small things with great love."

When I recite those words, I think of the peace that emanated from Mother Teresa and how her kind, love and compassion still vibrates on this earth. Those vibrations touch me and fill me up.

Then there is my admiration for Mahatma Gandhi and his humanitarian heart. He was the one who said,  

"Religions are different roads converging to the same point. What does it matter that we take different roads, so long as we reach the same goal ..."

Throughout history and even now there are wars being fought against people's varying religions and beliefs. Each person thinking that their way of looking at the world is right and just. I think this is one reason I have layered my faith because there isn't just one right faith. (in my humble opinion anyway)

 I think this is also the reason a few of my older children have chosen to turn away from religion as they see so much contradiction in the world. How can people who claim they are religious, hurt others, or make judgement calls. They just don't get it...and I see their point of view but it's sad 'cause having faith is a powerful tool in life but we don't have to use it against each other. We need it to lift us up.

 Why can't we all just come together and make one big lasagna, full of delicious ingredients, creating a diverse and fertile soil for everyone to thrive in. Anything to get us through our days and to keep us connected with each other. Anything to bring peace to this earth. Let peace,  hope, faith, and love be the layers we need to build humanity's soil.

In the last month, with sick kids, a broken washing machine, and everything else, it all adds weight to our boat, somehow I was able to get through it all and I can only say that it was my faith that pulled me through. 

Somehow I'm able to reach down to my gut and my heart grows immensely, like the Grinch's heart once he realized the true meaning of Christmas, it expands and I become a super person with endless power, knowing ANYTHING is possible.

 In the end, AND IN THE END,......all shall be well.

And while we are all still feeling like we are fighting a virus, I hope the worst is over. I hope the sun shines soon, that we all warm up, that the floods that are plaguing many parts of our country abate. That the people in power leading our countries wake up and realize that we aren't playing a game, the only people who win in the end are the ones who, like the Grinch realize it's all about sharing and being loving.

 I have to hope and pray, and hold the vision that I have the power to change the world. At least in my little part of it anyway.  For now in my homestead the kids are healing, the washer has been repaired (albeit is leaking...another issue for another day) summer is only around the corner. To keep me going though, something I have dreamed of for several years has come into my life. 

I worked late on Mother's Day, so when I came home the kids had already eaten their dinner and were in their jammies. When they heard my car drive up they yelled, "mommy!!!!" I settled in the living room and while I ate my dinner, Grace played a mini concert for me on the piano and then the kids brought me in a huge big gift wrapped box in paper they had decorated with flowers and hearts. Each child had taken a side and were thrilled to show me their creations. It was too pretty to rip through but they really wanted me to open the gift so finally I tore through the paper and found......drum roll please.....

A VITAMIX!!!!!!!

Finally, one of my long held dreams has come true. Oh, I know, it's a material thing but if you put me in a tiny house tomorrow with only a few items, this would be one of the only things I would want in my kitchen. 

Plus the side benefit is that we get to make smoothies and rather than juicing and losing all the good pulp fibre...we can eat it.

The next morning after I returned from driving the kids to school, I speedily ready through the quick start instructions and figured out how to make a green smoothie.... which I promptly did. 

Yum, yum, yum!

When the kids came home I had a berry/banana/yogurt smoothie ready for them.......with a ton of spinach too and they didn't even notice it! 

So in the end, some valuable lessons were learned this spring. That anything is possible if you hold onto your faith. That dreams come true, and that sometimes you have to ask for some help. Not an easy thing for me. The circle of people outside of my immediate family were there for me; .my employers, my co-workers, the kid's teachers, our family Doctor, my sisters. 


All shall be well!


And before I close my blog I wanted to share a song by George Harrison, "Give me love, give me peace on earth." The lyrics from this song lift me up, "give me hope, help me cope, with this heavy load, trying to touch and reach you with heart and soul."


I'm grateful for faith!

 And if you watch that video...hang in there and watch the subsequent one that follows, another fav of mine, I cry when I hear George singing, "My Sweet Lord."

I hope your life is good right now. That your days are easy, that the sun is shining and you are well, but if you feeling like you are drowning, you are not alone. Be gentle on yourself, eat well, get rest when you can, count what blessings you have in your life, connect with others and layer a little faith into your days.

 All shall be well!

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope