Spring In Our Back Yard

April showers bring May flowers...

Let's hope so! With all this rain, I hope April showers bring May sunshine too! We are definitely creatures of the light. Our moods, our skin, our outlooks on life... All improve with some good sunshine.

So this is our garden. I always love this time of year. The time of year when the green of Spring just can no longer hide under the drab brown of Winter. I smile, knowing Spring has come, when I see the crocuses showing their purple sleeves and yellow tie.

Ben has pruned our raspberry and blackberry bushes, which are now multiplying rapidly. We are hoping that either this year or next year we have a nice berry crop. Some of our parsley has come back from last year, although more will need to be planted. Nothing says Spring like the fresh taste of parsley garnishing your meal or complimenting your dish. He has also planted some onion bulbs and peas and intends to plant lima beans, carrots, lettuce, banana peppers and heirloom tomatoes. You know, those beautiful purple, yellow and red tomatoes. My mouth is watering.

Our neighbor, Dee, had given us some of her bleeding heart plant last year, which is one of the fastest-blooming plants I've ever seen. It's gorgeous heart-shaped flowers add some additional color and texture to our blossoming backyard.

I will update with more pictures as there is more color and vibrancy in our garden. But because I love tulips and my camera...just one more picture of one of the tulips that randomly come back to greet us every year.

With One On the Way

So I mentioned that we would soon be welcoming our first child into this world. Here we are--just 8 short weeks away from my due date of June 4. Will Baby P come early, late or just on time?

We chose to not find out whether Baby P is a boy or a girl. There are very few surprises in our adult life, and being one who loves surprises (yes, I'm still as excited on Christmas Day as I was when I was a child), I didn't want to ruin this one.

 I often wonder who Baby P will look like. Will Baby P have hair? (I do hope so with the heartburn I've had)! What will his or her personality shape to be? What will it be like to hold Baby P in my arms for the very first time? How will I feel? What is that love like? Is it as unfathomable as it seems to me right now?



Will you look like Mama?



Or like Daddy?





 



One thing I know for sure. No matter when you come, or who you look like or how you act, you will be loved. By Mama and Daddy and so many more. Even Rutherford is already protective of you. He lays by my feet and waits by my side--he even lays at the bottom of the stairs waiting for me to come back down.



So fatten up and grow well inside of Mama. We can't wait to meet you!!

Our Baby Boy Dog

Rutherford recently celebrated (unbeknownst to him, of course) his second birthday on March 6. He is such a handsome dog with a gentle and playful spirit.

As handsome as he has become, every now and again I love to look through old pictures of him as a baby. There was just nothing cuter than his furry little self.



But he doesn't have a long tail. Isn't he a yellow labrador? Absolutely. And pure-bred at that. So what's the story? Well poor baby boy dog and his litter mates came down with a diarrhea virus in their first week of life. Most of the litter mates did not have the stamina to survive and sadly five died.

But Rutherford was a fighter since the beginning. And he pulled through with the help of his mother. She had a natural nurturing instinct--almost too good, since it cost him his tail. She cleaned his dirty hiney so well and so often that he developed little sores akin to diaper rash. Our breeder tried putting ointment on these sores, but his mother licked that off too. Eventually, the sores developed scabs and our breeder noticed that the end of his tail looked lifeless. Next thing she knew, the end of his tail was gone. It fell off. And there he was with his little stub tail--marketed as a "special needs puppy."

Turns out that his only special need was a good home. And he found it. And the evidence suggests that he's in dog heaven here at our home.

Need I say more?

Welcome

Hi, I'm Tabitha. This is my husband, Ben and my baby boy dog, Rutherford. We will soon be welcoming our very first child into this world, but I'll leave that for another post.

Welcome to my blog. This isn't a blog about our garden, although I will share about that from time to time. And to be truthful, I am not much of the hands or heart behind our garden (unless you count the tasty food that flows from the bounty). That would be the hubster.

Rather, this is my our journey to discover life as it was intended. In other words, to discover what life was like in The Garden. You know...Eden. The perfect place created just for us in which everything we could ever want, need and imagine was right at our fingertips. Ours to enjoy. We have come a long way from that paradise. From a natural and organic approach to life. Many advances I applaud, so do not get me wrong. This isn't a blog about hating modernity. Quite the opposite. It is about finding the place within our society where we can live in the magical collision of two worlds--the simplistic, holistic, natural and organic approach to living in harmony with the advances of modern science, technology and resources. It has beautiful potential.

Like I said, this is a journey. But I am ready to embark. So why don't you join me.