Genesis 2:8

There's a scripture in Genesis that I had paid little attention to in the past, but lately it has come to mean much more to me.  (More on that later on in this post.)  But first, some pictures of our week.  Here, Jolene holds a leaf she has cut off one of our rhubarb plants.  She uses the stems she cuts off to make some amazing rhubarb cobbler.  I'm not really sure if the leaves are meant to get this big, but one of our rhubarb plants just won't stop growing, so if you're local, and need some rhubarb, you know where to find it!


I've been at my current duty station now for over 3 years, and I've had some great Americans work for me in my plans and policy shop.  Here, I'm seeing off  Army Lt Col Eaton, as he heads to battalion command.  Due to COVID, his farewell was just us in the RV campground (but that's a fairly Alaskan way to hold a farewell).


I've always understood the significance of growing and harvesting, partly because I come from a long line of farmers, but even more so because of the account of Creation. I've always paid attention to the majestic account of God bringing the universe into being,  But in a recent study of Genesis, one verse of chapter two jumped out at me in a way that it hadn't before:

"The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed." Genesis 2:8

"....God planted a garden...".  In most of the account of Creation, God created by commanding things into being.  (God said, "Let there be light", and there was light.).  In six days, He created light, created the heavens, created the sea, dry land and vegetation, separated the light from the darkness, created the sun, moon and stars, created the birds and aquatic life, created the animals, and then created man.  But after forming man, we're told that God did something a little different, He planted a garden. He didn't command a garden to exist, but rather the Creator of the universe, the Almighty, who controls the entire universe with His spoken word, took the time to plant a garden, in which he placed man.

There are mysteries about Creation that will always captivate my mind, but the visual picture of God planting a garden for man will be one aspect of Creation that I will always gain comfort from. It is a popular saying today that gardening is the most effective form of therapy, and I suppose it should be no surprise that the One in whose image we are created, when it came time to bring the Garden of Eden into existence, after spending the better part of six days commanding things into existence, He chose to plant it himself.  For that I am thankful. And for the opportunity to spend some of the time He has given us here on earth, to also plant and tend to a garden of our own, I am also thankful.


We were donated some raspberry bushes, different types from different friends.  We planted some of them along the bluff trail near where we had put the compost bin....


....staked them to give them a chance to stabilize....


...and planted the remainder behind the greenhouse.  It is late in the year for transplanting, so we are giving them some extra care each day in hopes of providing the best chance for them to survive the transplanting.


Some other updates before showing some garden pictures.  Here is the compost pile at its current height, slowly breaking down.


~155 degrees, just a day after I last turned the pile, so it is still actively breaking down.  I will start a second pile soon, using the green waste from harvesting the garden, and will let that one cook (hopefully) over winter with the lid closed.  (We've had no more visits from the bear, which is good, because the pile is now too large to close the lid.  Though I suppose I could use the bear's help to turn the pile for me once in a while).


It seems to be anyone's guess how bad our mosquito problem will be on any given year, but a summer after a heavy-snow winter seems to bring out the highest numbers.  We had a good amount of snow last winter, and true to form, the mosquitoes are terrible this year.  So we invested in a propane trap. This basket supposedly holds ~30,000 mosquitoes max, and after the first seven days it was about half full.


So I'm guessing this catch is about ~10-15,000 mosquitoes. Probably not enough to dent the population around the house, or break the breeding cycle, but still I say "good riddance".


Our potatoes have put on some height.  Jury is still out on whether that will mean more spuds or not....


....but they stand above my waist.....


...and are now blooming.


The raised beds are producing well.  Here you can see the near bed full of Brussels sprouts, celery, broccoli, onions and some extra tomatoes that wouldn't fit in the greenhouse.


This middle bed is cabbage, beats, carrots and broccoli.


Broccoli.


Last bed is more cabbage and beets.




Inside the greenhouse.  We need a 'welcome to the jungle' sign.  I guess we should have went bigger on the greenhouse.


Cucumbers are fewer and growing slower than we had hoped, but there are some.


Plenty of tomatoes, but a long ways from being ripe.


Bell peppers.


More peppers.


The pumpkin patch is doing well.


Most of the female blooms are producing fruit, but we had a handful that didn't get pollinated, and are wondering if that might have been due to some aphid problems we had last week.


The in-ground beds are going well.  These are kale, beets, spinach and lettuce.


The kale and beets seem to grow well side-by-side.


The spinach bolted early, but we are still eating as much as we can from them.


The asparagus FINALLY started to come up.  It took quite a while.  The seeds seemed to have germinated well.  Several crowns are still not showing, but maybe they will show soon.


Jolene added some pots to the front flower bed.


Jolene's hanging flowers have turned out well.




Out on the deck.






All our mature spruce are putting out quite a few cones this year. I call them all black spruce, but I suspect we have some Sitka and white spruce trees mixed in.


I think this one might be a white spruce.


And speaking of spruce, our little Norways are doing well in the front yard.  Jury is still out on our side-yard transplants, but these lining our front yard are putting on some new growth already and seem to be doing well.

Til next time.