MLK Quote

MLK Quote

Nature's Inspiration Movie

http://www.flickspire.com/m/HealthierL433/NaturesInspiration -- Nature's Inspiration Movie: The photographs in this short video are from award-winning photographer, Ken Jenkins, and they are breathtaking. However, this video is much more than beautiful photographs! Peggy Anderson has compiled beautiful quotations from the likes of Emerson, Thoreau, and many others that truly capture the beauty of nature and solitude. Absolute must watch for nature lovers.

Thursday, December 27, 2018

End of the Year 2018


It has been since ten months that I am away from this blog. It is because I now have a baby, well she has already grown to an eighteen month old toddler. It was easier to do some blogging when she was really young but I am finding that babies really become much more demanding as they grow up :-). My blogging and other free time flew out of the window as soon as she crossed one year of age.

Here she is busy inspecting the porch Christmas tree

Here she, with her father, is accepting gift from Santa 
It has been a disastrous year in terms of gardening. I did not get any time to go out to the garden as I was busy with my full-time work, household work and motherhood work. Also, it was one of the wettest year in the history of NJ. Until September, the state received 32 percent above normal rain.

So, our garden grew so wild that in October we needed to call out landscaping company and shell out twenty-five hundred dollar to just clear out all the overgrown plants, weeds and mowing the knee-high grass.

But, I have lots of plans for the year 2019. She will be a two year old lady in June, and I am hoping that she will develop interest in nature and gardening, and that will help me in gardening What do you think? What does your experience say -- will I be able to devote lots of time in gardening with a toddler and at the same time have my full time and other jobs?

Some of the plans are already under way. Our garden is very uneven and slopy, with ups and downs. So, we already built a leveled patio. We also built a beautiful raised bed.

This is what the area looked before 
This is how the area looks now with a brand-new patio

This is how the side area looked like
A portion of the side area now has this beautiful raised bed


Still lots of work left -- more raised beds on other sides, arbor for grapes, cleaning of leaves and pruning. I have some trees by the side and front of the new patio. Since the patio is made of bricks, I am thinking of creating some kind of structure around the base of the tree, a brick circle with stones as mulch, as shown in the picture below:



Much of our lawn got stripped off in the process of building all these structures. So, instead of laying down a lawn, I am going to plant in creeping thyme, sage and oregano and lay down a path in between.

A big play area for the toddler was also created. On it will go tree-house and swings and playing sets for the toddler. By its side will be grown kid's flower garden and kid's vegetable garden.

We truly have an ever-evolving garden. Since we moved into this house in 2009, our garden has gone from bare green lawn to wilderness area, from tiny raised bed and vegetable garden to big raised beds and fruits, herbs, flowers and vegetable garden, from really used and nice self-built greenhouse (which even produced during winter but got destroyed during hurricane Sandy) to a broken greenhouse. Now, it is slowly turning into a matured, family-friendly but also at the same wilderness-friendly garden.

So, to all of my garden friends, I wish all of you Happy Gardening in 2019 and to all of us, many, many years of good health and happy gardening. May the New Year of 2019 brings lots of good vibes and harmony and peace in both your life and your garden. A Very Happy New Year to all of you.



12 comments:

  1. Happy New Year KL!! How wonderful... Congrats!! Yes toddlerhood is a very busy time. I am so happy for you and of course the garden would come in second. I do enjoy our 3 year old grandson and my daughter will be having a baby girl in April. Great to see you in blog world....hug..Michelle

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  2. Garden area sounds wonderful as does your child's area ~ it all take times ~ especially being a mother ~ you sound like you are doing well with it all ~

    Happy New Year to you,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)
    ps. there are plenty of posts on my blog ~ look below the first post that you commented on ~ thanks ^_^



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  3. Welcome back to the blogdom, KL! It seems your new year of gardening is off to a good start with all the changes you've made (despite the persistent demands of a toddler). Creeping thyme has worked well in my garden but my climate is very different than yours. I don't expect that an excess of rainwater will ever be a problem here. Best wishes for a happy and productive new year!

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  4. I have missed your posts but I certainly understand your absence. A little one can certainly take up your time and change your life for good. I'm sure your garden will be wonderful and you can teach the little one to love it like you do.

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  5. PS You asked about the deserted town of Ohura on my blog. There are still about 100 people who haven't left for whatever reasons they have.

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  6. Hello, I have missed your post. But, you have such a beautiful reason for being missing. Being a mother takes up most of your time, enjoy and congrats! I wish you all the best in 2019, a happy New Year!

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  7. Congratulations on your sweet baby (now a toddler)...It is good to know your absence from blogging was for such a happy reason! Don’t worry about blogging or even gardening for now ...they will be here when you have time. Your son’s babyhood will go by very quickly and you cannot get that back! Happy New Year.

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  8. Enjoyable post but most importantly, congratulations on the birth of your little one, that is really fantastic. Happy New Year to you and your sweet family.

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  9. lol, yes babies are demanding. But also much joy.
    Thanks for visiting my blog. You asked what SOOC means! Straight Out Of Camera, meaning you made no adjsutments to the image.
    Wish you and your little girl a Happy New Year!

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  10. Congratulations!
    And a Happy New Year!

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  11. KL - welcome back to blogging! It looks like you are all set for an adventurous year, with big plans for your garden. In my experience, some children love gardening and will 'work' side by side with a parent. That was true for most of my siblings when my Dad got us involved. But my attempts to engage my kids did not yield the same result - oh well. I look forward to seeing more pictures of your evolving garden! Happy New Year!

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