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This post would have been published two or three weeks ago, if I could’ve found the picture I wanted for this blog sooner. I located it this week in a tote of personal items, nestled among other random pictures of weird stunts I did in years gone by.

In my searching through old photo albums, nostalgia hit me full force.  20 years ago, I was teaching school and living life full blast. I loved humor and a good joke, of which I compiled my own joke book. (No it’s not published, ha ha.) I created skits and acted them out on my own, after making my audience promise they would laugh at me so I wouldn’t feel stupid. (Trust me, there were some lame ideas coming forth).  My audience typically consisted of neices and nephews, my siblings and spouses, and my parents.

Musing over the fun-loving girl I used to be, brought a sense of sadness. I wish I could still be like that! In rare moments when I feel reeeeaaaalllllyyy good, the me of long ago pops up. Now days, I’m wrapped in the trenches of raising a family, having a baby this year, sleep deprivation, combined with physical and mental health challenges, doesn’t leave much space for lightheartedness. My life *feels hounded by difficulties. It takes the whole of my brain to focus on necessities, so there’s nothing left to exert to humor. (*not saying it actually is. I think it’s more feeling like it)

Then there’s energy needed for our children who need constant training and guidance. Plus the burden I carry that they’d grow up to see their need of Jesus. Life is hard. And I want them to realize and accept that life isn’t always fairness and fries, dished out with hot fudge sundaes. Can I blame my melancholy nature for the pessimism I’m feeling? Are these burdens, mid-life weights coming on? Could someone please identify with me?!

Set me straight. Yes, God is good. All the time, God is good! Life in my stage is a blessing, and I am thankful for my family!

It wasn’t that I didn’t have trials when I was young, it’s just that now I feel covered up with heavier responsibilities and cares of life,  that there’s no extra mental space for friviolarity. Possibly, there’s maturity thrown in there somewhere too. But back to the girl I used to be….

When I was in my upper teens and early twenties, I wrote poems right and left.  Sometimes they came together without much effort. Often, they came out of heart struggles or messages I heard. As you can tell by the one in this post, I wrote some with less than profitable content.

My dad bought this Chevy S10 truck for me to drive when I was teaching school. It was a stick shift, which was excellent for me to learn how to operate. Yes, I stalled it more than once, and yes, I learned how to squall tires- on purpose! I was glad I learned straight stick driving because the VW I bought when I was 22 was also a manual. But by then I was comfortable with driving a stick.  And yes, here’s shocking truth; I used to drink pop and loved Dr. Pepper! Shivers! Or wait, maybe if I’d start drinking Dr. Pepper again my problems would disappear?!

      My Truck And I

My little old truck and I

  We go whizzin’ and sailin’ by

Past the slow folks that creep along

  I hit the gas as I sing a song

Shiftin’ gears and grindin’ some

  folks proly think “boy she’s dumb!”

But who cares- I don’t give a rip

  I get my Dr. Pepper and take a sip!

Sometimes a wild streak gets in me

  I slow to a stop and breathe deeply….

Then I mash the gas and turn the wheel

  Spin the tires and listen to the squeal!

Then I sit back and try to calm down

  And drive more carefully when I’m in town

In good looks, my truck ain’t got much for it

  But I ain’t driving a truck on credit

We get along good without a guy

  My little old Chevy truck and I!

I wrote this 4 or 5 years before I met Jerald. And 20 years later, I DO NOT get along good without my guy!! I love him like crazy for so many reasons. His kind, stable, God-fearing, forgiving heart melts mine to puddles. 

Here’s my VW bug I had next. Ladybug and daisy seat covers were 100% my style! I loved my bug and made lots of great memories with it. We also used it on our wedding day! ♥️

Two years ago I did a blog like this. It was one of my most viewed posts, which tells me people like this sort. I certainly enjoy real life pictures in the blogs I read, so here’s some highlights of our summer. (I don’t so much like when bloggers use photos off Unsplash or the like.) Be real people. That’s my theory.

Most of the summer was spent at home staying alive. Eating, sleeping, feeding baby,  napping, cleaning, washing clothes, cooking. Trying to keep the house and children under control and not get overwhelmed in the process. Not much excitement out of the ordinary, but that’s ok with me. Not all excitement is thrilling.

The following photos are credits to Mary Steria. My flower garden was the perfect place for photo shooting at golden hour.

Incredibly blessed and grateful for the beautiful family God has given us!🤍

I’m a hair freak. A detached hair freak that is. It appears I magnetically find human or pet hair without even trying. Standing behind a person in town, I shriek inwardly at t-shirts absolutely covered in hair. I can’t help but wonder what their couch or bed looks like and I’m most grateful I don’t need to know! Scanning the motel bathroom, I’ll spy stray hair left behind by the cleaning lady. Washing dishes at church or other’s houses, there’s countless times I encounter hair among the dishrag. It creeps me to pieces, but I endeavor to stay calm, pull it out, and go on washing. I even notice stray eyebrows on dinner plates. If I’m at someone else’s house, I discreetly swipe it with any available paper product and discard it rapidly.

Is anyone else affected by this malady?! I’m getting rather derailed, but four quick tips here to eliminate hair where they don’t belong- 

1. Do not wash dish rags with underwear and washcloths. I think most people do, but I’ve taken a stand against this for years. It grosses me out. I wash my tea towels and kitchen dishrags with towels but not washcloths. I have a separate load for items like underwear, socks, washcloths and cleaning rags. I know towels can have hair too, but it seems safer.

2. Run a lint roller over your clothes and floor after you’ve finished brushing your hair. Josie and I do this regularly. This removes complete congregations of lost hair! If you haven’t tried it, you should. Perhaps your vacuum sweeper would thank you by serving you an extra two years.

3. Ok, this may sound wild to some of you. But don’t do kitchen work or any food prep with loose hanging hair. When I wash and brush my hair, I change my garb or else throughly run my lint roller over me before kitchen duties. I notice more hair floating around my kitchen when Jerald and Josie help out. Is it because there’s more people in the kitchen? Or because men are more hairy and Josie  wears her hair in a braid?

4. I know this won’t fly for many of you either, but don’t keep pets in the house. My house gets dirty and hairy enough without pets. Keep yours. But you won’t catch me with indoor creatures.

But now, back to hair brushing. Last fall, I ordered two Tangles B. Gone brushes for Josie and I. I had heard good things about these brushes. With a discount code, I finally ordered two to try out. Josie and I were super impressed! We looovveee these brushes!

These brushes are a definite asset for Josie to brush her own hair. She’s getting good at doing her own braid for at home too. But for going away, I still generally do it. Her head is loaded with a thick crop of long, blonde hair, just like I had at that age. It’s a real job keeping after it. Over the years we’ve encountered multitudes of hair rats. We’ve used hair masks, lots of conditioner, sometimes apple cider vinegar and various brushes. I’m not a fan of spritzing it with coconut oil/ water because of the greasy look. Sometimes, she still needs help after washing her hair, but mostly, she  brushes it herself, which is a huge help.

Tangles B. Gone brushes:

* Are made of soft and dense boar bristles.

* Are large, which is needful with thick hair. Before we had these brushes, we used Lemongrass Spa hair brushes, which are also made with boar bristles. Nothing against LG, but these were so small! Especially with thick hair, they didn’t get the tangles out as well.

* They have a gentle contour to the head.

* They brush gently.

* They do a good job.

* They don’t pull out gobs of unnecessary hair. The first time I used mine, I was in awe of the tiny amount of hair I brushed out! I typically had a good sized hair ball, but this was an impressively little ball.

A little tip for making hair brushing more enjoyable is brushing it outside. This is my favorite place to brush mine! I always do this after washing my hair as long as the weather permits. I think it’s safe to say I’ve been out in 40 degrees or colder, just to brush my hair.  Not only can the stray hairs go sailing in the breeze, but catching sunshine and air drying is lovely. 

The other week, it was super hot and windy. And this is no dry joke or windy tale! I washed my hair and let it sopping wet. I stepped outside to brush, and by the time I was finished, my hair was dry. Nebraska wind for you. It was hot and windy, day and night for 3 days straight. It makes me weary listening to non-stop high wind like that.

If you’re looking for a quality hair brush that gets the job done, check out Tangles Be Gone. 

Written by my sister-in-law Carolyn Yoder from Wythville, VA.

Have the winter blues set in yet for anybody with all the dreary, cold days of the winter months? Let me brighten up your day with ideas of lovely green plants and colorful flowers!😊Who doesn’t love to think about the beauty of spring and new life bursting forth about now? Eventually the long, dreary days of winter will pass, I promise!😊

A number of years ago I had the opportunity to get a cute, little greenhouse from a friend who no longer needed it. I had such fun ‘playing in the dirt’, starting seeds, and watching them sprout and grow! This was all very new for me and I had very little experience with starting my own seeds, but I learned as I went. Not everything I tried was a success, but it was successful enough to be fun and feel worthwhile. I started both flowers and vegetables. It was so rewarding to eventually have beautiful hanging baskets overflowing with wave petunias after weeks of watering and caring for the little plants! Believe me, wave petunia seeds are extremely tiny, but they produce such lovely flowers!

Fast forward a number of years now… my husband Millard and I started dreaming about the possibility of having a greenhouse/garden center as a business, where we would grow beautiful flowers and have a lovely space for people to enjoy and buy flowers and vegetables to take home with them. (You know in a perfect dreamworld your flowers always grow well, stay healthy and everything is beautiful!😊) We had some hurdles to cross to be able to pursue our dreams, but we are now doing what we had dreamed of doing for years. If you’re ever coming through Wytheville, VA stop by Oasis Garden Center and check us out! We are only several miles off the interstate! You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram if you’d like to check us out there.

Our first season of growing flowers and vegetables to sell (2023) was very much of a learning process! We had one 25’x85’ greenhouse, so we started out fairly small, which was a good thing. All of our flowers we get shipped in as tiny plugs. All of our vegetables we start from seed. One thing we learned the first year was that we had our flower plugs shipped in way too early and our vegetable seeds we started too early as well! We had our first shipment of flowers come in about the second week in February and soon after that we also started vegetable plants from seed. What happened then, was the flowers got so big for their pots by the time we were ready to open for customers. And the vegetable plants got so huge by the time it was garden planting time. I told someone that by the time we sold the last of our tomato plants, we had tomato trees instead of plants! But, you know what?! That’s how you learn, and for the 2024 season, we knew to delay the whole process a bit! By spring of 2024, we added a 34’x96’ greenhouse, so the workload definitely became heavier and we could grow so many more plants!

Before our plugs arrive from our supplier, we try to make sure we have all the proper sized pots, baskets, and planters that we need. And we of course need lots of potting soil on hand. We order big bales of Berger BM6 soil. It’s really nice to have a bunch of pots filled with soil a day or so before the plugs arrive, so that once it’s time to plant, there are pots all ready to go!

We also like to put the proper identifying tag in the pot, before actually planting. And then we grab the tray of plugs that goes with the tags we’ve placed in the pot, and get them transplanted. Getting flowers and tags mixed up is not something you want to happen. Some plugs are easily identified just by looking at them and some are not! We try to be super careful to not get things mixed up!

 We design some of our own hanging baskets and also order combination kits from our supplier. Ordering the combo kits takes the guesswork out of things for me because I don’t need to try to decide what will grow well together in the same basket. It’s rewarding to go from this…

To this!

But getting from tiny plugs to beautiful, filled out plants takes awhile! The first week after we plant the plugs we water them with clear water. After the first week, we fertilize every day except Sunday. It’s good to give the flowers a break from fertilizer one day a week and Sunday seems to be a good day for us to do that.😊A lot of our flowers need to be “pinched” at certain stages so that they branch out nicely. Sometimes we also go through and cut back flowers that are getting too big too fast. I like to walk through the greenhouse every day and just check on the flowers and be on the alert for anything that looks unhealthy or like it needs some special care. Aphids and other tiny critters also show up sometimes and those have to be taken care of or they can soon do a lot of damage. Plants that look stressed tend to also cause me stress! I love for our flowers to all look vibrant and healthy, but truth be told, we do loose some flowers at times. We do feel blessed though, to so far not have lost huge amounts of flowers from a disease sweeping through or something like that!

While I love to transplant plugs and watch them grow, I do also enjoy starting our vegetable plants from seed and watching them pop through the dirt and start steadily growing! Cold crops like cabbage, cauliflower & broccoli are about the first seeds we start. Last season we started these the very end of February and then did another round the middle of March. Usually peppers need to be started fairly early too. I know some people like to use special seed starting soil to start seeds, but we just use the soil that we use for our flower plugs and it’s worked fine. Also a lot of people use heating mats for seed starting. We do not… however, we do have a method we use to provide heat under the tables where the seed trays are setting. I’m not going to try to describe how we do all that.😊But seeds, especially certain kinds, will germinate better with proper soil temperatures.

Our cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower we start the seeds in the 4 pack containers that we eventually sell them in. Some seeds need to be lightly covered with soil and others need to simply be pushed into the dirt a bit and left uncovered. Most seed packets give instructions on the back for if seeds need to be covered or not. Once the seeding is done, we mist the dirt and try to get it evenly moist and then cover the trays with a clear plastic lid to help keep the moisture inside. You don’t want your soil too wet for too long, but neither do you want things drying out too much. Once most of the seeds have sprouted, we remove the clear lid.

Our peppers and tomatoes we start in seedling trays. The seedling trays are about an inch deep. We fill them with dirt and then I like to make little rows with my finger and try to fairly evenly space out the seeds. (You can also get seedling trays that are already divided into rows but we prefer the flat tray without the dividers.)We have a little handheld, battery powered vibration seeder that we like to use for seeding. Eventually we may have a more commercialized way of starting seeds, but for now this works! Usually around the time that the plants are well established and growing nicely, we transplant them into their own pot from the seedling tray. After they’ve been transplanted several days to a week, we start fertilizing. And then watch them grow! Some of you may be wondering why we take the extra step of planting in seedling trays instead of directly into the pot the plants will be sold in. It does make more work, but our experience has been it makes for a stronger/better plant if we transplant. I know, we’re newbies here, so feel free to choose your own style for starting seeds. 😊

Now tomatoes we would definitely say you want to transplant! The seeds need darkness to germinate, so we put cardboard over top of the clear lids so it’s relatively dark. We just need to keep a close eye on them, because once they germinate if the cardboard isn’t taken off right away, the tiny shoots will try to reach for the light and fast become long and leggy. Once they have several sets of true leaves we transplant. And we transplant them deep! We try to bury the whole stem all the way up to the first set of leaves. This makes for a better, stronger root system and overall better plant. We hear comments over and over about our tomato plants, how strong, thick stemmed and healthy they look! And we really think the deep transplanting does make a difference! Since I love to get my fingers in the dirt, I enjoy the transplanting! 😊Here again, it is super important to have your tomato and pepper varieties properly tagged! You don’t want them mixed up and a customer thinks they’re getting a beefsteak tomato and it ends up being a cherry tomato instead! Of course, if you’re only growing plants for yourself, this is not so important.😊Last season our first peppers were seeded the very end of February and then again in March several times. I think this year we’ll wait til March to start the first ones.

Fast growing vegetables like cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe and squash do not need to be started until April in our area.

I mentioned earlier that all our flowers we get shipped in as plugs. However, I do start flower seeds in trays for our upick flower field. Carnations, rudbeckia, gomphrena, amaranth, are some of what I started in the greenhouse. Some seeds I direct seeded in the flower field once danger of frost was past. Oh the rewards of seeing the flowers grow and beautiful bouquets being made throughout the summer!! I had never before been able to just go cut as many flowers as I wanted to, making bouquet after bouquet!

I hope I’ve been able to chase the winter blues away a bit with thoughts and pictures of spring and summer beauty!😊

Here are just a few more random pictures for your enjoyment.

This gives you a bit of a glimpse of what we do, but we will readily admit that we are still very much learning as we go and we don’t guarantee our methods to be the best way of doing things when it comes to greenhouses. If you’re a reader who has been in the greenhouse business for years and have advice for us, we’d be glad to hear tips!

I’m Carolyn Yoder, blessed and happy wife to my pastor husband Millard, and mom to five children, ranging in age from 18 to 7. I love coffee (very much!), quiet time in the morning and a good book. I delight in the beauty of nature and flowers! You can contact me at yoderfamily05@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you!