Grateful Acres

  Are you tired of hearing about sickness yet?      Seems like a swirl of illness has been making its way through all the pods of community around us. Despite all our elderberry and all the home remedies this grow-your-own geek Mama could muster, the germs entered our household too.    The big ones were down first, a sister shortly after. Then the Little Bear, and Papa Bear. One sister and I escaped, and eventually even the combination of our introverted selves and a can't-go-anywhere week finally gave way to some restlessness. She began begging to be dropped off at a friend's house, and I think I inwardly begged the same- ha!    I hadn't quite counted the cost of it all. The week wrapped up, and the nights settled, but the sour and the "hey Mama"s continued. All of a sudden my heart began to resist. The quiet, restful days had been nice for a little while. I got some projects done that I don't have time for during full-swing school at the table. ...

  Isn't pruning just your favorite Biblical topic? Right next to submission and death to self, for sure. I've been thinking about pruning after a great conversation about it recently, and today I set out in the sunshine to finish up some winter pruning on the fruit trees. I waited WAY too long to prune my fruit trees because it kinda scared me, but after seeing the explosive growth that happens as a result, I am much more willing to chop and trim and collect a pile of twigs for future burn piles.  Three aspects of pruning registered in my heart while clipping: Prune off branches that will grow into each other. One of the purposes of pruning is to keep branches from tangling with each other. I was taught to clip off little growths that WILL run into another branch, even if it will take a long time for the intersection to happen. It is so, so much easier to snip a little twig than a 2" branch. Don't wait until the two areas of growth have tangled- look at the direction e...