Category: Uncategorized
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IMPROVING THE SOIL
Ever since I was about 5 years old, I’ve had an ongoing interest in growing things-vegetables, flowers and even trees. The first little tidbits of gardening knowledge came from paying attention to what my great-grandfather and both grandfathers had to say when they were planting or working in their gardens. Even my great-aunt taught me…
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A SIMPLE COUNTRY CHRISTMAS
West Smyrna Baptist Church Smyrna, New York Families tend to develop traditions as to how they spend Christmas and surprisingly those patterns can remain for quite a number of years. Growing up in a large family, we had traditions at Christmas that many of us still talk about today. Perhaps your family has routines or…
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WORKING ON THE POSITIVES
Verne Sheldon my Great-Grandfather on his 87th birthday. Grandpa Verne my great-grandfather, sparked some of my first interest in vegetable gardening. Grandpa was born in 1880 so many of his methods would have definitely been considered “old school” but they worked! For instance, I can remember helping him plant his sweet corn…..mainly because I had…
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IT WILL PUSH YOU
Growing up in the country with dairy farmers for neighbors, it seemed like at least once a summer our large rain-soaked lawn would suddenly be full of cows that had somehow got out of their pasture! After helping to get them back where they came from, it was my job to “clean-up” the evidence left…
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I NOTICED HIS WORK
When I started school at five years old, I soon noticed a man working constantly inside and outside of the school building. This man looked like he really liked his job, and I could even tell that he was very good at everything he did! Although I didn’t know who this man was, I figured…
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THE ORCHARD
We have an orchard on our little farm. We have several different types and varieties of fruit trees, that have taken over 25 years to get to the level of maturity they are at now – yet we are still never guaranteed a crop of fruit! Once in a while we will get a late…
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EACH STRAND OF “SILK”!
There are many different ways of learning things, such as reading about something, which is the main thing I first did when it came to my favorite hobby, gardening! Then of course we have to do more than just read about something, we have to start (at least in my case) experimenting with the things…
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CHOICES
I’m glad that I’ve been able to make “choices” as I travel on this journey we call life! Now of course, early in life our parents, almost nonstop it seems at times really help with “teaching” us about making good choices. Hopefully you had parents who helped you with that…..I know I sure did! One…
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TRYING TO GET THAT MEDAL
Today I’m going to use a story from my favorite old TV show, “The Andy Griffith Show” and contrast it with things I’ve seen! The episode from the TV show was called “A Medal For Opie”. The setting is that the town of Mayberry is hosting a special kids day, filled with different athletic events…
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FIX YOUR EYES
Where I grew up in those rolling hills of upstate New York, most of my childhood friends lived on dairy farms. When it wasn’t chore time, a dairy farm can be a place of great adventure for kids to play! But, when chores need to be done, all play would stop and everyone had a…