From the Cotton Patch 2
Perennials
You may remember my sanity garden from last year. ** Well, my herbs are growing again. I actually had the oregano all winter but it is growing and spreading with spring. So happy to see my mint again too. Old friends. Planting perennials is a gift that keeps on giving. Plant perennials herbs, strawberries, apples, grapes, etc.
**In case you missed my post about my sanity garden last spring here it is!
From the Cotton Patch
From the Cotton Patch
by Someone’s Grandma
We awoke early, had a good hot breakfast of biscuits, butter, sausage, eggs, gravy, and jelly, all of which were homemade or home processed. There was also good, fresh, wholesome milk to drink. The biscuits and gravy contained flour and a few other ingredients that were “store-bought”, but everything else was made from things grown or raised on Granddad’s and Granny’s farm. I *could* have milked the cow, churned the butter, gathered the eggs, picked some of the fruit (apple, grapes, cherries, blackberries or strawberries) for the jelly, turned the sausage grinder by hand and stuffed the sausage into a “stocking” cover. I *may* have washed and peeled fruit washed the canning jars with water that was drawn out of a deep well with a contraption called a windlass. (A windlass was a big cylindrical wooden drum with a handle). A rope, attached to the windlass, went up and through a pulley in the ceiling of the well-house and down into the well. When a bucket attached to the rope filled up with water, the windlass was turned by hand to bring the fresh cool water up out of the well. It took a lot of buckets of water to make sure the jars were clean and rinsed, but the windlass was fun to let go flying round and round as the bucket fell into the water. The flying handle could be treacherous if you got in its way, but we all learned that scientific fact rather quickly! …But, back to my story…
After breakfast, the adults busied themselves with various chores, while we younger ones watched the sun creep up over the treetops, revealing a very beautiful dew-drenched earth. It was rather cool and damp out on the front porch as we waited for the signal to load up so we could get to the cotton field for a day of work and fun. We youngn’s each wore a straw hat and a long-sleeved shirt to protect us from the hot sun, and we each had a garden hoe, and some of us may have worn cotton gloves so the hoe handle would be less likely to rub blisters on our hands as we chopped at the weeds in and around the young cotton stalks.
Often there was one last ritual before we climbed into the wagon to head for the field. That was hoe sharpening. One or more of the older folks would take a metal file and sharpen the cutting edges of the hoes. In the process of thinning the cotton stalks and chopping out the weeds, our hoes would often strike rocks. It was kinda neat to us youngsters to see the sparks fly when the metal struck against the rocks, but the veteran cotton choppers knew sharp hoe blades would work faster and more efficiently than ones that had been dulled. Hoe sharpening was essential to getting the job done better and more quickly.
Well, the sun, which was finally up, was causing the dew all around to turn into a vapor and rise into the air. Little low lying patches of fog were just as beautiful as the dew-covered plants. No one needed to tell us how beautiful God made the earth…we not only saw it….we felt it!
At last, it was time to climb into the wagon pulled by a team of mules. We bounced up and down on wooden seats as we were carried along the long country lane edged with sweet-smelling pink hedge roses, and not one of us had a thought about being discontent nor deprived of the luxuries that may have belonged to somebody…somewhere….There were songs waiting to be sung, butterflies waiting to chase, and cool shade trees at the end of the long rows of cotton waiting to be enjoyed by hot, sweaty, tired bodies as they shared a gourd dipper and drank from a cool bucket of water.
This is the first article of a series in an attempt to give the younger generation a glimpse into the past that belonged to and helped to shape the ideals and principles of their grandparents and great-grandparents. Not every one belonging to those generations had the privilege of working in a cotton patch, but they all shared a closeness to nature that has all but been destroyed by our modern lifestyles.
Special thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law, Jo Redding, who agreed to let me share these articles. Thanks to the editors of Redding Magazine for letting me reprint them here. This article was first published in Redding Magazine in 1996.
Mommy Fails
(This was written a while back)
Last night I cried myself to sleep thinking of all my mommy fails. And today I am thinking of all my fails as a daughter.
What will I do with these failings and the misery I feel from them? I know that I need to reframe them. I know that I need to forgive myself. I know I need to turn loose of these feelings and not let them drag me down. I may need to ask my children’s forgiveness or not. Do I ask forgiveness for being human? Do I ask forgiveness for making mistakes? I look at my children and the beauty and wonder I see in them and know that either I did something right or God was gracious to over-ride my terrible shortcomings. I know it is God’s goodness!
Recently I was sharing in ladies’ Bible class about feeling guilty about not scrapbooking my children’s childhood and other things. I was amazed at what relief I saw in the other women in my class. First, let me say that I think it is an absolutely beautiful gift to give your children scrapbooks and pictures of their childhood. I will add IF you desire to do that and IF you are able to do that. There just was never enough of me to do that! The thing I learned from this was how huge the expectations we place on ourselves. Women expect a lot from themselves and buy into the lie that we have failed as a mom or wife if we don’t do…..a whole list of things. We also assume every woman does the things we find impossible to do. We also try to live up to an image of what the perfect mom or wife is/or does. We all have limitations.
Despite my shortcomings, HE has done something beautiful. And despite the humanness of my children, HE has done something beautiful. Now it is up to them what they do with what God has blessed them with. I also, have to acknowledge that it is up to me to make the best of what God has given me and the opportunities he has blessed me with. Let us love with the love of God. For love covers a multitude of sins and mistakes.
Campaigns Northwest Part 3
As I continue our story. Our second stop takes us to Tacoma, Washington where we worked with the Lakeview Church of Christ. This congregation was started as an outreach to the military. As was our custom we stayed with members of the congregation for three weeks. I stayed with Sandy and Dave Newman and their two little girls. The church was in the prep stage for building a new building. They shared with us the new design which we thought was pretty exciting. The pulpit was to be in the middle. Floyd Brazil was in charge of our group. Obert Henderson preached a meeting while we were there. He “taught” us a new song to go with one of his lessons, His Grace Reaches Me, which is still one of my favorites. We went door to door sharing the scriptures. This meant we had to do a lot of Bible study on our own too! Morning quiet times and devotionals stand out in my memory of my time in Tacoma. Again we studied with old and young alike. This will not be the end of the story of my connection with Lakeview.
My third stop was to Seattle, Washington. Our team all met up at Mountlake Terrace Church of Christ. Six of us were chosen to work with a new congregation just getting started. West Seattle Church of Christ. We again stayed in the homes of church families. I stayed with Roy and Jo Vaughn. The church shared the building with another church. Roy had an old VW Van which he put a sandwich board sign on top of to tell the church was meeting. Most of our work was knocking on stranger’s doors and asking if they would like to study the Bible. We also helped conduct services of the church. I met many wonderful people some that would remain a part of my life to this day. One dear lady, Betty Coleman, agreed to a Bible study and I went every day with my door knocking partner and we studied through the book of John together. This sweet lady became a Christian while we were there. My life would also reconnect with this congregation a few years down the road. It was time for our group to leave but I was allowed to stay a couple of days longer. Madge Boubonik (I am sure the spelling is butchered) taught me to make communion bread. http://www.redaredding.com/communion-bread/ Les and Mildred’s daughter Mary, took me on my first trip to the Pike Place Market in Seattle where we bought fresh crab for my first taste! It was wonderful of course!
My love for the Pacific Northwest began in 1979 and still impacts me today.
And a little bit of the continuing story………..
Fast forward to 1985 when we move our family from Reedsport, Oregon to Burien, Washington to start a house church. The nearest congregation was West Seattle and of course, we reconnected with many of those same people I had met in 1979 and that connection remains to this day. Also, new family members were added to our friends list and the ripples continue. And I am sad to add that West Seattle closed its doors last year.
Fast forward to 2007. We move to Spanaway, Washington near Tacoma! Only 7 miles from the Lakeview congregation. I walk into Lakeview as a grandma now. The building was completed several years before. Many of the same people I met in 1979 were still at Lakeview when I arrived. It was a wonderful reunion. Friendships continue. Floyd Brazil was still busy about the Lord’s work when we arrived and driving us around on a new door knocking adventure. And a few more years down the road his sweet grand-daughter Stephanie would move to Aberdeen, Washington where we were working with the church there. And the ripples continue.
http://www.redaredding.com/campaigns-northwest-part-2/