A Healing Place

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter...

to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life. 

John Burroughs

The donkey pooh has nourished my garden plants as though they were on steroids!  They love it!  Move over Miracle Grow; here comes donkey pooh!  The first bag of pooh from Brother Dave was a freebie (he shoveled, he delivered).  The rest of them I have to shovel myself.

Can't wait to have fried green tomatoes!

Roma and Cherry Tomatoes for our salad.

It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato. 

Lewis Grizzard

Arkansas Travelers for canning.

I also planted cucumbers in the same fertilizer.  They will have to be moved to the back yard so they can grow up the fence.  With the late frost and weird Oklahoma weather, it's a bit tricky knowing when to plant.

Cucumbers seeds planted in pooh!

My lawn mower is still playing dead so I had to take drastic measures and try to repair it myself. So far, this ain't pretty.  This is the first time I have ever had a shed to store it and now it wants to give me grief.  Guess I should have left it out in the rain.  My dandelion crop is taking over the yard.  Gotta mow!

Lawn Mower Battery On Life Support.

Everywhere I look, there are signs of life!  It is amazing!  Plant life, tree life, animal life, insect life, and people life.  I love the simple life.  Small moments of absolute joy and delight. I love Harmony Acres! 

When life has inflicted sometimes near mortal wounds, this place we call home is a sanctuary.  It is a healing place for everything (human and animal).  The beauty here is of the wild kind.  No formal or manicured gardens here.  To work the land is like touching the face of God.  It is a place of peace, love and harmony.  A place that restores balance.  I hope each of you can find your "harmony acres" even if it is just one moment at a time. 

As you know, all the animals here are strays (except Maggie. She was a pound puppy). Each one is a cherished member of our household.  I don't believe a loving God makes trash!

Pushka would like to be the only child.  He is so needy!

Gracie just wants to be left alone. (Are you looking at me?)

Oh, by the way; my salad garden is doing great.  Can't wait to harvest the lettuce and have a salad grown by yours truly!

A mixture of greens just waiting to nourish my earthly temple.

The first gatherings of the garden in May of salads, radishes and herbs made me feel like a mother about her baby - how could anything so beautiful be mine. 

And this emotion of wonder filled me for each vegetable as it was gathered every year. 

There is nothing that is comparable to it, as satisfactory or as thrilling, as gathering the vegetables one has grown.-  Alice B. Toklas

Nature's Rebirth At Harmony Acres

"I think that no matter how old or infirm I may become, I will always plant a large garden in the spring. 
Who can resist the feelings of hope and joy that one gets from participating in nature's rebirth?" 

Edward Giobbi

Spring! Spring! Spring! If the March winds don't blow me away, I will dance in the yard to the tune of Spring. Yes, I really do dance in the yard but I'm fully clothed nowadays.  It's time for my inner child to emerge and my imagination to take wing. The long months of winter are just a memory now.  I wanted to share with you how it looks at our home when Spring is in the air.  Here are a few pictures:

The front porch is cleaned off to a certain degree so now we can prepare to paint soffet a medium grey and the porch poles white with our new trim going up in a white also.  Replacing shutters this year too.  I like to call it "my beautiful porch-in-waiting".  Big plans for little porch!

Rock Garden coming alive.

Baby's Breath will be dried this year for floral arrangements.

And the puppies are growing like crazy.  They eat like it's their last meal every time.  Kind of pitiful.  Mom still dropping by to check on them and have a bite of their food and water.  One of our neighbors stopped by today (a different one from last week) to see if her puppy (a sister to my boys) had come a callin.  It has gone missing.  Becky called on her way out of our neighborhood at 7:00 a.m. this morning to say she saw the pup running with it's mom if anyone came looking.  And they did.

I don't have a favorite but the smallest of the three boys.........

Got so carried away with the pups, almost forgot to show you my salad garden planted in the fire pit.

Our hearts and prayers go out to those in Japan who are suffering and homeless, those who have lost loved ones and those who have loved ones missing.  Also, deep appreciation for the rescue workers and those brave souls who are still trying to save the world from a devastating nuclear accident.

There is an endless net of threads throughout the universe...
At every crossing of the threads there is an individual.
And every individual is a crystal bead.
And every crystal bead reflects
Not only the light from every other crystal in the net
But also every other reflection
Throughout the entire universe.

You Can't Eat Money

Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then will you find money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree Prophecy



This is more my country style for a salad garden with instructions at Real Simple.

The mild weather (after what winter has put us through I consider anything above freezing "mild") this morning intensifies my Spring Fever.  Is Mother Nature playing a trick on me?  We still have a full month of winter left and anything can happen.  I am a get er done kind of gal so the Patience is a Virtue concept is something for me to contend with. What the heck....I still want to start my preparations for my container garden today.  Really, I just want to feel the sunshine bathe my face and feel close to Nature and God.  No high dollar fragrance ever created by mankind can beat the smell of fresh-turned earth or donkey pooh. 

First thing I need to do is round up all my containers.  This requires a trip to my scary barn (boots required. no telling what's living in there besides two cats).

I think  a couple of "Lost Cities" may be in there.

Finding containers to plant my vegetable garden won't be a problem because I see a number of them oozing out of the barn.  Told you it was scary.  Organizing the containers is my project of the day in addition to my other daily chores.  My soul is singing "I want to plant, I want to plant, I want to plant". but the mundane things must be done before I can travel that path. But first here is my other passion..........

History has become my Muse (in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature are the goddesses or spirits who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. ...).
I am fascinated by the Native Americans that lived here before us.  They were true survivors.
A brief history lesson: 

In the 1830’s, gold was discovered in Georgia. The settlers began to covet the Cherokee homelands, and a period of Indian Removals began to make way for more white settlement. In 1838, thousands of Cherokee men, women and children were rounded up and marched 1,000 miles to Indian Territory, known today as the state of Oklahoma. Thousands died in the internment camps, on the trail, and after arrival (due to the effects of the journey.)

Becky is a card carrying  CDIB (Certified Degree of Indian Blood) Cherokee.  We can learn much about living off the land from the Ancient Ones. Bet they never went hungry until the White Man came. For those of you wanting to learn more, I have provided a link to the official Cherokee Nation website.   

When the white man discovered this country Indians were running it.

No taxes no debt, women did all the work

White man thought he could improve on a system like this.
~ Old Cherokee Saying