God Blesses Our Garden

Assalm alykom:

This was our first family experience with a garden. I think it was a blessed one too! We planted tomatoes, peppers, herbs, pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers and zucchini. We also planted Jews Mellows. In Arabic this is called Moolookheya. It is a green leafy plant that I can only describe it similar to spinach. You stew it with chicken or lamb. It is not ready to be picked yet. I am hoping that it is really good. A garden is a great hobby for a family. I recommend it for any family. It is great exercise also. When I would go pull weed each evening, I used muscles that I did not know I even had. After all the work, it is so rewarding to go and pick all the goodies. It is even better to cook all the good things up and eat them!

Barn Swallows

Barn Swallows are just amazing creatures created by God. They usually start arriving in the spring. They build these amazing nests from mud and grass. They are all over our barns. After they build their nests, they have to put soft bedding down for their eggs. They collect chicken and duck feathers from all around the farm and carry them up into their nests. They lay about 4 eggs in each nest. It is hard to photograph them because their nests are so high up. Even if I can reach them, they are so close to the ceiling that I cannot get my camera in there. Well, feeling a little like a wildlife photographer, I climbed into semi-dangerous spots to photograph a couple of babies. My 11 year old daughter snapped a few of these too. Apart from being excellent builders, these birds are wonderful at flying. They glide and move like no other bird I have seen. Every time my cat goes out, they swoop down so fast and hit her that she does not even see them coming. Barn swallows are protected birds here in Nebraska. Their main diet is flies. Anything that eats pesky flies, I am all for protecting!