Updated Post: Swimwear and Modesty

I have updated the following post: 
http://littlethingstx.blogspot.com/2013/05/swimwear-and-modesty.html

Please take the time to go back and read it and follow the link to read the article written by The Pennington Post.  I wish I could merge her post and my post together because they go so well together.  This is such an important issue as we come into the swimsuit season.  We do not need to be a part of robbing our daughters and sons of their innocence.  They can have fun with their bodies clothed. 

Part 1 Gardening "Firsts" 2013: Onions

 I am really bad at "Series" postings, but alas I will try again.  I got a new camera and I love it.  I have been really busy with many things, but one of those things has been gardening.  I am really expanding my gardening beyond just growing a few simple things to make myself feel like a "gardener".  For a while now I have planted tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and just enough variety that it makes me feel like I am doing something.  The reality is I have never been very good at it and I am not a "real gardener".  In my quest for healthier non-GMO, pesticide covered food I have decided that I will drive myself crazy trying to buy organic through co-ops, groups, or mass purchasing to save money.  And buy organic in the store is way too pricey for our income level and family size.  If I have to pay $7 for a pound of strawberries, we will not be eating strawberries.  So, I began with looking at what we eat or could learn to eat and I have been busy planting and learning from past year's mistakes.  That means learning more about composting, soil amendments, container gardening, raised bed gardening, companion planting, natural organic gardening, etc..  So, I think I will do a "series" on what I have done to share some successes and failures. 

These two pictures may not look too exciting, but they are very exciting to me. One is yellow onions and the other is purple onions growing away in the dirt. This was another "first" for me. I have never grown anything but green onions before. These planted in two different containers.  The tops on this got huge this year, but until the last couple of weeks the part underground did not seem to be growing much... maybe because you could not see it. I can tell by the peek I am getting that they are probably baseball size. That's the good news. The bad news is I should have planted way more. I had some more, but I must not have gotten them in the soil early enough because they did not make at all. Those were in the ground.  So, you can bet the next chance I have to plant onions I am going to plant a ton! ~I am also seeing my kids more interested in gardening and I think it is because they sense my excitement about it.~

Details:  Yellow Onions & Red Onions; planted in containers on my patio in February 2013; pic taken in May 2013; soil was just dirt from the ground with some composted leaves (nothing fancy); containers are a large galvanized washtub and a large planter pot; I let the clover grow simply because I like it and love the little purple flowers that come on them.  I also feed the clover to my rabbits, so I guess it counts as a companion plant (even though I did not plant it)

 ~Yellow Onions~

~Red Onions~

Swimwear and Modesty

 
"Modesty: As Summer is fast approaching it will be swimsuit season. Modest swimwear takes a little more creativity, but you can find modest options. I don't want to teach my children to flaunt everything. God made them beautiful without putting it ALL on display. Protect their innocence! I will be happy to share any resources I know of for modest swimwear options. Everything you see in these pics is from Wal-Mart (Caden), Academy (Sierra's cool hot pink zebra print skirt set), Target (Sienna & Sahara). I can also tell you that what you might think is "odd" might not seem "odd" at all to your child. We had concerns, but my kids were very happy to have suits that don't show everything and make them feel like they are wearing their underwear in public."  --Me posting via Facebook

First of all, I want to say.... and I have probably said this a few times before.... that everyone has a different view of what defines modesty.  Also, I tell my girls and my son that I want to show them that there is a different way than the half naked swimsuits that are all around us.  I have damage to my heart and mind from my own immodest journey.  I would like to save them from that, but ultimately there will come a day when all the choices are theirs to make.  To me I also think is so important to provide them with something they can like and not just something you can make them wear.  If you dress them in something they do not like or are embarrassed to wear, you are going to have a harder time with this.

Secondly, you have to teach your children the "Why?" behind teaching them modesty.

• Why is this important to you?  You may have to talk about your past or why this is a conviction for you. 
• Why is this important in our society?  You may have to talk to them about the issues in our society.
• Why it should be important to them?  They will need to glorify God in their swimwear choices.
• And many more... the point here is to be willing to discuss this.

The last point I am going to make is that you might not find your "swimsuit" in the the swimwear department.  It might be in the sportswear or you might have to search out the pieces separately.  For Caden I found his in the swimwear department as a set that included the Rash Guard (that is the shirt top) and the swim trunks.  The ones my littler girls were wearing were in the sportswear section intended to be worn for running track or some other sport, but they are perfect because they have a built in fitted panty under the shorts.  Even if someone is able to see up their leg their is still a swimsuit like bottom under there.  Those pieces were sold individually so you could mix and match with other items they coordinated with.  The suit my older daughter, Sierra, in this pic is wearing was sold the same way and you could choose the skirt which has a biker short type bottom built into it or you could choose a bikini bottom.  I will say that my oldest daughter does not like the feel of this as much as others but she has one that is purple and black zebra that she has worn for two Summers now.  I also have a modest swimsuit that I bought last year.  I had to roam around a bit to find mine, but surprisingly I found all the pieces at Wal-Mart.  I was able to find a black, white, and hot pink Rash Guard with zebra print accents in the swim section.  I think there was a matching skirt, but they were sold out of the size or it was super short (I don't really remember).  I tried several things.  I bought a black lycra tennis skirt from the sportswear department and that is what I ended up using.  I also tried black lycra capri length legging and I liked that look but they were sliding around too much which was because I bought the wrong size.  To go with the leggings I had purchased a short zebra skirt that worked with it.  All of those pieces were in the sportswear sections.  Be open to searching out pieces and think out of the box.  

UPDATE:  I left out soooo much without thinking about it.  I was reminded of some things when I read this article from The Pennington Point.  http://thepenningtonpoint.com/2013/05/embracing-modesty-no-19-swimsuit-edition/  

There were a lot of points that are in my "head", but I did not type.  Like, when I was pregnant I bought a maternity dress at Motherhood that was all lycra and knee length and I wore a swimsuit panty under it.  I had really bought it with water birthing in mind, but it became my swimsuit, as well, for the next two years.  Lycra dresses are a great swimsuit option paired with biker shorts or leggings.  Many of these things are getting much easier to find since people wear them for exercise clothes or sportswear.  Even Wal-Mart has a whole section devoted to this sort of thing.  Sadly, most people wear it for everyday clothes, though.  LOL!  I think I am going to go back to my swimsuit modesty post and link your article!  If this is not okay with you please let me know.

Growing Giggles and Garden Inspiration

Sierra, 9, at Shangri La Gardens in Orange, Texas in the children's garden

Grow giggles!

Are you growing some giggles?

Sierra sure looks like she is thinking about something giggle worthy!

I love theses garden people she is hanging out with.  

The little one is named "Sprout".

.... Because he/she is the little "sprout". So cute!

I love how the old rubber boots have Spanish Moss growing out the top...

and the bushy head the parent has.  

They are certainly all giggle worthy.

All of the gardens here are beautiful and well thought out, but the children's garden is the most inspiring to me.  They have beautiful raised bed gardens and what makes them beautiful is the abundance of growing herbs and vegetables.  And everything is there for you to enjoy... and I don't mean to just look at.  You can observe it, touch it, smell it, and EAT it.  I always feel like I am doing something wrong, but they freely pick it and hand it out to you to sample and encourage you to pick and eat as you please.  

Caden is pumping water while Sahara observes.  

I love the way the raised beds are surrounded by pea gravel .  There is another row of raised beds like this to the right of the paved walkway.  To the left is the Orchid greenhouse.  Behind us is a large herb garden, an children's "potting shed" playhouse area with little lawn chairs for the kids, and a dirt pit for them to shovel and dig in.  Even with just this tiny glimpse you can clearly see how inspiring these gardens are.  

So, what are you planting?

Repurposed Items for Container Gardening

I was looking around online and found these great ideas for planting containers.  I am a believer in using what you have or repurposing something that can work for your needs, so all of these ideas caught my eye.  Gardening is all I seem to be able to think about lately.  Tis the season!!!  I shared these links with a local group of friends and I thought it might be nice to share them here, as well.  I hope someone finds them useful.  And not that you will do exactly what is pictured, but it will make you think to look at things through different eyes.  Maybe you have something that you are planning to toss in the garbage, but it can be uses as it is, painted a different way, or be completely redone to serve a new purpose.  I know I have some scrap boards from a treehouse project we are doing that I can build like a simple miniature raised bed more like a square wood pot and I can just see it being about two foot high and making it completely bottomless.  I can put newspaper (etc.) down under it and plant some potatoes in it and when it is time to harvest just lift the wooden box off and harvest my potatoes.  Maybe I need to make it a little taller, but you get the point.  

For those of you short on containers I saw these chicken wire baskets. So, look around... maybe you don't have chicken wire... maybe you have some scrap boards. Use what you have and think outside the box. http://www.thediyadventures.com/2013/03/12/chicken-wire-herb-basket/

Planter idea: Wood scrap planters.... so pretty! 
http://www.precioussister.com/blog/wood-flower-pot

 

Planter ideas: pretty boxes
http://www.precioussister.com/blog/balcony-vegetable-garden-progress

  

I am not sure I could plant in the boxes above because they are too pretty!  Wouldn't they be gorgeous on a shelf in the house, too?!! 

Wild Turkey Feathers... Oooops!

Wild Turkey feathers from our turkeys.

Again, this is not my picture and I borrowed this because it looks just like our feathers.

I am really missing having a working camera.

And really thankful that the internet has a picture of everything on the planet.

Pictures do make things more interesting!

We have a Tom and two hen Wild Turkeys.  And no, they are not "wild"... well, they are not tame either ;)  ... but rather that is the variety.  They are the same that you find in the wild.  They are quite beautiful birds..... which is why I feel so bad about removing the beautiful feathers....

Note to self:  Don't grab a turkey by the tail feathers even if you have a large handful.

So here's the story:  I was going to let the chickens and ducks free range, but we are told that if the turkeys get out we will never see them again.  We have been told they will fly away and never come back.  I am not sure I believe this.  I tend to think that just like the hens, roosters, and ducks they would come back to their home.  I could be wrong.  Either way, we were trying to prevent losing them, so for their SAFETY I was trying to catch them to put them in our smaller inner pen that is in the chicken yard.  This area has a separate door that can be closed to keep them locked away while allowing us to leave the chicken yard open so the hens can come in and out and lay their eggs.  Let me just say that the turkey hens are HARD.TO.CATCH.  As in... we have never touched them other than the day we brought them home over three weeks ago.  I did catch them, but now they are missing a lot of feathers.  As I reached out and grabbed the first hen I grabbed all of her tail feathers and she tried to run.  As she jerked away I felt all her feathers gently release into my hands.  Ugghhh!  That was not supposed to happen.  Now we have a bird with a naked rear end.  Poor girl.  And now, she thinks I was trying to torture her.  I was merely trying to keep her safe.  After capturing her and releasing her into the inner pen we went after the second turkey hen.  Sadly, we jerked out some of her feathers, also.  The next day we free ranged the hens, rooster, and ducks, but we did NOT torture the turkey hens again.  We just left the chicken yard door open less than a foot wide, so the hens could get in and out, but the turkeys could not. 

Another adventure to learn from.  I find there is always much to learn from all these creatures.  This day it was:  Do not grab a turkey by it's tail feathers! 

Hopefully, they will grow back fairly quickly. 

Preparing for the Unexpected

I feel like I should post here about something that has been on my mind.  And I mean like on my mind NOW..... in an urgent way.  I have some concerns that I will not go into.  What I want to say is this... prepare.  Prepare to be able to provide the basic needs of your family for, at the very least, a week.  If you can, prepare for a month or longer... really I think you would be wise to prepare for a year or longer.  Basic needs... food, water, items that are needs to you... prepare to have a heat source for cold days.  Prepare to be able to grow food or find food... have a source for food production like hens for their eggs or goats/cow for milk or rabbits for meat.  We have rabbits for pets, but I am thinking that if I was starving they would be dinner.... not to sound creepy, but most people are not going to come take your rabbits in the first phase of desperation.  I think they would go after your chickens first because they are "normal" food.  Stock up on some seeds... even if you don't normally garden.  

I feel like something big is coming... maybe as early as a week from now.  Sounds crazy?  Yes, it sure does.  I hope I am way off on this.  At any rate I don't want to look back and wish I had told a few people... or more.  

Mostly, make sure you have your Bible and several copies of it with you.  Read it!  Print out a chronological listing.  Gather up a Revelation study to have on hand to read.  Watch for the signs that are there.  Read the wisdom and teach it to your kids.

If you are prepared for the unexpected and it never happens the worst you have done is be prepared.  Don't let it make you crazy, but prepare.  You never know when you need it.  And it will never hurt to have the reassurance that you have done what you can.  And tell others to prepare.  Blessings to you all!