garden – Nancy Tart: Writing for Life

Dressing the Part

#DressingThePart #ChristinaCanDressUp #DressUpDays #Halloween2022 #Halloween #SillyMemories #Silliness #BeSilly #BeFun #Family #Memories #LetsMakeMemoriesTogether #CreateSillyMemories #DontLetYourFunStop #WGVGymnastics #ParentsNightOut #ChristinaHasWayTooMuchFunDressingUp

November 12, 2022

Dressing the Part

Christina likes to dress up. She turns into “Christy the Elf” after Thanksgiving and loves dressing up to our themes at work. This Halloween is the first we’ve lived in a community where people actually trick-or-treat! This made her super excited! She had Jaquline’s big speaker outside playing creepy and fun Halloween songs (some were soundtracks to different movies, others were funny like “the Monster Mash”). She had invited a bunch of friends but most had other plans and attending a friend’s Halloween “party on my driveway giving away candy” is not a valid excuse to play hooky from work.

One of her best friends showed up – in a totally amazing costume my nerdy girls loved! – and these two college girls goofed off and enjoyed giving away candy to all the trick-or-treaters. A table of glowing fun candles and cute props, two smiling young ladies handing out candy, and a bunch of spare candy bags hiding just inside the door made for hours of fun.

Christina worked our October Parents’ Night Out where the coaches are encouraged to dress up.

Before she left, she was crawling around the house “getting into the dog character” just to make all the little ones laugh. Christina knows how to make little ones laugh. Maybe that’s why she excels as a preschool coach.

Louis looked at me, “what in the Earth?” because, you know, she is nineteen. Or is she?

I love that they have the freedom to dress up and play pretend and goof off – one has to feel very confident in their own skin in order to act silly in front of others. It is amazing how my girls’ first jobs give them options to be silly. We dress up (okay, not me, but the other coaches do), we goof off with each other and our kids (yes, I goof off with the preschoolers and tots), and yet all of us are very professional about our job. We love our kiddos! We want the best for them!

I always take time to do fun kid things with my children. Thea wants to play legos (we set up the lego base boards and each gets a spot to build). Lucas wants to play boggle with Thea (yes, they both get words now, it’s almost scary – Thea won one round because she had a 3-letter that beat Lucas’ two-letter and she’s told everyone!). We spend family day(Sunday) with at least one board game like Monopoly or Risk. We do silly dance parties or sing karaoke. Sometimes we have been known to spend hours watching parakeets or guinea pigs or lizards or chickens while narrating (speaking for the poor animals).

Sometimes when you are being silly, you totally dress the part – like Christina.

Sometimes it helps to make you join in all the silliness and pretend you are a part of a world where imagination reigns. Crawling around like whatever animal you are pretending to be, making the littles squeal with joy and run from you, or pretend they are “protecting” and wrestle you; always make time for “silly” memories. When I think back, some of the most heart-warming memories with elder members of my family were the silly ones (i.e. my granny at eighty-something throwing cartwheels to teach a group of us kids how to do it, running through the sprinklers with my Daddy, “braving” the rain from a Sams Club with my mom) and then the ones I remember making with my siblings and children… twirling in the middle of a flower garden, singing silly songs on bike rides, people-watching on the bayfront, tickle wars, covering kiddos with sheets and “smashing them” while I try to fold sheets or make beds, reading stories that will never be published as they shred them apart with kid-questions, letting them “cook” stuff in Star Ocean while we fold clothes, etc. Silly stuff we remember as so much fun.

Enjoy your silly memory-making moments and don’t be scared to “dress your part” if the mood hits to be silly!

Thank you for Reading!

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

Peppers

May 20, 2020

Peppers

Have you ever seen a pepper seed? If you’ve had crushed red peppers shaken on your Italian food, you’ve seen the small whitish yellow seeds; the crunchy non-red parts of the seasoning.

They are very small – not carrot seed small, but almost four times smaller than a squash seed.

We do have little tunnel diggers in our yard so we plant each seed separately in its very own little cup. These sprout into two tiny leaves holding the seed coat above them like a rocket punching through the atmosphere. Then we have sprouts! (the picture below show a mix of tomato and pepper sprouts)

We planted our second wave of pepper sprouts into a close bed of 4′ by 4′ with just enough spacing between each one for the plants to grow. They have a few small branches at this point as the picture below was taken about three weeks after transplant and about five weeks from sprouting.

Here they are seen with several little peppers hanging off of their branches. Can you spot them?

We’ve had one supper of stuffed peppers over rice, I harvest one to chop up and toss in my eggs or leftover rice for second breakfast, we even used some to make a salsa along with our fresh tomatoes!

I’m loving the peppers from our garden! (And both Lucas and Thea eat them right off the plant – at least Lucas will wait until they are big!)

Thank you for Reading!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Watermelons

May 18, 2020

Watermelons

In our garden there are these long snaky vines that we keep training to stay out of the peppers, stop invading the carrot patches, and keep your green tendrils off of the zucchini!

They start as wavy delicate yet determined sprouts. Nothing, not even the largest block of rock mud from the bottom of the old dried up pond gets in their way!

BOOM! rock is dust!

RIP! old squash leaf is split!

CRACK! goes the tiny seed starter cup!

Whatever stands in the way, the watermelon seedling bursts through it. Then these once delicate vines turn into a vast network of tangled grass-choking stems. What are they protecting?

The whole life and growth of the watermelon vine is directed to the tiny fragile yellow blossoms. Some female blossoms bear a tiny oval of green at their base. This tiny dimple is what they are destroying all other plant life for? But that tiny dimple grows. It is sheltered under the protective covering of the lacy leaves. This blip becomes a blimp! Swiftly it swells into a gourd that darkens with tiger stripes – if tigers were green.

Watermelons.

Even when conditions are difficult the watermelon plant puts all of it’s effort on building the fruit to maturity.

This plant can’t grow without sunlight, water, and the right nutrients in the soil

It reminds me of life: (here she goes again, more plants and animals that mirror into life *sigh*) HEHEHE… (you should already know this!!)

Anyway, it reminds me of life: we start slowly and cautiously in wherever we are planted, uprooting is a risk, we slowly grow in whatever direction leads us to light and space, we try to smooth the path for those after us, as parents, everything in our lives is focused on leading the next generation to maturity and we can’t do any of that without God.

And that is where my mind wanders as I am counting watermelons on the hills in our little garden…

Thank you for reading (gotcha trapped if you got this far!)

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

Hidden Treasures: Garden Style

May 14, 2020

Hidden Treasures

When we grow our garden, we come across some interesting plant discoveries (probably because seeds are lost by little helpers in odd places) and have found some amazing co-growing companions.

This tomato was just found in the lily patch and we potted it as it was before the last frost and we wanted the free tomatoes! – no one knew what variety it was until the fruit came about. Turns out it is a sweet cherry tomato like the ones we like to get from Curries’ Market as Lucas’ favorite snack picks.

That is one little plant that has produced nearly a hundred tomatoes (most of which Thea has eaten green) – that is a side effect of allowing a toddler to help in the garden. She sees us eating things we pull off of bushes and out of the ground so why can’t she? Instead of puckering her face and wanting to know why the tomato is sour, Thea licks her lips and says “yum!” to little green tomatoes.

Another hidden plant is this one. He is protected by this huge wild plant in the tobacco family.

It isn’t a proper tobacco plant like those cultivated for cigars and such, but is a weed from the same family. It has stood guard in the same spot for three years . We trim it back to a 1′ stalk as the foliage dies in the late winter, but it grows back up to 6′ in a thick bush of shade. (Right now, the very tops are easily 8′ up!) This pairs excellently with tomatoes around because of two things: #1 tomato worms that can decimate a tomato plant almost overnight prefer this wild tobacco! So all the bugs get on these fine fat leaves for easy seek, squish, and destroy missions (Lucas is the bug catcher squisher most of the time). Our chickens won’t eat said worms so in order to keep them from eating away our tomatoes, we squish them. #2 It also grows tall at the same time as the tomatoes begin to fruit, providing filtered shade from the Florida sun. Awesome.

Then there are the little treasures like tiny citrus trees sprouting from the compost we lined around the garden bed!

A few carrot tops placed around make for beautiful parakeet snacks and pest repellent for tomatoes. Doubled with the onions (the root sides of green onions replanted), these pop up in “expected” locations.

Another fun thing are the wild foods that get cultivated along with our planted foods. Wild beets, those come from the undigested seeds from the Guinea Pig and Rabbit food, sprout around many of our plants. They attract the greens-eating bugs who love their leaves more than buttercrunch lettuce! The chickens eat not only the bugs but also the wild beet greens. Minuit and the Guinea Pigs love the wild beets.

Pusley, Spanish Needle, and Dollar Weed are excellent rabbit and Guinea Pig treats. They are all edible for humans too (along with our pansies and bougainvillea) and make a yummy greens mix for stews (Shhhh!). Pop in Rattlesnake Weed tubers and try that (chickens love them). We discovered bougainvillea is edible for the mammals in our house and safe for our avian pets. Although it is like a potato, as only part is edible. For a potato, it is only the root which is edible. For a bougainvillea, the leaves and flowers are edible. The thorns and stems contain a mildly toxic sap that causes upset stomachs and can cause dermatitis in birds.

Kimberly said I can’t forget the Sweet Potato – that was one vine in the pot now it’s on the ground too & we’ve been harvesting greens from it (they are super sweet like a spinach-beet)

I love learning about and passing on this fun knowledge to my children. Once Jillian remarked, “cool, there’s so much food I’m stepping on all day!” I am a little concerned that Thea will be like her Uncle Buddy and try to shock people with “what a beautiful flower!” as she chomps on a pansy, rose, or bougainvillea flower. But that hasn’t happened… yet.

Enjoy your garden!

Thank you for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

The Story of Sheba

December 28, 2019

The Story of Sheba

Once there was a little girl who loved dogs and prayed for a little black dog. Her mom had already agreed to take the least wanted puppy from a litter about to happen. Her mom prayed the puppy was black.

A few weeks later, Mom got a call – the mommy dog had shoved one baby puppy away and it needed special care. Mom said, “we’ll take it” and the tiny “runt of the litter” fluffy puppy came to her furever home. That was February 25, 2008, almost 12 years ago. And yes, other than a white spot on her tummy that grew to cover her belly and some brownish tan on her paws, the puppy was black!

Sheba with (L-to-R) Kimberly (Sheba loved snuggling on the couch), Jaquline (Sheba would sleep on the walker to keep Kimberly and Becky from “racing” the baby around!), and Thea.

Sheba became the Tart family’s perfect dog. She loved the three little humans who grew up with her. Kimberly was only five months older than Sheba! Sheba ran around, grew up, played, made doggie friends, herded chickens, mothered lost dogs who wandered in, loved on chickens when the Tarts lived on their farm, snuggled with baby chicks, guinea pigs, the two rabbits, and Christina’s baby puppy, Prim.

Sheba had a wonderful doggie life.

L-to-R: Sheba with Jaquline (Jaquline insisted Sheba loved “Snow Dogs”), Kimberly had “dressed” Sheba in a beaded necklace she made, Sheba’s favorite sleeping position on any couch.

L-to-R: Sheba in the playroom, Sheba loved the tile floor in that house!, Mom said “no more movies” and the girls couldn’t find the remote… (Sheba had it!) Sheba loved to sleep on that table for some odd reason.

(top) Sheba with puppy Primrose, (bottom) Sheba with Lady (one of our doggie friends), (right) Thea climbed up on the couch to snuggle Sheba, who was sleeping in her new, weird, favorite position.

L-to-R: Baby Lucas, Jillian, and Sheba at the end of the bed (right next to the crib), Sheba’s favorite spot in that garage (next to the food bag!), Thea rubbing Sheba (she loved her soft fur and had just learned “dog!”)

Last year she started to slow down a bit. In December of this year, she started feeling sick some days. The vet said her stomach was failing. Vitamins and special food helped a little. She wasn’t able to digest all her food and she would get skinny and we had decided once she was in pain, we would put her to sleep. None of us wanted to lose our Sheba. She loved being outside when it was cool because she was bushy furry (we teased she was an a/c dog because she slept on one of the air conditioning vents in summer and almost refused to go outside in summer daylight!). On cooler days, she would play on our run while we were outside. Christmas Day it was gorgeous. Sheba said hi to both Grandmas when they visited and ran outside almost the whole day in gentle cool breezes. We were petting and snuggling with her by turns. She sleeps a lot since she’s been over 10 so when she curls down to sleep we usually let her rest. We were enjoying a Christmas campfire and telling stories. Louis went inside to get some water. I knew Sheba was fully asleep when Louis stopped by her longer than just to stroke her and turned his flashlight on. I handed Thea to Mom and we verified that she was fully gone. I stroked her soft, fluffy coat one last time before I wrapped her in her blanket.

The older girls came out to help. We buried her and said goodbye to our best furry friend. Sheba had spent more time with me than any other dog. She was our first family dog. My mom said, “Sheba probably found Boompa and Aunt Mary in heaven.” Christina laughed, “oh, yes, she instantly found Aunt Mary!” Because every time Mary would stay with us, Sheba would seek her bed out and snuggle with her – I’d be like, “no dogs in the bed, Mary,” and she’d giggle, wrap Sheba in a bear hug and say, “but she’s a big, fluffy stuffed animal!” and Sheba would give us the sweet sad eyes so she’d get to sleep with Mary. Sheba always snuggled up with anyone who wasn’t feeling well – she always seemed to know before we did.

Kimberly said she had prayed that Sheba would get to run loose outside, thinking of us having a fenced yard at our new house, but Sheba had been running loose anytime she was outside lately and stayed near the house because she didn’t feel good.

Louis set candles out on her grave for the night. We’ve planted flowers now. Each pet we’ve lost, we’ve buried and planted a tree over it as a reminder. Louis called Sheba our perfect dog. That she was.

Flower Bed for Sheba — The Garden Bed we planted for Sheba

Thea’s first Christmas was Sheba’s last. Our furry family treasure went to heaven, “raced over the rainbow bridge” as Jillian said, after spending a full Christmas Day with her family and “Grandmas.” It had been Sheba’s favorite outside day, gentle cool breezes with a mild, wintery temperature where she’d stand, face in the wind and wag that super fluffy “duster” tail. I’m going to miss my Sheba. Two months shy of 12 full years from her February 25^th birthday – rather long for a dog. Goodbye, my sweet, lovable, playful furry baby; I love you Sheba, run free and fast with no leash and no borders! Your human family will miss you!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Happiness Is…

When you close your eyes and see happiness, what do you see?

March 12, 2019

Happiness Is…

Each of us has a different view of happiness. This is because we are all unique individuals with varying dreams, passions, interests, and desires! Try this exercise:

Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Think of the word, “happiness.” What do you see?

For me, happiness is:

…Lucas racing his bike around the yard (he LOVES that bicycle)

…a clear bright blue Florida sky (hopefully with ocean sounds in my ears!)

…playing chef or chef’s assistant in the kitchen with family or friends with happy music playing (I LOVE the community feeling when there are two or more of us cooking together.)

…the sound of the waves, the feel of squishy sand, the salty sea smell (for perfection, add a surfboard.)

…the smell of sweet hay, the sound of farm animals, the sight of abundant fruit on trees and in a garden

…a bright, open, cheery home with a sanctuary for visiting relatives (Grandma suite, anyone?)

…every time I picture this perfection in my mind, I see my family. Family, friends, community; living life together. This is what I picture as happiness.

I often imagine heaven as a huge garden, overflowing with life, where all of us spend quality time with each other tending the animals and plants as we were designed to do (okay, I know that’s simple and I’m ignoring the obvious awesomeness of actually seeing Jesus in glory, but you know, I can dream.) Happiness for me is being with my family.

A wise man said, “be sure if you join yourself to someone, they see happiness the same way you do.”

Another, “you can’t change someone, they are the only one who can choose to change themselves.”

Remember that you cannot be happy trying to force someone else into a mold you see. Enjoy them as they are. (We all have flaws, no one is perfect, and everyone is uniquely different!) Don’t try to change others, just allow them to be who they are. (A friend pointed out to me once that no one in the “Pooh-Bear” books “unfriend” Eeyore because he’s gloomy; they accept him as he is.)

When you close your eyes and see happiness, whom do you see with you? Those are the ones you love. That is what you treasure. Cherish time with those who make you happy.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

Watching Growth

From plants to chicks to rising bread: we all grow at a different rate!

June 18, 2018

Watching Growth

Have you ever watched bread dough rise? It takes FOREVER!

Have you ever planted a seed or set out a new plant in your garden? You sometimes don’t see the slow growth – sometimes you don’t notice until, “Oh, wow, there’s a red tomato on that bush!” The plant was watered, de-bugged, and looked after for about 100 days but never really watched.

I planted my elephant ears in spring… now they are taller than me!

Our baby chicks were cute little fluffs of fur, totally dependent on us to keep them safe, feed, and water them. Now, they are nine weeks old. Fully feathered, they look like miniature adults. They don’t need us to pamper them and hide them from the rain or help regulate their body temperature; just some food, water, and a cat-proof shelter is fine.

My oldest daughter is almost considered by the state to be old enough to command a 1-ton vehicle! I still see her as the tiny bundled angel in the picture on my wall. Of course, I literally see that she’s grown. Sometimes she doesn’t see it.

Sometimes I don’t see my own growth.

God is always working on us. Since none of us are dead, we are still improving. Sometimes we get frustrated at ourselves because we don’t see any growth. Maybe instead of imagining ourselves as rising bread, we should think of ourselves as growing plants. Maybe not elephant ears – okay, sometimes we do grow quickly. But with some things we are like the White Cedar (growing about 6 inches per year) or the Saguaro cactus (gets only one to two inches tall in the first 10 years!)

Sometimes slow growth is hard to see.

A wise man plants trees under whose shade he will never sit.

Wow, that thought says to me that those who choose to invest in long-term growth are wise. So rather than expect instant results when I’m allowing God to work on my life, I understand that sometimes tiny steps in the right direction eventually lead to the finished product. I will choose not to be frustrated with myself for not being a fast enough learner; I will choose to rest in His care and allow time for growth.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

Guinea Pig “Toddler”

June 30, 2018

Guinea Pig “Toddler”

Since we had a baby Guinea Pig (Sweet Potato) born on the fourth of June, we’ve been studying Guinea Pig growth.

Oh my, do they grow fast!

Not only do these amazing animal moms deliver live babies with a full coat, open eyes, claws, and teeth, but the baby is about 20% of the mom’s size. (About 10% to 15% of her weight though.)

Sweet Potato’s mom is Taylor (Picture is mom & baby)

Her dad is TobyMac (Picture is dad & baby)

At 22 days old, Sweet Potato learned how to go down the ladder from the hutch where she was born to the ground to graze on grass (Guinea Pigs are better tractors than chickens! They graze grass down to about ½” tall and then squeal because they want more!). The girls have now stopped calling her a “baby” and claim she’s a “toddler” Guinea Pig.

The girls have been loving on Sweet Potato since she was born. They snuggle with and coddle all three adults, but Sweet Potato is the sweetest. She knows how to tickle!

One day soon, Sweet Potato will find a lifetime home, but for now, the girls love “raising” her so she will keep being sweet and friendly!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Elephant Ears

May 24, 2018

Elephant Ears

One of my favorite garden bulbs is what we call “Elephant Ears.”

These are from three bulbs that we dug up in some weeds when we first moved in. They were tiny, neglected, and crowded. With good fertilizer and plenty of water, (we didn’t have to water them, God did it with the rain!) those three multiplied into fifteen by January when we replanted them in this nice half-shady strip between the carport and the side of the house.

We also leave the wild flowers that don’t crowd out our bulbs. Tiny white flowers that spread like ground cover are some of Jillian’s favorite because they look like “stars on green sky.” (Those are under the star lily in the above picture, but their blooms look like dots in the picture.)

These are the smallest ones. The elephant ears are now growing alongside a few lilies, six pineapples, tomatoes, and squash. (The clump of bushy leaves on the right corner are tomatoes.) The plants are called elephant ears because their leaves get to be the size of African Elephant’s ears. I’ve grown some before, which by their third year, had leaves that were five feet wide! (Since you have to clip the ears off at the stalk when the ears fall to help encourage new growth, the girls would save the clipped stalks for umbrellas!)

These are some of the “wild” tomatoes. This means we didn’t sow them there, they just came from our fertilizer/compost and we tended the plants as they sprouted. Jillian has the worm-picking job because we don’t use pesticides.

I love Florida bulbs, they are easy to grow and propagate quickly. I can give the many extras away and cover my yard in little groves of them within just a couple of years. Now if I can just get fruit trees like fig, citrus, kumquat, pineapple, and bananas to grow as well!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

Results of the Rains

May 22, 2018

Results of the Rains

In late Florida Spring, we get rain. Who am I kidding? We get flooded. Our meteorologists have a very easy job. They can say, “we have a 100% chance of rain at some point today with clouds and a chance of thundershowers.” We do get a few slivers of sunlight, just enough to remind us that the sun is still battling for dominance.

A result of this rainy season is a slight change to the adage “April showers bring May flowers;” in Florida it’s “A string of showers bring beautiful flowers.”

Aren’t they gorgeous?

We had only a few small bulbs in neglected clusters when we moved in last year. We dug them up, separated them, replanted and fertilized the soil at least monthly with organic non-toxic high-nitrogen fertilizer. They reward us with amazing blooms after the showers!

Our fiery orange and yellow blooms are Kimberly’s favorite. (We had just three bulbs last year!) These are our front yard background flowers with their huge oval leaves and tall stalks.

Our bright white and fuchsia lilies make the bulk of the garden blooms.

These little buggers were in four clusters all dejected. A total of 34 bulbs – now they cover in a checkerboard pattern the front, center, side, one beautiful cluster, and lines between the cedar trees along the driveway. There are easily 100 bulbs now and we’ll have more in January when we replant.

Then there are my awesome tiny purple blooms with straight stalks called “Mexican Petunias.” Grandma Jeanette had a yard full of those! These are actually great-grand flowers off of some cuttings Grandma Jeanette gave me about ten years ago. So they are our “heirloom flowers.” (Yes, that’s a collard on the right.)

I love the results of the rain!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Tag: garden

Peppers

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Watermelons

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Hidden Treasures: Garden Style

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The Story of Sheba

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Happiness Is…

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Watching Growth

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Guinea Pig “Toddler”

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Elephant Ears

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Results of the Rains

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