Blank Canvas

I have a huge yard. When I look at the huge dirt field in my front yard that is slowly being covered by weeds, it is overwhelming. I have a temptation to say, "oh well, let them grow up over my whole house for all I care."

But then I open the fridge and find only carrots and cabbage and I think, "I better get out there and plant!" So I slowly and with no enthusiasm at all, I find my seeds. I think boy this is going to be a lot of work. I decided to plant corn yesterday. I went out into the blistering heat and planted fourteen rows of corn. While I am planting, I start thinking about all the delicious corn that will grow. I pray that God will bless this labor and give us a harvest. I act in faith because putting a dry seed in the ground is just that, faith that something will grow and that something will be food. Then I start to think about the possibilities.

At that moment my yard becomes a canvas. What will I do and how will I do it? I finish the corn and think. What else can I plant around this corn? I open my gardening book and find that potatoes and corn are good to plant together. Great, I will plant the potatoes that grow with their pretty dark green leaves beneath the corn. They will help me with weeding. Where they grow weeds will not grow. I am happy. I plant seven rows of potatoes beneath the corn. I am hooked and can hardly wait to plant the rest of the yard.

I go back to my seed box. I find my orange marigolds and tall purple cosmos. I plant them in my flower bed along with a row of dark green spinach. I always think Disneyland is cool with the artistic way they plant vegetables in tomorrow land. They can be used like little shrubs.

Turn on the sprinkler and begin to look at the yard. I decide to weed the left hand side so that I can plant butternut and acorn squash. I throw in some pumpkins while I'm at it. These grow in huge swooping vines and cover the yard like a ground cover with huge heart shaped leaves the size of elephants ears! Everywhere they cover holds the weeds down and provides us with delicious squash as well.

I turn to my little gazebo we built two years ago. It is looking sad and needing some attention. The roof is falling and so we propped it up. I will get a fabric roof for it this year. During the summer the children and I eat almost all our meals in there and even put a little pool in there so they can play in the shade. But yesterday, it just looked sad. So I got out my paint and painted it blue and white (the same colors as our house.) I will plant green beans to grow up it's sides. Soon it will be covered with pretty leaves and little white flowers.

I had to stop there and make dinner for my little ones, but I am no longer dreading my yard. I finished the day reading gardening books and planning what to do next! I am really excited to see it grow into my little art project on my blank canvas!