Lovin’ these cool, crisp, mountain mornings. Ah, fall is in the air. Once the kiddos are on the bus, I shall get cracking on another batch of apples. Crockpot applesauce today and then apple pie filling in a jar later today. Then school work, housecleaning, work, and whatever else needs to be done around here (never a lack of that!). I don’t have any classes today at UNCA so that’s a nice little break.
What has happened to our sense of community? Our sense of neighbor helping neighbor? For hundreds and thousands of years, that is how our societies worked. And it worked well. If our neighbor needed help harvesting their crops, the people in his/her community didn’t think twice about lending a hand. Young and old turned out to pitch in. If a barn needed raising, if someone was ill, if someone was in need, those closest to you came to your aid. Why? Because by helping your loved ones, by assisting your neighbors, you also helped yourself, you strengthened your community.
Over the past 50-100 years, that mindset has gone by the wayside. It’s become all about looking out for number one. It’s all about ME. We’ve distanced ourselves, physically and emotionally from those around us, even our own families. Where there used to be the family homestead, now families are spread so far and wide from each other that if they see each other once a year, it’s a miracle. Sure, there is the internet, skype, text messaging, telephones, but that human, face to face touch is much too often pushed aside. We don’t have time to sit down together and visit. Instead we pop off a quick text message and feel like we’ve done our duty of keeping in touch. There’s no more welcome wagon welcoming new people into our neighborhoods. Someone new moves in next door and we barely greet them or introduce ourselves. Don’t want to get too close. We wouldn’t bother with asking to borrow a cup of sugar from the lady next door. Just hop in the car and run to the store. Much easier than walking a few steps over. There’s something wrong with that picture.
We do not know what is going in the lives of our neighbors, and even more sadly, we barely know what is happening in the lives of our parents or siblings or children who live hundreds of miles away. Oh, we talk to them now and then, but do we really know the whole story? We don’t know who needs what. And today, the question is, even if we did know that our family or neighbor needed some help with something, would we actually help them? Or would that interfere with our lives too much and so we would simply ignore the need?
What worked for generation upon generation in the past could still work today if we would just get back to those basic things of caring for and about our community. Of looking out for one another. Of taking the time to ask our friends and family members what is really going on in their lives, actually listening to their answers and then responding. Because the world has gotten so big and so immediate, we see this huge, massive picture of all the ills in the world, and I think sometimes we just give up and think there is nothing we can do. It’s too much. But it’s not. Not if we start at the home. Start with the small circle. Your family, your neighbors, your community. As we start there and help them get stronger, then we all get stronger. We feel empowered. It starts with that first ripple in the pond and can then branch out from there. We need to embrace those around us, lend a willing and helping hand, reach out to those in need. Only then can our community grow and thrive. One day, one person, one family at a time. We must put the unity back in our lives and our communities. We have to return to the basics.
It used to be that this idea was a given. For our grandparents, our parents and even for some of us who are a bit older. Of course we all sat down together for dinner. What else were we supposed to do? Where else would we be? We probably did not realize that that time together was part of glue that held our families, our family life together. It was simply something we did every night after everyone was home from school and work. It was part of our daily lives. A time to share and break bread and reflect, together, on the things that had taken place in each of our days.
Sadly, nowadays, this is not a given. And of all times when this tradition should be vitally important, it is often ignored. In this age of techology, when we communicate so often through technology, be it cell phones, emails, social networking websites, etc., human, face to face, eye to eye contact is not experienced. But we are social creatures. We need, desire and crave that human touch. Desire to look into someone else’s eyes and see their soul reflected there. It’s all well and good to express your feelings and talk about your day’s happenings in a quick post on Facebook or what have you, but let’s be honest, are we completely honest in those posts? Do we really want to all those people our most intimate and private thoughts and feelings? I don’t think we do. And even if we do, something, by the very nature of such communication, gets lost in the translation. A smily face 
cannot possibly express true, unabashed joy. In the same way, a sad face doesn’t express the true depth and breadth of sadness. Is it just a little ouch or is it gut wrenching sobs?
And who better to share these most honest feelings with than with the people who matter most to you? Your family. Whether it’s gathering around the dining room table, sitting on a blanket having a picnic, or what have you, the mere act of sitting down with each other, passing the potatoes and the salt and pepper, breaking bread can be a healing part of our long, often arduous day. We can let our hair down, smile across the table at our spouse or children, refortify our beings-both physically and emotionally by simply sharing that little half an hour together. (A key point here is to do so without distractions such as a television or the interruption of phone calls-we turn our phones off during our dinner time.) This is a time to focus on one another, on our family, to let each other know that the other people are more important to us than other things that can demand our attention.
One of my dearest friends told me a long time ago that one of the things that her grown children always talked about when they got together later in life was how important that family dinner was to them in their memories. They recalled how no matter how crazy their day had been, they knew that at dinner time, they would all gather and there was someone there who cared and would listen to them. Those are the types of things I hope my children remember most.
So often, we get caught in with thinking that what will matter most to our children when they are grown up and on their own will be their memories of material things we were able to give them. But when you think back on your childhood, do you remember what you got for your 12th birthday or the times you and your family were just hanging out, being together? Those happy and warm memories. They are the ones that fill you with those warm, fuzzy feelings of yesterday.
We all need a time in our day to reconnect with other people. Life can get crazy busy, schedules often get so heavy we don’t know how to find, but let’s try to remember how important those face to face connections are, for ourselves as well as the loved ones in our lives, and make time to, on a more frequent basis, to sit down at the family dinner table together.
And what a gorgeous night it was for a walk. Hundreds of barn swallows silhoutted against the backdrop of the setting sun as they dove and swirled, chasing the evening bugs. Bull frogs croacking away in the farm’s pond. The corn is now taller than any of us. Ah, summer nights.
Summer Nights
Getting ready to head out in a few minutes for our evening family walk. Always such a nice way to calm ourselves and wind down from the day, spending a half hour or so, enjoying each other’s company and relishing the beauty of the landscape aournd us.
Our chicks and ducklings are enjoying their first day in their outside pen and coop! Moving up in the world. A lot more space, covered areas, room to run and stretch their wings and legs. They seem pretty darn happy! What a gorgeous spring day to make their move to the outside world. The kids and I are going to spend our day in the yard doing some more clean up and working in the gardens. Ah, I love waking up from a long winter’s nap and stretching my own wings once again!
My office space in our house is not just buzzing as it is tax season and that is my other business, but now it is cheeping and peeping, too, with the sounds of Spring. Monday we got 15 baby chicks ( variety of breeds) and 2 ducklings (mallards)! Had to stop by Tractor Supply to get feed and waterers and they happened to have ducklings, and well, I just couldn’t resist. Then Meghan, Frankie and I drove out to Leicester to Double G Ranch to get our baby chicks. If you have never been out there, to the farm, that is, you really should go. What an incredibly place and Valerie and Lance are the best! They have goats, chickens, ducks, guinea hens, pigs and a beautiful setting for their farm. They are having farm days throughout the spring, summer, and fall so keep an eye on their website for those dates and take the time to go out and visit! They also sell their farm products at the West Asheville Farmer’s Market which will be opening at the end of April. We are so fortunate to live in an area that supports and promotes our local growers. Thank you to all our area farmers and bakers who share their wonders with us.
We let the ducklings swim around in our upstairs bathtub last night and they were so cute. The kids were absolutely entranced, watching the ducks’ little webbed feet take so naturally to the water, watching them swish their tails and dive beneath the water. Too much fun. Our chicken coop has now been completely cleaned out and reinforced. Of course, it will be several weeks before the babies can go outside to stay, but everything is ready for them.
LAWNS
• Consider aerating the lawn with a core aerator as early as possible. This will
allow spring rains to soak into the ground more readily.
• DO NOT fertilize cool season lawns (fescue and bluegrass). Nitrogen applied this late is an
invitation for brown patch fungus disease in June.
• Maintain mowing height for fescue lawns at 3 to 3 ½ inches.
• Even though it is a bit late, you might still try seeding those bare areas left by last summer’s
drought.
ORNAMENTALS
• Apply a fresh layer of mulch to landscape beds before summer weeds germinate. Pull the winter
weeds first. Only add enough mulch so that the total depth of mulch is no more than 4 inches.
• Try planting those spent Easter lilies in the garden. Keep them indoors until May, then plant them
about 5 inches deep in a sunny location. They probably will not bloom again this year, but should
be back next summer.
• Let the foliage of the spring bulbs die most of the way down before cutting the leaves. The bulb
needs to absorb that energy for next spring.
• As soon as spring blooming shrubs have finished blooming, it’s time to prune if they have gotten
too large.
• Do not plant frost-tender flowers before May unless you will be able to cover them in case of frost.
FRUITS
• Pull weeds in the strawberry bed and put straw mulch between the rows.
• Fertilize fruit trees, blueberries, grape vines, and brambles.
• Finish pruning brambles, grape vine and fruit trees.
VEGETABLES
• When the soil is not too wet to work, till or turn over the soil for May planting, incorporate lime and
phosphate according to soil test recommendations.
• Set out transplants for cool season crops such as cabbage, broccoli and lettuce. Make sure they
are hardened off before planting into the garden.
• You can still start transplants for warm season vegetables.
• Begin “hardening off” warm season transplants a week or two before planting in early to mid-May.
• Have row cover fabric handy if frost sensitive crops are planted before May.
OTHER
• The first hummingbirds arrive in our area between April 10th and 15th. Get the
hummingbird feeders cleaned and ready to go out.