What A Pest!

I just love my vegetable garden...



Unfortunately, so do many other little critters...such as the deer, racoons, chickens, birds, and BUGS!

In the past, we have tried many things to keep our garden pest free...fences, scarecrows, sprinkling eggshells or hair trimmings or whatever the latest pesticide free trend was. Some things worked...others didn't.

Then I stumbled across a recipe in a magazine that has been such a blessing for me...not only for pests in my veggie garden...but also on flowers and shrubs.

The original recipe called for one onion, one clove of garlic, and one of the hottest peppers you can find. I have adapted this recipe...my new version is cheaper and easier to make!

My PEST ASIDE! Recipe
What you need...
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 cups boiling water
5 gallon garden sprayer




Mix ingredients together in bowl with lid, cover the mixture and let it set overnight. Believe me, by morning this will stink!





Strain mixture through cheesecloth to catch any unmixed powder. Pour into garden sprayer and then fill sprayer to the top with warm water.





Spray anything that you want to keep "pest free". Because of the taste, critters won't touch the plants!

I usually spray about once every two to three weeks...or after a heavy rain because the mixture will wash off.

I buy the cheapest variety of spices...our Renys,Walmart, and Dollar Store carry these for 50 cents each. A very inexpensive and non-toxic pesticide!

Another helpful garden hint...I hang dryer sheets cut in thirds along some of the veggies that the birds really like...I buy the cheapest and smelliest brand... it works better than a scarecrow...they don't like the smell or the motion from the blowing dryer sheet! Sorry feathered friends!


Best news of all...

I made up some of my "pest-aside!" so that I could take pictures for this post...I really didn't plan to use it today. Well, God had other plans. As I was working in the garden, the phone rang, and a neighbor that we've been witnessing to, both through our words and our lives, called to ask me for this recipe! She was having a major problem with slugs! I told her that I had just made some up and I would send Samuel right down with it, along with a bagful of eggshells (sprinkle these around your plants...slugs won't crawl over them!). Another opportunity to "share"...Praise God!

"...and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all." Isaiah 31:12b

In A Fog...

It's morning in Maine...
and the fog has settled in over the harbor.






I am out on my daily walk. I can smell the ocean as the mist surrounds me...such an incredibly wonderful salty smell...clean, breathtaking, refreshing...I am totally convinced that Heaven smells just like this.





Although I feel sorry for vacationers when this happens...I have to admit that I love it when the fog envelops us here on the Point...it almost feels like Heaven's blanket of protection from the outside world.





Yet I know, as a Christian, it is important that I do not go around living my life "in a fog", for these are dangerous times, and it is ever so crucial that we are obedient to God's Word.




"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves..."
2 Timothy 3:1-2a

A Little Bit Corny...

We spent a good part of Saturday in the garden.



I'm am so excited...our corn is already "popping" up! We generally don't even plant corn until around Memorial Day...but because God blessed us this year with a mild winter and a not so rainy spring...we are already seeing evidence of His bounty.

Some might say it's a "little bit corny" ...to get so excited over some seedlings poking up.


My parents often refer to me as "Little House" when I call on the phone. Having raised 10 children, many now with children of their own, my parent's phone is always ringing. When I call, my mom or dad will affectionately holler to the other one..."Little House is on the phone!" Why, you may ask? It is in reference to "Little House on the Prairie". Although the Maine coast is about as far from the prairie as you can get, our lifestyle is similar in many ways to that of Laura Ingalls Wilder...and thus the name "Little House". Some might say it's a "little bit corny"...but I don't mind.



Some might say that it is "a little bit corny" in this day and age that we live off the land as much as possible, that we educate at home, that we hold tight to our Christian values, that we feel it necessary to be obedient to God even when no one is watching, that I wear dresses, that we love the feel of warm farm fresh eggs from our hens, that we have taught our sons to be respectful of and to learn from their elders, that we don't have a dish or cable, that I love to cook and sew and take care of our household, that our sons don't believe in casual dating, but are patiently waiting to find and become betrothed to a Godly young lady...who might just possibly be "a little bit corny"...just like us.

But I don't mind...there is a peace in living a simple life close to God.


"And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven." Psalm 78:24