What’s Happening – Obtaining Mercy

Last Week was Busy in the Croft

June 27, 2022June 26, 2022 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Food and Drink, Household, Obtaining Mercy Croft, What's Happening

Just a few pictures from this week:

We’ll be harvesting the leaves and roots of this plant to be dried for later use.

We hope to use this attachment to our Champion juicer to grind our dent corn when it’s dried and ready for harvesting.

None of the things we canned were grown in our garden. The okra was given to us by a friend. The blueberries were frozen. And the potatoes were given out for free at a truck stop just down from our house. We were sent home with 144 pounds of potatoes! We still have MANY quarts to go!

Herbs drying: chicory leaves, sage, oregano and strawberry leaves

We’re drying some of these for use later as spices and some as a blend of healthy herbs that can be added to dishes to increase the health benefits.

Jicama is a plant that grows a tuber underground that is a very tasty starch. The good thing about this starch is that it doesn’t spike blood sugar, so it’s pretty healthy. The thing you must remember though, is that the leaves, stems and flowers of the plant are poisonous.

That’s it, I think. We did try a loaf of bread in our bread maker. My mother-in-law sent it early for our July anniversary. It looks pretty, but didn’t taste the greatest. We’re still working on our bread recipe to find something we like.

We made a few goofs with our canning too. It seems like preserving our garden harvest is much like the gardening itself – lots of trial and error.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might…
Ecclesiastes 9:10

No worries. We’re not discouraged. We’ll just keep trying until we get it right.

Alesha Kay

Introducing Obtaining Mercy Croft

Featured by ObtainingMercy, posted in Bloggy Business, Obtaining Mercy Croft, Uncategorized, What's Happening

After a year of planting, digging, watering and pruning, Doug and I have decided that gardening is just one big experiment. And since it seems that we really enjoy the scientific method, with all it’s trials, successes and errors, we thought we’d name this laboratory of ours.

Introducing Obtaining Mercy Croft!

CROFT: a fenced piece of land used for small-scale food production, usually near a house

We’ve planted, without exaggeration, over 125 different fruits and vegetables since last spring. Many of them didn’t do well, some did better than we expected. Some we planted in our sandy backyard and others we potted up into containers, buckets and half-barrels.

We’ve discovered things we don’t like to eat and some lovely things we were surprised that we liked.

And we’ve been amazed at all the beauty to be seen in the garden.

The most astonishing thing, I think, that we’ve learned in the garden is that the garden teaches us so many spiritual truths. We’re constantly learning something about soil or seeds or pruning or watering that exactly mirrors a truth that can be found in Scripture.

And that is going to be our new focus here on the blog.

Along with more regular updates on Isaac and on the garden, you will see more posts of a devotional nature, sharing some tidbit of truth that we’ve gleaned from the Croft.

And…you won’t just be hearing from me, as you have for so many years now, but you’ll also be hearing from Doug.

I know you will enjoy the truths that he has to share!

So…a few changes. Nothing drastic. But we’re excited about our new focus!

We hope you’ll join us as we study our Master Gardener and the things He teaches us here at Obtaining Mercy Croft.

Doug and Alesha

Our Garden’s First Freeze and How We’re Handling It

January 26, 2022 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Florida Weather, Food and Drink, Obtaining Mercy Croft, Uncategorized, What's Happening

You guys know I’m a newbie gardener, so this weekend will be the first time we’ve dealt with a freeze in our garden.

Here’s a list of some pointers that have been posted on the various groups I’m part of, as well as on the University of Florida’s IFAS Extension article on Cold Protection.

I thought I’d share for those who don’t have time to do the research.

My next step was to list everything in the garden that we didn’t want to lose or that was close to harvest. I made a coded list of what we planned to do with each one.

Some things are tropical. Ideally, they would be dormant right now. But, of course, it’s Florida, so things get weird. We had temps in the 80s just a couple of weeks ago so the plants that had been dormant started to bud, flower and grow. So nothing is dormant as it should be. We’ll do our best to protect each one in the best way.

Tropicals that are too big to be moved or that are in the ground will be mulched with yard clippings and leaves. Our neighbor just blessed us with 9 bags of oak leaves that will do a nice job for that. We also can use the straw that we use for mulching our garden beds.

Some of the tropicals will also be covered with sheets and we’ll add a string of Christmas lights underneath to add to the ground’s radiant heat.

We’ll be grouping our strawberries and blueberries together and placing a bucket of hot water underneath the covering as well. We’ll try to put that out as late as possible, and will need to replace it each night that we have the coverings in place.

We have several 5-gallon buckets with peppers, tomatoes, chick peas and Cape gooseberries. We’ll cluster these with a sheet and lights too. A couple we will bring in, especially if we only have one of those – namely, the Cape gooseberry and the Katuk.

Some of the smaller plants that are in the garden beds will get a tarp installed over a frame, as well as a little extra mulch around their stems. Finding a frame is easy enough – we have several crates we’ll use and some lawn chairs that can be turned upside down over the plants that will do the job, too. We also have a few plastic jugs that we’ll cut the bottoms out of and install on top of fragile plants.

The onions, garlic and sweet potatoes are all underground, and we’re hoping that the temps in our area won’t be cold long enough to affect them.

We also made of list of those plants that need to be harvested if at all possible:

There won’t be a lot of this stuff ready, especially after the frost on Sunday night, but we’ll check on each of them any way.

So…this is our plan. I’m sure I’ve forgotten something. If you’re an experienced Florida farmer and see a flaw in my plan, please let me know! We’d like to do our best to salvage what is still growing and to save those tropicals and natives that we’ve spent money on this past year.

I’ll do my best to do a timely follow up post.

Until then, stay warm – wherever you are!

In Him,

Alesha Kay

Garden Progress

August 16, 2021 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Florida Weather, Household, How Great is Our God, Managing My Mondays, Obtaining Mercy Croft, What's Happening

Just thought I’d share a little progress note with you.

We are starting seeds for the new fall garden. I’m excited to be able to grow things now that wouldn’t grow during the hot summer here.

Lots of sprouting going on!

And we’ve been prepping our beds for some special seedlings. These are our Seminole Pumpkins! I’m so excited to be growing this Florida native in my garden this fall! If you look closely, there are nine little seedlings in that bed. We’ll be giving it some more mulch a little later on.

And I thought I’d share some of the ways we get things accomplished here at our house. I’m not able to go outside for hours, helping with all the gardening tasks. And there are SO many, you can be sure! When it’s cooler, I can sit and help outside, but it’s still just too hot for me to sit out there now.

So, this is how I help. We cover the floor with sheets and cardboard, set up a table, bring in dirt and pots and plants and I help get things done. These were our strawberries. They’ve grown and multiplied for several months in this wagon and needed to be separated in order to bloom in the fall and winter. It felt so good when that job was done. Doug rolled them back outside and brought in our other wagon to load up all the pots.

There would be no garden if Doug didn’t help. I am so thankful for him! He says I’m the brain and he’s the brawn…LoL! Not really, but it does sort of describe our strengths. I do all the planning, plotting, choosing seed, buying supplies, laying out the garden; and he supplies the brute strength. I’m so grateful the Lord put us together on the same team.

I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into our day.

In Him,

Alesha Kay

Hello August!

August 2, 2021 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Florida Weather, Food and Drink, Household, Obtaining Mercy Croft, Uncategorized, What's Happening

I’ve never really been a fan of August. As a youngster, it was always too hot to do much outside, and too boring inside. I was an only child until the age of 13, so no siblings to play with. I also had to start thinking about the upcoming school year, wardrobe, routine, pressures and supplies.

August marked the end of church Summer Camp weeks (my absolute favorite thing about summer!) and the lazy, unplanned mornings at home; and the calendar started filling up with lots of activities, some I enjoyed, but many that I didn’t.

Now, however, I’m finding the joy in August. Not only are some things started to really take off in my garden – despite the heat! – but now starts the time of planning and research and plotting out my new fall garden scheme.

I love researching what will grow here in my zone (9b) and learning which plants make good companions to others. Did you know that you should not plan onions and/or peppers near your beans? Yeah, neither did I, until I started studying.

And did you know that now is the time to start your seeds for all those things that wouldn’t grow here during our hot summer? That’s right – broccoli and carrots and lettuce will do well here during the fall when the heat diminishes and the hours get shorter.

There are also certain varieties of each veggie and fruit that do best here. We need onions and garlic that are short-hour varieties because our days are getting shorter now. We don’t have the 16-hours of sunshine a day needed for those long-day varieties.

And the Seminole Pumpkin does really well here in Florida because it’s a native variety. The Red and Yellow Roselle Hibiscus do well here too, and will soon have beautiful calyces to harvest for teas and preserves..

I’m also trying a tomato variety that is native to Florida, the Everglade Tomato. It is sooooo tiny, and the fruit will be very small, but it’s nice to have something that actually likes to grow here. 😉 And our course, a Mulberry tree is always happy in Florida. This one is “dwarf”. Yeah…I’m thinking it doesn’t know what that word means! Ha!

So, I’m finding plenty to be excited about in August. It’s not only a time of transition, but also a time of savoring…enjoying the still moments before the rush of our autumn routine pulls us away.

Enjoy what the last few weeks of crazy Florida heat is doing for your plants and soil, instead of wishing the hot weather away. Autumn will come, just like always. Let’s enjoy each day God gives us.

In Him,

Alesha Kay

Planning a Productive Summer

June 3, 2021 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Bloggy Business, Craftiness, Links to Share, Uncategorized, What I'm Reading, What's Happening

As the temperatures rise and the activities of the school/college year wind down, we grab our coolest sunglasses and fix our eyes toward summer.

We head into this month of June with a huge list of To-dos, Must-sees and Can’t Misses. The 3 months stretch out before us uncluttered and full of promise.

The problem is that, usually somewhere around the middle of August, we realize that the To-dos didn’t get done, the Must-Sees weren’t viewed and the Can’t Misses were…well, missed.

With that in mind, I’ve created a cute little 90-day Summer Planner.

(The picture and title are clickable. Links may be affiliate links that provide us with a small commission at no extra expense to you.)

The Summer of Me Planner: 3-month Summer Calendar, 90 page Journal, Gratitude Notebook, To-Do List Organizer

It’s called “The Summer of Me” not to enforce a totally selfish mindset, but to remind us that WE only accomplish what WE plan to accomplish. No one else can set our goals for us. They must be something we’ve determined through prayer, Bible study, advice from trusted counselors and the Holy Spirit’s leading.

This little planner has 3 month calendar pages:

14 weekly pages:

Several pages for notes, summer activities and a look toward the Fall, and a Daily planner layout for each page of the Summer.

It has everything you need to plan a great Summer and actually succeed at having one!

When you pick one up, I’d love it if you left a review – pro or con – whether you like it or not. This is my first foray into self-publishing and I’d really like to know what you think!

The Summer of Me Planner: 3-month Summer Calendar, 90 page Journal, Gratitude Notebook, To-Do List Organizer

Thanks so much for reading.

In Him,

Alesha Kay