Up, Up, Up! Blessed Sunday.
We hope those of you who celebrate the rituals of Easter Sunday find many, many eggs of joy.
We have to stay Up!, in these times.
Evil energies and greed are trying to keep us down.
Can’t happen…unless we let bad-minded people rule our minds.
Our brains are the strongest weapon we have against the evil we see in our midst. Use your head.
Let your light shine. We’ll make it through these confusing, difficult times.
Victory gardens
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” Hippocrates
Considering the chaos we are living through now, I am reminded of how women planted War Gardens during the onslaught of World War I.
The impact of tariffs will hit us all.
No matter where you live. You will feel a pinch in your budget. Putting your energy into seeds and plants that grow into your food helps your mental health, your physical health and your pocketbook.
In the absence of menfolk, American women had to become creative to fill their kitchens to live through four years of World War I.
We can do the same now.
You can grow much of your green market goods. You don’t have to invest in seed packets either. One small pumpkin can yield several pumpkins. Cantaloupe will easily grow from saved seeds. If you start thinking about what you can save, harvest from the produce you buy now. You will have an amazing garden before you know it.
Window boxes are easy, sprouts on your kitchen counter are fun and prolific. Container gardening will happily yield cherry tomatoes. Many herbs easily grow and perk up simple dishes.
If you choose large vining produce, toss some seeds into that tiny strip of land between your sidewalk and the street. Make a small sign so no one mows them down in the hot summer months! Vines are pretty.
Look for a co-op in your city. You may be surprised at what you find.
Kansas City has a community garden, you can find information about it here. There are several community gardens in the suburbs too.
Try to share your bounty with someone. Your generosity will come back to you from perhaps an unknown source.
I feel so much happier when I have my hands in dirt, harvesting food from my efforts. That tiny act makes me feel like I have some control over my well-being in a crazy time like this.
We have to seize control of each moment!
Stretch your budget with soup from your bounty
When I showed Marshall Halloween pictures of Jack’o’Lanterns, he was appalled that we carve them and throw them away. “We eat pumpkin here!”
Small pumpkin chunks with the skin left on, added to a vegetable soup will thicken and impart a beautiful orange color.
You don’t need to be a super chef to boil some veggie soup with some of your home-grown crops. Just remember to toast your seasonings first in an oil of your choice, add garlic, onions, sweet peppers, etc. Saute them until soft, and toss in the remainder of your vegetables with some water to boil. Add a bullion cube or box of stock when you are ready.
Worry about protein? Add some beans and rice. The combination is a complete protein.
If you like creamy soup, put it in a blender and whiz perfectly. There’s no mystery here.
You will save your hard-earned dollars faster than you think! You’ll control the kind and amount of oil you use and be healthier for your trouble.
Abracadabra, you will have a filling, nutritious, feast.
Painting marches forward
I wish we could harvest paint chips. We would be millionaires! The painting process is slow, complicated and messy. Two outsides of the house are almost complete.
I can’t wait until we begin inside.
I want to paint the kitchen a sunny yellow. When finished we can hang our “Hommage to Felix”.
Those of you who have read Veranda Vibes know Felix well. Scared by the moving commotion he never returned to the Treasure Beach Veranda for Marshall to snag him.
We miss him and his loving family but I think it’s just as well. We see many cats travel through our yard here. They are busily independent and not interested in us at all.
In an amazing story, (I tell you about under the picture), recently, his likeness came after being lost in transit since…2020!
We plan to hang him over the kitchen window as soon as painting is complete.
Life is the greatest unpredictable wonder of all!
Thanks for reading until the end.
I have so many more stories to tell!
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Soon I will be moving some of my articles from Medium to audio files here on my site called “Words in Your Ear”. When it’s up and running I will add a video blog on another site called “Under the Mango Trees”.
Finally, you may choose to pay a small one time fee to become a VVBFF or…Veranda Vibes Best Friend Forever or languish happily for free here as you have for the last two years.
Drop me a note in the comments about any thoughts you may have about this idea.
Wishing everyone Blessings from Jamaica for a happy, happy, spring.
