Tag Archives: Kenya

Garden, Mission trip, Watching my pennies

Thriving In My Thrifty Week+Bits From Rob’s Trip to Kenya–May 29, 2024

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I was able to use our OMSI membership again last week when Malcolm and I took Rob to the airport. Malcolm sure loves it there and it just seemed like a good way to get his mind off the fact that Papa was leaving on that airplane! It kind of worked. He had a lot of fun while we were there. He sure misses his Papa, though, and asks for him repeatedly.

I’ve been working in the yard and garden whenever I can get a few minutes. I’m purposing to work at least a little every day and I’ve reached that goal most days. I did get the back raised bed cleaned out at last! I planted a few veggies in there and a few seeds last evening. I put in a few more snow peas, lettuce and green onions for a succession planting, along with the 2 tomatoes, basil and parsley I planted. There are a few garlic plants that survived the winter. Frankly, I was surprised. I thought they were super hardy, but most did not live through our winter. I didn’t think it was very harsh, except for one week. But, for whatever reason, most died.

We had a nice day with the little boys. My daughter and I thought we could handle them together, so we had Zai over to play with Malcolm. They are quite a handful when they get together, but we all had a great time, I thought. They played outside a lot, I made them ice cream cones, they played with the car, the hose, and dug up my cucumbers before I caught them…..you know….just a simple afternoon in the yard:). They “helped” me plant a few flowerpots and did a thousand other things.

Rob is having a wonderful trip to Kenya. Communication is spotty, brief and intermittent. But some pictures have come through on What’s App, along with a few texts and even a few broken-up at times phone calls. It looks like he’s staying in a wonderful place…so beautiful.

I guess this is him doing devotions for the staff. Of what, I’m not sure, but maybe a children’s home. I do know he’s working there in the evenings. All will be explained fully once he gets home:). He has also taken several perilous rides on extremely bumpy, slippery roads, if his pictures are any indications. I know he’s gone to orphanages in the evenings and played with kids, helped with Sunday School for around 200 kids last Sunday (with only about 2 local helpers and the 4 of them that were on that project–yikes!!), toured several chicken farms, ate one of the chickens for lunch, went to a coffee farm, and worked at a hospice home yesterday. He actually rolled bandages! He also spent time with the residents.

The organization he’s gone to Kenya with is a mission organization that works with local organizations in each country. That is why the work is so diverse. On this trip, there is the work with children, the hospice center, and agriculture. Many women have enrolled in the program “Women of Change” and started agricultural businesses so they can have another option from brewing alcohol like they used to do. Many are becoming very successful. There is also a large coffee-growing componant that is part of the work. Rob did mention that although they grow wonderful coffee, most people there drink instant….???? I guess on this upcoming weekend, they will be inviting lots of people to church, and having a VBS for around 300 (they guess) kids, along with Sunday School for another group this weekend. They’ve asked for a few more helpers:).

My information is spotty, and may be a bit inaccurate, but that is what I’m gleaning fro the pictures and bits of information I’m getting here and there. Once he gets home next week, I’m very eager to hear all about it in every detail.

Garden, Mission trip

This is Me…Cutting Down on the Garden. Hmmmmmmm—May 20, 2024.

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We are in a flurry of activity around here, getting the garden ready. We are weeding, planting, hoeing, watering, setting up sprinkler systems…all the things that need to be done. I promised myself that I was going to cut down a little bit this year, since I’m working so many hours. I have had limited success with that! It’s just so fun to plant things.

I have some spinach coming up in this raised bed, There is lettuce in there as well. The bed behind it still has not been cleaned out. I’m way late on some of my chores around here!

I have spaced the tomatoes much further apart. I can walk between the rows much better than I usually can and I hope it is easier to hoe and harvest.

There are only 3 rows of peas instead of the 6-8 I usually plant. My carrots came up very sparsely, as did my beets. So…..those I actually need to plant over again, I think. I finally have been able to get some lettuce to survive. I had some small plants Rob started in the greenhouse that are taking off at last, and some seeds did come up and escape the slugs’ voracious appetites after 3 tries.

We did not plant anything in the very back of the garden. We didn’t do corn at all, anywhere, and there are much fewer rows of beans than normal.

There are some seeds in the ground in this raised bed that have not come up. There are a few tomatoes against the fence and the remains of my strawberry plants. They aren’t doing super well, for whatever reason. We shall see what happens. That’s part of the fun of gardening….the anticipation.

I have been out in the garden early and late…whenever I can spare some time. Even with cutting down our planting, we still have a pretty big garden! I’m excited to finally have the weather dry off enough to get out there. It’s been a long spring for us here and I’m eager. I’ m almost done planting, and I can’t wait until it really starts to grow and produce.

As Rob prepares to be gone for almost 2 weeks to Kenya, he has been scurrying around here setting up the sprinklers in the garden, making sure the lawn mower has gas for me to use, setting up the automatic lawn sprinkler system, and a million other things. That lawn system required some work as we had a couple of broken sprinkler heads and some sprinklers were overgrown with grass. We just got that done this weekend, and just in time. After incessant rain for weeks and weeks, it dried off and didn’t rain a drop for quite some time, leaving me to water every little plant with old milk jugs, watering cans and the hose….let’s just say I’m super glad it’s fixed. We ran a round immediately and saved me quite a bit of time.

Rob leaves on Thursday. He will be working with kids in Sunday Schools (300 at a time, we are told), orphanages in the evenings (150 at a time, they say), and doing some work with agricultural projects during the days (not sure exactly what that will entail–time will tell). We are both super excited to see how it all unfolds. Prayers are much appreciated!