gardening.

                                                                                                                                                                             This post may contain affiliate links

Being a smart cowdog, I find things happen pretty fast, and this is sure the season of ever-shifting change.

This calls for Prepper Pup!

The mud is drying up this week, so getting around should be easier, but mom’s tired old mechanical aids have had it.  Last week, the axle broke off her 4-wheeler on the way to the barn, so we are back to walking. But at least it is easier now then a couple weeks ago, when we had 2 feet of snow!

Then the old Explorer quit too. It’ll take awhile to get everything repaired I suppose. I don’t mind, because it gives me plenty of time to mosey and sniff, as we get our chores done.

And there is a lot to do. Mom loves to plant trees; we plant lots of them, and I help dig the holes. It is also my job to lay in the shade and watch mom dig. The brown truck has brought two long funny shaped packages so far. I thought it may be exotic bones for the cowdogs, but turned out to be trees!  I bet there will be more, along with plants, bulbs, seeds.

I am not asked to help dig when mom plants seeds, however. It is my job to keep the chickens, cats, squirrels and chipmunks out of the garden then. I think. 

I like to plant things with dog names – dogtooth violet, dogwood, dogbane, dog rose, mad dog skullcap…but NOT Hounds-tongue!

So far we have planted onions, potatoes, lettuce, carrots and radish. We prepared gardens for more seeds and plants. The house is full of tomato and pepper plants;

Mopsy the shaggy gray cat , eats the pepper leaves and gets in trouble – I laugh because it isn’t me being told NO!

I hear a lot more people are getting interested in gardening these days, some driven back to the land by fears of a plague, or government upheaval, or the general catastrophic disintegration of society as we know it.

Life began in a garden, after all, and maybe we all feel a pining to get back there.

I don’t know much about gardening yet, but I am very good at digging.

Is this where the next tree goes?

We have lots of seeds, and there are many places to get good seeds. And no GMO’s!  One of our favorite seed sources is  https://www.sandhillpreservation.com/,  a dedicated place in Iowa that raises poultry and plants for the preservation of old varieties.

We plant in troughs and in the ground; and because Mom loves to garden year-round, she got this neat planter for growing inside. I hope those pesky cats don’t eat everything planted there!

It is an Aerogarden: https://amzn.to/3tRuLJk

Soon greens will be ready and I will get some in my dinner.

Now when we plant,  the little boys will help out.

There are apples, pears, plums, all kinds of berries, pines and roses.  We fight off voles and deer, another part of my job. I monitor watering and I fertilize sometimes, too.

I smell deer!

With every plant, we bury sorrow and worry in the hole, waiting with faith and hope for the reward.

We plant for others, mom tells me; we reach optimistically into the future when we carefully put them in the ground.  Someday Sprout and his baby brother – and their grandchildren – will pick the fruit.

Gardening is a slow, quiet pursuit.  It is sometimes solitary, sometimes teamwork, like when I and little Sprout help out. The feel of the cool earth in my paws. There is no grumbling or cussing in a garden.

The garden takes center stage this time of year, but there is always a lot for a prepper pup to do. Now we plant and tend, water and weed. There will a lot of fencing this summer. There will be digging – grander than what I do, I hear. There is planning, putting up, storing away – all things that I will learn to help out with.

A lot of people are learning and practicing such things again, and , looking at the world, it better happen. Can anyone trust the government will rescue us? Of course not.

Even though it isn’t all herding jobs, it is what I do here. I’ve only been on the job a few weeks, but I find the only way to make it, is to depend on God and do all we can to provide and prepare ourselves.

Looks like every season is one of taking care of prayer, plan, prep, persevere.

A good job for this prepper pup,I’d say.