Summer Harvest

Summer at the Carpenters is not all play. We always have a large vegetable garden. In the pictures above, my two gardening buddies, freshly awake and in their PJs, are picking vegetables for Mama to can. This week I have canned 14 quarts of tomatoes. It was a lot of work but I will love it come winter time. Reese has been begging me to do some pickles so we may work on canning some pickles at the start of next week.

This weekend has also been a huge hay weekend. Marty is round-baling several fields to take care of the cattle on our families' 50 acre farm. Tomorrow we will be joining him and he is tickled pink. He loves to spend time on the farm together as a family even if he's working. I like to take my camera and capture some photos. I will post some of our farm on here soon.

Not everyone understands why we farm and grow such a large garden that is so much work in August and September, but Marty and I feel very strongly in teaching our children the value of manual labor and hard work. It is our responsibility as a family to help each other out and move toward a common goal.

I also revel in the simplicity of doing a chore like canning that does not take much mental power sometimes! I have been reading a lot lately (I'm totally obsessed with putting books on my ipod now and listening to them while I work out) but have felt a little overwhelmed with all I'm learning. I felt like I needed to work on so much of my life to get my actions closer to God's will for me. I cried out to God one day and told Him I felt like I was spinning my wheels. I felt God speak to my heart, "You don't need all the answers. I have the answers. Just seek me." Oh my gosh did I feel chills. So . . . that's what I'm trying to do as summer draws to a close. Just seek Him. I would like to end this post with a scripture I have been studying this week.

2 Corinthians 4:7

"We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves."