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Spinach is the best or worst salad,
depending on when it is grown. |
Our helper came by for the latest project last night. The stifling day was already turning into an evening with steady, cool breezes, the kind we experience when a thunderstorm goes north or south of us. We covered the new vegetable garden with newspapers and mulch. I planted a lot of spinach, and it was coming up, but spinach likes cool weather and this crop was tough and impossible to enjoy. The sunflowers rose up in the back, so they will benefit from the added mulch and newspapers.
Our helper wants more rain to help his lawn care business. The grass stopped growing two weeks ago, and his four clients have relatively little work for him. We have seen so many almost-storms that we dismissed the latest reports, but now the lightning is warning of the storm coming through.
The layers of newspaper and cypress mulch will shut down the growth of the vegetables, weeds, and grass in the new vegetable garden, depriving the green plants of sunlight. Mulch alone is not enough, and newspapers alone tend to fly away. Together they shut down the light and provide an attractive area where the only green growth comes from weed seeds that land on top.
Another domain takes over in the dark, especially with the rain falling. Heat loving bacteria will break down the high-nitrogen grass, spinach, kale, and weeds. Molds will help the process. The soil is teeming with various creatures that live on decay or feed on the these foragers of decay. At first the earthworms will stay away, because they abhor heat while loving the dark and damp environment we created. When more of the decay has advanced and the layer cools down, they will feast on the bacteria and devour the newsprint.
I discovered the love of earthworms for newsprint when I left a stack behind the garage in Midland. The idea was to get rid of the newspapers or use them to suppress weeds. When I lifted them up later, the stack of newspapers was solid, like plaster, and earthworms were all over the bottom - fat and healthy.
If I plant fall spinach to harvest in the spring, I will pull back the mulch and newspaper layer to reveal the bare soil, let the spinach germinate, and cover it when the hard frost comes. Believe it or not, the spinach will simply become dormant until spring, when the protection comes off and the soil thaws.
In contrast, the spinach yesterday was insect eaten, dry, tough, and bitter tasting. Spinach loves cold rainy weather and thrives when it is too cold for the insects to devour it. Also heat makes it go to seed, which is bad for spinach and lettuce alike.
Sassy missed her normal round of errands yesterday, because the car was too hot for her during the stops, even with the windows down. We made up for it with a 9 PM walk, and sat down with John on Joye Street to enjoy the evening breezes. Sassy assumes the guard position when we stop at a neighbor's. She sits up straight and looks around toward every noise and any movement. On the way home the kids along Scott Street called out her name and petted her.
I remain appalled by the city-slicker MDivs who cannot connect Creation to the Means of Grace. If God created the universe through the Word - "Let there be light" - then He also brings the righteousness of Christ to us through the Word.
We are new creations through the Word, not through our virtue, intellect, or merit. The Holy Spirit bears witness to this in us, because we love to hear the Gospel. We are comforted by Christ as the Good Shepherd. We trust in God's providence when we see His prodigal abundance around us.
The pole beans formed a green tracery around our chain-link fence. One sent a tendril out to wrap around the soaker hose suspended at the top. The tendril keeps the plant suspended and close to the water supply.
Now the plants are blooming, so beans will appear soon. Bees have appeared to pollinate the sunflowers, gourds, and pumpkins. Amazon sends me orders in two days (I hope) but the Creator sends bees without being asked. If the gourds and sunflowers were not pollinated by bees, there would be no production at all, just flowers that fell away in time.
Fighting against Creation is not wise. When man invents a better way to bring Christ to others, usually he is just borrowing from the pagans. His aping of unbelievers does not bring about any good results, but an abundance of bad results. Although he is pious about his intentions - he only wants to help the Church - his antagonism toward the Word and the Confessions gives him away. He is a base scoundrel, a murderer of souls, a greedy predator, and often a drunken lech besides.
The Word is just like rain and snow, bringing inevitable results. The weeds are going to green up , blossom, and bear seed after this storm. When the Gospel takes root, the weeds of false doctrine also spring up. Discerning believers harvest the good seed and suppress the weeds. Unbelievers, who belong to their Father Below, treasure and harvest the weeds while suppressing the Gospel - all the time with "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" on their deceiving lips.
