Community Garden Harvest

Here I am raking off the dry grass from the garden

Here we are starting the whole process.  Phil got the LAND and tilled up the garden.











 I was already babysitting Miles this day so I just kept him in Brielle's former sling (lovingly made to fit me perfectly) and he was happy.

This garden is where the tomatoes & squash will be planted.  The lower garden contained the corn.

Planting Seeds!

 I don't have any pictures of the tomatoes growing...but we went back and weeded them a couple of times and they grew (despite the drought) and so did the corn.  We harvested corn first.  I was working at the Downtown Market, so I missed the picking & shucking of the corn but here are their pics:

 Then we all gathered at the Catchims' to clean, bag, & freeze the corn.  FUN, sticky, & an all around good time!

Two weeks later, after taking turns picking tomatoes and delivering them to the Catchims' house, we met back there again to can the tomatoes!

We divided everything equally.

And that is communal gardening!

NIGHT MARKET

I am super excited to be vending this Friday Night at my very first ever Jammin' in the Alley/Downtown Night Market!!!  My husband and I have been there for a "date night" before, but this is the first time as a vendor. Most of the vendors have said they generate more interest and sales on Saturday mornings of course, but I'm just going to give it a try for the fun of it.  If nothing else, there is a band called Yesterday! playing and I am hoping they might be a Beatles Tribute Band? 

So....the Market is going WELL!!!  If you are one of those nice people who have picked up one of my cards and have come to my website to see what's going on (or even if you are a regular follower) here's the jest:

I am at the Clarksville Downtown Market *most* Saturday mornings 8am-1pm.  I sell Homemade Laundry Soap (64oz bottles) for $3.00 a bottle and $2.50 if you return a previous jug.  I'm already getting return customers and I'm super excited!  The laundry soap is great and we use it solely and love it.  I also sale Homemade Play dough for $2.00 a bag.  This too is great! (I would only sell something our family loved and used regularly, if that helps.)  It doesn't dry out easily and is made of non-harmful ingredients.  I had requests to make scented play doughs, so I tried it, and people either loved it (and bought it) or said their kids would eat it, it smelled so good!  Ha!  Okay, so I'm not going to make scented for awhile and see if I get any more requests for it.

Last, and my favorite is:  I personally hand roll all of my beads out of recycled papers (I generally use calendars-- to give away my secret).  Then I make them into necklaces, earrings, or wrap bracelets.  The earrings fly off the table.  I most likely will have to raise my price because I cannot keep up with the demand for them.  The braided-tie necklaces that double as wrap bracelets are close behind.  I sell those for $7.  I had a customer from Canada last Saturday (who sells bar soap at the market there) tell me that those same necklaces would sell for $25 at a Canadian Market!  I said, "what?? Is that because of the currency exchange difference?"  She said, "no, no, no.  The dollar value is the same there.  It's just that in Canada there is already and appreciation and awareness of hand crafted items.  And people there want unique." 

I think that the customers who frequent the Downtown Market already hold this view also... OR they soon will. :)

Market Love!

If you haven't yet been to the Clarksville Downtown Market, you are sorely missing out!  I went there yesterday and must say I do love being a customer as well as a vendor!   I purchased this beautiful ceramic mug to have enjoy my coffee in!  I LOVE it!  Isn't it so beautiful?  They had so many more that I loved, it was so hard to choose.  I called it my "early" birthday gift.  Personally, I would like to buy something unique like this from every vendor EACH Saturday!  Remember, the Market is located around the City Hall building Downtown Clarksville and operates every Saturday from 8am-1pm (unless extreme heat, then 7a-11p).

My mom gave me my gift a few days early this year: a beautiful Indian wrap skirt (picture coming) from my favorite Arkansas hippie shop: For Mother Earth.  That store has taken some of my inventory and begun selling it there.  I'm so excited!!!!   That is also where I purchased my Utopian Rope Sandals which a lot of people ask me about.

Also, I've developed an absolute LOVE for Peppers this year!  They are plentiful at the Market and I'm not sure if my love extends from that or if it's the other way around.  My favorite thing to do with them?  Grilled cheese!  The sourdough bread from Evawood Bakery (sold at the Market- but must come early) or Silke's Bakery (sliced Italian) works best! Butter each side, lay down 1/2 slice of provolone cheese, slice up the peppers (be sure to remove seeds inside first) lay down the other 1/2 slice cheese.  SOOOO YUM!  *if I have a fresh tomato I'll usually add a slice or two after grilling is completed.  I also add the peppers to my eggs, kielbasa, spaghetti.....anything goes.  They are in season now so enjoy while you can!  
I like to be up on the hill at the Market and two times I've been near Pappas Peppers Pizza Oil (Mr. Pappas owns).  He sells peppers and makes great pizza oil (Josh is hooked) plus he's a super nice guy.  He'll give you free sample if you stop by!

More to come on my Birthday plans for tomorrow!!!  Stay tuned.

Why do what we do?

So okay, awhile back we were hanging out with friends and a question addressed to me was, "so I've seen people raising their hands when singing those songs in church and I'm wondering what is the point of that? Why do that?"
Hmmmmm.....Good question!
Well, why to do people clap or cheer? Why do they pump their fists at rock concerts? Shout for joy when they hear exciting news? Whoop & holler or jump up and down when they are excited? Bow their heads or kneel down during a prayer?
My answer was... "it's an expression? An act of worship."
Truth is: I used to wonder the same thing! I grew up in a very conservative church that sang straight from the hymnal- sans instruments. There was no act of expression, unless you count standing, sitting, or bowing your head (and we were instructed when to do so).
The first time I physically knelt while singing a song I felt a very humble way rush over me. I couldn't explain it, but there was a connection with singing a praise to my King while bowing before Him.
Imagine my surprise when I was attending church with a friend and full out dances evoked (involving long colorful ribbons), and people were raising their hands and shouting, "Hallelujah!!"  At the time I felt mildly uncomfortable, but intrigued.

Then, one day I was standing in my kitchen listening to a David Crowder Band cd I felt it. So, I thought, why not?  Singing this song, I raised my hand, and with my heart worshipped my King. I cried. I felt free. In public gatherings I have felt it since, this strong urge to raise my hands in praise to God the Father and our King. Initially, I suppressed it. Several times actually. I had never openly worshipped in a physical way like that publicly, and it went against what I'd been accustomed to.  I mean, we were made to run, jump, clap, sing, yell, play, and dance! Why? -no When did praising God and worshipping Him become limited to just singing to Him? How did that happen? Who exampled to us that that made the only sense ?  Time and time again, year after generations of Christians - sing together, pray together, and learn a spiritual message together. That has been the routine.  And that's fine if simpling singing is a person's way of worshipping.  I'm not saying it isn't!  It's fine. There is something very powerful about hundreds, even thousands, of people coming together and singing praises to the One King, Almighty God. I'm way for that!  But I can't believe that God, in His infinite CREATIVE wisdom, designing us all uniquely, created us to worship Him in only "certain" ways. 

My friend asked a good question.
Why DO people do what they DO?

I have never seen spontaneous African dance in person, but have you ever seen the videos? They are so expressive! They sing, they feel, they express it in dance. It's amazing. There are a lot more expressive ones that this: http://youtu.be/9Mm9YaoQdww but I just tried to imagine a dance such as this within the confines of a "typical" American worship service.
Well, today I freely raise my hands to praise God publicly, privately, whenever I feel compelled (or moved) to do so. I sit too and bow my head somtimes. When I am home I dance. Yes, I do. I sing, I write, I run, I pray, I ask, I listen, I smell, I see, I serve, I create, I love....all of these an act of worship. An expression. A response. Of the heart. Of the body. 
I even imagine a day when no one is questioned for using their art or expressions, in whatever form (morally conceived, naturally) to worship God --and when they truly feel free to do so. Because we all are. Free to worship Him. However we may choose.

To Market! To Market!

Tomorrow is Market day!  I'm super excited, despite that I was just there last Saturday!  The hours are  7am-11am, just like last Saturday, due the the triple-digit heat.

 
 My friend, Tiffany, was kind enough to take these market photos from a few weeks ago.  Most of you know that I sell Homemade Laundry Soap, Handcrafted Play Dough, and Hand Rolled beads that I string into various forms of jewelry.  I also roll coasters as seen below.  They take about two hours to roll & seal...whew!  But they are fun!  I wish I could produce more, more, more (of everything) but alas....

I have a family.  That means my full time job is with them.  Wife.  Mom.  It's the best job EVER, but to actually do well at it requires focus and attention...  to the people dwelling and coming and going around these walls...to the dishes and the bank account and the sounds.  The sounds are important.  So are the silences.  Because life with each other, while sometimes so full of joy and love, can also be messy.  I'm not saying it is my full time job to "work things out."  It's not.  But it is my goal to help guide and direct these not-so-little people in my life.  Thank God I have His help!  I'd screw it up on my own...and I know that from experience! 
Now, why am I talking about my real job?  I suppose because it is my most important! Another important job of mine is loving on a special certain five month old baby on weekday afternoons! 
But, I've also been working on restocking my inventory for the Downtown Market and that has been fun & challenging.  I have made so many new friends.  I have been amazed at the people God brings to my booth on Saturday Market mornings.  People are so supportive and appreciative of the work I do.  Some people have returned to find me!  It's so COOL!  My friends here in Clarksville find me and hang out chatting and I love it!
 I love creating something with my hands and seeing it move into the hands of its new owner and the admiration on their face--then I know it was worth the time and effort I put into upcycling that old calendar into something wearable!

The Market has been going so well that I haven't even touched my Etsy shop, despite that I've been giving out the web address to everyone.  I am going to try and blog weekly (I know I've made this effort before in the past and failed).  But I am really going to TRY!!!

Summer here in Tennessee is HOT.  I don't mind heat much.  I was born mid-July and had most every birthday party in my backyard (thanks Mom!) and in the pictures we were all sweaty. smiley happy little kids.  Today's kids are spoiled rotten with air conditioning.  I know, I know, mine too.  Me too.  But sometimes mine get out there, you know.  Like last night.  They have a new program here in Clarksville called "Summer Night Lights" and I encouraged them to ride their bikes down to it last night and they loved it.  Came back drenched.  Also, I am playing (and co-coaching with my brave husband) womens' softball.  It's far more fun playing that I thought, after playing four seasons of co-ed softball. 
As for the rest of our summer it has looked like this:  shuttling teens to church camps, preschooler to swim lessons, library programs, swimming, teen to kayaking, teen to basketball camp in Nashville, preschooler to tumbling camp, teen to football camp, swimming...  And of course the tragedy of loosing my mother-in-law of 17 years unexpectedly (she was 60).  She was my husband's mom who lived here locally the past few years with his dad (married 38 years?), who was close to her grandchildren, three of them being ours...it has been a shift in life for us all.
Then the truck quit Tuesday.  We are hoping it is fixable, and my ever-capable husband is attacking it in all his spare time.  I am confident that he will do everything in his power to restore it, as time is sensitive...
I have been trying to find reasons to pick up "Catching Fire" then reasons to put it down, and have taken to eating peppers from the market.  I have some made some Amazing Lunches!  More on that later.....  see you at the Market!

Fan Like This

I'm procrastinating.  My mother-in-law, Sharon, has probably read every blog I have ever posted (some twice).  From Blue Moments to Unearthed Roots, she has followed me.  She always encouraged me to write.  She would tell me, "Jenna, never stop writing." And if I went a long time without blogging, she would say, "I know your busy, but I haven't seen you blog in awhile."  Because I procrastinate.  I know I have things to say.  She knew I had things to say.  Sure, she wanted to read them, but I think she knew more that I needed to write to express what I think, how I feel.  She liked my pictures and my musings...she was one of my biggest fans.
And now, everyone is asleep still.  My house, full of eleven, 8:41am is quiet.  We are all tired from the last three days.  The thoughts, the going on ourselves.  The realization of life and immortality.  The uncertainty of what is to come.  We laugh and eat and hang out and then it is quiet and we remember why we have come together.  All nineteen of us.  It can get loud, but her voice above all others would have rang louder.  We all know that.  And while we can hear it, we can't, and it feels strange - to me it does at least.  She was so loud.  Who thinks they are going to miss the loud?  It caught me off guard.  
Procrastinating, I was wandering through my Facebook page, just seeing what she "Liked" in the last week or so...and the picture of me selling for the first time at the Downtown Market.    She commented, "So Blessed to have this wonderful creative woman as part of my family!"  
I will miss her encouraging words. About my blog. About my recycled creative art pieces. But fortunately (ha!), she was loud enough that I should be able to hear her encouraging words long into the years to come.

She loved God and all of her family and friends very much.  She enjoyed reading and perusing the www, especially inhabiting FB and online games.  I know many will miss her because of continued involvement in their lives, whether it was in person, via phone, or online.  She was especially proud of her grandchildren: Josh, Tyler, Austin, Archer, JonPaul, & Brielle.  Especially proud.  I know they will miss her encouragement & "Grandma" privileges.  

I know she is in amazing place right now, so I am happy for her honestly.  She talked so much that if I listen, I can almost hear her telling me about it!  "Oh Jenna, it's so beautiful, if you could just see this and that and on.....and on......and on....."  That's the way she was. 

How went the Market:

I had a few people tell me they looked for me at the Market this past Saturday, and unfortunately I was not there.  I only have certain dates I am permitted to sell, so to make it easier I'll keep them posted at the top of this blog throughout the summer, but they are:  May 26th, June 9th, June 30th, July 7th, July 28th, August 4th, August 18th, August 25th, September 1st, September 15th, September 29th, October 13th, October 20th
My first time selling there was wonderful!  I really loved the customers and I guess that I hadn't considered that part much.  But being out there, hearing them talk, seeing their interest in my hand crafted goods...it was so inspiring and encouraging!  They also had great tips and advice and they really helped me know what styles, colors, and designs to create more of as far as the jewelry was concerned.  
A few people asked if the play-dough was scented and I was listening!  I have made four varieties of scented play-dough that I am excited to share this upcoming Saturday!  
The laundry soap was a big hit too.  I brought 10 and came home with 3.  I believe in it and feel that when customers try it they will like it as much as we do, and come back for more (hopefully bringing the container to recycle and save .50!).  
Also, the other vendors were wonderful!  They were so supportive and friendly, it was a very vibrant atmosphere.  I really enjoyed myself.  If you haven't been to the market yet, you should really check it out, there are some great booths full of neat and useful items!  And of course, I personally hope to see you there!!!