Garden Pictures

Garden Pics from June 25th 2008

Here's a long view of the garden from our neighbor's yard into ours. The main part of what you see is all new ground that was tilled this year.

This is a closer view of the second garden we planted in the neighbor's yard. Tomatoes in the background, peas in the middle, radishes in the foreground. Their tomatoes are doing half as well as ours, most likely because we didn't have enough manure to spread on both gardens this year.

This radish was eaten moments after being photagraphed.

The onions are doing very well this early in the season.

These are the extremely healthy and vigorous tomato plants in our front yard. Pay no attention to the carrots next to them they have yet to be weeded.

The Garden

Last year was our very first year of vegetable gardening. Needless to say, I caught the bug.

The garden has doubled in size this year, due in large part to our neighbors that gave us permission to till up their front yard.
Last year the garden was 12 ft by 20 ft. With the addition of our neighbors front yard we added another 12 ft by 30 ft.

Yes, I did get a few strange looks as I bucked and struggled to hang on to the tiller all the while destroying a perfectly good yard.

Here's a list of everything we have planted:
12 tomato plants, 24+ pepper plants/both hot and sweet, 30+ onions, two rows of carrots, two rows of cucumbers, three hills of squash, two rows of peas, a small row of radishes, three different small rows of lettuce, watermelon, cantelope, and ten hills of red potato.

Pictures to come soon.


Why garden? Why grow more food than you can eat?

• Our neighbors are hungry
• We'll can and freeze more produce this year to use during the winter
• I find peace while weeding in my flipflops with dirt between my toes
• It's miraculous to see the process of seeds becoming something. When soil, water, and sun join forces to push life up from the earth, it blows me away every time.

Discipleship Groups

Monday April 7th marked the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. As a ministry of Grace Church in Wyoming, MN we are leading a small group that is purposefully named a discipleship group.
Normally when you think of a church small group you might envision a group of like-minded individuals getting together to study material, encourage each other and have snacks.
However, when one reads the Bible, you see Jesus modelling how to have a small group that isn't self-focused, but outward looking and growing. His purpose in working with His twelve disciples was to, at some point, send them out to lead their own groups that would in turn do the same.
In response to the Great Commandment and Great Commission to love the Lord and others and to go and make disciples, these groups are aimed at following Jesus and calling others to do the same.
Where did Jesus go? Where are we to follow him?
He hung out with tax collectors, prostitutes, the mentally ill and physically sick. He came alongside people where they were and lived life with them.

Discipleship groups give us a vehicle to break from the "Holy Huddle" of church. With purpse and intention we can come alongside our neighbors, family, friends and coworkers around dinner tables and softball fields. We can have intimate community in living rooms, share difficulties and joys, pray for each other and hold each other up.

Jesus also went to the cross and we are to follow Him there as well. Being a disciple means placing our faith in Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross that paid an infinitely large debt that we owed because of our sin against a perfect, holy,just and infinitely big God.

Our small group will unashamedly point to Jesus. We will follow Him and call others to do the same.

Matthew

Casas Por Cristo- "Houses for Christ"

We have our first missions trip as a couple planned for June 30th-July 4th. Annie and I are heading to Juarez, Mexico to build a home for a family.
It should be a three day build, or so we think; I've heard that nothing goes as expected in Mexico.
The team will be made up of 11 or more people. 7-8 of them will be friends and family of ours and the rest of the team may come from anywhere else in the country.

You can check out the organization at casasporcristo.org

Pictures to follow after trip,
Matt

Welcome

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my blog. Thanks for taking the time to come and learn about me and my life. I trust that this will be quite a journey, so stay tuned.

Matt