Further Fortification for Our Lady's Victory Garden

Each fall we humbly invite those involved with the Children's Rosary to do a 9 day fast. To the extent people are able we invite them to participate. Some are able to do a bread and water fast; others sacrifice something else. This year the fasting journey lasted from September 29-October 7. 

Recently we shared pictures of our garden, which is entirely enclosed. We likened it to spiritually gardening after one does a Consecration to Jesus through Mary. The fruits are protected. For so many years it was the squirrels that feasted off the kids' hard work in the garden. At the end of last year, we built this enclosure. We named the garden "Our Lady's Victory Garden." We could not believe the bounty we harvested from the garden this summer. 

During the fasting journey we had the idea to dig a trench around the outside of Our Lady's Victory garden and put wire mesh. In this way, going forward, if any critters try to dig down to access the garden, they will be prevented. In many ways it seemed this was a beautiful imagery of the fasting journey. The Consecration journey could be likened to the garden enclosure above ground. The fast, however, goes deep and provides yet further protection from even the most aggressive attacks. While we did not have animals digging this year, Our Lady's Victory Garden is ready for next growing season with yet further fortification.

We thought you might like to see some of our fall harvest of winter squash and gourds.

Our Lady's Victory Garden

 

Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. For many years this feast day honored Our Lady under the title of Our Lady of Victory. For indeed Our Lady through the Rosary and her powerful intercession leads us to Victory. For many years we have had a vegetable garden in our yard. Our family and especially our kids worked very hard tending the garden. Yet we saw almost no yield from the garden. But then last year we enclosed the garden with wire. It is entirely enclosed with a door in the front. No critters can gain entry. This year we have been overwhelmed with the harvest that in prior years had gone to the squirrels that patrolled our garden. 

Many are finishing a 33 Day Consecration journey to Jesus through Mary today. In the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut Archbishop Blair and the Shepherds of the Diocese have been leading a Consecration using the book Child Consecration: To Jesus through Mary—Following in the Spirit of St. Thérèse, the Little Flower. In many ways Our Lady's Victory Garden is a great image for gardening after Consecration. Through Our Lady's protection we now have a bounty of vegetables. She has protected them. Indeed there is still work to be done in the garden but it far less and the work that is done yields fruits that remain and are not taken. 

We thought we would share some of the different veggies that have been grown in the garden!

Planting on the Feast of St. Isidore the Farmer

Some years ago a priest told me that he always planted his garden on May 15: the Feast of St. Isidore the Farmer. Living in Central Connecticut USA, we can have spring fronts that can kill tender plants. Thus to be safe, many wait until the mid May to plant. While we did some early spring planting of hardy veggies, today we planted our summer crops of winter and summer squash, peppers, cucumbers, basil, and swiss chard. We had started many plants from seed inside such as tomatoes. It was a very exciting day to plant in earnest. Since I have a disability with my joints that has left my hands unable to do gardening our kids help tremendously in the garden. 

This year we have something new. It is an enclosure to keep out all the critters who traditionally take most of our yield. It is entirely enclosed. 

We have named it "Our Lady's Victory Garden". We wanted to share some pictures of it and also the plants growing inside it and in our other garden beds. Along the center of the enclosure are grow bags full of garlic that have been growing since last fall. Along the back of the enclosure are several trellises. One has sugar snap peas and the other was just planted with cucumbers that will climb. Two of the long raised grow boxes have tomatoes, and peppers. The other two boxes have various other veggies including leeks, beets, snow peas, carrots and radishes. Along the side perimeter of the enclosure we have mounds of dirt where squash seeds were planted today. We also have another exciting addition this year. We have a bee hive within the enclosure. The box to contain the bees was painted last week and we anticipate a delivery of bees in the next two weeks. We are hopeful that the bees will help to pollinate all the flowers and vegetables in the yard. 

Today was not only a planting day but also a harvest day. We picked our first "Easter Egg Radishes". These are named Easter Egg Radishes for the beautiful assortment of pale colors. These were part of our dinner tonight! 

Many blessings on this beautiful feast of St. Isidore the Farmer. 

Spring Planting has Begun

 

Today is the first day of spring in the Northern hemisphere. We have been busy planting seeds and they have been on the warm radiators inside the house. The sun is getting stronger and one can see as soon as he seeds break through the soil they are already bending in toward the light. 

In many ways, I see this light as the love of God and the tender plants in many ways resemble our little children.  Some people have asked, when should we introduce our children to Our Lord and prayer. I see these seedlings as providing the best answer: immediately. The hearts of children are yearning to know the love of God from their first moments. I once read in a book about St. John Paul II and also saw it mentioned again at the St. John Paul II museum in Washington, that when the saint was born his mother asked that the window immediately be opened so the first sounds he heard were the voices of people singing in honor of Our Lady. 

Thus, I see great benefit to having Our Lord and Our Lady's names being praised in the space where young babies are being held such as in a nursery. Often parents have purchased our Children's Rosary CDs to play as they may be feeding their baby or the baby is resting in the crib. The CDs have young children praying the Rosary with soft music behind which is soothing to babies. It also protects the space through these prayers and surely brings fruits to have Our Lord being honored in the home. Later as the child grows and is playing in the room it still is wonderful to keep the Rosary playing. By the age of 3 we have regularly seen children praying the Rosary and even leading the Rosary in our Children's Rosary prayer groups. 

For those interested in our Children's Rosary CDs they can be purchased through EWTN Religious Catalogue HERE. The CDs are also available through EWTN in Great Britain. To purchase click HERE.

As the spring unfolds keep checking back to see how the garden turns out this year. We are full of expectation and are hoping for a bountiful harvest. 

Early Snow

 

Today we woke up to a surprise. Heavy snow was falling. While not unprecedented to have snow in October in Connecticut, it is still a bit surprising. Our harvesting is far from finished in the garden but these Juliet tomatoes surely are not happy about the cold snap and fresh show weighing down their branches already laden with tomatoes (see the picture above). The harvest has been so abundant this year, we have been hard pressed to get all the tomatoes in before the cold. Asher, one of our children, has been out picking red and even the green tomatoes . . . buckets full in fact. 

We have been trying something new this year. We have netted the plants and also created a brand new enclosure to keep all the unwanted squirrels at bay. This has helped tremendously. Yards are small where we live and a whole harvest can be taken by unwanted critters. This year, the squirrels have had to find something else to eat and we have been enjoying fresh tomato salads and a special tomato strata recipe we found in my grandmothers old cookbook. This has been perfect for those tomatoes that look a bit bruised or are soft but cooked taste great. 

As the month of the Rosary comes to a close this coating of white clean fresh snow is an inspiring sight. One's heart begins to think of the coming of Advent and also Christmas. Yes, the picture below was taken today. We keep this ornament in our window all year.

Our son Kostin has been splitting wood for the fires we look forward to having as the cold weather sets in. This is also the time when we begin to think of writing our Christmas cards to family and friends. This year we have our new Children's Rosary Christmas card. Abigail who has been illustrating our Christmas cards for the past 5 years did an amazing job again. Some say it is the best one yet. To purchase a box of 25 Christmas cards visit our Children's Rosary collection at the EWTN Religious Catalogue click HERE. This year's card is shown below.

Other Posts You May Enjoy:

A Child's Cross Made of Out of Snow

More Snow

Please consider starting a Consecration to Jesus through Mary using our new book. To learn more click HERE.

Hidden Fruit

Every year we have a large vegetable garden. It would be hard to imagine a summer without planting. This year we planted a large number of root vegetables. We planted carrots, beets, potatoes, garlic, and sweet potatoes. One of our neighbors ordered lots of sweet potato slips, too many for her garden. She offered us plenty from her surplus. This was a new crop for us. We found some empty buckets, filled them with rich soil and planted the little thin roots they call slips. All summer the kids tended the garden, watering when it was dry. This summer we had very little rain so there were many days of carrying the heavy buckets of water.  It is fun to see the plants growing and the tomatoes and squash setting fruit. But when it comes to all the root vegetables one has very little idea of what is growing under the surface. One has to stay the course, keeping faith that at the end of a long season of work, by the Grace of God there will be a harvest. 

As the nights are getting colder, there is the realization that the gardening will shortly be coming to an end for the season. There will be no more early morning watering....all that will be finished.  All the potatoes will be dug up. Carrots will be pulled and the sweet potatoes we have been so anxious to discover in the buckets will be unveiled. What will we find? 

In many ways so much of our daily work in the spiritual garden is taking care of plants that right now have hidden fruit. Some of our plants are fruiting in the light of day, but as many gardeners know, those are much more easily taken by critters. It is the fruit that is under the ground that is often most protected from predators such as the hungry squirrels that patrol the garden. 

How do we stay the course and not grow tired when our plants are setting hidden fruit? May I suggest that it is Our Heavenly Mother who helps us stay the course. She wants us to have a bountiful harvest to give to Our Heavenly Father. But we need to ask for her help. Raising children today is not easy. There are so many distractions that lead our young children away from Our Lord and all that Our Lord is asking of each of us. To have a Heavenly Mother who can help in guiding our children, encouraging them, and at times correcting them is a tremendous help. 

Our Blessed Mother sees our struggles and she gives us tools to help us. She understands that some tools may be too large for her little children to use. So in her attentiveness to each of our needs, she shapes some of these tools in such a way that even her youngest children can use them. One of these important tools is Consecration to Jesus through Mary. It is a means to keep us on the straight path. Over the last three years this tool, which was crafted by St. Louis de Montfort was being shaped in such a way that it could be taken up by some of our youngest children. Indeed, the smallest ones need the help of their parents to use the tool. When these small children first take it up they need to be accompanied by their parents who can show them step by step how to use it. On September 29th this new tool was unveiled! It is the book Child Consecration: to Jesus through Mary. Many wise gardeners, experienced in years, such as Robert Cardinal Sarah and Cardinal Burke have taken up this tool and given their approval. We are so excited that it is now available! 

In the coming weeks, we will be harvesting and all that has been hidden from us will be clear. But until then we keep our heads down and stay focused on our duties under the watchful guidance of Our Blessed Mother. For those of you who would like learn more about the new Child Consecration book visit our new website childconsecration.com

The new book can also be ordered through EWTN Religious Catalogue HERE.

Photos: The top photo is of our sweet potatoes growing in pots. The bottom picture is one of our raised beds. In the center of the bed is a thick line of carrots which we hope to harvest soon. 

Deeply Rooted

On Friday May 15th, the Feast of St. Isidore the farmer, we decided to harvest one of the parsnips from our garden. When my daughter tried to pull it up, the lush green top ripped off. Apparently this parsnip wasn't going to come out easily. She then began digging around the edge of the root. She is very strong and despite all her pulling it still would not come out. She began using a stick to loosen the soil and with her fingers excavated around the root. This process when on for some time. Eventually the root came out. It was impressive. The root was about 10 inches long. My husband thought this one root would be enough for 5 of us to have with our dinner tonight. 

In reflecting on this parsnip, there are some interesting things to consider. If one were to plant a parsnip in the late spring which is usually when farmers plant parsnips the plants have warm weather to grow and when harvest comes they are easy to harvest and not nearly as long as the one my daughter pulled out last Friday. So what is the difference? Well, this parsnip began growing last season, most likely in the fall. It survived a cold winter and set down deep roots. As with most plants that are able to survive the winter, such as kale, as soon as the weather turns warm they shoot up and try to make seeds. They do not waste any time. 

In many ways one could see how suffering has a similar effect on us and our faith. When we have been tested and come through challenges we are more deeply rooted. We also value time and want to pass on that faith in a special way. We do not put off passing on that faith to our children but set to work right away.  When our roots are deep many things may try to push against us and uproot us but this is not so easy. Many may be suffering during these times of the Coronavirus pandemic but what effect has on the roots of our faith? 

Other Posts You May Enjoy:

Find out ways to become involved and help the Children's Rosary

How to Start a Children's Rosary

How to Plan a Home Marian Procession

CLICK HERE TO WATCH OUR NEW VIDEO:

A VIEW FROM HEAVEN 

UNA PERSPECTIVA DESDE EL CIELO

For more information about the Children's Rosary visit our website: www.childrensrosary.org

Visite nuestro sitio web en español para obtener más información: www.rosariodeninos.org

Pour plus d'informations sur le Rosaire des Enfants, visitez notre site Web:www.rosairedesenfants.org

A Novena of Thanksgiving Comes to a Close

Tomorrow will conclude our 9 day Novena of Masses in thanksgiving. This is something we do every year following the Anniversary of the Children's Rosary on April 10th. Leading up to the anniversary on April 10th a 9 day Novena of Masses was completed for the fulfillment of Our Lady's plans for the Children's Rosary.

The novena of Thanksgiving is always a very special part of the 18 days of Masses. It helps to center oneself in a spirit of simplicity and trust. In thanking God we acknowledge that He is in control and knows the best for us. He gives what we need. Our role is to trust in His Providence. A priest once shared some advice with me early when the Children's Rosary began. He advised to not get out ahead of the Spirit but be ready when the Holy Spirit opens the door. Thinking of his words we try to always allow God to lead us. In this way we can glorify God as all is unfolding according to His Will and not our own. There are things we would like to see happen but God knows the best of it. Today we woke up to a surprise. There was a layer of clean white snow outside. This winter we saw very little snow and to have so much fall in April was a surprise. Yet as I was reflecting on prior years when we had this novena I was reminded that we also had snowfalls during the days of the novena. 

My mother has always said of snow that it is the poor man's fertilizer. It helps the plants through the winter. More snow is a good thing for the following years growing season and harvest. Perhaps one could see this snow as a signal grace. Our days of prayer and especially those of thanksgiving help us to cultivate spiritual fruits in our soul. Tomorrow is the last day of Masses. Four Masses will be celebrated in Thanksgiving. May we unify our prayers with those Masses and take some moments to thank God for the many blessings he has given not only to the Children's Rosary but to each of us. No matter what trial we may be under right now with the Coronavirus, one can always find blessings in each moment. 

Thank you God. 

Other Posts You May Enjoy:

How to Start a Children's Rosary
Children's Rosary Collection 

A Day of Incredible Blessings at the National Shrine of Divine Mercy

Don't forget to unify prayers with the children during their meetings. A schedule of meetings is present on our website. By clicking "Join in Prayer" you can add your gold flashing light to our View from Heaven map.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH OUR NEW VIDEO:

A VIEW FROM HEAVEN 

UNA PERSPECTIVA DESDE EL CIELO

For more information about the Children's Rosary visit our website: www.childrensrosary.org

Visite nuestro sitio web en español para obtener más información: www.rosariodeninos.org

Pour plus d'informations sur le Rosaire des Enfants, visitez notre site Web:www.rosairedesenfants.org

In God's Time

A few weeks ago my children helped me in planting some spring vegetables. We began with things such as sugar snap peas, beets, lettuce, carrots, and Swiss Chard. My husband built us two raised beds for some of the veggies. Seeds were planted in the beds. The weather was rainy and a bit chilly. We watched eagerly waiting for those first shoots but none seemed to come. My son would ask if anything was up and he seemed a bit disappointed that the answer seemed always "no." But I assured him they were coming. Then on Easter we went out to the garden. The sun was bright and the day warm. Peeking out of the black earth were little sprouts. First I noticed the beets with the characteristic red stems (see above), then even smaller were the first sprigs from the spring carrots. 

In the garden we have learned patience. We have seen that nature cannot be rushed. Everything happens in God's time. Not only were there new sprouts in the garden but one of the apple trees in the back of the yard had buds just ready to open. 

Purple flowers dotted the edge of the driveway. Indeed all spring was bursting forth. The timing seemed so perfect as we celebrated Easter Sunday this year at home. There was no going to Church Mass with the pandemic having closed all those in our state. Yet there was beauty all around us. Nature was showing her colors and bursting forth new life. Last night my husband read from the Bible. The last few lines stood out to me, "But those that trust in the Lord shall renew their strength as eagles grow new plumes: They shall run and not grow weary, they shall march and not grow faint" (Isaiah 40:31). While we still do not know how long we will be confined to our homes, we trust in the Lord. All happens in God's time and we should not grow weary. 

A Sea of Daisies

Looking at this sea of daisies, one could think of the many pure souls of children who pray in Children's Rosary prayer groups throughout the world. They are beautiful on their own but when you put them together: breathtaking!

Recently we had an opportunity to try our hand at writing poetry...haiku to be specific. This is a Japanese form of poetry that is short, containing only three verses. The first verse has 5 syllables, the second  7 and the last 5. 
These haiku poems shown below were written by two different members of the Children's Rosary. 

The Children's Rosary was the inspiration for both:

We are kids praying

from each corner of the globe.

Many, yet one voice

Children in Christ's Heart

Praying together as one

Fill the earth with love.

Other Posts You May Enjoy:

Find out ways to become involved and help the Children's Rosary

How to Start a Children's Rosary

Fruits from the Garden

Don't forget to unify prayers with the children during their meetings. A schedule of meetings is present on our website. By clicking "Join in Prayer" you can add your gold flashing light to our View from Heaven map.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH OUR NEW VIDEO:

A VIEW FROM HEAVEN 

UNA PERSPECTIVA DESDE EL CIELO

For more information about the Children's Rosary visit our website: www.childrensrosary.org
Visite nuestro sitio web en español para obtener más información: www.rosariodeninos.org

Pour plus d'informations sur le Rosaire des Enfants, visitez notre site Web:www.rosairedesenfants.org

Fruits from the Garden

It is harvest season here in New England where we live. Since I was a child I have loved to garden. Even after losing a lot of the use of my hands due to a joint disability my love has not lessened. However, the kids now are my hands and they help in working the soil and harvesting what we grow.  We have learned many lessons in the garden.  

We live on a small piece of land in a town that has many many squirrels. The squirrels which seem to increase in number every year, pass their time raiding the garden. We have adopted several strategies to deal with this. One of the primary ways is to go underground. Growing vegetables such as tomatoes although a favorite of our family, rarely produces mature fruit. Before they turn red, they are stolen by the critters. We always plant a few tomatoes holding out hope but more and more we try to grow things underground which has proved to be much safer. Our crops of choice are garlic and potatoes. Garlic is too smelly for most insects and rodents to interest them. The potatoes while sometimes get dug up for the most part seem to grow undetected. 

In looking at our harvest bucket of potatoes waiting to be made into a potato salad, some thoughts came. What about our faith and the fruits that we wish to come through it? Are there not so many predators or as Scripture calls then birds who will carry away our seeds. How do we yield fruit today? Do we need to go very deep so those looking to take our fruit cannot find them...so they can grow and be ready for the harvest? Indeed our roots may have to grow very deep. Another lessen we learned is that the fruits we as a family grow are not the same as our neighbors. I do not know why we cannot grow certain things and others can when they live only a few yards away. Why do the squirrels take our vegetables and yet others have no problems? The garden has taught me many things. It has also taught me season to season certain plants in the garden will do well one year and not another even though seemingly everything is the same. To this one must just work and toil, wait and hope. We are not entitled to the fruits...it is by God's grace. To this we must always be grateful.

This year we had a happy surprise. There was a hope this spring that maybe we could try to grow pumpkins again. While in the past squash or anything similar to this was taken by our friends the squirrels, there was a hope we should not give up completely. The kids made mounds and planted some Cinderella pumpkin seeds. Pumpkins in New England take a long time to grow. One can plant them in June and they are not ready to harvest until the fall.

Something unexpected happened this year. Due to some grape vines growing near the garden that actually overshadowing some of the plants the pumpkins were able to grown undetected. We held our breath for weeks hoping no one would catch sight of them. While we could have waited longer for them to grow in size, as soon as they were showing their orange skin we picked them. The kids were very excited to pick our own home grown pumpkins! We have yet to decide how we are going to cook the pumpkins. But that too is the fun of waiting for one's harvest with anticipation. The cooking of the food is more special and much thought goes into the meal. We can share the potato salad we made with one batch of the potatoes we grew.  Yes despite many efforts by the squirrels there were fruits that came from our garden this year.  

P.S: I should introduce you to one of our friends.  They had many nice dinners thanks to the garden but we managed to have some, too. On a positive note Alina finds them a fun subject for her photography.

Other Posts You May Enjoy:
How to Start a Children's Rosary
Special Release of Our New Video
A Child's Devotion to St. Joseph

Don't forget to unify prayers with the children during their meetings. A schedule of meetings is present on our website. By clicking "Join in Prayer" you can add your gold flashing light to our View from Heaven map.

For more information about the Children's Rosary visit our website: www.childrensrosary.org
Visite nuestro sitio web en español para obtener más información: www.rosariodeninos.org

Harvest on the Feast of St. Isidore the Farmer

The Feast of St. Isidore is a favorite in our family. We are a family that loves to garden.  After dinner tonight the kids went outside. Alina went to work harvesting parsnips that had survived through the winter.  Asher was put on the task of cutting the heads off the parsnips.  For those who are not familiar with parsnips they are much like carrots only white.  When a parsnip makes it through a New England winter it often does not look like the parsnips you see in the stores. It may have many "legs" as the kids call them.  As the plant has been through considerable hardship, at the first bit of warm weather it begins to go to seed thus one loses the vegetable to eat. So the race is on to harvest them before they go to seed. Something else which is special about the parsnips that endure a long winter and survive...they are extra sweet when cooked! 


Our whole family loves to spend time in the garden. With my joint disability it is the kids who do most of the work. I provide the guidance on diagnosis of what is in the garden..weed or plant. But even now the kids are becoming very good at the diagnosis phase in the spring. You see we do something interesting with our garden:  we let nature do a lot of our work.  In the summer when many would remove plants such as lettuce and kale that have gone to seed as the greens turn bitter, we do not. Instead we let the plants mature and drop their seeds in the fall. Thus in the spring at just the right time up pops lettuce and kale. This year we had an abundance of parsnips that had seeded in the fall and managed to survive the winter.  One has to have the eye to know what is a weed and what is a plant worth keeping but it is amazing to see nature at work.  So much of our work is done for us. 

The Feast of St. Isidore is the official date, given to me once by a priest of when it is safe to plant vegetables that cannot withstand a frost in our region. So our family looks forward to the Feast of St. Isidore with anticipation. The cold nights of winter we anticipate are finished and it is time to look forward to summer.  

We also had some good news today. We received an email this morning from a women from the Republic of Panama trying to begin a Children's Rosary in her parish. The Parish she shared with us is named after St. Isidore. Amazing!

Other Posts You May Enjoy (theme is gardening for most of these)
How to Start a Children's Rosary
Whoever Sows bountifully Will Also Reap Bountifully
Finding Answers to Our Spiritual Questions in the Garden

Don't forget to unify prayers with the children during their meetings. A schedule of meetings is present on our website. By clicking "Join in Prayer" you can add your gold flashing light to our View from Heaven map.

"Whoever Sows Bountifully Will Also Reap Bountifully"

Lettuce from our family garden

"Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,

and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion,for God loves a cheerful giver"(2 Cor 9:6-7)

This was a portion of the first reading from Mass yesterday.  I love Scripture that involves references to working with the soil as the children and I spend a good deal of time in the garden.  It is there that the children see some of God's most beautiful miracles taking place.  Indeed they see how a tiny seed as mentioned in last Sundays Gospel can turn into something so large "that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade." (Mark 4:32)

Tiny lettuce seeds sprouting in the spring

Recently the children and I have been marveling at one of the gifts we have been given in the garden:
a bountiful harvest of lettuce.  It is an interesting back story of how we came to have such lush lettuce.  Several years ago we began trying to grow lettuce with modest results.  Our soil wasn't very good as we had brought some in from our town dump compost.  We found the soil quality poor and many diseases present in the soil.  We tried to grow many things with fair results.  Initially when we planted lettuce it came up but throughout the season it remained tiny, too small to ever harvest.  We continued to add bits of left overs from our meals such as bits of extra vegetable stalks, coffee grounds, egg shells to improve the soil and ash from our fire place.  Constant little bits were added here and there that the children would bring to the garden each day.  The following year we again replanted.  This time the lettuce grew a little better.  Still nothing remarkable but some lettuce grew.  With the warm weather in the summer the lettuce sent up shoots flower and went to seed.  Many would advise you pull out your lettuce at this point.  This process of sending up shoots and flowering is called: "bolting".  Once that happens the leaves become bitter and don't taste good so most gardeners would remove the plants and plant a summer or fall crop of something else.  Well the children and I decided to leave the lettuce.  It flowered and made seed.  As the fall came the seeds seemed to be carried in all directions by the wind.  They have a little fuzzy end that seems to act as a sail with a little dark seed attached.  The children watched all this beauty taking place with wonder.  What would happen to these seeds?

The little seeds in the picture above have now grown

Our fall close of the garden was simple: we left everything that had fallen without a traditional clean out of the garden beds.  In the spring there was a beautiful surprise just as the weather turned warm,  much earlier than most would think to go out and plant, up popped hundreds of little lettuce plants.  They were tiny but very numerous.  In only a few weeks time they grew vigorously, almost like weeds.  They grew in our garden and even the grass.  It was amazing to see so much lettuce and it was so strong.  The children and I were astonished.  Our early attempts had yielded very little.  Yet the children did not give up planting.  They kept working on the soil to make it fertile.  Then they began to do something else different.  They stopped trying to force the garden on to their schedule but rather let the Will of God act in the garden.  They let Him act and simply cared for the little seeds that our Lord had guided.  The children had planted the first seeds but now Our Lord had multiplied them a hundred fold.  They were spread a great distance and were strong and fruitful.  Indeed, it was a wonder to us all and for the children and I, it helped to bring Sunday's Gospel reading to life before us:

"This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.  And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come." Mark 4: 26-29)

Other Posts You May Enjoy:
How to Start a Children's Rosary
Finding Answers to Our Spiritual Questions in the Garden
A Long Winter

A Long Winter

As many of you may be aware of who live in the United States it has been a long cold winter.  Even today on May 16th there is word of some snow in Chicago.  Strange but apparently true. As we celebrated the Memorial of St. Isidore, the Patron Saint of farmers this week, I thought it might be timely to share some experiences from our garden.

Now I must tell you we live on a very small piece of land in a town so garden space is precious.  Two years ago our family tried to grow parsnips for the first time in one of our raised beds.  The seeds were planted in the spring.  All summer and fall we waited and watched as these tiny seedlings barely grew. As fall harvest came we looked at these tiny little plants and realized for some reason they had not made any parsnips.  It was generally a great disappointment.  Not wanting to pull out living plants at the end of the season we left them in the ground.  The next spring we noticed some very thick green shoots that looked much like a carrot green but thicker.  I wasn't sure what it was for a while.  By the time I realized that indeed these were some of the parsnips from the previous summer the plants had "bolted" a term referring to the plant sending up a shoot to form seeds.  The children pulled out the plant to reveal a tiny parsnip too tiny to eat. I was disappointed but in reading a very old gardening book written by a gardener from our area, it explained that if a plant makes it through a winter it will indeed produce fruit but harvest quickly as it will go to seed very fast.  It has been through so much it quickly tries to ensure the next generation before harsh weather kills it.  With this piece of knowledge I was poised for the following year.  We left the remaining parsnips that had gone to seed and left them alone.  In the fall the whole bed looked like snow with parsnip seeds through the whole bed.  There were also some random little parsnip plants as well. With record cold this year I wondered if any of the plants would live through the winter.  As the snow melted one of the first things to emerge were 5 strong shoots.  There was no mistaking them this year.  A few parsnips had made it.  

As my hands are too weak now for gardening due to a disability with my joints I called our son Asher who is in first grade.  He came over and with all his might he pulled.  One of the medium sized parsnips on the table came out.  We were intrigued by the many extensions that came out of the parsnip.  The one he had pulled out had three distinct roots all attached at the top.  He began to try to pull another one out but could not.  Later our 13 year old daughter Alina and my husband set to work to remove the others.  It was comical to see them sinking their hands deep into the ground trying to get under each root.  Pulling very hard they came to light. These larger parsnips were even more unusual looking then Asher's first one.  This was all new to us.  We wondered how these strange looking parsnips would taste.  With a roast chicken these roots were cut up.  The roots were so big we needed a second glass dish to cook the remaining ones.  As our family sat down to dinner we all could not believe how sweet these parsnips were.  My husband said he thought they were the sweetest parsnips he had ever tasted.  A couple of things struck me about these parsnips.  
Through the severe weather of the winter with extreme cold and harsh conditions a few things happened.  The parsnips lost their "normal" appearance and were deformed.  This deformation allowed them to extend like many tiny fingers into the soil so removing them was a difficult task indeed.  As weather broke and fair weather came they were the strongest looking parsnips I have seen with thick healthy shoots.  Their mission was not to sit around and enjoy the weather but to pass on what they had to future generations...quickly.  Upon removing them despite their disfigured appearance they were tender and sweet.  

The effect of "suffering" or trials on these plants seemed much the same as the effect suffering has on us when we unify it with the suffering of Our Lord.  We may less and less resemble our old selves but to Our Lord these sufferings produce sweetness in our soul when endured with love.   Our ability to sustain and survive further trials increases and when the sun comes out our leaves are thick and lush.  We care less and less for the material things of this world.  Instead we have our eyes looking upward and also have a desire to pass on such faith to our children and the next generation.  It is beautiful that Our Lord who spoke often of farming in the Gospels, helps us understand many things through nature around us and toiling with the land.  These lessons are particularly helpful for our children who love to work in the garden and who in a special way seem to understand many of these things easily.

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"Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind"

Dear Friends,

Yesterday concluded our Novena of Masses.  Two Masses said daily for 9 days for the fulfillment of Our Lady’s plans for the Children’s Rosary and then two Masses said daily for 9 days in thanksgiving.  With so many Masses and prayers going up it is truly a blessed way to enter holy week.  This beautiful novena of Masses and prayers happened through the generosity of many people.  May I humbly say, thank you for making such a gift to Our Lady and her Son possible. 

Reflecting over these 18 days it has been an interesting journey.  In the first few days there were a string of signal graces and pieces of good news.  I remember remarking to one member of the Children’s Rosary that everything seemed to get easier.  Impedances removed and the feeling of wonderful grace flowing.  

Something interesting happened after a few days, periods of intense struggle began.  Those who read of the trip to the Divine Mercy Conference have some sense of one particular struggle with a rather long day of travel including a bus ride with little Asher who had a terrible stomach flu. An illness that lasted almost a full week. For my own part there were times of complete physical exhaustion, spiritual questioning and disappointment.  A feeling that certain branches were being deeply pruned.  Last Friday at Mass there was a reading that seemed to speak to these experiences, "Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind"  (Jeremiah 20:12). Indeed it would seem that the Lord was probing the heart and testing.  With so many Masses going up and our prayers for Our Lady’s Plans to be fulfilled in us there was a green light for Our Lord to set to work and continue to mold us and fashion us according to His Will.  Psalm 23 was a true consolation "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me." Yes, indeed despite such trials there is a sense that we are never left alone.  Our Lady in a special way also supporting us and reassuring us. 

I share these inner feelings as I suspect others may have experienced something similar.  Several have written asking for extra prayers due to family struggles and spiritual struggles in their faith.  Please do not think you are being punished.  Our conversion is life long and we may expect such suffering as we follow Our Lord, for He is the most beautiful example of suffering done with love. 

As you might be thinking right now that such a novena of Masses has brought down a great deal of suffering alone, may I share with you some tender stories that warm the heart and assure us that Our Lord cherishes the prayers of these little ones and the Masses we offered to Him.  For the Sacrifice of the Mass was the gift He gave to us out of Love today.

May I share with you that during this novena of Masses many new people reached out and began Children’s Rosary groups.  Two moms contacted us from Michigan.  Each had been meeting for some time praying the Rosary with children.  They wanted to join our prayer movement.  One group meeting weekly on Tuesday evenings at 5PM and the other meeting weekly on Mondays at 4:30 PM.  We also have an existing Children’s Rosary group which meets on Mondays at 4:30 PM in Mahopac, NY which now means there will be two groups able to unify prayers together.  More beautiful ways that Our Lady is helping us to create a web of children’s prayers unified across the world. New groups also began in South Carolina and word that a new group will be meeting the first weekend in May at the Parish of St. Joachim in Madera, California.  In total we now have reached approximately 60 Children’s Rosary groups...one for each bead of the Rosary!  A wonderful image to contemplate.  

May I share one more blessed gift.  Several months ago I received a note from a women named Bette whose niece was very sick.  She had a clot in her lung and was early in her pregnancy.   Quickly both mom and baby were put on our intention list that went out to our groups for the children to pray over.  Day by day mom pushed through with her little baby.  Then word came that there were severe developmental problems with the baby detected on ultrasound.  The doctors said the following two weeks would be important in the survival of the baby. Such news was a hard blow for the family.  Yet Bette wrote that in prayer she felt called to ask for the prayers of the Children’s Rosary.  After many rosaries lifting up these intentions word recently came:  A MRI did not show the extreme problems the doctors had thought. Such news was a blessing which one cannot begin to measure.  While Bette is quick to say that both mom and baby still are in constant need of prayers things are looking much brighter.  This family has truly embraced the Children’s Rosary and may I share offered many prayers of thanksgiving and sent several beautiful Mass cards.  One indicated that the Children’s Rosary Apostolate would share in the Masses, prayers and good works of the Servants of Mary including a daily Mass celebrated at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.  An other card indicated a Perpetual Mass enrollment in the Golden Heart of Our Mother of Perpetual Help.

As we join Our Lord tonight for His sharing of the Holy Eucharist and then accompany Him to the Garden, there is a feeling that such struggle allows us to have that naked, raw heart that allows us to better understand the suffering Our Lord undertook for us.  

Thank you all for being a part of the Children’s Rosary.  Thank you for your prayers and sacrifices.  Despite our flaws there is a feeling that Our Lord and Our Lady are happy with our efforts.

Your Grateful Friend in Christ,

Blythe