The Garden ~ Flags ~ Memorial Day & A Parade!
So, we decided to do a garden. So naturally we are taking a seed saving class at the local extension office. I think we’ve learned more from the locals that attend the class, that have been farming and growing vegetables here for decades, than from the instructors. It is a little over-whelming, at times I feel like I am just not smart enough to grow my own food. Having the internet with everything that anybody has ever said about how to grow a garden, on the surface sounds like a great resource but, it can lead to information overload too. Finally, we just had to put something in the ground. I didn’t get as many starts going as I wanted, just four kinds of tomatoes, four kinds of peppers two kinds of broccoli and a cauliflower, the rest I direct seeded into the garden. Besides the starts we have beans, carrots, two kinds of spinach, collards, beets, pickling cucumbers, dill and we still have seeds that need planting! I read somewhere that it would be better to have a successful small garden, than a huge failure! I have to admit, I went a little crazy with the seed catalog. When we were buying the fruit trees the nursery guy said, “if you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong!” So, we’re not gonna worry about what we’re not doing right and just have fun playing in the dirt!
The Friday before Memorial Day, we went to Grandview Cemetery, one of the oldest and largest cemeteries, here 
in Bonners Ferry, to help put flags on veterans graves.
We are sure enjoying the small town and sense of community here, there were a lot of volunteers, old and young, boy scouts, whole families and of course veterans.
We are making friends and becoming part of the community, it’s a feeling of “I’m home”.
There was a parade Monday morning, as always it was great! Memorial Day is the first parade of the year. There is one on the 4th of July, then there is the Fair parade and then there are small ones, like for Homecoming and some I don’t know about yet.
All in all it was a great start to the summer, the weather was perfect and we had a wonderful Bar-B-Q at Brian & Cynthia’s with family and friends. So much fun that I was too busy having fun to take pictures of the festivities! I got the parade pics from our local online newspaper and Randy took the photo of the Betsy Ross Flag that Randy’s mom Pat bought in Philadelphia, when we took our train trip with our moms in ’03.
What…..no zucchini? Remember a million years ago all the zucchini you grew?
In case I haven’t mentioned it before, I love reading about the interesting things you are doing. Thanks for including me and sending me this blog.
I think Leah went with the Girl Scouts and did the the placing of the flags at Forest Lawn again this year. Very proud of her.
Any way, keep the stories coming and good luck with your garden.
Love you and miss you
XOXO
Bahahahaha! I so remember the zucchini I grew in North Hollywood! A zillion years ago! There was so much of it I could barely give it away! Some of them grew so big, they were nearly the size of baseball bats. And of course I’m growing zucchini, I just forgot to add that, I’m also growing some cantaloupe and summer squash too. They are in the little mounds outside of the fenced garden. They have started coming up! It’s so exciting. I saw a vole (a small mole) in the fenced area where I planted an Almond tree last year. We’ll see what they do to the garden.
I’m so glad to hear you’re reading this stuff and I especially love when you comment. Someday all our Gr-gr-gr-grandkids will read this stuff (I hope) and think what crazy stuff we did “back in the day”.
I think it’s so wonderful that Leah is in Girl Scouts and I do think I saw she was placing flags, I think one time she did it at the Riverside National Cemetery, but maybe that was for Veterans Day. Leah and Haley are growing up so fast!
I love you too and wish we lived closer. And I really love that you took time to add your thoughts and memories here! ;)
Last year, our first friend here, the little lady who ran the Christian bookstore downtown, told that, “the only time anybody locks their car doors in Bonners Ferry is in the summer for fear that someone will fill up their backseat with Zucchini while they are in the store!” :0)