Why I let my garden go this summer.

I've been dreading sharing this post for the past two months, but this is real life.

Rewind two months ago when we excitedly got the news that we were expecting baby #7. I had about a week to prepare our home before the dreaded Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) took me down. Like clockwork, the extreme nausea, fatigue, and inability to function as a member of my family (let alone society) hit hard. There was no physical way I could get out to water the garden.

Proof that we did have a garden earlier this Spring/Summer.

If you're one of the unicorns who never experienced nausea during pregnancy, just know I'm cheering you on loudly from cave. I only left the house for Sunday Mass with the family. Outside of Mass, I was unable to cook, grocery shop, do laundry, teach the kiddos their lessons, or run my household. HG is truly a humbling experience. I want to say I handled it with grace and resilience, but every day resulted in me asking my husband to put me in a coma until the baby is born. He kindly would respond with a firm "no" and a good hug. You know the kind... it resets your entire nervous system and firmly plants you back in reality. I love that man so much...

Check out this beautiful cabbage that the squirrels demolished.

As a fresh human now in the second trimester, free of the constraints of HG (miracously early compared to my former pregnancies), I am happy to report that we all survived. The garden did not.

Back to the doomed garden. The kiddos and I have been caring for these plants since February 2025. We started them from seeds, watered them, hardened them off, planted them in the ground, fought epic battles with squirrels eating half our starts, and direct sewed many more seeds. The kids did a great job trying to water for me, but if I had the choice of asking them to make a double batch of sandwich bread in the mixer when we ran out or water the garden, I picked bread.

I was very sad for about half a minute, took a deep breath, and pivoted. My goal of growing enough tomatoes to make canned tomato sauce will have to wait for another year. I'm good with that decision. I asked the kiddos to keep the herbs, barries, and fruit trees alive. Everything else became a fun homeschool experiment.

Where we started.

Peep the tomatoes that became my boy's tomato worm catching habitat. We've had quite a few summer storms that kept some of the plants green. Anyone else see the worm in this picture?! I just sent the boys out to get it for the chickens.

God provided. We harvested garlic, 4 pumpkins, cut many flowers for around the house, ate plenty of fresh tomatoes, and the kiddos even found strawberries to much on during outside adventures.

If there is a lesson here, dear reader, it's adapting to God's will. My plans were not as important as His. This season has been one of resiliance and watching our younger kiddos step up to help the family in new seasons, stretching what they thought they were capable of doing, and me humbily stepping aside and letting them try new things. All my planning and nurturing of this year's garden was not important at the end of the day. Success and failure.

"Then the Lord will guide you always and satisfy your thirst in parched places, will give strength to your bones, And you shall be like a watered garden, like a flowing spring whose waters never fail." Isaiah 58:11

I definitely see a gray hair in this picture! Ignore that and enjoy this sunflower picture from earlier in the year.

Until next time,

Kirsten