dennis martin papp

A Birthday Top Ten for Nate!

Fifteen! Nate is fifteen today!

So, in honor of his big day, here are ten reasons that I am a fan of Nate Papp!

10. Passion! He's all in. In a sport, every play matters to Nate. 

  9. I know more about Chuck Norris because of Nate than I'd have never known without his vast wealth of Chuck Norris trivia.

  8. We get to drive to school together every day. Nate's not a huge bus fan, so I drive him. I'm glad we get the time together every day.

  7. Not many people in the world could get me to sit through hours of soccer. Nate pulls it off, and I actually enjoy it! We get to go tonight, then off to Friday's for a birthday meal!

  6. The way he says, "YEEEEESSSS!" You gotta hear it for yourself. 

  5.  We share a common disdain for LeBron. King James...Ha! A legend in his own mind.

  4.  This year he's really stepped up leading in SummerLand. I love watching that part of him starting to come to life!

  3.  We go to Hacienda almost every Sunday for lunch. Nate has a standing order...tacos? fajita? nachos? Nope...chicken fingers!

  2.  He doesn't think so, but the kid is smart. Even more, he's quick! He's got a great sense of humor and really cracks me up.

  1. Only 365 days until we have our 5th and final driver in the house. Nate driving...coming soon to a road near you!

Garden Update | 06.23.12

We had a nice rain last weekend, and it sent everything growing. The difference in a week is noticable, including the start of some produce...tomatoes and peppers!

Click the thumbnails to see the progress.

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SouthField Podcast 06.17.12 | Pure Spirit

Our current series is entitled, "Dive 2012 | Dive into the Spirit"

We're taking the whole summer to study the Holy Spirit.

Click here or on the player image below to open a podcast player.

Once the player is opened, you have some options:

• Listen to the message on the site (controls are located on the series image)
• Download the audio to your computer (click "DOWNLOAD AUDIO")
• Subscribe through itunes (click "SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST" at the bottom right corner).
  By subscribing, new podcasts automatically download to your itunes account.

Late Season Planting

So, here we are. June 20. The longest day of the year.

I've had a great appreciation for long days this summer. Typically, I leave the house at 7:00pm to water and weed the garden. The evenings are quiet. I've seen a bird or two that I did not know lived in this part of Illinois (I'll post them). From time to time Don, Dave or Ray are over watering as well, and we've had some great conversations.

I like long days.

As the days begin to shorten tomorrow, my mind is already turning toward late season planting, even though I have yet to pick one piece of produce.

I was reading about late season planting last night. The University of Illinois Extension has a great horticulture site, with lots of gardening advice, and it is geared toward Illinois growers. Go look at all the links. Quite a selection for first time gardeners, master gardeners, and all of us in between. They talk about specific plants (good section of strawberries), diseases and techniques. Well worth bookmarking and visiting often if you are a midwest grower.

They have a post on late season gardening. 

These paragraphs were helpful:

Some vegetables for a late season garden are beets, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, snap beans and summer squash. These can be planted until July 20 here in central Illinois. Check seed packets for the days until harvest. Our average date of first frost is October 20, which gives us at least 100 days for crops that tolerate light frosts.

Other late season vegetables are kohlrabi, leaf lettuce, mustard and turnips. Leaf lettuce, mustard and spinach can be planted as late as September 5 in central Illinois.

Of all the items, I thought it would be way too late for carrots. Because of the mild winter last year, I actually had carrots all winter long. It was crazy!

I had no idea that garlic gets planted late summer, left in all winter and harvested the following July. Blew it on that one. I planted some last year and it was coming up this year, but I pulled it. Guess I know one thing I'll plant late.

So, do you do late season planting? If you do, what has worked well for you? I may want to give it a try.

Sampson and the Holy Spirit

My Newest Gadget...The Hula-Ho Weeder Cultivator

Every time I have to weed, I think of Adam and Eve.

I wonder what it was like to live in a weed-free garden.

Only they will ever know, and we can thank them for the extra work (Genesis 3:17-19).

This year I have a new tool that it helping me keep the weeks at bay.

It's called a Hula-Ho Weeder Cultivator.

The thing works great!

It scrapes weeds out of the ground, so they dry up in the sun!

I got mine from amazon.

The box was huge. Looked like I was getting a bike.

It works best when the ground is dry, which has been no problem this year!

I'm always looking for better ways to battle the varmints and undesirable vegitation.

When one works, I like to share it.

This one gets 5 stars from me.

Garden 2012 Update 1

The warm winter/spring was confusing to me.

In February I began to wonder, "Should I start planting now?" In April, I was serious, but was still nervous about frost. So I waited. By the time I did get started, the weeds were in full bloom. They took advantage of the early growing season that I missed. A busy first half of May delayed my planting until the final week of the month. 

I took some progress shots last week and plan to do an update every weekend until the end of the season.

This season I planted four 12x12 plots. We're growing a variety of tomatoes, squash, beans, cucumbers, peppers (red and yellow), purple potatoes (yes, purple), eggplant, garlic, corn, and sunflowers. 

The garden is on our church property. We started a community garden in 2011. Much of the produce is given away to people who are underemployed. We plan to tap into some new needs this year too, like providing fresh veggies for seniors to take home after a monthly community lunch.

Here are the shots. Click on the thumbnails for a closer view. I've never used that feature before. Hopefully it will work for you.

 

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SouthField Podcast 06.10.12 | The Holy Spirit Is...

Our current series is entitled, "Dive 2012 | Dive into the Spirit"

We're taking the whole summer to study the Holy Spirit.

Click here or on the player image below to open a podcast player.

Once the player is opened, you have some options:

• Listen to the message on the site (controls are located on the series image)
• Download the audio to your computer (click "DOWNLOAD AUDIO")
• Subscribe through itunes (click "SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST" at the bottom right corner).
  By subscribing, new podcasts automatically download to your itunes account.

SouthField Podcast 06.03.12 | Pneumaphobia

Our current series is entitled, "Dive 2012 | Dive into the Spirit"

We're taking the whole summer to study the Holy Spirit.

Click here or on the player image below to open a podcast player.

Once the player is opened, you have some options:

• Listen to the message on the site (controls are located on the series image)
• Download the audio to your computer (click "DOWNLOAD AUDIO")
• Subscribe through itunes (click "SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST" at the bottom right corner).
  By subscribing, new podcasts automatically download to your itunes account.

Sunday--SummerLand Starts! One Service at 9:30