Compost, Truck Stuff, and Hobby Updates

Ruminations no. 9

Ruminations is the collection of the things that have occupied my mind over the past week. Paths the neurons have travelled twice. It’ll include updates on my various projects, things I’ve been reading, quotes that have inspired me, and any other number of things. Many of the thoughts will be incomplete. This is musings in their purest form.

Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own: in pain and sickness it would still be dear.

-Charlotte Brontë

Compost

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve added roughly 150 gallons of weeds to my compost bin (a thing of Redneck beauty, see above). The ridiculous thing is that I have at least twice that many still to put in. It’s a jungle out there!

I am glad that I am making progress on weeding out my garden, but it feels like a never ending process. I guess because that’s what it is! Today, I was thinking about compost. Kind of interesting, if you really think about it - especially the parallels with our spiritual life. I think it’s wild how many of those there are related to the garden!

Anyway, the one about compost.

All the weeds, all the trash plants that I don’t want, get thrown into the compost bin. They break down into dirt that I can use as a mulch over top of the garden next year. This new dirt is full of nutrients, and will protect my garden from growing more weeds in the future.

In the same way, God takes out sins from my life and breaks them down. I think that we can use the things that we learn through that journey to have a better defense against sin in the future. Repentance, confession, reliance on God’s word, etc.

Truck Stuff

Pictured above is my faithful truck, which I have named Chuck. I bought it in 2021, when I thought I was moving off campus and would need a commuter vehicle (I wound up living on campus anyways). Chuck was pretty much exactly what I was looking for in a vehicle - an older truck with not a ton of miles on it, ran and drove well, working AC and radio, and cruise control. He’s had his shares of ups and downs, but overall, I couldn’t have asked for more. Chuck has been a blessing.

One of my goals in having this blessing of a truck was to get to be a blessing to others in return. I feel like my truck is something that God had given me. So, I jump on opportunities to move furniture for people, for that sort of thing, because I know what it’s like to not have a truck! That was my life for my whole life before Chuck! I really feel like I’ve been blessed in order to be a blessing. Plus, I like to pretend that the more nice things I do with the truck, the longer God will let it live. We’ll see if that holds true in the long run… Right now I’m just grateful that it hasn’t rusted out completely.

This week was special, in that Chuck got to be a blessing to my family as well as to me! There was a storm last Saturday night that knocked over a tree in our backyard. The tree somehow missed our fence, which was great, but it still needed cleaned up. A friend volunteered to chop it up, and we got to use Chuck for truck stuff. This adventure also included getting locked in the dump, but that is a story for another day… Good times.

Sandcastle Update

I actually worked on my fantasy work in progress today! I am now nearly 3/4 of the way done the first draft. As in, I am writing section 6 out of 8. Writing this middle portion of the story has really slogged by… I know that the “second act” often goes slow, and it is very true for me.

However, today I realized that I am writing the dark night of the soul for my main character. It’s hard to put to words the emotion of this dark valley, especially in a first draft.

So I’m giving myself a little grace, and really allowing this draft to be sloppy. I did realize that once I’m done this section, I only have 60 pages of the book to write left! So that’s kind of exciting! Maybe there will be a fantasy novel headed y’alls way soon.

Speaking of fantasy novels- make sure to check out my other Substack,

G.K. Stacey

, if you haven’t already. On it, I post chapters of my fantasy story Sing Like a Storm each week.

Garden Update

My garden has finally started producing stuff! I think it is evidence of a fallen world that it’s easier to get a ton of zucchinis than a ton of anything yummy. We are having it for supper tonight and I hope that it is smothered in butter, cheese, and garlic.

I have cucumbers that I am planning on turning into refrigerator pickles.

Today I got a handful of blueberries that were delicious and refreshing.

My broccoli is slowly coming in, but it’s pretty bitter. Do any of you know how to make it so that it is less bitter? Like if I pick it in the morning or something?

My tomatoes and peppers are both looking good and I should be getting cantaloupes soon.

I also have one volunteer sunflower, who grew from a seed from one of last year’s flowers, and I really can’t wait till it blooms.

I also made one of those cattle panel trellises this week, so I’m hoping that all my vining plants climb it like they’re supposed to. Like my compost bin, it’s a little redneck.

And that’s the buzz in my garden!

---

If you made it this far, thanks for holding out to this point! Sorry for any typos - this was largely composed via voice to text.

Until next time, find a drive-in theater, eat a pickle, and invite someone over for dinner.

Faithfully,

Katie Stacey

---

PS - you can also upgrade to a paid subscription if you love what I write and want to help me afford coffee!