PNG Pumpkins-- From making puree to cutting burlap

I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. The trees will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 34:26, 27 NIV).

I've read that passage and ones surrounding it recently and I've been pondering seasons, change, and challenges I see around me. The students have been taking their finals, and are starting back to clinical rotations in the hospitals. I also see posts on their Facebook pages that they are ready to go home for holiday. Our sermon at church yesterday was from Ecclesiastes and on are we making the right changes in our lives, living abnormally or the normal function Christ created us for. And then, there is the fact that we are getting back to rainy season in PNG, but my calendar says its fall! Changes and new normals all around!

So, this September and October have been a little different than last year. Finishing up the Second half of the Obstetric Complication class has gone well.  I only have a little grading to finish up.  I've had a few free evenings and weekends to experiment with baking, and I have some baking afternoons with the neighbor girls. It been great to share some baking tips with the girls again and even help them fill up their own little cookbooks.

This year I've been more aware also that I'm not at home doing the autumn, my favorite time of year. I guess last year I was still getting in the hang of things here, and also last year I knew I'd be home just in time for Thanksgiving.  Well, that's not going to happen this year, so I've felt the need to create a little Autumn over here in PNG. 
First it was autumn baking, pumpkin bars, apple pie, pumpkin bread, and most recently pumpkin cheesecake!  And after I about ran out of my imported Libby's pumpkin, I realized PNG pumpkin (or what Americans would call squash) will actually work quite well for all those recipes, and its sooo much cheaper!!  I also am sharing all of my baking attempts, I can't handle all the calories myself but just need at least one piece of each!

Then I had to do some decorating, This required a little more planning, some trips to the second hand clothing spot at the market, and waiting until my monthly trip to town to get a few things I had seen I thought I could adapt to make my creations!  (I also budgeted for a little data to use up on Pinterest, a weakness of mine and something I can't use quite like I would in the states, which is probably a good thing!)  I also got a little inspiration from Danielle, a fellow missionary crafter here who is also missing fall in the USA.  We even got together one day and worked on some pumpkin projects!  She graciously shared some Chai and we had a great morning of piecing together some of our pumpkins.  She also shared some PNG crafting secrets--- Black poster board works well for a one time use chalkboard, (paint is very expensive!) and burlap is available here in the form of PNG coffee sacks!!  Oh the projects you can do once you have these two extremely cheap materials!!

What follows are my creations over the last 6 weeks or so, and I've started on some Christmas items as well, but you will just have to wait for those.  I'm enjoying my Autumn, even if I had to make it myself. 

Pumpkins made from old shirts I actually wore, and wore out.
They are also stuffed with old shirt scraps, and plastic bags.
The basket is another project, T-shirts form second hand,
cut up into yarn and crocheted.  This is my second basket,
the first is various grays. 

 

My favorite pumpkin!  The stem is material from my favorite capris from last year.
They also got worn out and torn from some wire on a hike
but work great here! 

My bed with a burlap pumpkin pillow. 

And my living room also got some T-shirt pumpkins.  I also recently got this rug and a third blue chair from the warehouse. They fit well into the room and the rug adds a nice autumn touch that will last all year round!

Then here is my "chalkboard" creation, placed over a picture of PNG and can easily be removed and changed again, or changed back.  I loved the previous picture but a little change for the dinning room wall for a month or so is nice. 

I will give thanks with a grateful heart for all that God has done for me this year, for all he has allowed me to do, enabled me to do, and continues to challenge me to do. These little additions to my place here are daily reminders of those things. Nothing here is as "easy" or "instant" as it can be in the US, from making pumpkin purée instead of popping open a can, making your own yarn from shirts you searched through piles and piles to find, and then the adjusting to challenges on the labor ward and constantly working on forming and building relationships. But I'm looking forward to these blessings and I am thankful for them and ever grateful to be growing closer to my God.
 

Gardening Steps in PNG…. (At least how it works for me)

Step 1- Wait at least 6 weeks from when you weeded/attempted to plant something.  This allows plenty of time for weeds to grow and possibly some of the plants you wanted to, and a few you had no idea would come up. 

Step 2- Put your gardening tools out on your front porch.  Then go back inside and get your water bottle, sunglasses and possibly a hat.  This allows plenty of time for the neighbor girls to see that you intent to work in your garden today and for them to come out and start to work.  A great time to do this is 7:30 on a Saturday morning.  They are all up, and it’s not too hot for the white meri.   You never have to ask for help, and you really don’t expect it get it, but you will every time anyway. 

Step 3- Let go of whatever plans you possibly had for your garden.  This allows your neighbors to do what they were going to do anyway and you feel good about it.  If you thought it would be great to have a row of something at the front of your garden, be alright with those flowers to end up in the middle and just smile when they come up right in the middle of something else.  Giving a little direction in planting is fine, but be prepared for anyone at any time to run home, grab/cut some flower and come back and plant it where they believe it needs to go. 

Step 4- Decide on one thing you want to accomplish and do that.  This allows neighbor girls to do whatever else they think needs to be done and you still feel like you possibly accomplished one task and didn’t have them do ALL the work.  (Today, my task was to fill up with soil two large planters I received two months ago from the Deuel’s and plant something in them.  I did have a little idea of what I wanted to plant in them, but I was prepared to apply step 3 here as well.)

Step 5- Offer some refreshment at some point in the process.  This allows your volunteer staff to stop working for a moment so you don’t feel so bad that you need a break after only an hour of work.  Cold water is always appreciated, but if you have crackers or cookies, this works well too to allow you a few minutes to stand up straight and give your back a break. 

Step 6- Have fun, chat with the girls while you all pull weeds, shovel piles of dirt and pull out small rocks.  This allows you to work on your Tok Pisin, make the girls laugh and see plenty of smiles. 

I accomplished my task today, got the whole front of the house weeded and also got a unexpected new rose garden in place of my crazy patch of Zinnias (or possibly it will turn out that the roses are just in the middle of the patch.)  I also got all the girls names right for the first time! 

All steps applied and worked out great.  These steps were learned over a year and a half process.  Not applying all steps will just get you dirty, sweaty and worn out (and possibly a little frustrated.)  ;-) 

Isaiah 55:8-13

8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  ¹⁰ As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, ¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.  ¹² You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.  ¹³ Instead of the thorn bush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.  This will be for the Lord’s renown,  for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.”