The Heymann Family Journal

I had to find Jürgen a photo for work today. I ended up looking at old photo's for hours. I'm so blessed  to be married to such a great person!  

I met one of our neighbors from down the street. He came over to pick up 2 tomatoes plants and a free banana pepper plant. He asked me if we collected money for something. I said we have a summer camp fund for kids that couldn't afford camp. He gave me 5Euro. Nicole was inspired to cut flowers and put them out on the side walk table. So there are 6 bunches of fresh cut flowers, and tomato and pepper plants. 2 people came by from our eBay local ad. One left me a thank you note, the other thanked me by email. And we are getting close to our goal of getting rid of all our extra plants. I grew all the tomatoes from seeds I saved last year. Believe it or not, I had nearly 1000 plants from the seeds of 8 tomatoes. I just squeezed the tomatoes seeds onto paper towels, let them dry, and in the spring I planted the paper towels in soil. From only 8 tomatoes I got nearly 1000 tomato plants. And yes it's taken allot of work to pot those plants and label those plants, and fin

Today we gave away 100 tomato plants! I also listed 45 more plants on eBay for sale, and listed free plants on eBay’s local ads. So I will put another 100 plants on the table in front of our house tomorrow. And maybe we will have new homes for all the extra plants by Thursday or Friday. I also have extra pepper plants I'm going to put out side on the table. My green house and tomato house maybe empty enough to walk in soon. I am so happy about that! And the plants are making all sorts of people happy too. That's really cool!

I sold my first 10 plants on eBay already. Boy that was easy! So I pulled 100 good plants aside to sell. I listed 40 plants on eBay, and if they sell I will list the others. But I still have 200 more plants to give away. Do not be slow or shy...come and get them while you can. I am trying to get rid of them this week. I only want to take care of my own plants. It really is too much to care for the extra plants too. And they need to be transplanted or they will die. Anyway, I got 15 Euro for 10 plants. I thought it would be hard to sell them, but it was easy...at least these 10 plants sold fast! I'm happy!!!

About an hour ago we put a table in front of our house with free tomato plants on it. They are very health plants. I just have 400 extra plants that need new homes. So far people have taken 25 plants, so I put out another tray of plants. I will keep putting plants out all week. Please take our tomatoes. Update: We gave away 60 plants today and Philip will take 25 plants to school. So now we are down to 315 plants. I hope to have all the extra tomatoes gone before the end of the week. I even put 10 plants up for sale on eBay. Who knows, maybe I could sell them? If you want plants please let me know right away.

I'm so proud the USA is doing so well in the world cup. I would be happy if they beat Germany and go to the next round. But I'm cheering for Germany. I live with German's. We have German flags hanging on our balcony. It is the German flag I paint on Sarah's face. It would be pretty hard for me to cheer for the USA without getting killed. So I'm telling you now...I'm for Germany. But it would not break my heart if America kicked their butts :)

Jessica watched the game with us. It was the first time she has ever watched a game! Germany didn't seem to have the same level of passion Ghana had. We are lucky we didn't lose. My dad called me from America. The US beat Ghana. He is sure the US will beat Germany too. But they will have to beat Portugal first. America has a very good German coach! I still think Germany has the better team. I'm happy for Ghana. Are they Africa’s only team still in the World cup? Man, they are good!

Juergen's dad Richard is in the hospital again. He fell and broke his leg, high by the hip. They already operated. He is Ok, but must remain in the hospital for a while. And with all his other medical needs, it does make it a little complex to treat. He just turned 86 years old, and seems to be getting more and more fragile. Juergen will most likely go up North to see him for a few days this week. Juergen and the kids returned from Italy yesterday. It was a very long drive, and there was allot of traffic. But his sister is with Richard today, so Juergen doesn't need to rush up North today. He will go in a few days instead. My Mom drives from Seattle to Oregon today. It takes about 5 hours, and I pray she has a safe trip. I know my Dad will be very happy to have her home.

Nicole wants to build pallet gardens for a refugee camp in karlsruhe. The pallets cost 5 euro each, and each large raised bed needs 8 pallets. And then we need good soil. That cost about 2 Euro per bag. We would also need people to help for one afternoon. If you have interest in helping to sponsor a shipping pallet garden for a refugee camp, or help build a garden (about 4 hours of work) let us know. We will be looking at doing this in August. I'll start fall vegetables from seed. They can at least get one good harvest this year, and many good harvests year after year.

This was built about 5 weeks ago. Now I'm ready to harvest it and replant it.

Nicole knows a refugee camp in Karlsruhe. I wonder if they want tomato plants in buckets. I can buy buckets for about 80 cents, and each one needs about 2 Euro's worth of soil. For 3 euro you could sponsor a tomato plant for a refugee family. We will ask them if they want plants and how many. Anyone want to sponsor a plant?

Mom loved this town

 out with Gradma some this and that We still have tomatoes to give away

Mom fly’s to Seattle tomorrow. We had a great time together. We sure will miss her! But I know my dad will be so happy to have her home. It was a real special trip. Here are some of the pictures.

We tried to see the garden called "LaFoce" today.  We read it was open from 9 until 6pm today.  But when we arrived it was closed.  So instead we went to the hill top town Montepulciano .  On the way to the town we stopped by a restaurant.  They grow all their own food.  It is located in a monastery that was built in the 1400's.  We ate sheep’s cheese with fresh honey, and had green salad and homemade Ragu.  It was awesome!  And then we toured the old wine cellar.  They had a mask of the wine god Bacchus that is over 2000 years old.  It was really cool!  And Montepulciano was also a great surprise!  It was raining, but we still managed to see allot of the town.  And now we are packing up.  Juergen and the kids travels to Rome in the morning, and Nicole, Jessica, Mom and I will drive home to Germany.

Sometimes you try to do „normal “things and it just ends up really bad. Yesterday we wanted to take a family trip to Pisa and Lucca.   But Jessica (our 22 year old autistic daughter) was so stressed out it made the whole trip very stressful.   Jessica kept hitting and pitching me.   I am black and blue.   The rest of the family was on pins and needles the whole day.   Yes they got to ride bikes on the wall in Lucca, and see the leaning tower but it was not a fun day.   It was a mistake.   Next time I know we just have to take turns going places (this makes me rather sad).   It’s supposed to be a family vacation but Jessica does make it pretty hard at times.   But I’m also trying to push her out of her room.   And she is fighting every attempt at change.   Autism is ugly…it’s the monster in the room.   If I expect it to be easy I always end up disappointed.   It is partly my own fault for not facing up to the reality.   I should have let them go to Pisa without me.   I could have tak