Remembering....

Today it is raining again, it has since Tuesday night. Normally I would whine and complain, but the garden needs it, and hey, I can actually MOW now! The rain has already pushed the cucumbers above ground, and is doing wonders for the rest of the garden, yep, we needed it.

As I sat here reading some forums and other blogs, I was looking out the kitchen window, watching birds bathe in some of the standing water in the garden. Looking into the garden made me remember the tiny beginnings of what we are doing here, and made me smile.

When we bought this place, and moved in May of '99, this place was nothing but grass and 2 small neglected flowerbeds. Lisa set out that summer to revive the flowers, and to create a few new beds. We decided to grow a vegetable garden, and ended up with a 12x12 area in the backyard as the first one. Each year we decided to plant something new, or plant more of the same, so the garden grew with each decision.

Since that first garden in that first year, we have grown and grown, adding various fruits and vegetables to where we are today. Even with the size we have now, we are planning to enlarge things even more. The garden will expand another 4 feet, the blackberries will extend another 8, we may add more grape arbors, and the strawberries will get thinned into two more 8x24 foot beds. Things always change, and we always manage to grow and expand our production, our knowledge, and our minds.

I have to admit that 11 years ago when Lisa and I met, I would have NEVER imagined we would be doing the things we are today. I would have laughed at the thought of making our own deodorant. I would have said a big "hell no" to the thought of using a wringer washer. I would have said "no way" to the idea of having chickens. But......here we are. All of these years and changes later, and I wouldn't change a thing. I like our life now, in fact I love it. I can't imagine going back to buying everything we eat, or eating frozen garbage out of a microwave. I can't imagine NOT having all of this garden. I can't imagine eating store-bought bread again. (ICK!!) I can't imagine going back to a lot of the things I used to do or the way that I lived in the past, and I can't imagine life without Lisa.

No one else would have tolerated my silly ideas. No one else would GIVE me some of those ideas. No one else would spend days in the house making bread, soap, candles, laundry detergent, deodorant, pies, or stand in front of a canner for a whole weekend. No one else would tolerate my rants about city people, and no one else would tolerate my music. (c'mon,who DOESN'T want to pick strawberries to Iron Maiden blasting from the garage??? LOL) This year will make 11 years together, 10 at this house, and 9 years married. It's been a journey in gardening, a journey is self sufficiency, and a journey in life. There is no one else I would want to share this with. You are my everything. OK....you and the LowBoy....OK, you, the LowBoy and my 45 Colt.....you get the picture lol, love ya Lisa.

Tractor is back from the dead, and a really busy weekend

After a lazy week with our friend from Oregon, we had a lot of catching up to do outside. We just decided to take a week off of most everything and relax with her, so over the weekend we paid the price, lol.
The garden was so far out of control that it took me almost half of Saturday just to weed it. It's fine now, but I know I will NEVER let it get that far again, company or not. We sowed the 2nd double 45 foot row of beans, (total 90ft) so they won't come on at the same time as the first double-row. We made that mistake once, never again. We had one open row, and since we've been talking all spring and early summer about making our own sauerkraut, we put in a whole 45 foot row of cabbage, and around 8 feet of the next one. Though the turnips are looking great, the parsnips and beets never came up, so we had to re-sow them as well. Everything else though, is looking great.

The strawberries are producing a LOT of fruit from the smaller bed,and the second bed is just starting to ripen. After just 3 pickings, we already have around 15 pounds of berries in the freezer. When the bigger bed comes on, it will be a jam-making weekend for sure. I know we have plenty of pint jars, we'll just have to check the supply of seals and rings so they're all ready when it's time for the jam-athon. The other fruits are looking good too. The tiny dwarf apple tree's have small apples hanging on them, the grapes have tiny bunches of pin-head sized grapes already, and some of the new raspberries are showing signs of fruit. One day this week, I'll take a walk around the orchard next door and check on the grapes and blackberries there too....Something really tells me this is going to be a VERY VERY busy canning season!!

TAAA_DAAAA! The lowboy lives! After cleaning the carb, replacing points, condensor, cap, rotor, plugs, plug wires and changing the oil, she sprang to life like she was new. I *FINALLY* got to mow, and got it all done but the small area by the side of the house and the small area by the chickens, and ran out of gas.....figures, eh? hahaha Ah well, it can wait till tomorrow and I'll get it filled up. I'll need the gas to mow a second time anyway. It was so thick and high that it will need cut twice to look decent. If I'd let it go another week, I sware I would have had to have it baled....oops. Pffffft who cares anyway, it's grass. I can't eat it, so it comes last behind everything else.