The Big Garden

Well I did not get too much done in the declutter department because when John got home he reminded me that we were way overdue to plant the big garden. The other gardens with tomatoes and peppers and such have been in for about a month... So that is what we did. We planted snow pea pods, beets, carrots, onions, cukes, zucchini and pole beans. We like to do the wide row planting... you can see everyone spreading mulch between the rows to keep the weeds down.

I love planting the garden, I love weeding, harvesting, freezing and canning. While we were out there today I was reminded of how much I wanted to be a "back to the lander" when we were first married. I had high hopes and big dreams back then about living off the land, owning a family cow, making our own bread and cheese, etc. I bought every Rodale Press book I could afford starting with John Vivian's Practical Homesteading. I subscribed to Mother Earth News, Countryside and Small Stock Journal, Organic Gardening. I bought books on building your own loghome, creating your own power, organic pest control and one year for a birthday present my Mother-in-law gave me Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living... Wow what a ton of information in that thing...and fun reading, too.

As time went by, I was truly afraid the Lord's plan for us would not include living in the country... But Praise God here we are, in our own loghome (that I wish I could say was off the grid, but unfortunately we probably keep the company in business), and our organic gardens. I couldn't possibly live in town again and I hope God never wants me to.

It took John a long time to get into gardening with me, but I credit the purchase of our first Troy-bilt tiller with getting him hooked. Thanks to him, we had the most fabulous garden around when we lived in town... he made his own mulch tea for his plants and everything. Now he has built himself a nice greenhouse and starts almost all of our plants each year. He really is the main gardener around here now.