My Garden

I have a dream, I have a dream....cue the tavern full of ruffians singing along...

I started watching a documentary on Netflix called "The Chef's Table". I love food and it has always been a goal of mine to learn how to grow, prepare, and preserve my own food. So when we watched the episode about Dan Barber I was inspired.

(just a warning that he loves the "F Word", not my favorite, so I hated that he was the most inspirational to me)

I love how he is conscientious about how he is growing his food, sustaining the viability of the soil, and growing food for flavor and not for shelf life and size. (the part about seed breeding was extremely fascinating) There is no doubt that food has better flavor when it comes straight from the garden compared to straight from the store. I also loved that he took whatever was in season and cooked recipes with those ingredients, and I was in awe that his restaurant menu changes almost daily  based on what they have an abundance of. This has to take a lot of creativity.

I want so badly to replicate what he does on a small scale for my family and it has started to consume so many of my thoughts and dreams. I want to learn how to grow my own food, live off what we are able to grow, and be creative to cook with what we have from the garden.

I am also looking into having Hunter raise a pig, but that is a different conversation for a different day.

Along with that I was listening to a conference talk, and I don't remember much of it, other than he mentioned his Dad kept bees that would pollinate his peach orchard. Suddenly another layer of fruit trees and bee keeping was added onto my already spiraling out of control dream.

Can you imagine harvesting your own honey?!?! The health benefits of local honey are well documented, and for my boy who's asthma attacks are caused by allergies, it would be really beneficial to help keep them under control.

Not to mention how yummy our honey butter on Sunday rolls would be.

I think Rob is getting worried I have lost my mind, but he is being supportive, he hasn't jumped on the "let's buy the acre behind us and plant an orchard" idea yet, but I am wearing him down.

Rob keeps reminding me to start small, and I reluctantly agree he is right, and thankfully I have my garden this year to get me going, and it is going crazy!! My tomatoes have outgrown their cages and my squash is quickly growing way bigger than we planned and spaced for. Not to mention the cutest little melons that are growing despite my doubts.

We have already pulled 4 cucumbers off the plant and some delicious zucchini and crook neck squash. I am loving every minute of it and we all love going out to see if there is anything new to pick.

Right now the garden is down in our pit, our plan was to finish it this summer, but that plan was put on hold when Rob had his stroke, so it became the perfect garden spot close to the water source.

The weather this last week has been beautiful, we are loving every minute of it, so Rob has been back out on the tractor getting my permanent spot all ready for next year. Our goal is to have it all prepped and fruit trees in this fall, seriously I am so excited!!

It doesn't look like much more than dirt and weeds but I can see the fruit trees now. There will also be rows of raspberries and blackberries, and beautiful strawberry boxes adding to what I am already growing this year.

I am beyond excited and can't wait to see what this beautiful spot looks like this fall and one year from now.