They say that man plans his steps, and God laughs. If you’re a true homesteader, then you know that without a shadow of a doubt, you need to find who the heck originally said that quote so that you can get on their (and Gods) good graces. Because, well, let’s face it, it’s the cold hard truth. And then you realize, it was God all along….
It’s true, almost every single thing you plan as a homesteader, you have to understand the real reality that it may not, and probably won’t, ever happen. And if it does, it will probably be a miserable fail.
Which brings me to this years garden….
Here I sit, watching everyone plant their precious little seeds of life, either indoors or cold hardy things outdoors. I’d be planting mine right now too, but instead they sit in a bag on my dresser. Hundreds of tiny little seeds just begging to be planted. And unfortunately, I just don’t know if they will actually be planted this year.
As you might remember from my first garden blog post a few weeks ago, I was super excited about building raised garden beds this year. You see, we literally live on the side of an extremely steep hill (aka, small mountain) and it is impossible to just till a garden and have at it. I know this, because I tilled an entire (small) plot of land one year, completely by hand (no tractor or rototiller), and it was a miserable fail. The first rain took most of the seeds with its rushing water down the hillside. And the Summer rains exposed all of the roots from the plants that hunkered down and grew. The only thing that really ended up growing were peppers, peas, mint, some tomatoes that got eaten by the squirrels, and potatoes.
This year was going to be an awesome garden year, because I had high hopes of canning most of the extras for the following Winter. But it looks like, once again, we’ll be utilizing the Farmer’s Market more often than not. Which, I won’t complain. I get to support my local farmers and get amazing produce, but it’s just not the same.
Here’s our dilemma….
We only live on a half acre, that’s our first dilemma. You always hear me say that you can do a lot on a 1/2 acre, and you can, but there are limits.
Our second issue is that our entire property is surrounded by tree’s. This means that there’s really only one place that gets sun most of the day, and that is our backyard, as it faces the East and would get the least harsh of sunlight.
The next issue is that our entire septic and drain field is in our backyard. And if you know anything about that, you know that it’s a big no-no to place large raised garden beds on top of your septic field. Oh, there’s totally other space in the backyard to plant a garden….but it’s being used by chickens and rabbits right now! Great….
That brings us to only one other option…the front yard.
Our entire front yard is in use, constantly. It is about a little less than 1/4 acre, but it has a large shed, most of our driveway and parking, mostly shade to one side, and the rest is the play area. Where the heck am I putting a garden??
I’m not….
We went from having a huge garden, herbs, flowers for the bee’s….to maybe being lucky enough to have 1-2 raised beds and some buckets strategically placed about the property.
Of course, it’s better than nothing, and more than most. So we are grateful for even the littlest of space. But my goodness, “more land” cannot come quick enough for me. I know that this is Gods way of teaching me patience and gratefulness, but it’s never easy…ever.
So here’s to the garden of 2015, the garden I’ll never have. You were awesome in my dreams, but as always….
….nothing ever goes as planned…..
