The icy chill of the mornings is fading. The days are glorious and the flies are back! Not that they ever disappeared entirely but the warming air has seen them multiply again and fill my kitchen with their irritating buzz as soon as I start cooking. It is time for the spring garden!
We have been here now more than a year in this house. Although we know this is a temporary home – it has been the perfect place to turn our waiting room into a classroom (thank you Jess Sowards). We have gone from a barren backyard with basically no garden, to a yard fast filling up with food, flowers, worms, chooks, ducks and children.
The Joy of Watching the Garden Grow
We have established four long garden beds, four raised beds, two worm farms, a permanent deep bedded chook pen and more. Avocadoes, figs, mulberries and banana trees have all started growing . The first small harvest from the mulberry trees which we only planted less than a year ago came in. We have learnt a lot about building soil and how to make our own compost. I have wanted to do that for years and this year we have finally made it happen. That has been fun and very rewarding. Just today Jared and I shoveled two compost bays full of rich ready compost onto our fourth garden bed – ready for spring planting.
I’ve also sown a lot of seeds and had the amazing opportunity to not only watch them grow and plant them in our garden and nurture them to harvest – but to also sell some of them to the local hardware store. This week I discovered that the jalapenos I planted during the winter, without much expectation of success, are now loaded with fruit. That was fun! I love those little discoveries in the garden.
I have no idea how long we will be at this property and our long term goal is still to be on acreage and start small scale farming but for right now – for this waiting season – I grateful to have a garden to work and play and learn in.
First posted September 17, 2022
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