Small town girl in the Country

Well, the last several months has been pretty busy and crazy with the move. On top of that, Due to a combination of computer issues that still have not yet been fully resolved and a need to prioritize, blogging has not been high on the list of to dos. In fact, March was deemed a time to minimize ALL commitments and just focus on getting a healthy baseline back into place. It has been wonderful to get back to basics. It was a crazy process getting here but I am so glad we are to the point of being settled again. Changes do make life interesting…

Our Next Season:

For most of my growing up and adult years I have lived in a small town/ small city setting. I would not call myself a city girl because I find big cities overwhelming. I also wouldn’t label myself as a country girl because though I have lived in rural areas I have always had neighbors that are not real close but close enough you could throw a rock and hit their house from your own, we have never had farm animals and our gardens have never been very large. I describe myself as a “cityfied country girl”.

So, when we decided to move more into the country on a 3 1/2 acre piece of land (that needed lots of work) and in a house that ran off wood heat I was a bit nervous. We are by no means in the middle of nowhere and we have all those perks like electricity, running water…by no means are we “off the grid”. We have a wonderful size fenced yard and plenty of space to explore and play. What I was probably most nervous about is that there was and is a lot of work to be done due to the outside being mostly neglected for the last year or two.

I have found a joy I did not know I had… Discovering the new and the fun under the work and the mess. Also known as the “Living in the country workout program”. 🙂 In the last several weeks I have experienced the rewards of taking a totally overgrown garden area and discovering treasures. I have asparagus, strawberries, raspberries and LOTS of rhubarb that are established! Woohoooo! My Mom and I (the kids helped some too) weeded the overgrown beds and found beautiful soil. Faith’s official title was Worm Inspector, though most of the worms were spared from her “inspections”.

As you can see on the left the beds are an absolute mess (and that is after I knocked down the towering dead plants), but the weeded beds are wonderful. Now to finish them all (including that one way in the back that you cant even see the edges of due to the grass and weeds that have invaded) and cut down the rest of the pathways. A BIG shout out THANK YOU to my Mom for her help in both weeding and motivating me to keep going.

I am so eager to plant my sugar snap peas and green beans. I was able to harvest and freeze 5 gallon bags of beans last year. I would like to double that this year.

Today we tackled the “Save the Trees” project. On the property we have 12 fruit that needed some help. All but 4 looked a lot like this:

We all worked together and saved those poor things from being chocked out by the grass.

Under the work and mess was a really fun rewarding time with the family and some beautiful trees. Now the trees look like this:

My next step is to make their fences a bit larger. We have quite a few deer in the area so the trees need to be protected from deer eating the new foliage and rubbing, but these fences must have been put up when the trees were much smaller. I much prefer eating my own apples instead of the deer getting them. I do not know what most of the trees will produce so that will be a really fun discovery. Wonder what treats await us this summer and fall 🙂

I think the kids have the most fun riding in the tractor trailer. It is one of their new favorite things.

Aidan is learning to drive it and that is awesome for him. He loves it. What boy wouldn’t? And Mom loves that he can’t really hurt himself or much else.