Homegrown Happiness
Just a quick post today to share with you a garden salad that is 100% from my garden. I so love to harvest things right out of my own back yard, yet it can be hard to put together a full meal of homegrown ingredients.
This salad is made up of clover, kale, Romaine lettuce, various herbs, radish, and homemade basil pesto. It was absolutely delicious and, minus the additional pesto ingredients and olive oil, 100% grown by me. You can see there are eggs and sausage in the background…eventually I hope to produce those things as well! Once we get chickens, and in a few years goats, I can be harvesting eggs and butchering goats, along with getting delicious goat’s milk and making goat cheese. And maybe one day we will even have bees.
Enjoying the Journey
I get so excited thinking about what could be and what will be, but along the way, sometimes I forget to be thankful for where I am at. We moved into our house just over one year ago. During that time, we have done countless projects inside. Outside, we have broken up concrete, built raised beds, hauled soil, planted seeds and seedlings, cultivated, watered, planted fruit trees, moved paths, extended a deck…mind you, most of the heavy labor goes to my husband, but it takes work to run a household and feed everyone. I like to look over all that has been accomplished in just one year and be thankful. I look forward to what can be checked off the list in the coming year, but I choose to enjoy the journey and choose gratitude. It sounds cliché, but it’s true.
The “Garden” One Year Ago
When we moved in, the corner of the backyard where we planned to put chickens and a raised bed garden was covered in concrete: an old garage foundation. Justin rented a jackhammer (three weekends in a row!) and tore it up.
We hired someone to haul away the rubble, and next Justin turned his attention to building raised beds. I stained them. After they were in place, I ordered soil and we hauled that over to the beds. Next, I carefully planted seeds and seedlings. Some died; I replaced them with store bought plants.
Today the garden is flourishing and it is with ultimate satisfaction that I wander out and pick part of dinner. I look forward to soon drying herbs and canning tomatoes.
All in all, it’s been a ton of hard work and effort but we are starting to enjoy the fruits (and veggies) of our labor. And we aren’t done yet. As I write this, Justin is building the chicken run. And we hope to get goats in two years.
I just wanted to share some of our progress. Thanks for your support and for joining us on this journey of transforming our land into food. We hope to inspire you to take steps to do the same!
Until next time,
Rebekah
