Thursday, May 10, 2018

For A Girl Who Didn't Pull Weeds. . . Gardening Is A Strange Bedfellow


For as long as I can recall the division has been clear. Geoffrey is the gardener and I am the quilter, weaver,spinner,knitter and most important animal person. So how the heck did I go from that to this?



It is a mystery to me. Our first garden in 1972 or so was my idea. After harvesting a copious amount of cantaloupe, it makes everyone look like a hero, Geoffrey shook his head and took over. I was happy to pull out the counted cross stitch and scratch the dogs head.

Then we entered the barren years for me. Well garden wise we added two Irish Setters to the mix, I was in love. I went back to school eyeballing a zoology major and got pregnant. Um school had nothing to do with that part. Except that part now known as our son was my focus and the dogs.
A few years passed and a second addition came along our daughter. I decided that I had found my calling with critters and children. Heck I even killed off multiple African Violets just to prove plants and I did not hit it off. 
 The two footed and four got older. A Border Collie x Aussie joined the mix and we moved to the county. Then there were goats. And chickens , drop calves , 4-H , bigger gardens not mine. I stayed in livestock and companion/ working dog land. Canning 150 quarts of our garden bounty was as close as I got to the garden each year.


Well time passed again, has an interesting way of doing that. I met medicinal herbs. I made soap, I made honey and infused it with herbs. And I started to grow herbs. But I was still firmly entrenched in the animal kingdom.



Then we moved to the Log House on Ash Creek. A really weird thing happened there. I found myself really involved in the gardening gig. I kept the garden alive and growing when Geoffrey was hospitalized for close to a month. It was as if that was the point of being bitten by a serious interest in plants.


Then I read an article in Mother Earth News on how to build a greenhouse with a dog kennel. That was another push forward . Grow food in the winter ? How cool would that be?


When one really thinks of it gardening, livestock and children all have something in common for  me.
They all require nurturing. And I have found in the later years of life that nurturing is something I am pretty good at. I think this dirt gig is not such a bad spot to land. 

6 Comments:

At May 11, 2018 at 4:12 AM , Blogger Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

A green house out of a dog kennel? Genius! We hope to build one some day. I love your photos!

 
At May 11, 2018 at 8:13 AM , Blogger Goatldi said...

Yes it is. Reuse at its finest! This first season has been a learning curve in progress

 
At May 11, 2018 at 12:16 PM , Blogger Mama Pea said...

What a simply wonderful post! Loved it from beginning to end. Write more, write more.

 
At May 11, 2018 at 1:07 PM , Blogger Goatldi said...

Why thank you Mama Pea you are too kind.

As I sit here on the deck it is a balmy 72 with an amazing wind from the northeast. Cool enough for a cuppa coffee but warm around the edges .

I probably shouldn't vocalize it but looking around the yard I see happy plants everywhere. And the veggie garden is almost all starts from the green house.

It is almost we are getting an apology from Ma nature for last years garden disaster.

 
At May 13, 2018 at 6:29 AM , Blogger Leigh said...

Nurturing! Yes, that's it exactly and it makes a good point. So much fun to see everything thrive.

 
At May 13, 2018 at 7:55 AM , Blogger Goatldi said...

Yes thrive is a good thing and it beats the alternatives! Hope you and Dan are holding up and marching forward!

Glad you came by.

 

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