Since college time I have been fascinated with the idea of living closer to the land. I am recognizing several factors in my love of gardening and growing things as I became an adult. My Dad was a forest ranger and we lived in the Cascade Mountains of Washington along the Columbia gorge. There was much wild life and outdoor time in my childhood.
I remember coming home with a large bouquet of trilliums for my mom and having Dad careful, gently explain that they take many years to bloom the first time and by picking them I was dooming the plant to many years of recovery before it could bloom again. I don' remember crying, but do remember remorse and haven't willingly picked a wildflower since. Smile
My high school boyfriend loved to garden. His parents moved into a new, subdivision home and he persuaded them to allow him to put in a vegetable garden. I though that was pretty cool and participated in the weeding a little.
My first husband was an outdoor man and loved the woods, hunting and horse back riding. I brought gardening into the equation and his mother is largely responsible for me being able to can just about any living (edible) thing! Bean snapping afternoons and pickle making are very fond memories of my time with her. Thank you Lee.
Married now for 20 years to a wonderful, steady, unflappable husband Dave, we have slowly moved toward the country life. We have been 8 years now on property that allows a big garden, some animals and a few fruit trees. We live in the Katy Texas area and while the summers lately have been scorchingly hot, most years have been blessed with adequate, period rainfall through the summer.
Our garden is about 30 by 50. It grows enough weeds to supply the Mexican army and enough produce to keep our family of three, two neighbor families and a daughter and son-in-law in occasional produce. The beauty of this part of Texas is that there are two growing seasons each year. the fall season...coming up...is the best.
Living closer to the land and becoming self-sufficient to what ever degree possible is a great and glorious goal. While Dave somewhat embraces the idea, I am possessed by it. I dream of wind turbines, cisterns from the roof, chicken tractors, goat milk cheese and yogurt and a pantry and root celler to supply us through the next year if necessary.
While Dave will go along with these things, he has no time to help with the planning or the implimentation of such labor intensive things as new fences, new gutters, wind towers etc. The irony is that now we have the money to do these things (subtracting heavy labor costs) but not the time. When Dave retires and has the time...we will not have such a flow of money. Are we the first with this dilema??? Doubt it! So...what happens next? Read and see.
