A Good Look Around

(two sides of the barn almost finished being painted)

Tonight, after a long (mostly enjoyable) day of working outside (interspersed with several episodes of running inside to keep dry from the rain), I had some time all to myself. And instead of picking up the to do list (which is more of a "to plant" list), I picked up my camera.


(bean sprout)

Over the past few months the majority of our time has been spent right out here. Gathering rocks, tilling the soil, shoveling dirt, building garden beds, planting seeds... planting plants. And don't get me wrong, I love every minute of this work. In fact when we are all outside working/playing together I am often my happiest.


(first apple blossom)

However, it has been a long spring, and working outside to get all this done hasn't always been easy. We have had a lot of rain and snow, and cold and wind. It can be hard to stay positive when planting seeds on rainy day number 89.


(broccoli garden)

But we did it. And we did a lot. This year we added 16 new garden beds. Which makes for a grand total of 30 (fairly large) beds, all of which are edible plants.


(Grace's very own garden)

There is still so much to be done with the gardens, but the most important part, the planting, is finally almost done.


(oats)

And walking around tonight, with my camera in hand, I felt like I was seeing all our hard work for the first time.

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(begonias... my favorite shade loving, all summer blooming plants)

I could finally see the big picture of what we had done... as opposed to just lines on a to do list.


(blueberries)

And I marveled at every little bit of it.


(strawberries that we planted last year)

Of course there will be things that don't work (I've already planted lettuce and carrots twice).


(lilacs- one of the many gems that came with the house)

Surely this year will have it's crop that "didn't quite do so well" (please don't be tomatoes again, please don't be tomatoes again).


(crabapple tree)

But surely this year will also have it's successes. Maybe there will be some "star" crops that perform better then ever.


(some of our new and old garden beds and the new sandbox. of the 16 new beds I harvested the rocks for- and built- 10 myself. yes I am proud.)

As always, new things will be learned. New recipes will be tried.



And we will grow... right along side our seedlings.