Garden progress

Finally we have started our veggie patch!  Well we are working on the structural aspects of it anyway for now.  Grant surprised me with the most beautiful gate he made out of scraps that were lying around the yard at the old cottage.  Paths are being laid from old bricks that were also here when we bought it, which will act as dividers between the beds. 

We will be spending the next month or more working in the garden, while we save for the cladding on the house.  The fence needs to be mended thanks to the dogs, (grrr...) a little more rubble to clear, soil turned and manure and straw brought in ready for some seedlings. 

One of the hardest parts for me in this move would have to be the yard.  Its huge yes, and there are fruit trees.  But that was about it.  There are still the old falling down sheds which we will need to get the abspestos people to come in to professionally and safely remove the roof off before we can demolish it.  Piles of building rubble remain, though there is certainly less.  Many trailor loads have been removed, light timber has been burnt and good hard timber stored in our woodshed for winter.  A bonfire makes for great free cold weather entertianment! 

But to see the bones of the veggie patch start to go in, the front garden started.....well it feels like we are moving in the right direction.    

But, you know, in the aim of keeping it real and honest I don't know if I would do this move again if given the choice.  There has been plenty of good to come out of it.  But plenty of difficulty too.  This was a move to substantially reduce debit.  Financially it has been good, and it has certainly been beneficail to Grant in all aspects of his life.  He was under huge pressure and he is certainly happier here.  But I just don't feel settled here. Families, we always compromise for the best for the family, hey?  It is silly to say I wouldn't do it again, as it is not like I can go back in time, best to make the most of it all.  :) 

I miss my old 3 bedroom house, with the big lined out shed where visitors could stay, where I had a wonderful bright, airy sewing space.  I miss being in town, where school was a 6 minute drive down the road, rather then a 1hr return trip.  I miss my girlfriends being able to pop in for a cuppa after school run, I'm lonley here.  I have plenty of company, and oppertunity to chat.  But I miss that deep connection I had with dear friends on a regular basis. 

There is plenty of good here, mind you.  We are close to our business, being involved in the renewal of a lovely country church, my ministry work which I love, financially things are much lighter.  Grant is far happier here. 

But I don't feel like this is home in my heart of hearts.  I do my best to notice the quiet, the lovely outlook.  I get plenty of delight from each step of establishing our new garden.  I love to see the chooks with a great big space, the fruit trees.  There is plenty of good things, of lovely things.  Perhaps if we hang around long enough these things will grow in me. 

Perhaps I am simply a wanderer at heart!  Since Grant and I have been married we have moved about 8 times in the last 10 years.  Or perhaps I am a homebody who has simply not found my home yet.        

But either way, I am excited about the prospect of a veggie garden.  Its shaping up to be a good size space and we should be able to grow plenty there.  Hopefully we will be able to sell the excess in the shop too. 

My new gate.  Im in so much love with it!  And it cost us nothing which is always a bonus. 

A new path in the process of being built. 

Salvias are in full bloom, one of my very favorite plants!  Tough, hardy, beautiful. 

This little lempon tree is a ripper.  Its a terrible shape, old, gnarled.  But it gives fruit like a tree twice its size would!  It's all heart.   

Oranges and grapefruit are also in abundance....Pity we all dislike grapefruit.  Ha! 
Well it's best I get going, work to do and all that. 

Much love, and I hope you can find some time for peace and reflection in your week. 

xx

Some rough garden plans...

So we have spent the last couple of months talking about what we want to do here, looking at the land in the most brutal time of the year, looking at what structures we have, what we can salvage and repair and what has to go.

There is a couple of sheds that will need to go, but about half can be repaired, re-using the old materials we have here.  The easy thing to do would be to rip it all out and start fresh, but that's not our way.

This old block doesn't make a lot of sense really, its quite higgeldy piggeldy.  So the challenge is to make it make sense to us in a way that provides us lots of produce, provides a safe and interesting play space for the boys, a place for our family to spend time together and a place for our dogs to be dogs and a space for our chooks to roam free, separate from the dogs.

With the dogs we need to keep the veggie patch fenced off.  So it will stretch the entire way down one side of the block.  There is a variety of growing conditions in that space.  Ranging from full shade, protected, medium shade, well protected to full sun.  We wont be using beds as such, but improving the soil the whole way along that stretch and co-planting things that work together.  there will be a section for composting hidden right down the back and also there is pre-existing green house which we will convert to a glass house at a later stage.  It already has water, it is close to the house for easy view and maintenance and I will pass it all the time which is important.  Our sitting area will look over it which is essential to keep it well maintained.

Most of the edging around beds and the various zones will be old recycled red bricks.  There are piles of them on the property.  For now we are just beginning to put them in place and get a feel.  When we are sure we will cement them in so they don't shift about.

We have huge pepper trees along the back fence which provide a wind break.  This area is impossible to grow anything under and we will simply bring in bark chips, and make it a natural play space for the boys.  There is a big tree to climb and we have allowed space the whole way along the back fence for the dogs to pace and patrol the boarder.  Its their natural behavior and including space for a dog track around the exterior of the yard will help us all live peacefully together and save my garden.  1m will be plenty of wide enough for them to run and do their thing, and from experience they will then mostly leave my garden beds alone.

In the rear right corner of the block there will be a native garden.  It will be planted out with Grevillias and native plants to bring in bees, birds, insects and so forth.  It will also have logs in it and be designed as a natural play space for the boys.  A bit of a "Bush Garden" if you will.  Coming off of that area will be a fire pit and a timber framed pergola which we will grow a vine over.  Currently there is an small asbestos roof shed which will need to be professionally removed.

There will be at least one patch of lawn which you can see colored green.  A place to run, to picnic, kick a footy and so forth.  Close to the front of the house will be a couple of small 1/4round beds for just a few of my favorite flowers, also the bird bath and Grants hilariously kitsch fountain will go there, in pride of place. 

The big patch to the left will be the chook run and orchid.  I would like to plant an avocado, perhaps a mulberry still or a couple of apple trees, at least one of the almonds will need to go.  We will need to be able to pull a trailer in there and park the van.  The chooks will have a huge space to scratch, explore, eat any dropped fruit and it will work well for us I think.  They are also safe from the dogs there and we will be able to lock them in their shed at night to keep them safe from foxes.  

In front of that area there is another shed and there will be more bark and so forth there to provide Grant a little work shop in the old shed.  He will keep his wood roach set up in the two sheds along the side.  It will work well being near the chooks as they scratch through the waste and pick out any worms that co-habit with them, and also the shade of the pepper tree will provide relief from extreme heat.  They are sensitive things.  As we are digging up squares of cement Grant is saving them to lay on the little sheds floors.  I may well put a second compost area in the orchid area to work on composting the chook and bug manure.  It is strong stuff.

Good friends of our gave us their old cubby, its in great condition and just needs a coat of paint!  We were thrilled and so very grateful for their generosity!  We have hidden it between some trees to try and create a "secret" feeling shady space for them.  We will grab some big gum-tree rounds and make steppers and jumping logs around the area, great for balancing.   

So this is our plans so far.  I'm not sure if that will be enough productive growing space for us.  There is a large un-coloured area on this design you can see, which is where the clothes line will go.  An easy walk from the laundry and full sun.  I'm hesitant to put lawn there, but also unsure if we will be able to viably manage any more productive growing area then what we already have.

What are your thoughts?

Much love,
Emma
xx    



 

what if?....

So I have been pondering lately....

What is stopping us living the life we desire where we are?

We have no idea if we are going to sell our shop or not.  There are people still seriously looking but still it does not mean alot, and it is taking more time then I ever imagined.

And I started thinking......What if we cant buy a farm?  What if it takes us 10 more years to get there?  The economy in SA is the worst in Australia.  We may well be stuck for longer then we ever imagined.

The thought got me pretty down.  I must admit.

But then I got thinking "what can we DO about it?"  If we do have to stay here, how can we introduce the life we dream of and value into the life we have now?  And also "whats holding us back?"

So what is holding us back?....
Our lack of imagination.  Really is a part of it.  We had a vision for what we were working towards and we were not willing to alter our dream for what we had in front of us.  Sure we do bits and pieces, but we can do more. 

Imagination and creativity - it is essential in all aspects of our lives.  Not just in the sewing room! 

But what we have in front of us is amazing.  We have a very big block.  But a lot of it is wasted.  We tried to establish a big veggie patch down the back but we made a mistake where we put it.  Instead of ripping it up, and re-evaluating the land we have and learning from our mistakes and re-doing it we gave up on it and stuck to my raised beds of herbs and greens near the front.  It is still some but not as much as we COULD be doing.  We decided since it was not our dream that we were not going to fully invest where we are.  But that's ridiculous - because we only have what is in front of us right now.  In this very moment.

So on the weekend we sat down together and talked.  We talked about where we are, what we dream of and what we want to teach our boys through our lifestyle.  We reflected on where we are falling down, and where we can improve.  We reflected upon the changes we can make right now to throw ourselves into the lifestyle we value.

We drew up plans of the garden.  We will be dividing the back half off to plant a giant veggie patch.  We will be cutting down a big tree to allow more light into that section of the yard, dis-mantling some garden beds and moving them, moving decorative plants, and extending the chook yard.  We will be getting a range of duel purpose heritage chooks for meat and eggs and we will butcher our own chooks.  We have started exploring getting fertilized eggs to show the boys some simple things like chickens hatching.  There is always the possibility of having a hive.

It will mean lots of building, digging and research.  We will have to be thrifty in materials and think outside of the square to transform that space.  But I'm excited and the feeling of restlessness and frustration what was creeping into my heart is giving way to excitement and contentment.  

So I feel like God has smacked me over the back of the head.  The only thing we can do is whats in front of us now.  Today has enough troubles of its own.  I have been reminded to be more present.  To stop waiting for tomorrow.  To slow down.  That there is so much right here, in front of me I am not doing.  To trust in Gods plan for our lives, despite the fact the time line seems to differ greatly from my own.  To give thanks and be present in all the moments of the day.  

Homeschooling is another thing that keeps coming back into my mind.  Despite trying to shove it to the side.  So I am going to research this, thoroughly.  Perhaps realistically explore the logistics over the Christmas holidays.

Because I will not be any happier on a farm then I am now - happiness doesn't come from a place.  It will come from living a life we see as meaningful.  For us that means God is central, but it also means life is simple, family based, in the garden.  Teaching our own children.  Being on a farm will not equip me any better for these things then where I am now - it simply means we will have more space and seeing we are not utilizing the space we have now to the full effect we could, then more space will not serve us much good!

Anyway - gotta dash! 

Much love!

xx