"A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes."

A little over 10 years ago now, I was sitting in a class entitled "Traditions," with 300 complete strangers and the promise of my very own Disney name-tag taunting me.  I was 18 and on my own for the first time, full of ideological optimism that even some of the darkest years ahead could not damp out.  In that class we were given a list of important Walt Disney quotations that would help us better understand the philosophy of the company we were now representing.  My favorite boils down simply to: "If you can dream it, then you can do it."

And so I did.  And I have.  And I continue to do so.  It's that simple. And even though I have often failed, often experienced pain and hardship, and rarely do my dreams "look" the way I thought they would if and when I do achieve them, I continue on, with nothing short of joy.  And that's what I'm feeling this morning - joy.

There are all manner of vegetables sprouting in my garden, flowers blooming, herbs growing, butterflies flying, and (yes, finally!) baby chickens chirping outside my window. My kids are fast asleep after a long day in the sun helping us (and they do really help!), my muscles are sore and tight, yet warm and alive at the same time, and my skin where I forgot to apply sunscreen is a lava flow. This feeling is what Brian and I both have been working towards since we met and fell in love: land, house, family, farm.  While we aren't a farm yet, we are becoming a homestead - a family trying to use their land to feed themselves as much as possible.

No, it isn't perfect and no we're not even done yet.  Already we've toiled countless hours and spent way more dollars than we'd planned just to get this far.  We've argued and fought and hollered at one another, then kissed and made-up and compromised.  We've adjusted and re-adjusted and re-re-adjusted our dream down to a workable goal with a solid plan.  And here we are. The infrastructure work - the costliest in all manner of resources - is nearly complete.  We have survived and will now be able to reap a bountiful harvest to enjoy all winter long.

Today, as it happens, is my 30th birthday and also the one year anniversary of the closing on our house.  We  closed on my birthday and moved in that night, and I awoke the next day to Mother's Day and a mile-long chore list I couldn't wait to do. On the top of that list was realizing that dream of self-sustainability through growing our own food.

Here is what the backyard looked like on that day 1 year ago:

An empty canvas. :)  That dirt puddle you see in the top right corner was where the previous owners had an above-ground pool. First, though, we spent a lot of time on the interior of the house and some repairs that needed doing, then had to hastily plop in a garden as best we could.  It wasn't pretty, it was super hard to weed and maintain, but we managed a fairly good crop of carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, and a few potatoes.  Our corn was thriving until raccoons got into it one night and that was that.

This year, there is no painting to be done or furniture to be made or boxes to unpack.  Just a mild winter that allowed us plenty of time to plan and prepare for the coming spring's planting.  Finally we felt we had adequate time and available resources to make our dream come true. And so we have. :)

Here's a quick tour.

Here are our first chicks! These are bantams, so they'll be on the small side.  Not very good for eating, but good layers that won't take up too much space in our small garden shed that is being converted to a "barn." :)

Here is the beginnings of the butterfly/herb/berry garden (on one side, that is) then the secondary garden in the back that will be all raised beds.  This year we're just doing one large center bed for root vegetables, but next year we'll add probably 4 or 5 more small beds around the perimeter.  You'll be able to walk into it just like our other garden. The raised bed garden is about 14x16.

Which looks like this right now. :) We expanded it several feet all around and did a block layout this year (you can see the blocks where the string is).  You can walk into the garden on a flagstone path and enjoy the view, plus its way easier to maintain.  We have some fall planted garlic and onions ready to harvest at the top, 4 kinds of peppers, french green beans, broccoli, snap peas and shelling peas, and some lettuce all sprouting so far. This garden is about 22x12.

The view of the house and the butterfly/herb/berry garden from the back of the yard.  Brian's pergola needs to be finished (we ran out of money last year), so yes, we're aware it looks awkward.  We've begun to think of it as wabi-sabi (or the art of zen simplicity). :)  We have1 grape vine, 4 strawberry bushes and 2 blueberries so far, an array of herbs, and the butterfly/hummingbird garden snakes in the center of it all.  Next year I plan to expand it to the far right corner you see here and plant more blueberries (and maybe some other varieties, too!).   

And our garden shed being renovated to house our chickens.  We'll make a sunroof and a small chicken door to a covered coop to the left.  I plan to let them out to roam when it's safe (we have a lot of hawks and coyotes).  Yet this year we hope to get some larger breed chicks to begin a meat flock.  Since we don't eat a lot of meat, it should be feasible for us to raise all of our own chicken.  Next year I'm hoping we feel we have room to add a few turkeys into the mix.  Now if we could only get a goat......

I tried to get the whole yard in the shot and it's impossible.  This is the jist of it, minus the butterfly bed and raised garden to the right.

So there it all is so far! Ignore the mess, we're under construction still, and ignore my weeds for they are numerous with all the rain. And the rocks in my garden that need raking. Just pay no mind.  If you close your eyes, they aren't even there. :) I'm weeding and mulching this week, I just haven't finished.  I'm also power washing things and getting the planting frenzy mess cleaned-up.  The porch is in dire need of cleaning and organizing.  

The only things we have left on our "must-do-to-do-list" are the chicken coop and a three bin composter.  (Oh, is that all?).  Once those are done, we can focus on weeding, planting, and harvesting until fall arrives and we decide to build a greenhouse before winter. :)  I know us.  That sounds about right. 

So, until next time, here is an excerpt from a book I just finished reading (and can highly recommend), that states far more eloquently than I everything I'm feeling at this moment.  

"A farm is a manipulative creature.  There is no such thing as finished. Work comes in a stream and has no end.  There are only things that must be done now and things that can be done later.  The threat the farm has got on you, the one that keeps you running from can until can't, is this: do it now, or some living thing will wilt or suffer or die.  It's blackmail, really.

...But we were both falling in love with it.... I had never cared so much about anything in my life.  I was in love with the work, too, despite its overabundance..... I knew why I was doing what I was doing, and believed in it.... I had always been attracted to the empty, sparkly grab bag of instant gratification, and I was beginning to learn something about the peace you can find inside an infinite challenge."

Kristin Kimball from Essex Farm in The Dirty Life: On farming, Food and Love