About Me
That's what we have every other weekend, my oldest has divorced and moved back home, and his son comes to stay on "dad's" weekends. That is my treasure time, taking my grandson to the garden, working, then sitting under the big shade tree and looking at what we just did. I have a fold out cloth lawn chair, he has a Lowe's bucket with a lid he sits on, and we just talk about what ever he wants to, he's 5 so no telling where the topic leads. Our last garden conversation was about how he wants to marry the farmer's daughter and raise cow's and horses. One weekend my mother in law (aka partner in crime) came to help pick her zipper peas, we had 4 generations in the garden that weekend.
I now live in NE TX, in fact any further NE and you are in Arkansas. We are right on the "Zone" line. I was born and raised in Central Illinois, and come from a long line of farmers on both my mom and dad's side. In fact on my maternal grandfathers side we are descendants of Martha Washington. Both of my grandmothers, and the 2 great grandmothers I was privileged to get to know had gardens. I learned from one great-grandmother that the best place in the world for asparagus is right next to the train tracks.
I grew up thinking dirt was black, I did not know it came in colors. I could, and still can, roll down my window and smell and name the types of manure being spread on the pasture. My favorite memory is running barefoot in corn fields, and pulling corn off the stalk and eating it right then and there, never mind they weren't our fields, we just lived next to them. To this day I have yet to meet someone who can shuck corn faster than I can, must be the eat and run experience, kinda like Peter Rabbit.
My parents, to the best of my memory, did not garden. But as soon as hubby and I got some land of our own, we tilled, rowed, and grew everything we could. The second time we did this, he got busy with work and I was pregnant (BIG pregnant) and the garden was on a nice slope. Getting down the slope was fine, getting up was another (yes I did try using a wheel barrel to assist me), I had to stop gardening, he was very busy that year, and our boys did what they could, we still kept more than we lost.
We've moved again, have just slightly over an acre, and last year (2010) was our first attempt at boxes and SFG, I had to draw most grids in the dirt, supplies and finances were limited, but we did what we could with what we had, and did okay until I hurt my back. This year we are bringing in dirt, not much but southern peas will grow in NE TX clay, and we have lots of rocks in our chosen area, which heats up the clay. I'm still using landscape timbers on some boxes, making real ones as we can, and later replacing the old ones. Hubby still likes to fire up his dad's tractor and row things, I let him, it keeps us both happy, he gets to drive the tractor and I get to do what I want in my plot.
My favorite thing to grow in the garden, is the next generation. Read more...
