Monday, April 25, 2011

Hello, Universe. Let's Talk.

Today we are supposed to find out the appraised value of our home.
It's the last step in this home buying adventure.

I'm so nervous and anxious and excited.

Do you know what dream is tied intrinsically with this purchase? A garden.

A real food growing, vitamin-rich, life-sustaining garden. And what goes hand-in-hand with such a thing? Preservation. Preservation of the back-to-basics knowledge of cultivating our own food, preserving it for the winter, and the preservation of different varieties of fruits and vegetables that you wouldn't be able to find in a grocery store.

On the flight down to California on Saturday, I had a chance to finish the book 'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle' by Barbara Kingsolver and her family. The book describes her family's journey of attempting to live on a local-based diet, and to produce the majority of their food on their own farm. As I turned off my kindle, having finished the last of the book, I looked out the window to peer down at the gorgeous farmland below us. I struck up a conversation with my neighbor, who turned out to be involved with Alaska Grown, an organization that helps people find and grow local foods in Alaska. My mind was blown. Small world, huh?

So now I'm completely inspired, and so eager to start building my raised gardens and planning and planting our garden. And while I'm not keen on the concept of destiny, I do feel like the universe has been giving me the perfect amount of encouragement to make this happen.

4 comments:

  1. SO glad to see a reader and fellow blogger from MLT! Very small world indeed. Both my brother and I live here and garden here. Let me know if you need any help. I love helping gardeners learn and grow!

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  2. Well hello, neighbor!! I'll chalk this up to another one of those The Universe Is Telling You Something moments- I didn't expect to meet someone from the neighborhood from googling "square foot gardening potato boxes." :)

    Our home will be closing within two weeks, and while it won't be habitable for the next two months, I'll be in my new yard terrorizing the plants on a daily basis.

    I'm bookmarking your blog, and will be following your garden and your chicken adventures! And I'm sure I'll be harassing you with all sorts of questions. :)

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  3. Feel free! I love helping folks. I've been answering questions on Gardenweb and other sites for a few years and although I'm partial to raised beds and the SFG method(lite), I've expanded my thinking to all sorts of situations! Alas though, I'm all about veggies. Let me know how I can help! sinfonian_barelytone(at)yahoo.com

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  4. Sweet, thanks for your email! I definitely am leaning towards a heirloom-oriented SFG. My main concern is that the backyard doesn't receive much light at all, due to the giant trees that are in it. I'm really hoping that the neighbors will be okay with a front yard garden. At least for the first year. You know the vibe of the neighborhood better than I do- do you think I'll be running into resistance?

    We are going to be having a tree removal service come out and give us estimates to remove at least a few of the trees- perhaps all of them if they pose to be hazards to us or the neighborhood. It'd give us SO much more usable space, and make my gardening area that much bigger. If I could grow at least 10% of our food I'd be happy, but I would really like almost all of our land to be providing something for us.

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