I've almost got the garden all planted. Just a very small section needs to be tilled, then comes the final push to get all the spring "crops" planted. My plans grow in grandeur with each trip to the garden section, and I find myself wanting to till up more and more of the yard. I felt it again this spring, and I'm determined to use a more intensive planting method to maximize my yields instead of nagging the life out of my hubby.
Next year, I hope to expand my raised beds and lasagna garden beds, making yearly tilling unnecessary. I wish I had the energy needed to run a market garden. I think it is something I'd really enjoy. I'm not so sure I'd enjoy farmer's markets, though, where we all sit in our little corners selling the same things for the same price. Instead, I envision a small shop where loyal customers could drop by and purchase their produce...much like the Mennonite stands I loved so much in Maryland. Sometimes I think I'm trying to recreate that little slice of Maryland. It's one of the things I fell in love with while living there.
Recreating...that's what I'm trying to do...recreate a time and feeling that I loved. It's more than a market garden. It's more than homemade breads and jams, and the homey crafts. It's a feeling. There are many things I love about living in the south again, but I will forever miss this aspect of life that I felt in Maryland, and Ohio (where my in-laws lived for many years), and Pennsylvania. Is it the Amish influence? Is it small town Americana. I don't know how to describe it. Maybe it's more a time than a place that I'm looking for...a time of young children and innocence and problems that only seemed big at the time. I just hope that in all my efforts to recreate, I don't forget to live in the here and now. I'm more of a project girl than a people girl. I use my projects to reach out to people, but I'm afraid that it looks more like I use projects to avoid people. But enough philosophical ramblings.
My next big challenge to avoid will be bee-keeping. For some reason, it is appealing to me more this spring. I thought I could avoid it, seeing as I thought I'd have to shop for equipment online. But yesterday, I found bee-keeping equipment for sale in a local store, right down to the hives themselves. This will make avoiding it hard, because I know I can walk right into that store and buy what I need on a whim. My children are against it, and I think I might kill my hubby if I don't stop coming up with more and more homesteading stuff to do. Restraint is the word for the day when it comes to bee-keeping. Maybe I'll just buy a book about it =)
