For the Love of Gardening

Gardening is a lot like having superpowers. With dirt, a handful of seeds, some water and care; you share in having the power to make plants grow.

This is something I posted to my Instagram about two weeks ago. The tomato plant pictured has since died (or, if it's not dead, that thing is sure ugly). I replaced it with strawberry and some arugula. Never planted arugula before but I'd certainly heard of it. It's a fun word to say, really. Arugula. Again. Arugula.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I'll get back on point.

Since purchasing this from the local big-box home improvement store, I discovered a little gem of a nursery that was housed both in and around an old dairy queen. There was a chicken running around the property - and as soon as we saw it, Dad asks: "Why would they keep a chicken here?" My answer was simply: "Because these people know how to do things right." 

That's the kind of person I am. I'm a little quirky and out there, with some pretty crazy ideas. But, what I do in craze can sometimes have great benefits. That chicken running around the property lays eggs and eggs mean food that's not farmed in a plant and trucked to Walmart. More people should have chickens. I want chickens - but we rent our home and I don't think that would go well with my parents, the landlord, or our neighbors (and yes, I've begged my parents for years for a chicken). I love growing my own food and making my own stuff. I also knit, crochet, and would really like to know how to make soap and candles. 

Not exactly sure where it started, but I've wanted to live like a pioneer since I was a kid. While other girls were playing softball and having sleepovers, I was hiding in the woods behind our Florida home and building miniature tee-pees out of sticks. I also tried to rub those sticks together in order to make fire every day. I never achieved it. 

Then I got older and went through other phases. But at 14, it hit me. The love of gardening. And it hit me hard. At the time, I wanted a bike pretty badly. But, the bike I wanted was expensive. I begged my parents for one, to which they eventually agreed, if I could save up some of the money. Then, on a routine trip to Home Depot, I noticed the wide array of vegetable plants in the nursery. "I'll let you make a choice," Dad said. "We can get you the bike, or we can start a garden. You pick."

I picked the garden.

Welcome to my blog. I hope that here you'll find information to fuel your love of gardening just as I did. I will also try to post about sustainable living, homesteading (I'm just a homesteading wannabe, though) foraging, medicinal plants and the like. I'll try to be as regular as possible with my posts. Make sure you comment, so that I know that I'm not just shouting into cyberspace. 

Love,

Keely