A Garden Ramble

[wayfaringwordhack]

What follows will be long and quite possibly uninteresting for anyone not into growing food, but I wish to get a copy of my thoughts and observations of this growing season (as well as a few comparisons to others) in one place where I can refer back to it.  I mentioned before that I have not really allowed myself the joy of all the work we have accomplished so far because I am always looking into the future of "when it will be more like it 'should' be," and that can get pretty depressing.

(Funny side note, the above lines were written weeks ago. Alas. That is the way things go)

To battle the depression, I thought I would post some before and now pictures to truly get a grasp on just how much has changed. However, now the garden has changed even more and I need new photos. :P

(Extra Funny Side Note:  The above lines were written almost two months ago)

Let's skip the long and blather and just post some photos because I have another post I want to make.

Garden when we moved in (view from the house):





After I cleaned it up and planted a few seeds:





After I have totally rearranged the layout and gotten rid of the beds:



A from-above view with the new pond and polytunnel:




In the background, you can also see that we put on new roof on the grange (J, his brother, and a friend put it on, but I get to say that I helped with the rain gutters), getting rid of the asbestos one it had upon purchase of the place.  You might not be able to tell--depending on your rainfall expectations--but we are dealing with a drought now and in this pic you can see that in the grass and alleys of my potager. 

A pic of when we bought the place so that you see the old barn roof:



We also excavated and terraced the land behind the house:







From above. Again, note the dryness, and that we sowed grass into subsoil. :-/  And yeah, it is a mess. My old washer even makes it in the photo because it decided to give up the ghost during the barn renovations. :P




Busy bees we've been.  I guess i fibbed because that was pretty long....

Comments

[rimturse]

I know from myself and our old farm house how easy it is to "not see" the work you've already done, but you did a lot of work on that place, even if it doesn't feel like it. it was lovely when you bought it and it's even lovelier now. Plus, I know how much you've been able to harvest. :)

[wayfaringwordhack]

It is true that it is so easy to forget harvests, not think about things accomplished, etc. For example, when I look at the last photo in the series, I see the slopes of the excavated bit that have still not been planted; I see the patch where the potatoes were harvested that still hasn't been mulched; I see only one out of three strawberry beds has been mulched... Yeah, always something to do. The pool has been put away, as has the broken washing machine, but the lawn mower is still out, albeit in a different place. :P

[asakiyume]

The work you've done on your homestead is just *amazing*. It looks beautiful, just beautiful. I'm glad you did post instead of letting more months go by! And I hope looking at the before and after helps ease the depression. You've really accomplished a LOT.