Why does it take someone 50 years to get back to their roots? I mean really, literal roots. Actually, I guess it was more like 30 years ago, when I was growing up, we raised a mighty-big garden for a few years...then, ever-after, nothing but a house plant now and then.
Underneath it all, behind the suit, tie and designer glasses, I'm just a country boy at heart. My values are much more consistent with Mother Earth News than Mother Jones. I have deep respect for sustainability and independence and all-things-natural...so why have I been so dreadfully disconnected?
This summer will mark my return to the earth. I will plant my feet in the soil and see what sprouts (maybe more hair...someone told me mine's getting thin). I've been amassing gardening books and tools. I've been plotting and planning all over my acreage. Soon I will break ground, then all hell will break loose. I really look forward to getting back to the earth!
My wife is worried, I think...readers of this blog know this too: I tend to go too far with such enterprises. I may likely plow the whole property and get very ambitious, then wither on the vine, so to speak, burning out before I get too far. She's also likely worried on another count...she's been with me to 100's of garage and estate sales, marveled at "little old people's gardening obsessions" and now her ol' man's about to pick up his plow.
Surely it's a sign of old age if not maturity.
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4 comments:
Deja,
It might be worth your time to read or reread "The Bean Field" in Walden. Thoreau is on your side in this, but he's also the voice of moderation.
I have faith in you, if you're committed as you say to rearing a garden. My advice: start small and see how it goes. You may need to relocate it due to poor soil. Test the waters first before diving in head first. ;o)
Good advice! I've not yet read the Thoreau piece, and I'm aching to. Moderation, I know, is always the best directive--if I can just harness myself to practice it!
I spent an hour in the middle of the night last night wandering around outside, sizing things up, visualizing what might grow here/there....if you watch Monk, seen him "size things up" with his hands, his head cocked to the side, mumbling--that was me last night. Geez.
Fun! We just moved back to Sedgwick County from Mobile, Alabama, and I'm starting a new garden here too. I'm a little nervous about dealing with the prairie climate after gardening in south Alabama's feast or famine rain and subtropical temperatures for 6 years, but I'm game for the challenge.
To help you keep from burning out too quickly by overdoing it at first, one of the best lessons that I've learned in the last several years is that all the digging and double digging we've traditionally been taught to do is usually unnecessary at best and actually harmful in many cases. Some of my best garden beds in Mobile were started by spraying the grass with Roundup, waiting a couple days for it to be absorbed properly, covering the ground with newspaper, then layering on 6+ inches of compost/topsoil/organic material. After waiting a week or two for it to settle down a bit, I planted into my new bed and never looked back. Sure beat digging!
Good luck. I'll be watching to see how it goes.
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