This might be a boring, LONG post...to some. To me, it's one of the most exciting things about the last 2 years of my life! For so long I've been such a dreamer. Always dreaming up a new dream...A bakery? Maybe a B & B? A move to Maine (...or Paris?) A weekend home or at least a move to the country where I would have room for a garden and a pup? A common question, much to my parents dismay, was 'What am I doing with my life?' A common prayer request, was, simply 'for direction.'

Then, in 2013, I did some work to try and figure "it" out - A fave story is that I took a test (the Strong's Inventory) and I was certain the results would tell me to go back to school to become a nurse. Imagine my surprise when I learned I should be a florist, horticulturist, or...bartender. Let's just say I filed that one away for about 6 months!

I was a swimmer most of my life. A pool rat. We spent so many hours at Glenwood, RMSC, MAC...Then one summer (age 9) I had serious surgery which meant a good 2 months out of the water. I remember so so vividly jumping into the pool for the first time after that break - I jumped off the diving board and for a second, I forgot how to breathe. I was little, and had been swimming since I was 18 months old, no joke, and I remember just working SO hard to get to the surface (so dramatic - it was literally 12 feet deep with a lifeguard right there). Anyway, I always imagine that is what "diving in head first" will feel like - swimming against the current, going so deep, being unsure of what is on the other side, not sure how to breathe...Maybe that memory is why I am fearful? But I am also SO SO excited about what I am going to learn, what the garden will look like, thankful for finally facing these fears and taking a RISK! Thankful for my parents who, miraculously, decided to come along for this ride.

This dream will be an evolution over my lifetime which is super fun to think about. Farming and dreaming about flowers and what the fields will look like, what to grow (WHAT TO GROW!!), who will buy these flowers, how I will manage working a full time job simultaneously, what mistakes we will make, how we will fend off the groundhogs and deer that think they run the show...I could go on. I, and we, are so excited and hope that this will be a place to log the progress not just of our 1/4 acre field of dreams (such a small sliver out of 28 acres!) but also the progress as we do so much work around here. There is so much wildlife. We are getting sheep in January (blackie below is one of ours!!)

Here are some "before" shots of the field of dreams...Stay tuned for the afters!

overgrown with Johnson Grass taller than me!

Back before we had a bush hog (or as dad likes to call it, a ground hog)

"After" - Dad cut back all of the Johnson grass this fall and we removed about 20 junk trees + overgrown stakes, electric fencing, etc.

The "Orchard" - 4 trees remain and they are so thankful for having some room to breathe! We are excited to see if we can get them to produce anything in the next couple of years!

I owe a "winter" shot of the garden - Dad tilled it which is super exciting, we are hoping that bringing the Johnson grass tubers to the surface and subjecting it to the harsh winter will kill most of it off, and we will be growing in landscape fabric which should help kill off more of it along with other weeds...

To Be Continued!