Temperatures warm enough to take you mittens off, “for a little minute” as my oldest liked to recall this weekend, called for several consecutive hours outdoors. This is probably a first since… November? I am not all together sure, but I can’t recall so long of a stint in the forest, playing, in quite some time. Oh, I am grateful. I was starting to forget my beastly two-year old even enjoyed an outdoor adventure. I was beginning to fall into a rhythm of actually dreading the bundle and freeze, feeling quite contented to sit in and watch the snow swirl around our house in the woods. But alas, March is here. In like a lion out like a lamb. Or so they say. Or so we can hope.
With our big move‘s count down now nearing the single digits, I am dreaming with ferocity. A baby on the way, and a whole house to set up, I am planning with strategy; Thinking of priorities. While I dream of murals and fresh cows milk, I rationalize with a coat of paint and a coop. While you can be certain I intend to till up a plot of land so grand that it will make Farmer McGregor blush, I am aware that a watchful eye and careful planning is what would be truly beneficial this year. It seems to me, our time will be best spent exploring and navigating the many acres of land we are finalizing our purchase on.
With this said, I still have hopes of a long row of lavender and a towering trail of hops. Oh yes, and a proper herb garden and a slew of bird house gourds dangling of the garage walls. Well, while I am at it, I intend on carving in a few places for some blueberry bushes and perhaps even beginning the necessary asparagus garden. But wait, I am getting ahead of myself.
These boys and I are new at all this. With only the genetic blueprint of a gardener and a few small community gardens under my belt, all I can claim is a passion and excitement to do all this. I have read a few books, chatted with some folks more experienced than I, and of course read through many, many seed catalogs. But, I know the real learning will occur in the dirt. When my knees are good and dirty and my fingernails ache from the soil stuck beneath them. All I can hope right now, is our time spent romping in the out-door world, observing and admiring, will assist us on our journey.
(Pointed out to me in the comments from the previous post, the beach buds are indeed swelling… joyously, courageously bulging with the knowledge of spring!)
What about you? Any dreams for your outdoor space this year?
MamaRise 
Oh, the dreaming! I am right there with you with our new house, getting ahead of myself in thinking about wall decor and bedspreads when at the moment we don’t have a working toilet! And, I think you underestimate your experience and talents that will make your homestead dreams become reality quickly and fully.
Oh toilets…. Your house looks AMAZING girl. Seriously can’t wait to visit! I know its going to be so much fun to make it your own!!!
Ah, this is lovely. Just when we got blindly and too used to a few hours of warmth yesterday, we now have blizzard conditions. Our seeds are started indoors, with more to follow which is a nice symbolic indoor reminder that warm days MUST be around the corner! We’re in a new place this year, so the garden plans are new, and we have a variety of trees and shrubs (and hopefully flowers!) that will bloom and tell us who they are – the anticipation is killing me! Tell me, what do you envision in terms of structures to grow hops? We’d like to rig something, as well, but don’t have a game plan…
I have been dreaming of three options… Of course the brewer will have to put in his input…. I have thought something simple like this: http://www.growinghopsyourself.com/grow-hops/hop-garden/ Or, a trellis with hops all over… I use to go to a restaurant when we lived in Flagstaff called Beaver Street Brewery that had an amazing patio with hops growing all over the ceiling and fences…. And finally, I think about a giant teepee structure with the hops heading up! I feel the same way about anticipation of new plants in a new house! When we lived in PA, peonies and lilac surprised me and came up in the spring and about made me cry…
Ah, thanks for the ideas! The link you posted pretty much approximates what we did at our old house. I was wondering if hops would mind growing horizontally…was thinking of making a network of lines back and forth from four posts to create a hop canopy!
Oh, the anticipation of what will come up in a place you haven’t been – excited to learn what you find! 🙂
Wow, you have grand dreams for a new mama-to-be! We didn’t have any garden last summer after my daughter was born – and she was born in October! I just couldn’t find time in my day for that. I look forward to seeing what you accomplish!
Everything starts with a dream!