{"id":57,"date":"2016-05-17T21:12:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T21:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/05\/my-first-spring-at-orchard-house.html"},"modified":"2016-05-17T21:12:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-17T21:12:00","slug":"my-first-spring-at-orchard-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/05\/my-first-spring-at-orchard-house.html","title":{"rendered":"My First Spring at Orchard House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
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Scouting out the neighbors\u2019 chickens. Love our hair!\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I knew living here would be a lot of work, if I didn\u2019t want to live on two acres of weeds and dirt. It is a project, for sure. But I\u2019m realizing that we don\u2019t have to get it the way we want it in the first spring. In fact, that\u2019s impossible \u2013 financially and physically.<\/p>\n

So, while many beautiful and constructive things are happening at Orchard House, the truth is that it\u2019s a work in progress. Some parts of the property are overgrown with weeds and look completely neglected (because they are, and have been for years before we moved in at the end of last summer). Others are green and lush and gorgeous. Some are a mixture of both because I can\u2019t seem to get around to weeding every little flower patch. But the flowers are hardy and blossom in spite of the weeds, and so we have a mishmash of chaos and beauty in places here and there.<\/p>\n

I grew up on a mini-farm with a huge garden. I\u2019ve said in the past that as a kid, I gardened, but the truth is that I weeded<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Pluck, pluck, pluck.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

That\u2019s all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Wild flowers and \u201con purpose\u201d flowers!\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I don\u2019t know how to grow tomatoes, strawberries, fruit trees, or begonias. Also, I hate to research. So when I went to the nursery last week, I didn\u2019t google anything. I just waltzed in, chose the plants I thought would be pretty, or taste yummy, and left. As a result, I\u2019ve created a little more work than I realized. I meant to have a small, 3\u00d74 strawberry patch. But I purchase an entire flat, and then learned they require 18 inches spacing (hehee!). So \u2013 we will instead have a 6\u00d712 strawberry patch. That\u2019s a lot of weed pulling and turning over of soil, but I\u2019m hoping it will be worth it.<\/p>\n

This begs the question that my neighbor asked me:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t eat strawberries, why are you planting them?\u201d<\/p>\n

Because I was planting in cold, wet weather when she asked, I said through chattering teeth, \u201cThat\u2019s the exact same question I just asked myself. Seems rather odd, eh?\u201d<\/p>\n

She was expressionless and waited for an answer.<\/p>\n

I shrugged.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I figure if I\u2019m going to take that attitude, I\u2019d never make dinner or bake a pie, either, and that seems kind of ridiculous since I am, by profession, a homemaker.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Cultivating a strawberry patch, or digging a grave: you decide. \ud83d\ude42\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Everyone has aspects of their job that they don\u2019t like, but I can\u2019t even say I loathe cooking, baking, and growing food. I can dislike cooking pretty quickly if I spend hours a day doing it, but I don\u2019t. I love to bake (once in a while), because my people love to eat baked goods (once in a while), and it\u2019s a way for me to show them they\u2019re my favorite people. And I love to garden, because there\u2019s just something about getting outside and rolling in the dirt that is therapeutic. It\u2019s productive. It\u2019s thinking, and therefore writing time. It\u2019s a way to get the vitamin D that I desperately need. I much prefer gardening in the sun than laying in the sun thinking long, skinny thoughts my prone-to-wander heart will conjure up. Point is, though cooking, baking, and gardening are not solely<\/i> for my benefit, I am still allowed to enjoy \u2013 maybe even relish \u2013 in them.<\/p>\n

Hmmmm<\/i> \u2026. what goes into relish? Maybe I\u2019ll have to grow my own pickles and whatever else is in that stuff.<\/p>\n

Anyway. So far, we\u2019ve planted raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and tomorrow, I\u2019ll be planting the strawberries. Today, me, Shaun, and Andrew cultivated the strawberry patch, which was back breaking without a rototiller, but it\u2019s done and ready and that\u2019s what matters. That\u2019s as far as our food supply goes this year. As for non-food plants, I\u2019ve planted some perennials, a few annuals, and I\u2019ve relocated some irises that were growing in an odd formation. No idea if I did it right, but time will tell. I can get my undies in a wad about doing things just so<\/i>, because I was raised to be a perfectionist, but Shaun keeps reminding me to not stress about it, and to just enjoy the process.<\/p>\n

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Last weekend, he took me to a used bookstore. While he was making a purchase, I kept browsing and found a book on gardening. Inside was this quote:<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t garden for your neighbor.\u00a0<\/b>

<\/b>Good advice. In a way, I am gardening for my neighbor, because I\u2019d love to take them some strawberry jam. But the point is \u2026 relax. Enjoy. And if you don\u2019t get all the weeds pulled, the Jones family will just have to exercise some patience.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, we get along splendidly with our neighbors. They are laid back when it comes to whatever we want to do with our property, and likewise, we are fine with whatever they want to do. That\u2019s the beauty of living out of town. No covenants. No demand for perfection. Country living allows you to breathe, chuck persnickety rules, and be creative on your own timeline, in whatever way suits your family\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n

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I love it here.<\/p>\n

Orchard House is not a perfect place. It\u2019s certainly not Heaven or anywhere near Heaven. But perhaps it is a little slice of the life to come: the beauty of hard work and the fruit of labor (I believe we will work on the other side!), God\u2019s handiwork, peaceful scenery, and swell neighbors. Surely all of those things will be in Heaven, yes?<\/p>\n

And more. Yes.<\/p>\n

Until I reach\u00a0<\/i>my forever\u00a0home, I am grateful for this<\/i> home. Work, sweat, tears, joy, laughter, struggles, growth. It\u2019s all here, inside and out. On the property and in the people. And I wouldn\u2019t have it any other way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Auggie\u2019s first reaction to seeing the bear Andrew got me for Mother\u2019s Day: a kiss!\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Scouting out the neighbors\u2019 chickens. Love our hair!\u00a0 I knew living here would be a lot of work, if I didn\u2019t want to live on two acres of weeds and dirt. It is a project, for sure. But I\u2019m realizing that we don\u2019t have to get it the way we want it in the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":421,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMy First Spring at Orchard House<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scouting out the neighbors' chickens. 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