After getting the jury duty notice for the second time in three years, I thought my mail mojo had taken a turn, but then I received the sweetest package from my blog buddy, Heather. You see, Heather and her partner B are our gardening gurus -- they definitely know what they're doing, AND they seem to have a busload of fun growing a really amazing variety of veggies down in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina. I have mentioned their gardening skills to Dustin many times, usually followed up with me sticking my laptop in his face so he can take a look at the photos of vegetables she has posted. Tomatoes...eggplant...kale...you name it.
Since Junebug will be arriving in early Summer, for the first time in seven years, we are staying home for most of the Summer months (except for a week here and there). Yep, no six weeks away for summer camp this year. We are sad that we won't be there for the full season, but at the same time we are really excited about sticking around here all Summer and being able to plant and care for a little garden of our own, and of course, the biggest adventure of all, getting to spend, as my friend Leah says, "hours of uninterrupted time eye-gazing with Junebug".
It should be mentioned that I have serious gardening in my blood. We always had a small garden growing up, but my maternal grandfather had the biggest garden ever (great for playing hide and seek) when my mother and her siblings were living at home and even into my teens. He even had a garden stand from time to time. A little rickity garden stand on the side of the road. Very funny thinking about that now. So, I grew up eating fresh okra and squash (loved it as a kid and still do) and helping dig potatoes and pick and snap big bowls of green beans. It was always so much fun. And wonderfully delicious. I think it's only natural that I would want to grow some food of my own.
After deciding that we were sticking around this Summer, I contacted Heather to ask for some gardening advice. She came through in a big way. She also followed up by sending us a seed starter package with a nice variety of seeds she thinks should work well for our garden plan (and lots of tips and cute little drawings of how to stake tomatoes and pole beans). We can't wait to get started. Hoping we get enough sun back there. Fingers crossed about that. We need to build a raised garden bed and start the seeds soon -- of course the snow needs to melt first, but I'm hopeful about that. Dustin and I are both really looking forward to this project. I'll post more about our gardening adventures as they develop.
Oh, and Heather and B are due just a couple of weeks behind us with a little Junebaby of their own. So exciting.
Cheers,
L