Marblemount Homestead

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

The garden in July, and why we weren't made for California livin'...

Last week, my husband Steve and I attended Mastin Kipp's "Claim your Power" conference in Los Angeles, where we were supposed to discover what our purpose is. We realized that

1) We are already very much in our power and living our purpose (yay us!)

2) We are not city folks. Not at all.

Now I admit that Venice Beach, Los Angeles, is not for the faint of heart, what with its overstimulation, platinum-blonde-surgically-enhanced-people, and quite a few people on drugs. Steve and I walked on the beach every day and could stomach about two hours of this scene, and then we had to go hide in our hotel room, staring at each other going "Woah!"

On the flight home, as soon as the plane approached Seattle with its lovely view of the mountains, evergreen trees, Puget Sound and islands, I teared up with gratitude to live in such a beautiful place.

And once we arrived at our homestead in the wilderness, my heart was whole again and overflowed with gratitude. Another thing that's overflowing is our garden - the vegetables, fruits and flowers.

This is what we came home to:

Loaded-with-fruit-blueberry-bushes and kiwi vines in passionate embraces...

Cabbage forming heads - sauerkraut, here we come!

Figs getting ready to hit their peak...

Zucchinis happily bursting forth...

Garlic scapes curling into the sky, ready to be harvested for fermenting...

Borage making me happy every time I pass by it...

Onions and lettuce growing visibly every single day...

The goat barn being taken over by climbing clematis...

Flowers holding strong even after days of rain...

Goat babies growing up fast...

Kale and collards cranking...

Brassicas and winter squash taking over...

Borage, cilantro and calendula competing for space...

Beans blooming prettily, protected by netting because the (insert terrible swear words) deer seem to think they are a gourmet meal, to be stolen in the middle of the night...