Gardening
“Beautiful hibiscus in the West Virginia sunshine.”
In 1986, Hubby #2 joined a medical practice in a small mountain town in Colorado. My daughter was just turning 12 and about to start junior high. I had worked to provide for the family while my husband went through medical school, internship, and residency so when he started his practice, I stayed home to be a full time mom.
Having grown up in West Virginia and spending a good portion of my childhood on my grandparents’ farm, I longed to have a farm of my own. I traveled ahead of my husband to find a place to live. Rentals were few and far between, and when the realtor showed me a five bedroom log house on two acres just outside of town, I was smitten. It had everything I was looking for, except…it was for sale. We had absolutely no money nor did we have any way to get some. The realtor threw out an idea…rent to own. I knew I could get enough money out of my beloved VW Westfalia camper to put down as earnest money. I returned to Denver and told my husband we had a house.
He wasn’t thrilled. I mean, looking back, I can’t blame him. I kind of took advantage of an opportunity that was presented and figured I could get him on board when he saw it. And, after he saw it…he was smitten as well. The house had cathedral ceilings in the living room. It had one whole wall of glass that overlooked the valley with the Red Cliffs and the Flatirons Wilderness beyond. It was incredibly beautiful, and beyond anything we ever could have dreamed of.
One acre was a fenced in pasture. I always wanted a big garden, and here was my opportunity. There were some problems, however. First, Colorado is a semi-arid state prone to drought. Second, it has a short growing season, and just the two miles out our road was enough of a rise in elevation that the growing seasons was a full 2-4 weeks shorter than Denver (which is a full two months shorter than West Virginia). My dream of lush fertile ground was dashed and anything I did manage to raise was either frozen out in the middle of June or ravaged by deer.
When I first came back to West Virginia in 2014 to help my aunt on the farm, I had full intentions of planting a garden in the spring. Things didn’t work out as planned, unfortunately. I ended up traveling for much of the next couple of years. Then Mr. FixIt came along. And, now I have a garden! He tilled in some manure and compost yesterday just in time for a predicted rain storm last night. We’ll set out the tomato plants this weekend along with some bush beans. If I were going to be home all summer, I might do something more ambitious. As it is, there are tons of farmers markets and fruit and vegetable stands. I hope to do some canning this fall for the first time since before Mr. Virgo died. This is this first time I’ve been excited about doing something like this and it feels wonderful. It’s another level of healing, another step forward.
Another thing I’d like to do is build a small greenhouse. Bedding plants are so expensive anymore. There are dozens of pots around the pool and the yard and it would cost a mint to buy bedding plants. I will try raising some of my own seedlings next year. I was telling a friend the other day…I wish I was thirty again. Oh, the things I would do with the access to the land that I have now! Ahhhhh…youth is wasted on the young. ❤️
“Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.” Genesis 9:3 ESV