A new chapter

The last time I posted, I was finishing up the gardening season. I had converted the vegetable patch into a pollinator garden, and I was proud of how well it was thriving in a short amount of time.

It’s time to say goodbye to that garden now. And to this suburban house in a typical middle-class subdivision. And it’s entirely possible that the new owners — whoever they are (we haven’t listed this house yet) — will pull up all those plants and return that patch to a vegetable garden. There is little I can do about it.

My husband and I are now under contract on a house in the country (still close enough to the city where commuting is not an issue). A sweet, immaculate little ranch on just over five acres of land.

We crave a slower pace of life … some peace and quiet. And we want room to park our travel-trailer on the property instead of parking it at a storage facility.

I fell in love with the house almost instantly. It’s clearly been well maintained and nicely upgraded. The kitchen is a dream — other than the lack of a dishwasher. That’s one issue we plan to rectify as quickly as possible. The back patio/screened-in porch is the kind of outdoor space I fantasize about. I’ll spend many days looking out over the expansive yard with mature trees. We’ll have a wood-burning fireplace, solar panels on the roof, and a barn for storage. (We’ll add an additional barn to shelter the trailer and our tow vehicle.)

I’m a bit intimidated by the amount of land. I work a full-time job, so I don’t have all the time I would wish to maintain a big garden. There’s already a fair bit of landscaping to maintain (but most of the plants are mature, at least) and a dozen or so raised beds — most of those will have to be dismantled because I do not have the time or need to grow that many vegetables.

We also have at least one apple tree on the property, though I have no idea what variety or if it even produces. Next spring and summer will hold many surprises.

I only plan to bring two plants from my garden at this current house: the lilies originally planted by my grandma many years ago that have been passed around the family. I want one coral and one yellow to plant at the new house. I’ll dig them up this weekend and overwinter them in pots. The rest can stay here.

I am both exhilarated and terrified by this new chapter. And that’s a good thing. I can’t wait to share my experiences here.