I love that vegetable gardening is exploding everywhere these days....got me thinking about how I got to this obsession at this point in my life, so I thought I'd go into a little bit of history.
I'd wanted a garden since I was a teen and spent time in my grandfather's amazing garden in Germany. He was a farmer in his youth and after the war, having started life anew as a refugee in a different part of Germany, he eventually gardened to provide food for his family. As I said, his garden was simply amazing and it was huge. Probably a half acre and tended by one man in his seventies. I was impressed
and inspired.
When I married back in the 70s there was a big "back to the land" movement going on, with people, mostly young, desiring to relearn the life skills their grandparents had and to live more simply. My husband and I were part of that. We built our house on 6 wooded acres we got from his parents and proceeded to put in a veg garden, some fruit trees and create our "homestead".
Then...life got in the way. Kids were born, careers started and living the standard American dream began. I started nursing school and my gardening ended abruptly the day my schooling began. With two small kids and all that work I just couldn't make myself do it. D, my husband, continued the garden on a much smaller scale and somewhat intermittantly. He eventually abandoned the original garden and created a new smaller one closer to the house. And so it went.
Fast forward...and I do mean fast...to 2008. Retirement! We were both blessed to be able to retire pretty young if we were willing to live on much less. And we chose to do it. One of the first things I did was troll the internet looking for information about living frugally. I learned so much from so many great blogs! Those frugal blogs led me to the gardening blogs and rekindled the gardening fire in me. I resurrected and expanded the original garden. D still keeps his garden too. I tend to try everything, he tends to put in his basic favorites and between us we do OK.
A few months ago, I came upon a stack of old Organic Gardening magazines I'd saved from the seventies and read through them. The articles sounded so much like what I read online today! It made me a little sad to see how a good strong movement had gotten sidelined as so many of my generation abandoned it like we did. I hope that doesn't happen again. I hope all those young people that are so enthusiastic now for gardening and homesteading stick with it because although it is hard work, it is also so very rewarding!
I've gardened all of my adult life, from the age of 19 until now, at 73. I've had tiny gardens and half acre gardens and pots on a patio, but I've always found a way to grow something. We, too, were lucky to retire at a relatively young age, my husband being 59 and I 55. Frugality was always the norm for me. Not by necessity, but by desire. Unfortunately, it was not a trait my children inherited! I am happy to say may youngest daughter, at age 39, got the gardening bug this year. She successfully grew four tomato plants I gave her last year, and this year has expanded to a 4' x 20' real garden! My oldest son has also planted a small plot of tomatoes, peppers and squash. Hey, it's a beginning, if a rather late one!
ReplyDeleteFrugality did not come natural to me, Granny, but it sure did to my husband! That is totally why we were able to retire in our fifties, so what I resented slightly when I was young, I really appreciate now! Our kids, like yours, did not inherit the trait, though our younger son is a "starving artist" so he doesn't have much choice, lol! I wish I'd kept at gardening like you did over the years!
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ReplyDeleteHi Nutmeg, I like the name of your blog! We try to be frugal too. I have saved some real old gardening magazines when they were a smaller size and I like those ones the best. Nancy
ReplyDeleteWhy thank you, Nancy! Did you know that Connecticut is called the Nutmeg State? That's why I picked that blog name! I'm glad you stopped by! And yes, those old OGandF magazines were great, and surprisingly hold up well if you read the articles today.
DeleteI got her through another blog. I am following too many blogs and it won't let me follow this one so I just put it on my blog roll. Your garden looks really great. I don't think my children are going to ever garden or raise their own meat like I do but you never know :)
ReplyDeleteWelcome Becky! Thanks for visiting and for the compliment! There are so many good blogs out there, aren't there? And so little time! It's funny the way kids go; you just can't predict it. Though mine do appreciate the produce I get to them, especially my "city boy". Just can't see either of them picking up a hoe any time soon!
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