Growing Dreams...

I feel like I'm still trying to get the hang of this Blogging thing. The OCD in me is trying to come through and organize this page. Plus I keep playing with the design...it's all Blogger's fault, they have too many cute designs! So from time to time depending on the post it may be repeated, such as recipes. I'll post them in the blog section but then archive them under the recipes section. Nice and organized, makes sense right?? :)

There is so much going on right now with my family I feel I can't keep my head on straight at times. Hubby is looking for a better job, I just started school, the garden is growing and I'm beginning my Spring/Summer planting oh and I started homeschooling our youngest. Looking at schools for all of our kids to attend next year together, settled court issues with hubby's ex (always fun) and did I mention I just started school...has the room stopped spinning yet???

My love of gardening has literally blossomed in me, so why not make a career out of it right? I mean I'm only 32, guess its about time I figured out what I want to be when I grow up lol! Don't get me wrong, I've loved having the opportunity to be a stay at home Mom for 12 years. I've been able to be here for our kids 24/7, keeping them out of trouble (or as close as I possibly can), helping them with school, teaching them responsibilities and instilling mine and my husband's values and morals in them. I did say 24/7, that's a BIG job! Not to mention I'm kind of a hard ass at times. Our kids will tell you, they don't get away with much, I have fantastic instincts and they always get busted! Besides I'm seriously outnumbered, there are 6 of them, 3 are teenagers, I have to hold my ground or I'm screwed...

All in all I've loved it. Saved a heap of money with never needing childcare and I honestly feel I have a bond with our children that is stronger than anything. They know I'll always be there for them, that they can count on me, and I'll still be keeping an eye on things to hopefully steer them in the right direction. I suppose I should point out that my hubby is pretty awesome with them too!

But the plan was always for me to go back to school once our youngest was in school himself.
My love of cooking and baking led to wanting to know what I was feeding my family. Which led to a love of home grown organic ingredients and of course growing it myself! It's not like I had anything else to do around here, insert sarcasm....heaps of sarcasm!!

This is only my second year gardening. Last year hubby built me an awesome greenhouse while we were still in Alaska, and I was able to grow lots of Tomatoes and Cucumbers in it. It was my trial run but it was great. So I knew moving here to South Australia with our fantastic Mediterranean climate, I could actually garden all year long! Picture me doing the "Happy Dance" cause that is exactly how I feel inside.

My greenhouse garden in Alaska, lots of Maters!

So after moving into our home at Christmas and adjusting to the fact that it was HOT and not cold at Christmas time, too hot in fact for my unacclimatized body to brave the dry heat of 85*F. I mean we had just left 4 feet of snow in Alaska of all places, going from -5* to 85* in a month was definitely an adjustment. Come Autumn I was already a bit behind in getting things started as I had only gotten the  layout completed by then, we still had to put it all together. We decided to use recycled materials as much as we could, plus we're cheap! So we were off to find pallets, lots and lots of pallets! We cut them in half then spiked the tips to make a wooden, picket fence. We cut more pallets down to use as wooden borders between beds. We hung up the lattice for planting peas and beans. We even used the pallets to make a cubby house for the kiddos.

Before we broke ground

Potager style garden

Picket fence panels made from pallets

Borders

Garden Table

Lattice for Peas

First borders and fence up.

I decided that since we were "going all out" on this gardening thing we might as well learn how to compost, so I talked hubby into making a compost Tumbler. He used a black plastic barrel, cut some holes and a door in it and made a wooden stand to support it with wheels underneath the barrel to spin it.  Have I mentioned I married a genius? We've also picked up a "Can-O-Worms" to use for composting as well.  Hubby even found the time to build me a neat garden table to work on outside and to store my gardening mess.

After getting my hands dirty on a regular basis with all that we'd had going on out back I realized I really loved it. I looked forward to going outside every day. Even just putting up the borders or preparing the soil or transplanting my seedlings, I couldn't wait to get outside.

I had been thinking about going back to school for my first love of cooking, but had my doubts and after a lot of soul searching and heart to hearts with my hubby, who has always supported me, but felt necessary to point out that I "am NOT a people person", I changed my mind. I'll admit, I'm not really one for working under others, I like to do my own thing and be my own boss. So my other love, even though only recently discovered, became my second choice. Funny thing was I had no doubts what so ever about this decision. I knew I could not only do this but be successful at it. It was my "why didn't I think of that before, dummy" moment!

I'm now studying to become a Certified Horticulturalist specializing in Permaculture and Biodynamics. Sounds pretty smart huh! The goal is to one day open my own Commercial Organic greenhouse, selling heirloom veggies and fruits to the public and helping people as a Consultant to set up their own organic gardens. Ever since I was a wee one, and I can remember this as far back as 7 or 8, I wanted to live on a Farm. So hopefully I can blend the two together one day. Not only offering organic produce but organically raised livestock products, whether it be meats, milk, cheese or even baby chicks to be raised for meat and egg consumption. Sounds like a lot to take on I know, but I believe that I can do it. In Alaska I got a taste of it there and absolutely loved it! So I feel comfortable with time and heaps more of knowledge I'll be ready to take it to the next level...

Has it really been a year?

Time has really flown by...must have been having too much fun! I can't believe we've actually lived in Australia for an entire year now...well since November 16th. I keep meaning to get on here to write but life takes over all too often and it moves further down my to-do list.

We've had such an amazing year here. Hubby has found a good job (definitely not his dream job but it pays the bills), I've gone back to school, the kids have all finished their first year of school here and the older kids have good paying jobs...I sure never made that kind of money at 16 or 19 :(  and everyone has really settled into all the little differences between cultures.

Still a huge adjustment for us experiencing Christmas during the hot summer months as it is for most Northern Hemisphere migrants to Australia. We do love a white Christmas but heck even a cool Christmas would be welcomed. Even still we had a wonderful Christmas and New Years together, the younger 5 all participated in the Christmas exhibit at Church. The boys got to be Shepards and our daughter an Angel, even our oldest son Wesley got up in front of the congregation to do a reading...we are very proud of all of them.

Our garden has been a struggle. In early Autumn we began the layout and ground work on the veggie patch. Of course I'd never really gardened before in my life, unless you count 5 gallon buckets with Tomato plants in a plastic greenhouse in Alaska lol, though shockingly I seem to have had better results there. Even still I've discovered I really do love working in the garden just wish my garden felt the same way about me. It appears I'm often found mumbling a dirty four letter C-L-A-Y!. I have horrible soil, either too hard and dry when we don't get any rain (which is often) or its so boggy and saturated and won't drain worth a darn that my plants either drowned or bolted and all grew moss.

Needless to say my wonderful hubby and I decided to build up raised beds and bring in some good garden loam and mulch. But now I'm so worried my seedlings won't get far enough along to transplant into the raised beds in time to still get a viable harvest off of them. This has all been a major learning curve especially in realizing what we want out of a future property and climate. Summers are hot and incredibly dry here in SA, the driest of all of Australia's states/territories in fact. I'm worried that our goal of living rather self sufficiently are going to be 10 times more difficult here in SA especially during the summer months.

Our original plan when we visited Australia 5 years ago was to scout Tasmania for a possible future home. We even spent 6 weeks out of our 3 month holiday there. While we were only there during Springtime it was beautiful, green, full of life and cool. The only reason we came to SA was because at the time they had Carpenters listed on their State Sponsorship list. Don't get me wrong SA is a beautiful state 9 months out of the year, its green, it rains and it has relatively great weather! So we shall see what happens in the next year or so. The kids all seem to be up for a move to Tassie (well except for our almost 20 year old bound to stay and go to University of Adelaide here) and of course we can't leave until we fulfilled our two year agreement here in SA. So who knows what will happen. I think the first step is to plan a family trip down there and see if it's everything we remember.

Everyone talks about how cold it is there, which honestly makes me laugh! After living in Alaska for three and a half years, I find no place is actually really COLD in comparison. But I'll admit I do love cozying up to a fire in the wood stove sipping my coffee under a blanket with a good book! So the cold Tassie winters won't bother us at all, Lord knows our big Giant Malamutes will LOVE it and we do know what it takes to raise livestock during the colder months. Of course the benefit of warm but not hot summers will be wonderful for the garden too. As even here I have to worry not only about my plants getting enough water but also not being scorched to a crisp during our frequent heat waves.

Hmmm, Tassie is sounding awfully enticing...