I’ve written about my lovely shangri-la a few days ago, but now to the meat and potatoes. Literally potatoes. Darren and Claudia have worked very hard on their property developing a space that is rich with habitat for fauna and beautiful flora. There is, however, a practical side to their lovely property. I’ve told you about the chickens, but I haven’t gone into too much detail with the garden. They couldn’t dig down into their soil at the front of their yard as it is their septic field. These two are great problem solvers and so they went about building raised beds, several of them. Sides of the raised beds are made with wire and loose rock, this acts as a shelter for garden friends, but also absorbs the days heat, keeping growing vegetables happy. These gabions are topped with cedar making a nice perch for planting and weeding. This area has lots of deer and they are generally welcome in the yard, but precautions have been taken with the valuable vegetables. Darren has fashioned frames, using copper tubing, that are filled with chicken wire. These fences swing and lift out for easy access and weather nicely.
These beds grow everything from cabbage to kale, and carrots to garlic. Most varieties are heritage, and seeds are saved every year. I’ve been in danger of nearly plucking the perfect zucchini only to be told, don’t touch that Darren is saving it. During our ‘walk about’ Claudia was getting potatoes from the garden. One of my most favorite miracles in a vegetable garden are potatoes. I love that you can stick a fork into the ground and come up with something for dinner… well it’s not quite that simple, but you get my drift.
Of course none of the success of this wonderful garden and yard would be possible without a few helpful friends. Claudia and Darren have a deep understanding of the relationship between nature and themselves. They love every aspect of nature and so they work hard to preserve and protect it, and educate people about it. Without bees the world would be a dramatically different place. Last year we (me as a bystander) were rewarded with the most amazing vegetables, beautiful flowers and wonderful honey. This year they have started work on the garden and I can’t wait for the honey.
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