New House, New Garden, And The Barefoot Part...

Well, here it is. The humble beginnings of our first backyard garden in 3 years. I have been having withdrawals since spring of 2007, as we had moved from our nice little home in Ellensburg, to Kellogg, Idaho. Kellogg, it turned out, is a pretty toxic place to live in. Wouldn't be able to tell by the pristine mountains that you are in the middle of, but the smeltering accident in the 80's still lingers on in the soil, unfortunately.

Fast forward another spring, and we are in South Cle Elum, an 8 month lease in a HUGE house, with a HUGE yard and HUGE nicely fenced in garden, that will need a lot of work to get back in running condition. Come to find out, that house was too expensive to live in, so after the 8 months were up, we found a great place on 3 acres in the country.

I thought this was it for us, and we might stay until we were ready to buy a home. I spent all winter long plotting my new garden in my head, dreaming and getting impatient. Then the bomb. Our landlord told us a couple of months before our year lease was up that they might be selling the place in the near future. I immediately started looking for a home again, as we did not want to put down any more roots in a place we might lose.

Now, we are in our new home, leasing with the option to buy, and this is it for us....we are staying! I have fenced in my little garden spot for the summer, new lawn has been laid, and I am finally planting in the ground for the first time in 3 years....I am a very happy mama indeed!

The barefoot part?? Well, flip flops or sandals just don't last long at all once I start working in dirt, planting, gardening, weeding and just all around getting good and dirty! Anyone who knows me well enough knows that shoes make me uncomfortable, I'd rather be barefoot, and I will wear Tiva sandles in the snow if the calendar say's spring is coming, and won't put on my boots till winter is in full swing. Barefoot is how my mom rolled, and it's how I roll, shoes, frankly, make my feet feel claustrophobic. :) I thought of the name of this blog when I was in the garden working compost into the dirt the other day. I took off my flip flops because I needed to feel the dirt under my bare feet, and it came to me! There is the Barefoot Contessa on Food Network....why not the Barefoot Gardener?? :)

So, here it is, in pictures, from the spot I picked out, to the fenced in beginning.

This shows the gap in the fence for the landscapers to come through, and my corner for the "future" garden spot.

Mike helped me work the soil in the beginning. This is the first spot we worked in a bunch of compost in with the top soil and dirt.



Here I am, planting, around 8:30 p.m. Hard to stop when you're on a roll! This was Birthmothers day, so planting is a special thing to do on my special day.


8:42 p.m. Corn, chives, strawberries are planted.

Next day....Mothers Day! I started putting in the fence, Mike helped me after a bit, pounding those T posts in such rocky ground is not fun!

This is also Sam's birthday, a very bitter-sweet day for me, it always falls on or around Mothers Day. I have always planted something on his birthday....it helps me feel better :)

T posts going in.....

River is helping, look at my little muscle man! What a helpful little 3 year old he is!

Almost fenced in!

Again, around 8ish at night, finished for the day!

Here is the results so far after the weekend of working.

Well, that's the beginning. I will add more pictures as the garden grows. Maybe I'll add the new lawn pictures tomorrow!