The folks at Backwoods Home Magazine were very sweet. I sent them a change of address and casually mentioned that I was bummed to be starting over. Well, the editor wrote me a very nice note and sent me Jackie Clay’s book, titled Starting Over. I’ve never met Mrs. Clay but I have loved learning from her for years and years, so this was a great encouragement to me to know that she once (or more!) had to do it, too. Ok, then. Carry on, as they say.

I’ll stop here a moment and let you take a look at the garden I left.

Well, it’s hard. All spring I’m thinking, oh it’s time to harvest the calendula…cut back and dehydrate all of the oregano…make bouquets…seed and harvest lettuce greens….but then I remember that I don’t have that garden anymore. What I do have is a lovely lot of potential, with some mature and very nice things to look at. And cherries and grapes. So I’m not really complaining, just reminding myself that one day at a time, one little bed at a time, it will get there. I just need to pace myself and not get too deep into the mire of what I had, what I wish I had, and how I want it all N.O.W. If those attitudes don’t spell discouragement and disaster, I don’t know what does.

So, I’m plucking along. Here is my gallon sized pot of hydrangeas I bought from the nursery, and those tiny little spouts are the start of a calendula bed. I won’t have half-gallon jars full of petals this year. But it’s a start, right? I imagine the blue and orange together will look fabulous.

We finally got in and removed the raised beds that were overtaken with morning glory, thistle and blackberry. So this is the lot that I have to work with right now. I plan to water and cover the whole thing with black plastic mulch, to kill off the weed seeds. Then, I will seed it all with rye or some other green manure. We’ll see how it goes. I’d like very much to plant garlic this fall. I miss my fresh garlic so much! Maybe I will try some *winter* gardening with cloches. I dunno. Right now, it’s just a blank canvas.

In the meantime, I have a little bed of salad greens to pluck from now and then. It’s really a silly little bed, actually a sink! But it’s high away from the slugs and seeing it makes me happy, so there it is. Just a little *taste* of things to come as I try to trust the Lord to lead me at His pace, rather than burn out on mine.

Little by little, friends.