Our First Garden
One way to start a garden is to pick a small selection of plants (as not to get overwhelmed) but I didn’t want to wait to try whichever variety I was interested in.
Time is not always guaranteed. So! We planted quite a few seeds this spring despite knowing that our comfort zones will be tested and chances of failure will be increased.
I pictured bathing Theodora in this sink but so far its only guests have been the plant babies …and Tuck (our Portuguese water dog).
Around this time last year we started to build the farmhouse, received our honey bees, and planted our first plants; as rewarding as it was, I had never been more uncomfortable or tested.
The lines between growth and breaking point were continually crossed.
If you are trying something new and are finding it challenging; know that we struggled too, and continue to do so.
E.g.: when all of the seeds and plants arrived at the post office. Majorly. Overwhelmed. Also may or may not have been a bit of tension, “why are we doing this again? Why don’t we slow down to actually enjoy one thing for once?”
Feeling scared about moving outside of our comfort zones’ can sometimes convince us that we need to live small.
-Tuckamore Homestead
During a training course for bee keeping. This one particular weekend we did not have anyone to watch Theodora (she was around 7 months), so we took her with us! I stopped to get into the truck to nurse her.
My usual game plan for trying something new: study up, learn from others’ mistakes and be safe in terms of trying to avoid failure. I also would wait to share our happenings online until we have about five years of bee keeping under our belts.
…because people want to hear about how to do things, not how to learn or how to try new things. Right?
A break to nurse and snuggle.
I remember during a dicy house building moment sitting up at 2:00am with my mum for a needed cup of tea and just completely breaking down into tears. How would it all work out?
We were spending our waking moments working on everything or driving in our truck from spring until October, when the house was ready. As I watched friends and family (and strangers online) start to enjoy summer and make memories, I wondered if this current life of sacrificing was worth it.
Trying something new is hard, scary, and you do fail. But, it is worth it.
The house wasn’t finished and I didn’t feel ‘camera ready’ but also didn’t want to keep waiting for that just right time when I felt worthy enough to document our story.
Brené Brown’s take:
“I want to be in the arena. I want to be brave with my life. And when we make the choice to dare greatly, we sign up to get our asses kicked. We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time.”
When I first started posting Instagram stories I was so nervous and would often times freeze as soon as I hit record. I shared that we would be picking up our first maple trees, I was expecting them to be large (about half the size of an adult maple), and was surprised and amused by how small they actually were when we picked them up. I thought people wouldn’t care about our first time homesteading mishaps but sharing the good and the bad has taken away the perfection factor and has added real connection.
We are now in the house this planting season but I still started thinking of excuses to put off creating our first garden, including learning more and finding that just right layout, first. There are some basic gardening things we did read up on but you know it’s not those that I am referring to. It’s the need to perfect. I’m working on letting that go.
Waiting to live because of a fear of failure (or lack of perfection) is one of the greatest shortcomings that holds us back from reaching our fullest potential.
-Tuckamore Homestead
So, we went ahead and ordered a ridiculous variety of seeds for some plants and vegetables we’ve been wanting to try to grow.
Okay. Now onto some of the fun bit: photos!
What we’ve got going on:
tomatoes (hoping to make some homemade sauce to freeze)
apple trees
strawberries
blue berries
chives
lilac bush
concord grapes
lavender
garlic
peas
an English oak tree
herbs
cucumber
radish
raspberries
peppers
carrots
onions
…and a partridge in a pear tree. Just kidding but we do have one we can’t remember planting and have no idea what it is.
If it’s possible to grow a weed indoors, we’ve got it covered.
We are also trying our hand at growing a giant pumpkin!
We are hosting the first Tuckamore Homestead Family and Friends: Great Pumpkin Growing Tradition! (say that three times fast)
If you’d like to join us in growing your own pumpkin and find the printable version of the pumpkin poem invitation, you can find it all here!
Vinny looking skeptical.
My little garden helper, Theodora. Time might not always seem like it’s passing quickly. “I’ll do it next year when…” makes sense under certain circumstances, of course, but Theodora is our physical evidence of just how quickly time really does pass us.
As always, thank you so much for taking the time to pop by today. I hope to see you again soon! -Samantha