Our little paradise gardens

I have always been a lover of the moon, stars and everything green on earth. One of my earliest memories as a kid was picking peas in the garden with my meemaw in east Texas. I have video of me making mud pies in nothing but a pair of undies when I was around 4. When I was in my early 20s I had a small backyard garden in the middle of the city and fell in love with it all over again. @xtrodinarypilot moved our family to Louisiana in 2014 and lived on a 35-acre farm with a huge garden where our kids got to pick cabbage, peppers, arugula, wild black berries and figs, among other things.

Near city homesteading

My father passed away in 2010 and left me some rural property. For the last 7 years Ryan and I have been building it up and nurturing it to be a paradise getaway that’s not too far from home. We love that we have a place outside the city but close enough to home to unwind and dig in some dirt. Teaching our kids about plants and gardening is one of the most rewarding things we have done. It gets them eating fruits and veggies they might not have liked if they hadn’t grown and harvested themselves.

This 4th of July we decided to head out to the country and spend some time with the kids weeding, watering, planting, harvesting and of course relaxing! It was a sunny day but the breeze was blowing, which helped with this Texas heat.

Here’s a look around our garden.

• Japanese Eggplant (Solanum melongena)

• Black Beauty Eggplant (Solanum melongena)

• Lime tree (Itilia x europaea)

• Yellow teardrop tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculenta)

• Oregano (Origanum vukgare)

• Basil(Ocimum basilicum)

• Green Bell Pepper (Capsicum annuum)

• Dill (anethum graveolens)

• Garlic chives(allinum tuberosum)

• Aloe vera(a. barbadensis mill.)

• Banana peppers (capsicum annuum)

• Fig tree(Ficus carica)

• Crape myrtle tree(lagerstroemia)

The rewards of putting time into loving a garden is of course the harvesting and eating of the fruits and vegetables but also getting our kids outside in nature!! If you have followed my first couple posts you know that we try to balance our kids screen time with outdoor fun and this is one way we do that. Even if you do not have a garden of your own you can look up the nearest “Pick Your Own” and enjoy some outdoor gardening fun.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Growing and maintaining a garden comes with a ton of commitment and work. We have a home made composting bin that we add water and compost material to often. After the compost has a nice sweet smell, loose texture, and dark hue, we start to use it for planting. This batch is almost done

Although there is the practical aspect or growing food that you can feed your family, it is also fun to add beautification. Some or natural and some are man made. Some attract a variety of wildlife and tiny creatures while others act as weather instruments.

Above is a homemade beehive and birdsnest made from gourds that we grew.

@xtdnrymompreneur

It takes a village.