Transitions in the Garden

Every garden changes and goes through transitions. Some are simply seasonal transitions that will happen every year. We know about these seasonal transitions and are able to adapt and to some extent predict them. Spring changes to summer, summer to fall, fall to winter, and back again to spring. We are prepared for these transitions since we see them each and every year. Our gardens adapt to the transitions with the type of plants in bloom, when the foliage comes out, and when certain fruits and vegetables are produced, but there are other transitions that are less obvious. My garden has gone through some significant transitions over the years at a slow and gradual pace that only now am I noticing how major these transitions are.

In the Beginning

We bought our home and garden in February of 2007. When we purchased it the house was in rough cosmetic shape and needed completely redone. The house needed new carpets and flooring, new paint in every room, and multiple other smaller updates, but nothing major in the grand scheme of things. The gardens were bare with only basic foundation plantings around the house. I made plans, planting plants, and started all kinds of garden spots like bird bath gardens, mailbox gardens, vegetable gardens, and shade gardens. Over time the yard became a connected network of garden spots. Rooms that transitioned between locations with pathways. Some pathways with stepping stones and others simply a grass path easily mowed.

 

I went overboard in many cases with the garden. At the time I had the hours to spend outdoors – or at least I just thought I did. I had the kids out with me in the yard as soon as they were old enough to run around a bit on their own. We played in the fall leaves, we moved mulch around, we built raised beds, we planted seeds, and they grew. Not just the seeds. The kids grew. My oldest daughter is now in high school and in a few short years will be off to other things. It’s a transition I put off from thinking about in the back of my head and never really gave it much thought. The high school days are here now and life has transitioned into a different mode.

Growing The Home Garden

During my time as a stay at home dad Growing The Home Garden was born. It was in October of 2007 when blogging was in its prime. Back then bloggers visited each other, commented on posts, gave each other ideas, and created an online community with each other. Blogs eventually transitioned into social media like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Many of those bloggers back then no longer update their sites and over time social media seems to have undercut their connectivity. Today with over 3,000 people following my Growing the Home Garden Facebook page only 150 people will even see this post when it is shared there. Of those 150 only 15 probably will even read this post. It’s hard to be relevant when big businesses are favored by Facebook and Google over small personal blogs. For some reason though I’ve plugged on even if the updates are a little less frequent.

Life Transitions

Other transitions happened over the years. In 2011 I lost my father to cancer. My son was 1 year old and just starting to walk around the house. That was and still is one of the hardest transitions I have gone through so far. Dad helped me on many of my garden projects and when he wasn’t helping me him and my mom were watching the kids for me so I could accomplish some major garden work. After he passed that made many things difficult. The time I had in the garden diminished significantly and so did my enthusiasm for it. I’m sure you have experienced this as well at some point in your life. It’s hard to really enjoy an aspect of your life after someone who you shared it with is no longer there.

Blue Shed Gardens

While I was at home with the kids I started a small nursery, Blue Shed Gardens. It was the beginning of my dream of owning a nursery. I started naturally grown heirloom vegetable plants and marketed them in easy to plant biodegradable pots. It was fun but also a lot of work. My biggest challenge was the space I needed to create a full fledged nursery. I trucked the plants to the local farmers market. Sometimes it wasn’t a truck it was a minivan so I could carry the kids with me. It was small but it was a start. The money wasn’t sustainable for the amount of work it was. I needed more space and needed to bring people to my nursery rather than go to them. Unfortunately my current house and just wasn’t ready yet for that transition.

Changing Roles

About 7 years ago my wife and I decided to change our career situation. I had been a stay at home dad while she drove to Nashville each day to work. The drive began as a long one for her at around 35 to 45 minutes one way and gradually crept upward in length. In the later days of her job the drive could easily have been an hour and a half one way. All it took to make that happen was a a small fender bender on the roads. It was quickly becoming unmanageable and we had to shift how we did things. Living a life where you leave home at 5:30 AM and get home just in time to go to bed is no way to live.

Looking for Work

That’s when I began the transition back to work. Let me tell you that finding work after being a stay at home dad was difficult. Extremely difficult. No one would call me back after I sent them a resume. The closest I got to a position was a couple phone interviews. I was excited about the one at Tractor Supply Company and had some great ideas for the social media and marketing programs but…I didn’t have any recent experience that would count. There was another phone interview at a company that was interesting. They described the work environment and talked about beer and ping pong tables…really?!  Eventually I was told by the interviewer that “we don’t want to take you away from your family.” Um, I was looking for a job and isn’t that a violation somewhere of something? I guess that was their way of saying I was too old to fit in their culture after having kids. I would have smoked them at ping pong anyway.

What now?

That’s when I finally said “there’s always real estate.” After saying that a several times in passing the past I this time I wasn’t joking. Five years ago I became a licensed real estate agent in the state of Tennessee. My hope was that through real estate I could accomplish a few goals I had:

1. Earn money to support the family
2. Eventually buy some land to start a nursery
3. Find the land for the nursery.

I’ve had many really great experiences along the way. My career goal in real estate was to help people similar to me. People who wanted to use the land to support themselves, their communities, or to start businesses. I’ve been able to help a few people accomplish those goals over time. I assisted a good friend of mine with purchasing her land for her future nursery called Bluebird Springs. She is a daylily expert and all around plant geek like myself. Recently I helped a family transition from a long time family home on 4 acres to their next phase in life. The husband had passed on and they could no longer maintain the home and yard. At the closing she told me “you’ve taken a weight off my shoulders.” It’s an amazing feeling to be able to help people in your community for a living.

The problem with working full is I don’t have enough time to spend in the garden. At least right now. In real estate when people are at work, they call you. When they are home on the weekends they call you. I will fully admit that I have taken phone calls while outside with work gloves on. I’ve even stopped the mower to take a call. It’s just how life is now and that’s OK. I’m not complaining.

The work transition has been a challenge for me and it will always be but it has helped accomplish our family goals. Early in my real estate career I was invited on to a team who did new construction and was fortunate to learn about building homes. We found land and were able to purchase it for a future home. In a blink an eye 5 years has passed. Hopefully soon it will be time for a new transition, building a new house on the land.

Back to the Greenhouse

Today while in the yard I looked at my greenhouse and saw that it was 100% completely in the shade. The trees around the yard and in neighbors yards have now completely cast their shadow over the greenhouse and it was only 2 PM. A greenhouse with limited sun isn’t very effective. Our yard has transitioned to a fairly shady garden. That’s great if you love shade gardening but not so good if you love your tomatoes. In the summer there is plenty of light still but the trees will only grow taller.

The fall time of year is often one for reflection on the previous year. Seeing the greenhouse covered in shade stirred the thought in my mind that things have really changed over the years. Life continues to transition as we grow older, the kids grow older, and the trees grow taller.

What’s next?

That’s a good question. I’m not 100% sure. The next major goal is to fund our future house. (Real estate agents don’t necessarily roll in money like people think.) I’ve designed what I think is a beautiful farmhouse plan for our family. After searching through thousands of home plans I couldn’t find just the right one and made my own. After that we need to plan the transition from this home to the future one. That takes time and patience, lots of patience, and money. Building these days is apparently not cheap!

 

During November we celebrate Thanksgiving which makes us reflect on the things we are most thankful for.  Let me take a moment to say thank you. Thank you to you who is reading this, to you who has read anything on this blog, and to anyone still following me from the early days of blogging.

One more thank you. If you have made it to the end of this extremely long post, thank you. After thinking about all the transitions our family has been through since 2007 it felt overwhelming. The birth of 4 additional children (even one in our house), the passing of my father, the career changes, life changes, goal changes, and watching those 5 children grow is all mind blowing when you put them all together. Thank you for reading, following, and supporting this blog. I hope you continue to find it helpful in your garden. If you do please share the posts with your friends who may be interested. That helps things travel farther which in the end helps me keep this site going. Thanks again and it’s time to end this extremely long post, so for now I’ll see you later, in the garden.