her able hands

Hoo boy, how did it get to Wednesday morning already? I meant to tell you about the seeds I finally started on Sunday, but I must have fallen down the rabbit hole again.

Lots on my mind right now as we wait for the family who thinks they might want to do a land contract with us to finish crunching their numbers and make up their minds. Chris is having lunch with the guy on Friday to talk dollar and time details. In the meantime, I’m in a heavy research and development mode. I need a plan. Let me tell you all what’s going on, it’ll help me to organize my thoughts and maybe some of you will have some suggestions for how I can move forward.

I think I’ve made it pretty clear around here how much I dislike spending the majority of my available time on this earth sitting in a beige/gray cubicle, under fluorescent lights, in front of a giant computer screen, doing mind-numbing, soul-sucking work that makes someone else rich and just helps me keep one nostril above water. I don’t really need to tell you any more about that. So I’ve been putting steps in place to hopefully transfer out of that debtors prison and into a more rewarding life of working from home. I’ve had a chance to work on some pretty cool projects, and I’ll be able to point you to them soon, they’re almost live.

But one thing has come crystal clear in this period of intense work at work and work at home in the evenings. I don’t want to sit in front of a computer all day, every day. And I need to stop distracting myself from the hard work of achieving my very real goals with all of this computer work. Part-time, yes. But all day? No. No. And no.

So what do I want to do? Food, garden, community. Grow food, teach people how to garden and build community. And I want to do it right here.

I’ve mentioned the acreage out back, right? The housing development that’s come to a screeching halt as the economy tanks and developers run out of money? Well, there are still five empty acres, starting behind my MILs property (where some of my garden beds are). It’s the land that the house we live in used to sit on before the owner sold off the greenhouse/nursery business and had the house moved to this location. There’s this gorgeous, old red maple and lots of perennials growing in the overgrown field. It’s a mess back there—dirt piles and boulders and downed trees—all going back to forest. It’s amazing how fast it grows up.

I’ve been thinking about that land since the day we looked at this house. I stood in my MIL’s back yard and looked out over the acres and pictured a whole lot of people busy growing food. I saw chicken tractors and kids and old folks and a little barn. Over the last two years (next month is 2 years from when we looked) I’ve wondered how to go about it all, but never spoken with anyone about it. The job keeps me so busy and jeeze oh man, it’s so much work just trying to build up our little homesteading act here.

But food prices are going through the roof and the land is just sitting there. I wonder. So I’ve started talking to people. And a whole lot of folks around here would be interested in a cooperative CSA program. We just need the land and some cash. No small order, that. We’re waiting to hear what the lot price is, but also found out that next week there’s a city meeting about the property. Another developer is hoping to put in either senior housing or apartments for students at the university, which is right over the hill.

I’ll be going to that meeting and I’m going to make an appointment to speak with one of the city council members who is a neighbor and has one of the most gorgeous urban gardens I’ve ever seen. I’m flying blind with my ideas and need to focus and take fast action.

If that land is not available, then maybe if it’s going to be a senior housing situation, the developer might be interested in donating part of the land, an acre or so, to a program that pairs the seniors with children in our community, growing food, flowers, herbs and relationships.

Since I began saying all of this out loud two weeks ago, my inbox has been inundated with articles about CSAs, urban farm and garden programs, sustainable food practices, food security and community. People have brought up wanting a CSA (the only 2 around here are full, with massive waiting lists). More and more people ask me what it takes to grow a garden in their yard and what they should focus on planting.

If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them. Please bear with me as I figure out all of this stuff.

Bookmark It