Ever wonder what it would be like to settle down and live in the same house for 35 years or so? I get a peek at that life every time I visit my parents’ house in Tennessee.
The house was almost a teardown in an iffy neighborhood when we moved into it, back when I was 9 years old. The quarter-acre corner lot was a rocky jungle. Since then, my parents have slowly transformed their yard into an urban oasis, complete with a productive vegetable garden right in the middle of what is now a seriously yuppie, up-and-coming neighborhood.
My family have been farmers since just about forever. Even the ones with day jobs always had a big vegetable and flower garden going. I’m pretty sure our blood runs green, because I really do miss having my own yard to putter in when we are overseas. I can’t wait to get my hands on our little rocky patch in the DC suburbs once we settle down for good. Transformation is highly satisfying and good exercise, too!
For now, I had a good time taking my fancy new birthday camera out in the yard to practice. Please to enjoy this brief peek into settled life!
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- Raised beds made with scrounged rocks.
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- Pink and chartreuse, yum!
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- Well, of course there is a flag.This is America.
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- This is not a mysterious trench in the front yard. It is a future rain garden.
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- Porch swing on a hot day.
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- Recycled brick patio.
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- Yard art windmill. I think it is magnificent :)
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- Tidy kitchen garden near the end of the season.
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- Under the crape myrtle.
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- What–your parents don’t have a barn and compost heap in the backyard?
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- Birdbath with caladiums.
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- Swinging under the crape myrtle.
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- Fountain and more yard art.
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- More yard art. This is the custom of my people :)
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- Outdoor workshop (there is no garage.)
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- Just liked the composition.
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- A pet graveyard. You know, like you can have when you don’t move every two or three years.
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- The current kitty, presiding over her domain.
Now I see where you get your gardening from. I was raised with a garden, and canning, and sewing, and a lot of other things too. I learned from my mom, who learned from her’s. I am always shocked when I talk with someone about these things, and they haven’t a clue!
Oh yeah, it’s an inherited need to dig in the dirt. I was in denial for a little while when I was a teenager/young adult, but blood will tell. It’s a major reason the mobile lifestyle will never seem quite right to me. I like to plant things and see them grow–for years and years, if at all possible.
My favorite is the yard art section with the tractor and the big tin box filled with flowers.
Mine too! That is an old toy my brother had when he was a kid. (Back when they made solid metal toys.) My mom found it when she was cleaning out the basement, and thought: yard art!
Loooove the porch swing.