Here goes nothin'

For as long as I can remember, I have loved animals and plants of all types. I also loved stories and books that included self-reliance in the storyline...Some of my favorites as a child were The Boxcar Kids and the Island of the Blue Dolphins for that very reason. Finally, last year (hey, I never claimed to be intelligent!), I realized that I could put all of these things together. It even has a name - homesteading!

I joined some forums and started reading all that I could and am starting to form some ideas on how I want my eventual homestead to function. There is a problem however - I'm in the Air Force so I can't exactly put down roots. Not only that, but I live on-base meaning that there are many rules that I have to follow regarding how my yard is supposed to look, what animals I'm allowed to keep, etc. For now, I plan to stay in until retirement which is 12 years away. This leaves lots of time for planning but is also immensely frustrating somehow. I've never been a very patient person and dreaming and planning for something so far off almost hurts. Another thing is it's going to be so hard to start from scratch every time we move. You've gotta do what you've gotta do though.

So, here goes. I'm getting a late start this year, but better late than never. Two weeks ago I finally got some seeds in the ground - jalapenos, sweet peppers, tomatoes, cuke. This weekend, I'm hoping to get the beans planted (Blue Lake and Romano). Tonight I started some Alpine strawberries and cauliflower seeds indoors.

Future plans include digging a bed on the east side of the house for the cauliflower, as well as broccoli, spinach, and lettuce. It gets so hot here in the summer that I believe these vegetables will do best if shaded from the afternoon sun. I'll also be starting them indoors for the most part. I plan to plant garlic on either side of the roses in the front, as well as chives. I'm also going to plant a small herb garden - most likely in the back. This weekend we're going out to dig up a few wild blackberries. These will go on the west side of the house. We would also like some blueberries but finding them locally is proving to be tough.

I would love to plant some fruit trees but we'd have to leave before they got large enough to produce anything. We've been looking at dwarf trees, but I'm not sure that any truly stay small enough that we'd be able to take them when we leave.

That's it for now, as it's getting pretty late. I would leave with a few pictures but can't figure out how to move them where I want them (they automatically show up at the beginning of the post?) and I'm too tired to play with it tonight. Ciao.