Survival of the Fittest

We have not always been known for our patience. We like to jump in feet first ...often visiting many lakes in a day.

This used to terrify me. Growing up, we didn't really do a lot of remodeling or landscaping at our house. The idea of major renovation of any type was pretty foreign to me. So, when my husband took out his ax two weeks after we bought our first house, headed out to the front lawn, and chopped down a tree, I thought he was crazy. What would the neighbors think? What if he hit our house or power lines?

Since that first day, I have come to realize that when you own a home, you CAN make changes. Big or small. And, the most important part is- it's fun! My problem now is not so much the fear of starting a project, but having a vision of what an area COULD be. Once the idea is there, again, either one of us can be seen taking out the trusty old "ax" and making a quick job of the project.

That brings us to yesterday. We had a couple over for dinner, and we were discussing the front of our house. This industrious young woman mentioned how neat it would be to make a flower bed out of the space this large evergreen bush was taking up. I have never been too fond of said evergreen bush, but could not imagine the work it would take to get rid of it. She suggested having Phil hook his truck up to it and just pull it out of the ground. Hmm...now that was an idea!

So, this morning I mentioned to Phil that someday, this would be a neat thing to do. I rambled on for a bit, telling him of all the neat ideas she had come up with for this much-wasted space. Next thing I know, he is outside with the neighbor's tractor, pulling this bush out of the ground! I couldn't resist taking picures because this bush is huge...compare it to Phil - or to the cars in the above picture. Even so, he finished in less than 10 minutes. It all left me thinking three things.
1. This is SO like the tree...
2. Why didn't we do this before?
3. Did I mention I like tractors?

So, now the pressure is on me to turn it into a pretty area and not just a nice grass/weed bed.






In other news, while we were discussing the multiple uses for zucchini, the rest of our garden has continued to grow. We strolled over to the cucumber plants yesterday, just to see if they might be putting on some of the small veggies. Ha! We pulled out so many we had to go and get a few baskets to bring them all in.

So, truth be told, there is still a basket of cucumbers staring at me today that need to find their way into small jars in the form of pickles.

The most exciting part is that we actually have CORN that survived the squirrels, deer, raccoons, and bugs! They aren't all quite ready yet, but we picked about 12 ears that we could cook up! We had just about written them all off as a loss- just because we had heard so many stories, and they have so little protection out there. We planted pumpkins in and around them, though, and that has seemed to work so far. I feel like taking a lawn chair and sleeping out there for produce protection!



Phil planted about 10 pepper plants that have started producing, as well. I had no idea jalapeno peppers came on so fast! We can pick three or four off each plant each day. We have given some away, and also tried to dry some to make homemade seasoning. Eventually I think we will do salsa and I am really looking forward to that! We even have a few bell peppers!
The landscape has changed so much over the past few months- from being brown and dead to slowly coming to life. This is what you would see looking West from the end of our driveway. If you look closely, you can see the perfect rows of beans and corn on these fields.