I bought a small three-bedroom ranch on January 17th. I moved in, over a couple weeks in February, with my little Yorkie, Toby. I had help from many relatives and friends. I finished, redoing the front of the fireplace, painting, and unpacking all of the boxes sometime in March. On April 9th I had to have my little Toby put down. He had an enlarged heart, a tumor, and his seizures were getting worse. He would have been sixteen on May 1. It was the hardest thing I’ve done in a very long time. I cried for two weeks, every time I thought of all the things we did together, including the move to the new house. He had almost as many flying miles as I do. He now lies in his own little garden by the little barn in the backyard.
It’s now June 6th. I’ve built and planted a Potager (French for kitchen garden). I’ve transplanted hostas, lilies, iris, and lily of the valley to all parts of my yard. I’ve moved dirt from the front gardens to the Potager frames and back gardens. I’ve mowed the yard 
now several times. And, I’ve adopted a little rescue puppy. She is a four and a half -month old Yorkie mix born on January 17th in Corpus Cristi, Texas. Yes, her birth date has a lot of significance, not only is it the day I bought the house but also was my parent’s wedding anniversary, the day my dad passed away and my daughter’s anniversary date. The Universe has a way of providing us with exactly what we need when we need it. I call her Lil’ Orphan Annie! A new chapter of my life begins.
And now, I finally have time to write on my blog again.
The Potager idea came about when my brother tagged me in a Facebook post when I first moved into the house. I decided that was what I wanted to do for my garden area. I started with the sandbox frame left in the backyard and made four more frames to go with it. Here are a few shots of the progression from one frame to five, as the half moon shape of the North edge of my Potager was revealed.
It took a couple months to complete. I did it in stages, building the frames, removing the sod, and finally moving dirt from the front gardens to the Potager frames with my new two-wheel wheelbarrow. The stone also came from the front gardens. When I had the house inspected, I was informed that the front gardens were too high on the foundation and that they needed to be excavated so they drained away from the house. YES! a lot of work, however, I didn’t have to buy any dirt or wood for this project. The sandbox frame was already there and all of the wood for the other frames and the bench came from behind my little barn. All I had to buy were the lag bolts to put them all together. I am a do-it-yourself person, I come from a family who knows “the art of making do” and I needed to work with my hands; my form of therapy.
In the right big frame of my Potager, I’m growing green beans, peppers, peas and lettuce. The middle frame has four different kinds of tomatoes. The left large frame has rhubarb, zucchini, squash, spinach, beets, and sunflowers. The two smaller frames have herbs: cilantro, sage, oregano, basil, thyme, and rosemary. I picked some of the lettuce yesterday for my salad! All of the hard work is well worth it as I begin to harvest. Now, when I sit on the bench in the morning with my cup of coffee and Annie’s playing in the mulch, I have my own meditation space surrounded by all the growing energy.
Cunniforms to Blinking Cursors 