The Farmer

The Dutch translation of DeBoer is 'The Farmer'. In the past, connecting the word farm, in any way, to our family would be a stretch- a long one. Matt is not an animal-lover, or even really an animal-tolerater if we're being totally honest. Our kids are interested in animals (Luke is actually pretty obsessed with animals these days. I attribute that to watching Go Diego when Elin naps. It is in no way an influence of his father.) Elin points out any puppy she sees or hears but the fascination fades as soon as the dog gets close. 

We are not great with plants either. I love the idea of having a lush garden with both beautiful flowers and fresh vegetables. I have attempted this almost every summer and almost every summer I end up with nothing to show for it except dead plants. I am not one to give up, however. In fact, I'm usually too stubborn for my own good (just ask Matt). When we bought this house there was a section of the backyard that we assume was used as a dog pen or something like it by the previous owners. Immediately I envisioned my dream garden going there, once we cleared out all the mess that is. 

This is the garden area pre-clean up. 

And post-clean up.... 

Matt built me raised beds and filled them in with the dirt left over from last fall when we did a major backyard overhaul. He also planned out raised sprinkler heads for that area and laid them in when we put the sprinkler system in over the summer. This way we can program the system to water the garden everyday so I don't have to remember or find someone to come take care of it when we're out of town. 

We bought some seeds for 20 cents a package and went for it. Luke and Elin had fun helping me dig out the rows and plant the seeds. Since then they've been great little farmers - helping water (Matt has to fix some sprinkler heads so we're watering by hand for now) and weed. 

Our Garden

We've already seen some success! It is so fun to go out there each morning and see what new seeds are sprouting up. We planted tomatoes, zucchini, squash, snap peas, green beans, carrots, green peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, sweet basil, cilantro, strawberries and watermelon. So far, we have at least two of each plant growing fairly well. So at the very least we're hoping for one decent salad by the end of the season. Who knows, maybe farming is in our blood after all!