My garden

There is something about destruction and chaos that attracts me. I live on 3/4 of an acre. When we first moved in it was nothing but weeds, overgrown plants, a dry coy pond (no fish thank heavens) and unruly trees. I took it as a personal challenge to make something of this wild land and though my children loved swinging on the vines and playing in the dirt I began. Ice plant has been the biggest jungle to conquer. Using a stiff rake I machete my way through the years of overgrowth. I do this about once a month on a different part of the property. It is wonderful therapy and for some reason I can always find more to hack away at. My small conquest of the ever raging "garden vs. wilderness" battle is a little patch of green on one side of the house. The once hillside has been leveled out, mulched and laid with sod. I am slowly cultivating plants around it. The funny thing is, we put the grass in so our kids would have somewhere to play. I was tired of seeing dirty little raggamuffins walk in the door and realizing they were mine. Once the grass established itself we took down the fence around it. I was so excited to see the boys enjoy the grass. We went outside with toys and a blanket and where do they still play? In the dirt. Whenever I feel like I haven't made a dent in the fire hazard of a yard around me I look out on my patch of green and remind myself to take it one step at a time.