what a journey this has been

16 years ago

Many moons back - I was as lost as lost could be with SFG. This website and the many many wonderful people on here helped me through some of the dumbest questions a person could ask. Land a livin if my Dad knew I was askin the things I was askin he probably would skin me alive...God rest his wonderful soul! I hated every minute of the farm life - way back when - and so I didn't apply much of anything my dad taught me...

SO I WAS ABSOLUTELY LOST - IN HOW TO GET A MAN OFF HIS BUTT - grow a garden - and KICK THAT OLD DEPRESSION OUT THE DOOR.

Tonight as I was sitting and looking and reading through some of the posts...a name stuck out - like s sore thumb!

RAY SCHEEL.........that dear man helped me through thick and thin getting my - one little square foot garden 4x4 constructed up and going.

********Please stick with me - cause I know I get windy and like my husband says - I don't know the meaning of making a long story short...

Way back when I was searching and so very depressed...I dove into my square foot garden like you wouldn't believe. I was possessed - wood/hammer/nails/screws/peat moss/cow manure/vermiculite/newspaper for ground cover/COMPOST- EEEEEEEEE GADS... the lists went on and on....

so I thought these people can't be serious with some of the things they were telling me.

for example....use newspaper for your first layer in your box - I thought to myself Lord have mercy that newspaper ain't gonna stop that Bermuda grass invading my square foot garden box! So smart me I decided to go down to the shed and bring up the tarp - BOY - I thought those guys on the Garden Web ain't got nothin over this old country girl!!! But this old country girl didn't know that when I draped the tarp over my WONDERFUL BRAND NEW 4X4 - the water had no where to go.........lordy lordy that was the beginning of my saying to myself....'NOW DEBBIE WHATEVER THEY TELL YOU TO DO - DO IT!"

and I did

and I drove them crazy with every question you could think of

and RAY SCHEEL and some of the others were right

the gardens are now in the count of 6 of them.

my husband was never interested in much of nothing outside and was so depressed from a heart attack and open heart surgery...and that was almost i guess 4 years ago...

TODAY - he is so proud of his gardens - he sits for hours picking the worms off his plants - comes in and asks me everything from how to sew seeds and what can he plant now

I SAY THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF THIS HEART - BECAUSE THIS WEBSITE GAVE MY HUSBAND LIFE AND SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO EVERYDAY.

He has more zucchini than carters has liver pills.

I've cooked em, grilled em, baked em, you name it I've done it. And the best part is Jerry (my husband) never ever would touch zucchini - but he eats it now and praises how wonderful it is. And I look at him and think to myself - YOU ABSOLUTELY BLOW MY MIND! Now if I can get him to eat the eggplant - we got it made in the shade!

LOVE ALL FOR YOU WONDERFUL HELP - and COMPOST TEA is a wonderful thing!

Debbie in Indiana smilin at ya all!

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Comments (5)

growingup
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thank you so much for sharing. It really puts things into perspective.
alexjh
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
What a great story! Keep up the good work. :-)
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ourhappyhome
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Your story is inspiring. Thanks for sharing.

April
wbchmura
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I'm very happy for you both! Gardening is a wonderful way to spend quality time with yourself and loved ones.

Personally I find that if I garden in the morning before work, I have a much better day. Of course I don't really want to go to work at that point...

I also read somewhere that soil contains some sort of bacteria that promotes, well in a short explanation, happiness in people. As well as help with allergies. (attached is one link I found in Google).

Aside from that, just getting outside and working with living things is wonderful I have found - especially when so much of our surrounds is "dead".

Here is a link that might be useful: One of many links to articles on this
Ray Scheel
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Debbie:

Hey, dunno how I missed this, a lurker friend just pointed it out asking if I'd spotted it. I'm glad to hear the happy ending and the garden expansions.

Question: how does one handle a 4'x'4x~8" pool of tarp, water, and muck? :)

[Actually, I do know how I missed this, as this was posted during my vacation. On top of that, back in Nov 05 I became primary custodian of my two preschool kids (now 3 and 5) as part of an extended saga that also involved depression in a spouse, though that was more of an example of what happens when someone refuses to try to look for joy in new things and move on... Much of my forum reading has been hit and miss for a while now.]

what a journey this has been

Comments (5)

growingup

alexjh

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