dirt, grandma's beets and new skill sets

My mom recently told me about her "back to the land" experience in the 1970's when hippies were homesteading and gas and energy prices were sky high and people were beginning to learn to "live off the land" (again.) She said that she had enough of the hardship and dirt after several years in the mountains of New Mexico.

My kids are teenagers now and as a young mom, I never really had time to learn the domestic arts of gardening or canning or cooking or really housecleaning!! :) DIRT was for losing teaspoons while digging in the backyard and rinsing out of the tub after a long play-day at the park. But, last year I helped my 84 year old grandmother harvest and pickle beets for her husband's birthday. She planted seeds in her well-groomed dirt and viola! Beets!  I was so proud of our accomplishments that I decided that backyard farming was for for us!

This 5th Avenue Farming adventure is our own sustainable living journey that, for me, finds its purpose in a melting pot of reasons. . . the season of life that allows me to do more by myself, learning a new skill-set, being more independent, connecting to where my food comes from, understanding the processes of growth and life and death, teaching my children, and loving to play in the DIRT!!

 I come by the LOVE OF DIRT naturally. . . my grandma was a farm girl in Michigan and my mom was a farm girl in California. . . I, however, am no farm girl, so this should be quite a journey.

~jen t.