I have a small part of the farm that’s just for me- a flower bed in front of the porch, where two rockers await any friend of mine who may drop by. I have no social life to speak of, so it’s important for me to have a pretty little place so I can chat for a few minutes with a friend. But Nature had other plans!
First there was the dirt problem. It was like concrete. I had to use my Kaboda mini backhoe to rip out the entire section and churn mulch into the ground. Then the drought that threatened to kill all the new plants lasted TWO MONTHS with not a drop of rain and required hand watering in addition to daily chores. What had I gotten myself into? This was supposed to be about relaxing! They started to look like flower gardens when a feral pig herd infiltrated the $100,000 of fencing. It was like a giant ditch digger got drunk and went to work. Patching the remaining plants back together, I was thinking maybe the universe didn’t want me to have a pretty, heavenly place for me. But then a friend stopped by I hadn’t seen in a long time, and we sat in the chairs. She noticed a brand new monarch butterfly hatching under my chair. There were chrysalis everywhere! Watching it struggle to be born, I realized that like that baby butterfly’s work, all my struggle to bring beauty into the world was worth it.