Inspiration

As an amateur gardener that loves gardening, playing in the dirt, and experimenting with plants and design, there are seven activities that I take part in each January. These tasks are inspirational and help me get started planning my gardens. After decades of gardening, it has become a tradition of mine to start researching new gardening ideas on New Year's Day. I doubt I am the only one that spends New Year's Day this way.

Tip #1: Settled in on a cold snowy Iowa day with a hot drink and start searching gardens on the World Wide Web (www). There are thousands of websites that contain a wealth of information along with stunning pictures for ideas and inspiration. I also recommend joining Facebook gardening groups for dates on upcoming garden shows, ideas, support, and inspiration. It may take time to find a Facebook group that you feel comfortable belonging to. Plan on spending the entire day as there are lots of ideas to get your creative juices flowing. Don't forget to save your favorite web links so you can go back later and review the information. I suggest keeping a virtual or a paper notebook with ideas and pictures. Don't forget to check out YouTube for DIY videos and Pinterest for ideas. I hope I have not overwhelmed you!

Tip #2: I have to admit I love visiting garden centers, nurseries, gift shops, botanical centers, and farmers' markets. These properties not only challenge all five senses, but they also make for a fun day trip. Day trips are the perfect way to chase away the winter blues! Don't forget to take pictures! This is not only a winter activity but a year-round activity. Last summer a friend directed me to a country store in SE Minnesota. Newburg Vintage Home and Garden, located in the village of Newburg, is a quaint gift shop located in a historic country store surrounded by beautiful gardens where you can sit and enjoy homemade baked goods. They are open during the winter on Friday and Saturday from 11:00am to 3:00pm so make sure to stop by for gardening gifts.

Tip #3: Dedicate a few pages in your bullet journals or keep a journal just for gardening. Don't have any ideas for page designs! One example is to create two pages for a garden calendar. The calendar will provide you with a map to achieve your gardening goals. For other ideas, search the internet for bullet journal pages for gardening images. You will find more examples than you will ever need.

Tip #4: Now that you have gathered all your ideas and pictures, it is time to organize your thoughts. There are plenty of tools out that will help you organize your thoughts. As an artist, I love to draw illustrations of my gardens.

Tip #5: Maybe not the most enjoyable activity but definitely an important if not critical task that will minimize stress and make gardening enjoyable. Highly recommend creating a budget for your gardens. Budgets can be developed by using a spreadsheet such as Excel or keeping track of expenses in a ledger.

Tip #6: Winter is the perfect time to take classes and hang out with other gardeners. Contact your local Master Gardeners or Extension Office or area garden center for a list of upcoming classes. Just ran across registration information for Cedar Rapids'  Winter Garden Fair which looks like the perfect event for fellow gardeners.

Tip #7: If you have not gotten hooked on Pinterest yet, I highly recommend setting up a Pinterest account and start creating your first board. Searching and pinning will keep you busy for hours. You will find so many ideas that you will want to head out and start digging up your gardens.

Have fun!

Mowing is fun!

Sitting here enjoying a cup of hot chocolate while looking out the window at the first snowflakes of the 2018-2019 winter season while reflecting on a memorable summer and fall. Even though the last four months have been a roller coaster of emotions, I have enjoyed 2018. Weird, I know!

Fellow gardeners, I have a feeling you might find this odd, but one of the highlights of my summer was lawn mowing.  Please note, I have not had to mow in over 30 years as I lived in the New Mexico desert, and my home had a rock yard. At the beginning of the summer, my older brother, Forrest, invited me to mow his property in Winneshiek County. The reason for agreeing to mow my brother's property was three-fold. At the beginning of summer, I was looking for opportunities to increase the number of steps I walk each week. Curves Decorah, of which I'm a member, challenged its members to increase the number of steps they walk weekly, and I wanted to be on the winning team. I also have the desire to be an active member of my family, and helping my brothers on their farms fulfills this need. Finally, it is very peaceful on the farm, and spending the day allows me to be alone and think.

The 40 acres Skunk Farm located off the main road at the end of an unmaintained lane offers an opportunity to be alone. Yes, I did say Skunk Farm. I'm not sure why it is called the Skunk Farm, but based on the stories, dad told me I am assuming that there used to be lots of skunks that lived in that area. Knock on wood! I have never seen a skunk while I have been back there. The Skunk Farm means a lot to the family as our father lived there when he started first grade. I am sure everyone in the family remembers hearing dad's stories about walking through the knee-deep snow from the Skunk Farm to the Hesper schoolhouse one and a half miles away. This summer, I traveled in dad's footsteps at least twice a week to mow.

The walk is very relaxing. The lane is lined with trees, barb-wire fences, fallen trees, bushes, vines heavy with delicious berries, a bubbling stream, and flowers.

The Skunk Farm sits quietly nestled in a scenic valley outside of Hesper, IA. If you are one of the many that think Iowa is flat, you need to visit the Driftless Area.

Mowing the Skunk Farm pasture was an adventure that created memories that I will never forget. Forrest likes to keep the pasture surrounding the little cabin and the path to the outhouse mowed. I eagerly thought mowing would be much easier than it turned out to be. Having lived in New Mexico, most of my adult life, I have not had to mow in over 30 years, plus the fact that the lawnmower was self-propelled made it extremely challenging. It took me all summer to acclimate to the heat, humidity, exercise, and get used to using a self-propelled mower.

   

Lessons Learned

In addition to a summer of reflections, it was also a summer of lessons. Below are three lessons that I learned as a result of mowing this summer at the Skunk Farm.

Lesson number one: I quickly found out that mowing a pasture is a lot more difficult than mowing a lawn, and it is important to wear work boots. The ground was very uneven, and the ankle-length dress boots with flat heels that I wore on the first day were just not going to work. Those dress boots almost caused me to twist my ankle; I struggled to control the lawnmower on the gentle slopes. I almost fell flat on my face as I chased a runaway lawnmower.

Lesson number two: A self-propelled mower can be very dangerous to use if you are not used to pushing a lawnmower, and you aren't paying attention. This summer turned out to be an adventure as I struggled to get used to mowing with a self-propelled mower. By the end of the summer, I felt comfortable using the mower and did not end up with any wounds to show for my time behind the handle.

Lesson number three: I also learned that it helps to minimize the number of objects in the yard to mow around. At the Skunk Farm, I had to mow around the outhouse, two picnic tables, fire pit, two logs next to the fire pit, the cabin, and a few trees, which cause it to be challenging. The trees and drop-offs are surrounding the east side of the property.edge. Are you wondering if I went off the edge or not? There were many close calls, but never did I go over the edge. 

I hope that Forrest asks me to mow again next year.