Dirt Under My Fingernails
There’s nothing like a good dose of yard work to get your focus back. I spent most of the weekend outside in our beautiful spring weather, trimming the grass, cleaning the garage, and planting our garden. I feel better after this past weekend than I have in months.
One thing I’ve realized lately, is that I don’t really know much of anything when it comes to caring for a property. I keep having to tell myself, “Little by little, Brandon,” or I’d probably go nuts. There are a lot of tools that I need that I don’t yet have, and a lot of knowledge I’ll have to glean from various sources.
For instance, my yard looks pretty pathetic compared to a lot of those around my home. This is partly my fault, and partly not. When we first saw the home, the yard was beautiful—it was one of the selling points for us. It had definitely been cared for. By the time we took possession, however, the hottest part of the summer had set in, and the lawn had been a little neglected for a while.
That’s about when I realized I didn’t know what I was doing. You see, I know how to mow, and that’s about it. I had a mowing “business” as a kid, and I worked for a landscaping company for a while but did very little turf maintanence. (Most of my time was spent doing retaining walls, patios, and sprinkler sysems.) When it comes to overseeding, when to fertilize, whether or not I should aerate or power rake… I have no clue. And that’s just the lawn!
We planted our first family garden on Saturday, and I had to reach back pretty far to retrieve some of those gardening memories from when I was a kid. Working in the garden used to be one of my favorite summertime activities. We grew all kinds of different things with varied success. I remember my dad changing it up every year or two, trying new things, and seeing if he could get things to grow better. Now that I think about it, it was obviously a learning process for him too.
Our attempt looks fairly pathetic, but at this time, it’s more for fun with the kids. We thought we’d try a few different veggies and see what happens. Even if we don’t get much to eat, it’ll still be fun to watch things grow. Despite the relatively low amount of pressure I’m under to get this garden right, I still had the looming realization that I was entirely flying by the seat of my pants as I made furrows and dropped the seeds into the soil.
There are so many other things I need to learn about home ownership. In some ways it’s overwhelming. In other ways, I kind of think it doesn’t matter. I’m very much against the whole “keeping up with the Joneses” kind of urban mentality. It’s stupid. On the other hand, I’m a huge advocate of taking care of what you have, particularly in this disposable culture we live in (e.g. rather than fixing things, we just throw out the old and buy new).
All things in time, I guess. It’s amazing how, as you grow up, you gradually realize with each passing year that you’re not nearly as grown up as you thought you were.