If you ever have or do live in a large city you know that traffic can grind on you. After many, many years in Atlanta traffic got the best of me. Even now when I visit I cannot believe the number of cars and the number of lanes of traffic. It doesn’t matter that I lived it for 20+ years, I will never be able to get my head around it.

Recently when we were driving to and from church, I snapped some pictures of our “commute” now. I really love driving in the country. And although our church is 50+ miles up the road, the drive is so pleasant that I don’t mind it. And it takes about an hour. Now compare driving 50 miles in an hour to 12 miles in an hour and you will see why I don’t mind this. It is relaxing and pretty.

Come take a ride with me. I see this view every time we drive north of us.

This little church is so cute. You can see the steeple well in advance; especially when the skies are blue.

The farms on the drive are so lovely. I like to imagine what they are up to at the moment we are passing. We notice new calves or goats that are out and about. We see a farm that has ostriches and one that raises bison. The first shot below is an herb farm and winery, Streamcliff Farms. It is where I spent my birthday lunch if you recall pictures from that. It is one of my favorite local spots.

I also love seeing these random storage for Doritos out here. The trucks pull in and out picking up boxes and boxes of chips. It seems that it is in the middle of no where. Whenever I see a Doritos truck I wonder if it has stopped here.

I have a “thing” for small cemeteries. This is one of many we pass by.

And what would a ride in the country be without seeing your local junk yard? I think we pass at least three on the way to church.

The open road is the best. No bright red brake lights staring at me and not moving. Just road and sky.

Soon we have arrived. I am in a happy mood rather than stressed. The hour passes serenely and we have seen really pretty stuff once again. I love my new commute.

How about you? What kind of commute do you have? Do you enjoy it?

Happy driving!

FGU

I love gardening. I love my little green baby starters. I love watching my plants grow. I love harvesting and eating from what I have grown AND I love sharing pictures of my garden with ya’ll. I love to brag on the growth, on organic methods and on the yumminess. I love to brag on how much I have that is growing and my spreadsheets and how I organize it all. And don’t we all love for others to think we have it all together in whatever it is we do???

But true confession is that my gardens don’t look like Organic Gardening Magazine’s or Eliot Coleman’s. Confession that many times when I take Ms. Tupelo for a ride out back ALL I do is weed- and I am talking 5 to 6 hours at a time and when I walk away there is as much crabgrass and stuff left as what I removed. Confession is that I try to get pictures that show gorgeous, but anyone can see that my gardens– although laid out perfectly are also filled with stuff that I did not plant or invite in.

I know from reading, school and others that straw is great, mulch is wonderful, herbicidal vinegar works and ground cover is multifunction awesomeness.  I also know that in my reality mulching or straw on an acre is expensive and more than I can manage to do. I am not steady enough with herbicidal vinegar to keep it off the stuff I want to keep so the gravel drive is the only safe zone for that. And I will be using white clover this year with my tomatoes, but those are my starters and when they go in they already have some growth on them. The other gardens all start from seed. By the time the plants are established enough to broadcast clover, the grass has claimed the ground.

So what’s a farmgirl like me to do? To use a quote we are all familiar with “change the things I can and accept the things that I cannot”.  Honestly the grass around my corn is not disturbing my corn. It is growing fast and furious. The weeds that got taller than my tomatoes last year were not aesthetically pleasing but I received 300 pounds of produce from them so I think again it bothered me more than them. Does that mean I don’t try? Does that mean I don’t continue to try to widen the space and make it clean for my growing cucs and greenbeans? Of course not. I change the things I can. BUT I have learned to accept that I my gardens will not be photographed for a magazine. I also have come to accept that the gardens I lust over from magazines are either 1) smaller than mine, 2) have a staff to assist, 3) don’t have a full time job outside of carrying for their garden or 4) are just way better than me at control and upkeep. I am good with all of that.

So let me share with you all my lovely green stuff– some edible and invited and some not so much. I hope you enjoy your garden as it comes and quit comparing yours to the magazines or neighbors. Gardening is to be enjoyed so enjoy!

My Purple Basil

My Pension Green Beans

My Corn

Beneficial Insect Mix

A Volunteer Tomato (one of many; I think a San Mazano)

Potatoes – 3 types. They are controlling the weeds solo at this point.

Sweet Potatoes

Italian Basil

Greens of various types

AND of course my grass and weeds!

Enjoy your gardening! Remember the goal! To produce nutritious food for you and your family, to reduce stress, to get your Vitamin D, to exercise and for whatever else motivates you. Enjoy the green and all that is growing!

Happy Unleashing,

FGU