THE BEGINNING

 

I began dabbling in the aspects of homesteading back in 1975 in Pensacola, Florida.

 

 

 I had enrolled in Bible college and rented a house for me, my wife and our two children. It was on a ¾ acre lot in almost what was considered country living.

I wanted an organic garden, chickens and rabbits.

There was no internet back then, so the library was my source for learning about how to leave city life and return to the earth.

I found a hatchery which moved their hens from one building to another once a year. The manure that laid on the ground of the vacated building was free for the taking, so I shoveled a trailer load and hauled it back to the house.

I found a cotton gin which had an outside dump for the cotton refuse. This was also free for the taking, so I got a trailer load and hauled it back to the house.

I located a horse rancher who let me muck out the stalls. I loaded a trailer of horse manure and hauled it back to the house. I also went to a wooded area and gathered a load of oak leaves.

None of this is available these days in 2023 as people have learned there is profit to be made from waste. Or, as in the case where I live now in southwest Missouri, the owners use the waste for their own gardens.

I piled those four loads together and covered it with a sheet of black plastic to aid the breakdown.

I then rented a tiller and began breaking up the sandy area I wanted for my garden. Centipede grass grows quite well in northwest Florida even though there is nothing but sand underneath it.

When Spring arrived, I uncovered a rich mound of compost and spread it on the tilled area and began planting the seeds I had bought. My first garden was stupendously successful, and I have never had one since then that came close to its productivity.

That was 1975 and this is now 2023—48 years later—and I am still trying.

I have learned much along the way.

I have planted vegetable gardens in Florida and Pennsylvania. I have planted two separate gardens at two different locations and times in Missouri.

This blog is about the journey of learning from 1975 in Florida to 2023 and beyond in Missouri.

I hope you will enjoy taking the trip with us.

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