Things Not Going Like You Planned?
When we first decided to try our hand at homesteading, we thought we would have some time to research and figure things out beforehand. Well, it did not have that way, as they say, "Life Happens!". I was in the military and got deployed to Iraq, we bought a house and had a small plot of land in the country that I could start learning to garden on and thought this is great! Well, things changed and it did not work that way.
During my deployment, my knees deteriorated and when I got back I had to have a knee replacement. I was not an ideal time but it had to be done, we had saved some money from my deployment and thought everything will be ok. We kept things up for a while but it did not go as planned, I was down for a year with the surgery and then doing the PT for the knee other problems presented themselves, my other knee was going to need surgery in a couple of years as it was deteriorating also, the meds from the VA for PTSD put me in a bad place and it just kept going downhill for us.
We choose to move up the plans to start a homestead and grow our own food. We wanted to be able to build debt-free. We had a small window in which to find land and start figuring things out, it was a rough time in our lives and we struggled every step of the way. We did not give up we kept on going and moving forward with things and learned to be problem solvers as the problems arose.
I said all that to make a point if you are going to homestead it is a life-changing commitment and a life of bumps and bruises, it is not easy and it will be a struggle to get it right and get it done. We are not anywhere near being done with our homestead, as we bought raw land to start ours on, for the simple reason it was all we could afford to do at the time. Things on our land were not perfect as we have very sandy soil with very little topsoil and it made gardening a bigger hurdle to jump. That is why I have been trying to grow in containers also! I am building the soil up as we go along and maybe next year I will have everything in the ground and not having a lot of containers around for growing in.
As you see the pictures of this post of the tomatoes I am growing right now, this is the 3rd time I have tried and this is the best year so far. There are some pictures of the peppers I am growing too. This is the second time for them. When you decide to do something and really want to do it, failures will happen in something you are working to do. That is life and you have to keep going and trying to succeed and working towards your goal. I got my first harvest of tomatoes yesterday from three years of trying. I have done better with the peppers this is my second year of getting a harvest from them.
I did not say all of this to be a sob story for me and I am not looking for anyone to feel sorry for me, but a story for you to know if you want to do it, it can be done with some hard work and lots of patience. I am trying to let people that are discouraged in the anything they are doing that it can be done if you just keep on trying. If you really want to do it, set goals, small goals you can meet, and just go from goal to goal and you will get there.
Enough of me rambling for now! I hope everyone has a great day/night, whatever it is in your neck of the woods. Thanks for taking the time to read our blog. I hope this has been an encouragement to you in whatever you are doing to just keep on chugging along and one day you will get there. ALWAYS FORWARD!
@steemitbloggers
Your tomatoes are planted in the sandy ground, right? Three years and you finally got a harvest! Good job. No way that would be easy but you didn't give up. One of my favorite gardening stories I have ever read.
Thanks! Yes, it is all sandy soil. If you dig down 6 or 8 inches in some places it is all orange course sand. I got a few ideas and some of them worked out. I will be sharing them soon.
Oooh. yes. please share
Nice to see thing are progressing in the right direction. Good luck!
Yes, it is alot of work and lots of luck!
The story of our life on this homestead, it NEVER goes as planned.
We built our own house by ourselves. But it has never been finished, and probably won't ever be, as we got sick. Not according to our plan...
We'd planned to buy the land south of us, had first option. But we got sick, so that plan disappeared.
Thought having a farm stand might work, but we are a little too far off the beaten path, so that plan didn't work.
Yup, we've had to step back and regroup multiple times over the years. But we just keep on keeping on, not sure how we do it, but have been for 20 years since we got sick.
Too stubborn to give up....
I am too stubborn to give up. I might slow down and regroup but give up.....Never!
Your stuff is looking great! Remember tomato plants like warm water, not cold. 😊
I will sometimes set the watering can in the shade and let the water warm up. It is about 65 degrees coming out of the well. Or I use the hot water out of the hose to warm some up and water them. Thanks for sharing that as it will be a help to someone else, I am sure.
Welcome, our well water makes your hands cramp from the cold.
We have to leave ours out, but it’s still cold. We do have a black water hose, that heats up the water nice.
Good to finally have an harvest ;)
Yes, it feels really good to see things coming together!
Those tomatoes look good. I want to grow my own herbs and veg too though I live in a condo. Your posts is just giving me a bit of push closer to that idea. Thank you @basictoliving
Put some herbs in your kitchen windowsill and use containers to grow some cherry tomatoes on your porch or balcony. Whatever you can grow will be great.
And I will
Will get it done before the end of the year 😊
A tip I learned from my grandpa: dig a shallow crater in the ground, plant the tomato plant at the bottom, and let it grow up and find its own bones without propping it up in a cage. As it gets bigger you can have a panel of wire fence staked over your row of tomato craters. I think part of it is letting it grow a strong stalk, not letting it overgrow and get leggy with artificial support, and letting it create a humid atmosphere for itself. I especially think the latter might be true cause I had 5 tomato plants that I pretty much forgot about the entire season that got grown over by some volunteer squash plants. I didn't even know they were still alive they were so hidden by the squash but when I pulled back the leaves there were massive amounts of cherry tomatoes: I mean bucketfuls. Probably ended up harvesting 5 gallons by the end of the growing season, and never did a thing to them. I did however mulch them in when I planted them, and added a little lime to sweeten the soil.
Yes, that was what I was shown by my grandfather. I big these in about 8 inches and had to put garden soil and cow manure in the hole that I planted these in. The soil here is sandy and it was a necessary thing to do till I can build my soil up. I also put some Epson Salt and Calcium in the hole to help them along. The cages were more to keep the cats out of it as they do not like the fence idea. They are strong plants standing on there own and I hope they continue to grow as time goes. The soil is really acidic here so I had to add lime to bring the PH down some. That is why blackberries grow so good here I found out. LOL.
Thanks for sharing, @basicstoliving. Your story was exactly what I needed.
I’ve had a hernia surgery in February, and the same one in May, so I’ve been recovering for more than 4 months now, barely able to do anything.
Sometimes it feels like it’s never going to end...
I had so many plans for my garden this year... After last year’s successful veggie garden expansion, I wanted to do so much more. But life had other plans....
Today has been a pretty good day, and maybe I do see some light at the end of the tunnel. Your post reminded me to have patience, to take it one day at a time and to keep believing in a positive outcome. Thanks for that!!