Why start now?
Our lives are like a book, with many chapters and I just finished a major chapter (one) in my life. I would title this chapter, “Life as a high school cross country and distance track coach.” This chapter pretty much consumed most if not all my time. I started coaching in 2000 as a volunteer coach after competing in the Mrs. Utah Pageant. Pageant directors told me that I needed to get out in front of people, get more involved and so I gathered up all the courage I had and approached the current Cross-Country coach of the time and asked if I could help with the team. He answered in the affirmative and this started a 24-year chapter.
How did homesteading fall into this huge chapter? But first, what is homesteading? I’ll be honest, when I read about modern homesteading, I think of the crazies you hear or read about in the news. Those who isolate themselves from society, arm themselves and then start blowing up things like churches, government buildings, etc. I couldn’t have been further from the truth! Modern homesteading is a way of life, a lifestyle that I have been choosing to live my entire life.
When I first started coaching, there really wasn’t a lot of information readily available on the internet, so I purchased many books. As the years passed, athletes got faster, technology changed, and a myriad of information became available at the touch of a button. So many running shoes, training plans, nutritional advice, and expert opinions were and are still available as resources. There is no such thing as a one size fits all in the running community. The same is true in a homesteading lifestyle.
Gardening will be my focus as I start this next chapter in my life. As with coaching, in the past 2 years, I have put many hours of study into changing the way I garden. My gardening method has been traditional rows which involves planting crops in straight lines, with space between as walkways. This method is efficient for large scale crops, easier watering, cultivation and harvesting. Did I say easier??? My garden plot is rather large, in fact it is 56’x72’. We water with an open ditch, which brings a lovely carpet of weeds that choke the plants out and then harvesting is back breaking, especially when picking 1-2 bushels of beans in 1 picking.
I would say that I haven’t been able to keep up with gardening over the past 8-10 years as coaching along with helping my son, who purchased his construction company in 2020 with HR & Finances and babysitting the grandkids. Gardening took a back seat. I didn’t really have time to weed and didn’t want little hands to accidentally pull crops. In fact, I would hire out some of my athletes & families to come help with leaf raking, weed pulling, harvesting our apple trees & garden crops.
What & why am I changing about the way I garden? To be honest, I’m not getting any younger and I’m looking forward to my aging years and what will be easiest on me. While I am keeping potatoes and corn in traditional rows, I will be converting the remaining part of the garden to containers, growing vertically and companion planting and I can’t be more excited.
