The Urge to Grow

Late winter/early spring can be a time of impatience – alternating with foolish weather optimism – for a grower in Maine.

There is ice, then there is mud. Then there is more ice. Snow can make for a nice change.

All growers experience this, but I’m finding it especially challenging during my first couple of seasons back in the Northeast, after a few years’ stint in Tennessee.

That was the site of the original Nanimal Farm, on a lovely red dirt road about an hour northwest of Nashville. My first house, first farm, at age 50 -- 5 acres, purchased "as is." Brave? Crazy? I've been called both.

It was quite an adventure, and a learning experience. Before most of my boxes were unpacked, I had acquired a puppy, a dozen chicks, and many fruit trees and berry bushes in need of planting, in what turned out to be incredibly stony ground.

But it was exciting! And it led me to this guy, Jasper.

And this one, Newton Pulsifer.

While in Tennessee, I built on my years of gardening knowledge and avid reading from New England, finally got time to complete a Master Gardener certification, learned how to graft fruit trees, grow okra and sweet potatoes, and deal with armadillos and fire ants, among other things.