When we began searching for a house with a great friend and real estate agent we had an idea of what we might dare dream to have in a home. A space to plant food, a wood-burning fireplace, enough room for four children. So we plugged in a few specs and up popped 28 homes in all of Arlington, VA. We expressed a preference for South Arlington which narrowed our search to almost nothing. This was going to be more difficult than we anticipated.
One evening at church we told some friends that we were hoping to buy a home in Arlington and they immediately suggested we move to their street. "What a party that would be," we all joked. In all seriousness, there was a gentleman on the street who was considering selling his home, they explained, and we should come by and take a look. A few weeks passed before we took the leap.
We visited the house with our friends. After a few attempts at knocking and doorbell ringing, a gentleman stood at the door, eyes wide open. Piercing blue kind eyes that belonged to a 95 year old man. He welcomed us in and gave a complete tour of his home. It was built in 1955 by his father-in-law and he and his wife had actually lived next door before moving into this home. Each room had a story, an explanation of the architecture, why a door had been put there, who's room it had been.
And then there was the garden, maintained by the gentleman himself for the past 25 years. He was still enjoying his Winter squash as we tiptoed into Spring. There were raspberry and blackberry bushes, a massive fig tree, space to run around, space to just be. We held our breath and dared not hope for too much.
"Well, what do you think?" he said.
"It's amazing," we said.
Three more visits later we asked to buy the home. He quickly turned to our children and said,
"Welcome to your new home, kids!"
And here we are, just a few weeks into the home. The gentleman had encouraged us to plant in his garden right away, so as not to miss the Spring harvest. And plant we did, possibly too much. So far owning this home (my first home to own, Tom's second) has been a real dose of reality. Of course we are still unpacking but we struggle to find the balance between making the inside of our home livable and maintaing the yard and garden that truly sustain us. I'm not complaining, this is a good problem to have, believe me.
So, I'd like to show you around the Digs a little, backyard stuff. These pictures were taken before and after we moved in. I've included the dates to show you the changes so far. Much is left to be done, but we are loving the journey so far!
the fig tree on march 12, 2013
the fig tree on june 26, 2013
a view of the garden on march 12, 2013.
nothing is planted, only weeds are growing.
the fig tree with tiny green figs on april 26, 2013.
note the garden has been tilled by the gentleman who owned the home.
a view of the backyard and house from the garden on march 12, 2013
a view of the backyard and house from the garden on april 26, 2013
a view of the dogwood tree and back yard from the back corner of the house on march 26, 2013
harper and amelie on the front wall on march 26, 2013
garden work day on may 2, 2013
deciding where to plant the seeds we have and the plants we purchased from one of our favorite plant sources, DeBaggio's Herb Farm.
taking a break before planting lettuces. this is a container of young freckles lettuce, also called speckled trout or forellenschluss. this container has many heads in one container and it's best to separate them all so they can be planted individually (see next photo.)
these are the lettuces after separating. as you can see the container had about 9-10 heads of lettuce so it's well worth it to plant them separately!
this is roughly what the garden looked like after our first planting of transplants and seeds on may 2, 2013.
and here it is by may 30, 2013!
just about a month later, this is our garden on june 26, 2013.
As you can see the garden is overgrown and weedy. Like I said, it's been a dose of reality, very humbling, and a great education. We've also been blessed enough to have meal after delicious meal with our family and friends thanks to this beautiful piece of land. Soon I hope to give you a closer look of what's growing and keep you up to date so that you can share with us a little closer to real time.
Thanks for visiting our family digs.
-C
