We had a handful of people visit our home for the first time last month. Everyone commented on our trees and made comments about how much they wish they had trees like ours.
Huh?!? I remember thinking. Yes, I love how beautiful our trees are. Yes, I spend quite a bit of time staring up at our (likely) hundred-year old trees while laying in my hammock or relaxing in our hot tub. Our trees are beautiful and provide necessary shade for my pale self and my littles. They have character and so many different personalities. I often wonder how old they are and how much they’ve seen over the years. While I love our trees, I’ve also said things out loud like “remind me never to move into a house with this many trees”. Landscaping and leaf management is unbearable in the fall/winter. BUT, to many of our recent visitors’ comments – they live in brand new subdivisions that have been entirely cleared and the only trees they have are “required” trees by their homeowner associations that have been planted within the last 5 years. They’re right! While our trees require a lot of upkeep, I love the greenery. I love how natural and indigenous and unsuburban our property is.
You might recall that while my indigenous, forest-y backyard is beautiful and full of character, it also comes with some surprises —— good and bad (throwback to my ‘learn to garden’ goal and the worst case of poison ivy ever). I absolutely love walking around our property and seeing surprise growths of new wildflowers all over the frontyard and backyard. There are new species every season and in new locations each year. The speed at which they grow is insane and the colors are so vibrant they render me speechless.
Well this summer we have two new surprises that have me dropping an uncontrollable amount of F-bombs. I’m serious. Whenever I think about our newest backyard discovery and check on how things are changing each day, I can’t help but say things like:
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Look how fucking many there are!”
“How the fuck did this happen?”
“How fucking big is this going to get?”
I honestly don’t care if you’re turned off by my language. I dare you to have a less incredulous reaction that doesn’t include the F-word if you walk into your backyard one day and discover you literally have two LARGE patches of PUMPKINS growing.
Here’s a sneak peak at my newest babies. They’re about a week old. I have no idea how to garden pumpkins. I’m still learning how to be a country mouse and doing my best to avoid poison ivy.
So come on down and visit the Helgesen’s Pumpkin Harvest anytime now through October or tell me everything you know about being a pumpkin farmer!
Featured photo of thinking ape above courtesy of Pexels.
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