I read another great gardening book I had picked up at the library over the past few weeks – A Blessing of Toads by Sharon Lovejoy.

Between this book and the last one I read, I am super pumped to start planning our garden for spring.

One thing that really spoke to me about this group of essays about Sharon’s experiences with her garden… She’s not a perfectionist and she seems to be pretty okay with that. When I read about her tending to her garden, there’s no stress about whether or not she’s keeping up with it. Her writing encourages me – that it’s okay to sit and just observe what’s going on in your backyard instead of tending to the chores you had planned.

She told of a day when she was supposed to be out back cleaning up dead flowers, and she realized that the birds were still visiting them to eat the seeds. So instead of her planned clean up day, she sat and watched the birds collecting seeds. She mentioned something about how her place isn’t neglected; it’s a bird habitat.

I love that.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed on our ten acre fixer upper farm.

Almost three years ago, Josh and I were gung ho about resurrecting the thriving garden we had when we lived in Long Beach here in Georgia. We tilled and planted rows and rows of potatoes, onions, tomatoes, peppers, corn, pumpkins, and so on and so on and so on.

We also had a newborn daughter that had basically just come home from the hospital.

So our garden went to crap pretty quick, because apparently babies need attention or something. 

Currently, our garden consists of… one basil plant that I picked up on a whim in the produce section of the grocery store. It’s been alive for about six months, and I’m pretty proud of that.

We also received a dozen baby trees this week from The Arbor Day Foundation – like we’re talking sticks with roots that’s how baby they are… And one of my Christmas break activities with the kids has been getting those little guys into the ground in something like a baby tree nursery in our backyard where I can keep an eye on them.

The gardening books I’ve read recently, like A Blessing of Toads, have been encouraging. That we can start our garden back up small, one step at a time. That we’re not going to be judged if the entire ten acres isn’t in spit spot shape immediately.

Which is good because apparently kids need attention.

This book has lit a fire under my butt – as I read, I started making notes on the post it I was using as a bookmark.

There’s so many things I want to plant.

There’s so many things I want to try.

I can’t wait to grow things again, guys.

I just can’t wait.

Grab your copy of A Blessing of Toads by Sharon Lovejoy on Amazon. The cover looks different from the copy I picked up at the library, but it’s the same amazing gardening book that’s inspired us in our spring garden planning.

Enjoy!