Today I’m going over to our old place to wrap up moving. Though we’ve moved our clothing and furniture and computers and food and every single one of the children, we have not yet moved my plant collection.
I’m starting to think I shouldn’t have started a plant collection again.
Of course, I didn’t know I’d be moving from a 2.5 acre farm to a 3/2 apartment without a yard.
When I moved here, I was pretty darn sure I’d be planting a new food forest within a year, on my own piece of land, and so I started coffee trees and planted cashew nuts and potted up sprouting coconuts.
Now those trees are ready to get into the ground – and we don’t have ground.
I’m not complaining, however. Our new place has much better internet, a marvelous view, and lots of living space. And air conditioning, which is really, really nice in the tropics.
It just doesn’t have a place for fruit trees or even yam beds.
So now I’m wondering what to do with all the trees. Pot them up? Give them away?
We don’t have any land possibilities right now, so I think I may need to just write off the effort, pot up a few I know I want to keep (bilimbi!), and give the rest away.
The real estate market is a complicated thing here. A lot of it is based on word of mouth and many of the listings online are expired or ridiculously expensive as they’re targeted towards rich foreigners. Though we’ve hunted, we’ve not had luck.
I’ll probably be borrowing land for a while and that’s okay. Everything works out. And I am rather enjoying not having to string trim.
8 responses to “Life doesn’t always pan out quite like you think”
yes, yes do borrow someone else’s land or start a garden/farm in someone’s yard = either way, the “lease” is to give them some of your harvests so no $ exchanges, a common movement that’s been going on for a while now where land is sparse in the city. we just moved from the city to the country in mid-Michigan and i took a sampling of all my plants, if they were too big/too much to transfer. i also moved bricks and landscaping bolders accumulated over the years. we have a neighbor from the old place who plans to do the same after watching us move for almost a year! it’s back-breaking but well worth it.
enjoy your posts and farming adventures; and your evangelization [every mention of God is a form of it]. we need to sprinkle God some way, some how as this country and the world certainly need to hear more about Him.
Thank you, Dodie.
Giving away plants is never a loss. It just means that you know who to go to for a cutting when you need one.
I’m going though the same thing right now trYing to move alot of trees and beds… keep your chin up great things are to come keep on growin
Good luck and thank you.
David, Greetings and happy New Year. Your books and videos have been very informative and inspiring. As a 67 year old retiree with 20 acres just west of High Springs Florida in Gilchrist County I just sent in orders for Everglades cherry tomatoes, Yard Long Beans, Winged Yam corms, and Seminole Pumpkins. I am trying to take your advice and plant things that won’t be fighting their surroundings and feeding plant predators. I am still searching for a source of that rambling perennial cucumber I saw in one of your videos with no luck. Do you have a seed source and better name for it. I’ll see if I can’t get you some pictures of my successes later this spring, summer, and fall 2018. Thanks for all you do! Roger
Thank you, Roger. You’re going to do great with those!
The perennial cucumber is also known as “Coccinea grandis.” Don’t bother buying seeds – they rarely work. Instead, take a picture of them to local Indian gas stations. Someone is almost certain to have them. Indians (dot not feather) have them growing here and there all over the state.
Grower Jim (https://growerjim.blogspot.com/2014/08/tindora-coccinia-grandis.html) sells them online.