Neighbors...

The house next to ours was pretty much vacant for about 10 years. The gentleman that owned the property lost his wife in a tragic accident. He didn't come home much after that.
When we moved here many years ago this family next door had quite an amazing garden. As well as their large vegetable patch each summer they had several assorted fruit trees and a thriving raspberry patch.
They built two very large greenhouses and came in and out of those several times a day.
The neighbor lady and her family canned all sorts of stuff. They picked and plucked and harvested all summer long and into the fall.
I wasn't interested in canning back then. I wasn't successful at my attempts to plant fruits and vegetables. Occasionally I would get the green thumb bug and try my luck at a few cucumber plants and a tomato vine or two. My results were dismal.
Often during the summer the neighbor lady would invite me and my offspring over the fence and to sit in the pea patch and enjoy some of the ripe, juicy, firm little peas inside the pod. I rarely turned her down. I remember sitting in the dirt with the sun shining on my head and picking and eating the peas as fast as we could shell them. We would visit and giggle and gossip about nothing important. I loved those moments in the garden. But, I didn't know how to achieve that in my own backyard.
I was trying to do the right thing for my little family. I read the latest articles in "Parents" magazine and checked out books on healthy nutrition from the library. Sadly, it was the 1980's and it was hard to know what to believe and what was healthy anymore. It was before I knew who Michael Pollan was. It was the era of "Snackwells" and "Lean Cuisine". It was a terrible and misleading and unhealthy era. It was an era filled with bad information on nutrition and an era that promoted artificial sweeteners and high fructose corn syrup. Fortunately we lived to talk about it! Now we know better...
So over the years the house and garden next door filled with weeds. The apples and pears and peaches fell to the ground and while waiting for someone to pick them up they gave up and rotted into the soil.
The raspberry patch became a maze of overgrowth and weeds and tangled roots. The greenhouses fell into disrepair with doors falling off the hinges and shingles blowing in the wind.
Finally the widower decided it was time to leave his family home once and for all. Shortly after a "for sale" sign was erected in the front yard.
Hubs and I crossed our fingers and toes. We haven't always been lucky in the "neighbor" department. We watched each time a realtor pulled into the drive-way next door and hoped for a glimpse of a prospective new tenant. We critiqued and guessed and contemplated who it might be. We fervently wished they would like our chickens and our pups. We hoped they would appreciate the large lot and possibly even rehab the giant greenhouses.
Well, as it turns out, the new neighbor gods were smiling down on us! 18 months ago a new family moved in.
The transformation is really quite spectacular. The backyard and gardens have been lovingly preened and pulled and coaxed into order. Vegetables and fruits were planted and thrived with time and care. The raspberry patch has been spruced and weeded and fertilized. The greenhouse shelves are filled all winter with veggie starts as well as several types of blooming flowers. A lovely little pergola was erected and is engulfed in wisteria and morning glory.
This is the neighbor we longed for! This neighbor likes our chickens and happily tolerates our pups. (We happily tolerate his pups as well!) He hollers a friendly "hi" over the fence and asks if we'd like some of the garlic he just pulled out of the ground.

I uploaded this picture a few posts back but thought it was worth a repeat! A huge brandy wine heirloom tomato and crispy fresh cucumbers. Compliments of Adam and his green thumb.
We pass the occasion dozen eggs or jar of homemade jam back across the fence as well. We are enjoying a symbiotic relationship :)

One afternoon I was enjoying my daily walk along the trail behind our homes. I noticed there was a recently parked trailer in the back pasture of the new neighbors house. Inside were two aged and failing vintage metal lawn chairs. They caught my eye for sure! Right up my alley those chairs were! Hubs is always needing a new upcycling project! I happened to mention the retro chairs to Hubs later that night. I was wondering what Adam had planned for them or if he would be interested in selling them. Oh, Hubs already knew about those chairs! Adam thought maybe we would like to have them! He felt they might be "right up our alley"!
So Hubs and I were handed the two rusted and abandoned chairs...over the fence of course! We were both delighted!

Cool, right?!? We have been snooping out different color combinations of vintage metal chairs. Hubs re-welded a rusted out area on one of the legs and has dismantled them and started the restoration. I love these chairs! (The pups seem pretty interested in them as well!)
You can bet that when the restoration is complete I will be posting pictures! Exciting, no???

You know what else is cool? Good neighbors...I am grateful.

p.s. those pups in the background take their job of chicken security very seriously!