When we moved into this house in June 2001, I had a clear vision at some point that the front of our place could be a garden. This was a bit of a pipe dream initially as we had a deck out there, the front is a rocky cliff top and steeply sloped and there is no real access to there, no flow with the rest of our living space. Still, I've been called optimistic to the point of uselessness, so my aspiration was in character.

Last year, our deck rotted off the front and in the course of tearing it down and do some work on the foundation of the house, it suddenly became a lot more possible to do something about the front. We started spending a lot of time walking around down there and visualizing how it might all work out. We courted a few exorbitant estimates for the ladscaping work and were dissuaded by the cost, especially considering that we need a new roof this year.

This past week things changed. Andy at Bowenshire had an opening and his costs were pretty low. Sensing that if we did it this week we might have food this summer, we went for it. In the past four days, there have been diggers and rocks and fill tumbling hither and yon around the front of the property. A deer fence is going in and the rock work is in place. There are two fellas down there laying a flagstone patio and some steps, and we're going to have our builder put in access steps from the front porch and the downstairs office to create a flow.

Finally, after seven years, it looks like we'll be growing at least some of our own food.

And just in time for the announcement of Bowfeast, this August 11-17. Excellent.