A Year and a (few) days!

Goodness! It has been a year since I started writing here at the cottage! (Actually, a little over, since my welcome posts was on the 4th of January). It seems almost surreal to think that this little blog has been around that long, and through so many changes in my life. I'm so glad it has allowed me to meet so many new and fascinating people, and I hope that there will be many more new friends made through these community connections.

On a different note, since we here at the cottage are in an area that has implemented water rationing and it gets mighty hot and dry in the summers, we have decided to turn our garden over to native plants. Of course, there will be several natives that are plenty useful - White Sage, Yarrow, and Artemisia come to mind - so I won't be without my herbs. After two years of trying to find out what vegetables and fruits we could grow here and finding that everything was burned to a crisp by the end of July we have finally made the decision to not fight with the environment around us. We will still be growing tomatoes, but instead of forcing them to face the full heat of the sun, we will plant them in a large pot on the porch, where there is some shade and it is just a little bit cooler. Other herbs will come inside on a convenient windowsill, and the ones that can handle it will stay outside in hanging pots along our porch overhang.

I feel better knowing that we are moving closer to what this patch of ground might have once been, and also that we will be providing natural food and habitat to those lovely birds that I so enjoy seeing in our yard (and who seem to enjoy taunting the cat).