The Cherry (or Strawberry) on Top

Actually, it's more like a very small pebble or a large piece of sand...my suggestion: don't pass a kidney stone unless you can do so extremely quickly--or--it's SO small you don't know you had it!  Almost $4000 and TWO visits to the emergency room later--and in our hospital--we definitely look to returning Down Under.

But folks here have been incredibly generous as I just transported all sorts of herbs and flowers from the place that I worked this summer and transplanted a few dozen strawberry starts from the plants that the person that I worked with there provided me.  They're all supposed to bear fruit in June, so I planted them in a patch by the house to hopefully keep whatever critters may like them away.

My permaculture plan has definitely evolved into a vibrant vision--and reality--of a garden this past summer and autumn, and has even included a bit of landscaping by using the plants that the deer kept munching that were further from the house.  So, along with all of the plants started from seed, dug up or donated, this has been a pretty economical start to creating a sustainable homestead.  I'll try to take a current picture of that planting as well as the view from the house into the garden in my next posting.