Where to Begin?

As a new homeowner (we just bought our first house this winter), one of the things I am most excited about is having a yard to beautify. After years and years of dreaming about secret gardens, bird sanctuaries and sweet little reading nooks hidden under the fruit trees where I can glance up occasionally to see a friendly, nearby chipmunk nibbling on a chestnut, I can finally start making this dream a reality. Saying I am excited is drastic understatement. I am ecstatic, blissful, rapturous, elated, overjoyed...euphoric even. But I am also overwhelmed. With such big dreams come lots of work and lots of expenses. And then there is the scary question of "where to begin?"

To prepare myself for this spring, the time when I can really dig in...quite literally, I've been reading Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture (second edition) by Toby Hemenway. To many, this book is considered "the Bible" for permaculture, as the book clearly outlines the necessary steps to create a flourishing backyard ecosystem, which is essentially my goal. To me, this book is sort of the instruction manual on how to put together my dream yard, and while it is absolutely informative and amazing in every way, quite frankly it is overwhelming. If I thought I had big dreams before, I'm not sure what I have now. A fantasy perhaps? I'm not saying its a fantasy because I am afraid of the work it will entail, but a fantasy because we really don't have a lot of money, and we especially don't have excess money to put into creating heaven on earth. So while part of me wants to follow the book step by step and do everything just so, another part of me (the part I must listen to) is telling me that I must be creative and find inexpensive ways of eventually reaching the same vision. Which brings me back to the same question...where the heck do I begin??

Well, I've made some progress in that regard. First, I've decided to write this blog. Having a place where I can collect my thoughts, report the findings of my research, and share my accomplishments will be not only a great motivator for me, but also a very satisfying way for me to keep track of how well I am reaching my goal. I also hope to attract like-minded readers who will answer my questions and share their experience with me because certainly a bushel of minds is better than one novice mind.

Second, I am going to continue to read Gaia's Garden, and do my best to follow his advice to the best of my ability, using creativity to help me when suggestions seem too daunting or expensive.

Third, I have started to attract birds to my yard by simply installing a couple bird feeders and putting up a a couple birdhouses that my husband, who I shall henceforth refer to as Hunkcules (both for our family's protection and my personal amusement), built for me. With these small acts, I hope that at least some small birds will make their way over to our home and find a small bit of sanctuary at end of this harsh, cold, New England winter. I promise to tell you more about these bird feeders and bird houses in future blog posts, but for now please be satisfied in knowing that after having our feeders up for a month, yesterday we attracted our very first visitor, and Hunkcules and I are both filled with excitement and hope for the biodiversity utopia we daydream about. It's silly, but it's true.

A chickadee; our very first visitor

So if you are at all interested in permaculture (don't worry, I'll explain all about what that means in another post if you don't already know what I'm talking about), attracting wildlife to your yard, gardening, raising animals in your backyard, do it yourself projects, conservation ecology, creating beautiful spaces, and/or living in harmony with nature, than please follow my blog. As I begin this adventure with a blank slate, I can't wait to share my progress with you and am looking forward to your insight.