Getting back my green thumb!

My background is in horticulture.  After Tyler had started his own landscaping business many years ago, I took an interest in the planting aspect of the industry and decided to go back to school to learn more.  From 2005-2007 I attended Seneca College in King City in the Environmental Landscape Management program, and I loved every minute of it.  We took courses in horticulture, arboriculture, landscape design, and greenhouse operations (among many other things).  I always loved being in the greenhouse and thought that working in one would be my dream job.

Well, not only will I get a chance to work in one, I'm going to have one!  Tyler's parents have just bought two hoop style greenhouses for the property!  One will be needed to keep the hops rhizomes in prior to planting, but hopefully the other one can be used for growing vegetables year round.

I am already going to have a wonderful sized vegetable garden to tend to which I am so excited about.  I have been reading up on growing vegetables and have ordered several seed catalogues so I can start deciding what varieties I want to start growing.  It looks like we might also have a local source for organic seedlings as well.

I would absolutely love to be able to grow as much of our own vegetables and maybe even fruits as possible, and not only that I want to learn about the different ways to preserve our produce so that we can eat our own fruits and vegetables year round and have less need to buy them.

The problem I'm finding right now is that my horticulture knowledge is rusty!  Not to mention I have never dabbled in vegetables.  The short stint I did working in the industry after graduating and before having a family involved landscaping gardens, not growing vegetables.  So I have a lot to learn and re-learn!  I'm also not sure how active I can be with a new baby, though I want to make sure I am still playing a role in all of this.

I know that a lot of this is going to be hands on experience and trial and error.  And I have a great team of people to help and support me.  Tyler is getting my garden ready for me and will help me plan and plant it.  He is so great at this kind of stuff.  We will all have a lot to learn when it comes to running a greenhouse, but I'm sure that we will figure it out as we go.

Have I mentioned how excited I am?  I am feeling a bit nervous and overwhelmed at the thought of it, but I know that we'll learn as we go and in a few years we'll be expert fruit and vegetable growers, all year round.

I can't wait to see all this happen.  I also can't wait to involve the kids in this, and hopefully instill in them a love for nature, plants, the environment, and taking care of the land.  I think they will learn a lot from helping us on the farm, and maybe if I'm lucky they will eat more vegetables in the process!

My dreams really are coming true!