
My husband, Kevin, and I first said this after hauling box after box of books into our then-new-to-us home in Geneva.
We said it again after waiting years for new lilacs to start flowering. And yet again after building raised beds for vegetables.
Since we’ve endeavored to create an edible landscape, we’ve reiterated this sentiment repeatedly — usually upon completion of another “permanent” feature: Stone pathway; raised, tiered strawberry bed; cedar grapevine fence. Not to mention bushes and trees that test our patience as we wait years for them to yield berries and fruit.
Having spent 14 years restructuring our property — even improving upon our own improvements — I have a hard time imagining living anywhere else.
Threads of connection join us to this particular half acre.
Here, we selected, sited, tend and harvest each of our own food bearing plants and perennial herbs and edibles. The very act of feeding and nurturing them serves to feed and nurture us.
This is what it means to be tied to the land.
We’re never moving again.