I grew up in the country. I had a perfect childhood, spending my days playing in the woods on my horse or helping my family work cattle or work in the gardens. At some point (the point when hormones kicked in) I couldn’t wait to “get out” and that’s exactly what I did. I lived in cities for about a decade, and the majority of the time I kept a job working in plant nurseries! I do have a college degree in sociology, but I learned more from working in these nurseries. I also kept patio/container/anywhereyoucanput dirt gardens. I never grew any veggies, just trees, shrubs, houseplants, tropicals, perennials, annuals and yes, the obscure plants that I came across at the nursery.

I was living in Birmingham, AL when i got married to a bama boy and had a baby girl. She was a few months old when i started feeling that pull to return home. My family has lived in southeast Louisiana for many generations and those deep roots were pulling me back in a hard way!

We actually now live on 15 of the 200 acres my late grandparents once scraped and saved to acquire. My daughter won’t have as far to run, or even a horse to do it on, but maybe she’ll gain something positive from playing in the dirt with mama.