It’s hard to believe May is already flowing into June. It’s been a lovely month for gardening, one with that rare balance between rainfalls and sunshine, hot and cool temperatures, time to relax and time to keep up with the weeding and mulching. 
This weekend, we’re celebrating our 18th year at Full Moon Cottage. 
There were over 4 acres and not a garden to be seen when we took over as caretakers of this piece of earth. The house was in dire need of “renewal.” As every homeowner knows, this is an ongoing-forever process. But Full Moon needed a down-to-the studs-and-back-again facelift. It was hard to know where to start, so we kind of started everywhere at once, tearing up blazing red carpeting, and tearing down walls, and tearing out creepy cabinetry, and tearing off hideous wallpaper. Then, slowly, but steadily, adding wood floors, wainscoting, bead board to the ceiling, new windows, doors, a roof, geo-thermal heating and cooling, an addition and a new garage. Phillip has done almost all of the construction, and I have been his loyal assistant. 
That first summer, we painted the exterior, and I threw a couple packs of annual and “wildflower” seeds into a patch of earth, just to have some color and beauty outside while we deconstructed the inside of the house. 
The next year, we added our first big garden, which is still being redesigned, decades later. That’s how it goes. 
Then we added a vegetable garden, fruit trees, and gardens in the back yard, by the river. 
Every time we had to cut down a tree, we built a garden around what remained of her trunk. 
When he edged the gardens every spring, Phillip took the earth he removed and set it in a new space, then covered and mulched it to create a new garden we’d tackle the following year, a practice we continue. 
All those years ago, when first they saw photographs of the house we bought, friends and family thought we’d lost our minds. Until they visited. Then, the magic of this thin place affected them as it had us. Holy ground and sacred space; we made a commitment to Full Moon that we would bless her with our gifts, and she would bless us in return, and that has held true all these years. It has been a relationship and labor of love. 
There are so very many things I wish I could change about the world and the state where I live. There are so many things I wish I could change about my health, or my income, or the pie crust I continue to try to perfect (getting closer on that one). 
But there is nothing at all I’d change about our decision to take over the care of Full Moon and call her our home for these past 18 years. She has been our sanctuary and an altogether grand place of hospitality. She has welcomed and fed our spirits and harbored our families, friends, and beloved 4-leggeds. 
When we feel beaten by the things we cannot change, Full Moon Cottage has renewed us, and reminded us that, over time, dreams come true. 
A kind friend asked after my spirit this week, and I searched my heart and answered that I was content. Phillip generally concurs. Our life together is not perfect in a fantastical sense, but we are perfectly content. We owe that to many people, the 4-leggeds, our own work, and our chosen, as well as gifted, experiences, but we also owe our contentment, in large part, to the spirit of Full Moon. So, we are grateful, and celebrating. Perfectly content.
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THE DAILY ROUND 
You have a lovely garden….
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Thank you, Arlene; how kind of you. We have enjoyed playing and co-creating with the earth here, very much; it is a lovey way to pray and be with the Sacred. Blessings on your new week!
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Kitty, so wonderful to see the evolution of your little piece of heaven on earth. You’ve tended and nurtured your home and your land so beautifully and to say that you are perfectly content is a great blessing. Thank you for sharing the before and after pictures; they are great to have, aren’t they? A way of marking changes and progress. We are having our kitchen remodeled now, so the garden is my sanctuary from all of the noise and chaos. Enjoy your garden!
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Thank you, Lynn! A kitchen remodel: Yikes. How great, though, as you say, to have it times with the ability to flee to the garden. In winter…no, I cannot imagine and will avert my over-active imagination. 🙂 But yay, what fun to look forward to a new kitchen! Blessings on your garden time and summer!
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Your photos reflect your contentment Kitty….Quite beautiful gardens you have…Now tell me, do you weed every bed yourself? There is not one weed in any picture and I don’t know how you do it! Amazing. You have transformed that space into a sanctuary. So glad you all are happy there and I know the wild life you tend to love having you there!!! Enjoy your summer of color and warmth…Much love…VK
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I have to say, Hollis, the initial spring weeding is a bear, because the trees send their seeds into all the gardens, but once we get them mulched, we only have to weed a bit…except for the veggie garden, although we’re converting that into raised beds, adding a few more every year. That helps. 🙂
I have been thinking of you and hoping you’re doing well, and enjoying your beautiful space, too! Gentle peace, my friend.
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18 years eh? gosh, what a lot you have achieved….it’s certainly is a sanctuary, a real haven. How I wish I had no immediate neighbours and just land and a river nearby! I am thrilled for you two and your four leggeds though, how hard you have worked and what stunning results….it’s a paradise and I love sharing all those wonderful images with you….and what images! The white tulips are simply heavenly and I love that lips pot of yours. I always find it astonishing how plants appear each year until suddenly they are everywhere….sighs….Now I hope those gorgeous blue flowers are Basptisia, the leaves look just like the ones on the little seedlings that are happily growing, they are now sitting in their own pots, small, but healthy!
Full moon, a place of magic and mystery…..delightful post!xxx
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P.s….and now a little of that magic and mystery is about to be planted in my garden!xxx
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I am soooo excited to imagine my Baptisia in your garden, Dina! It’s in the photo next to the pearly pink peony and the one with the bumblebee…I just love it…reliable and a a lovely foliage…good anchor. 🙂 I just planted a few yellow baptisias in another garden, not sure they’re as impressive, but we’ll see. I cage the early shoots till it’s up about 3 ft. because of the bunnies’ love for tender greens…I have three of these, all old, in different gardens and they make me happy. 🙂 Hope you’ll enjoy them, too, my friend. Did any of the Amsonia make it? I may have sent them prematurely.
It is mysterious and magical here, I agree, and feel the same when I look at your wonderful gardens and all the colors, designs, and artwork you integrate. Glorious…and also so much work, but I think when passion comes into play it doesn’t feel like work.
I cannot imagine clean hands from April to November…I don’t think I’d last without a spot to dig and plant…and weed! Or without friends like you to share our stories…Joy to your week, Dina!
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The Amsonia have grown too, they are all little seedlings at the moment, too small to pot on, but they will be as soon as they get bigger…..I’m so excited, can’t wait for them to grow, they will probably flower next year, I’m going to create a new border for them, Full Moon
border it shall be called, I shall keep you updated!!! I must look out for seeds for you, maybe Hollyhocks and Foxgloves….xxx
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Oh, sweet! I love hollyhocks and foxgloves and have neither, but I do have my Dina Potatoes, since you inspired me to get growing them, already. 🙂 They are doing so well! I hope your seedlings will do well; they’re both pretty no-fail. Blessings on your week!
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I am familiar with the process of growing into a home, and having the home become a part of us… and the way you describe it, really brings it to life. There are a few of the pictures here, that are really perfect by themselves, even though, as you know, I always enjoy the photography that is an inherent part of your blog. The flower pot half face touched my heart. Thank you so much for sharing this celebration of your beautiful home.
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Thank you, Shimon; as always, it makes me so humbly happy to receive your comments about my photography, but even more heartened to hear your words about shared feelings and experiences…
I don’t usually include this many photos, but it’s hard to cover 18 years, and I struggled with leaving out the pictures of autumn and winter, my two favorite seasons…maybe another post. 🙂
Peace and joy to your new week, Shimon!
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Thank you for sharing the early days of Full Moon Cottage which I have come to love tremendously through your posts Kitty. And how absolutely marvellous to have turned this once humble little homestead into a handsome home filled with so much beauty it makes the heart sing! I love every patch of your cottage! I really do. And the sweet contentment and magic of your heart spills over and bless those near and far. With much love and happiness, Sharon x
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Thank you so much, dear Sharon! We never know if we’ll stay here or retire to a spot further North. (We are true lovers of winter!) We love Full Moon beyond dearly, but our state has become so sadly mismanaged and unrecognizable that we’ve begun looking at Minnesota and a few other locales…You can imagine how hard this is for us, but we know this wonderful place will always be a part of who we are and become. 🙂
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