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wander project Dad's garden…

Yesterday I talked a little about the many gardens of my father. When we lived in town (not by the way that Bloomington is a huge or big town, it literally shrinks for 20% in the summer when the students leave town!) From 1969 to 1975 we lived in a subdivision called Sherwood Oaks (with time out when we moved to Bangkok 1971, 1972) dad built his very first home garden. It started along the back fence line of the house. We had added a fence around the back yard for the dogs. Dad took over one corner of the yard. The garden in Sherwood Oaks had two phases. The first phase was pre-Bangkok. For the most part, we grew lettuce, tomatoes, Squash, and Onions.

I hate squash. I got in trouble a few times for using large Zucinni as baseball bats. When we left for Bangkok we didn’t have a garden. We had a few plants on the patio/porch/veranda in Bangkok but not a full garden.  When we came back from Bangkok dad decided to begin adding to the garden, and his overall vision changed. He began growing hot peppers and Apple Trees. The vision would continue to evolve. When we moved from Sherwood Oaks (far south side of Bloomington) to Sycamore Knolls (near South Side of Bloomington), dad suddenly had more room to work with. Fruit trees went in, as well as an inner fence.

The inner fence lasted about a year, but we added a chain-link fence around the entire back yard. Award Apple trees were the first ones, and dad built a garden. By that time we had a Newfoundland (phoebe) and a Great Pyrenees (Frosty), and they both at times sampled what was in the garden. That forced dad to add fencing inside the fence to prevent dogs from nibbling. After about three years of building his garden, dad realized that he needed more space. He and mom decided to buy five acres in a small town outside of Bloomington called Kirksville, Indiana. That is the story of the mini-farm and is for another day!

My wife at the end of my parents deck - by the apple tree

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Written by DocAndersen

One fan, One team and a long time dream Go Cubs!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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