The short version is this: My dad manages a commercial landscape company. Recently, he bought a 9 acre place where he could store all the equipment, supplies, whatever. My brother, who works with him, now lives on the property with his wife. (And this is where I try to focus on being happy for them and not turning 20,000 shades of green because living on wild acres where turkeys and deer roam and I can hang my sheets to dry on the line, and have a large greenhouse and garden and chickens and goats and let my kids run and get dirty and not worry that some perv driving down the street is going to snatch them up, well that's MY dream damn it. Yes. I swore, and I'm not one bit sorry, either.) Really, I am happy for them. it's SO my brother, and such a nice place for them to start their life together.
The good news is, it's not too far from us, maybe a 15 or 20 minute drive. So, it's kind of turning into a sort of communal farm.
The boys and I spent a good bit of the day there today with Nana, planting. My sister-in-law and her mother took a few beds, and we took the others. Between us, if all goes well, we should have tomatoes, lots of varieties of peppers, beans, edamame, okra, strawberries, pumpkin, onions, lots of herbs and a whole slew of cutting flowers. Add to that the beautiful heirloom roses in about 8 different varieties that were already on the property, and I think we'll be sitting pretty in a couple of months.
We also brought in some new livestock.
Blue Yonder Ranch is now home to 1500 head of ladybug.
Do I have to tell you that my boys were in heaven?
They came home tired, covered in dirt, and famished. They wolfed down every bit of their dinner (+ seconds, then thirds, followed by peach cobbler and ice cream), took a bath and were all three passed out cold not two minutes after their still wet heads hit their pillows.
Oh that's good stuff. Very very good stuff. 
