Welcome to the Garden

Let me start by stating I live in a very suburban area, lots of big houses and little yards. I have the opposite, a little house and a nice size yard. I used to dream of a big house with lots of room and stuff. Then destiny stepped in, the owner of a lovely bookstore- Sages Pages-recommended a book," The Reasonable Life" by Ferenc Mate. Everything changed and I, being who I am, dragged my whole family along in the quest for a reasonable life. There are six of us, my husband Joe who can build and fix everything and anything, he is the foundation that all these crazy dreams get built on. Joseph my oldest is 15 and completely brilliant, anything technical is handled by him. Andrew is 14 and probably one of the funniest, most kind hearted people I have ever met and a great builder as well, he keeps me smiling. Christian is 12 and a lot like his Dad very creative and able to build from just an idea, he's my go to guy. Then comes Gracee, just 8, very creative and artistic, she is my designer. I guess that leaves me, I'm the dreamer, looking for a better way for my family, a simple way that makes sense for us and doesn't impact anyone else. Our new goal is to live simply so that others may simply live.

Don't let me mislead you about us, my kids are teenagers . Every step is an up hill battle, one that I do not plan on losing. My husband & I have absolutely no farming background at all. Everything we do is with knowledge gained from books, the internet and friends. Basically we're flying by the seat of our pants. I cannot change the world, but I can change the way my family views it and what is truly important in it to us. Hopefully they will pass that knowledge on to their families.

Everything has been happening in steps, slow expensive steps, who knew simplicity could be so hard. It started with chickens. Twelve wonderful girls who have served us many fresh eggs in the past two years. Next came the green house, why pay for seedlings when it's so easy to grow your own. Maybe even extending the harvest to the colder months. Yeah right! Then comes the new chickens, nineteen of them to replace our old house hens who pretty much enjoy sunshine and food and haven't laid an egg in about a month. Can you say chicken stew? The nineteen babies live in the greenhouse temporarily so there goes the 3 season harvest, but that's another story. Not to be forgotten, we also keep bees, this we did end up taking a course on at Rutgers University. The bees not only produce lovely wildflower honey, they also help pollinate my ever expanding garden. Now the BIG move, we're getting goats. Three to be exact Dakota, soon to be known as Daisy, the mother of two beautiful does, Marigold and Rosie. Get the garden theme? From these beautiful ladies will come delicious raw goats milk to be made into so many wonderful, healthy things including soap. The business is born Secret Garden Soap of Madison. I make, with the help of my family, animals and the good earth, lovely all natural hand made soaps. This is our adventure and I'm posting it with hope of inspiration, shared goals and advice from more seasoned simplicity seekers like me.

Welcome to the Garden,

Tracee