I’m so glad you’re here!
I’m Dana. I was born and raised in south Georgia. My upbringing was pretty typical for a girl in the suburbs. But I fell in love with a mountain man. When you marry a mountain man, you can’t get him out of the mountains! So I moved to a small, rural town in the mountains of Tennessee.
My husband, Mark, comes from a long line of farmers. He grew up watching his Dad and Grandpa on the farm. Beef cows, chickens, tobacco patches, and a family garden were all a big part of his growing up. Honestly, before getting married, the closest I had ever been to a garden was walking through the produce department at the grocery store! Needless to say, there was a lot for me to learn.
After being married for about a year, we moved away from the family farm so we could start our own family and have a little backyard farm of our own.
Mark and I have 3 kids: Buddy, Goose, and Pedro. They have tons of energy and imagination! They certainly have a wonderful way of making life more joyful and more exhausting! All 3 love being outside and the big kids are also a big help with the garden and animals.
Learning to garden has definitely been a process. Thankfully, Mark is a patient teacher. Turns out, I really love gardening! Well most of it. I don’t know anyone who really enjoys pulling weeds. There is a deep satisfaction that comes from growing your own food. Digging in the dirt is good for the soul. There are so many life lessons that can be learned in the garden. Lessons of patience, determination, and overcoming obstacles to name a few.
This has certainly been a one step forward, two steps back kind of journey. Lots of trial and error too! Learning, stretching, and growing are all a part of the process. The goal of our backyard farm is certainly not perfection, but finding the joy in a more simple life.
In some ways I feel like I have learned so much, and in others there is so much more to learn. Join me as I continue on my journey to learn more about backyard chickens, gardening, and garden to table recipes!