Mother Nature: 3, Us: 0

It’s easy to assume that if you give plants water, sunlight, and good soil, nature will handle the rest. But as we quickly learned, Mother Nature has a sense of humor—and she deserves full credit for just how complex growing really is.

Mother Nature 1 – Us 0
Yes, plants need water, but we’re still about a month away from having electricity connected to our new well. Until then, we’re hauling gallons of water from home, which means no irrigation system. It also means that when you take a vacation without farm help, you’re left hoping Mother Nature will send rain for your seedlings. She didn’t. We lost that round—and several sunflowers to the September heat, too.

Mother Nature 2 – Us 0
Nature also has her own residents—and they need to eat. As natural food sources dry up late in the season, deer and rabbits begin to see your garden as an open invitation. Even “deer-resistant” shrubs were chewed down to stubs. Thankfully, nothing was uprooted, but we are now officially shopping for fencing.

Mother Nature 3 – Us 0
We thought we were ahead of the game this time. We protected our overwintering seeds with low hoops and deer netting—and it worked… until the ridge winds swept in. The gusts carried off the netting, the hoops, and even a tarp that’s still missing in action. The wind is no joke. Rocks didn’t stand a chance, so next round we’re coming armed with sandbags.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that Mother Nature keeps us humble—and we’re just getting started.