This is my third Belmont Rooster blog. Like before, it will mainly be about gardening, the plants I have grown since 2009, life on the farm, etc. I prefer growing as organic as possible, but sometimes circumstances call for a more dramatic and immediate solution. I prefer to eat a healthy diet, but that too is not always possible. Well, I suppose it is possible, but I still have unhealthy habits. I prefer not to grow or eat GMO’s, but I understand the farmers who do. I used to post a lot about no-GMO’s, and while I still feel that way, I tend not to post so much about it anymore. After all, many of the groceries I buy may contain GMO’s and I don’t even know it… 

I have been gardening for a while and really enjoy trying new plants. I have plants I have had for many years but always try and add a few new ones each year. I really like Aroids, cactus, and succulents. Of course, I like Hosta, Heuchera, and many other perennials. Well, I like a lot of variety. I have gardened in Missouri, Minnesota, California, and Mississippi. Unfortunately, I only have photos from Mississippi and Missouri since 2009. 

I was born in a small rural community in mid-Missouri and learned to enjoy gardening at an early age. My parents and grandparents were gardeners and always had big gardens. I think I was very young when I had day first flower bed, my own garden, and my own flock of chickens. My mother’s parents had a farm on the edge of town and I spent a lot of time there with my grandpa. I moved to the farm in 1981 after my grandfather passed away in April. My grandmother’s health wasn’t too good, so grandpa had been tending to most everything himself. She moved in with my parents after grandpa passed away. Grandpa had two big gardens, an apple orchard (the peach orchard had already deteriorated), chickens, rabbits, cows, etc. He already had his potatoes planted when he died, so I planted the other two gardens when it was time. I also made several new flower beds and started collecting plants.

I wrote a post about the farm and my grandparents which you can see by clicking HERE.

Grandpa’s family was from Pleasant Valley, Oklahoma where they had a farm and grew huge gardens. It was in his blood and I developed a lot of my passion for gardening from him. He also enjoyed growing new things, experimenting, growing the biggest and best. He entered many of his vegetables in the state and county fairs. Grandma raised many rabbits and also showed them in the Missouri State Fair. Many years ago, farmers not only had big gardens, but they grew a variety of livestock as well. My grandparents had chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, guineas, pigeons, cattle, sheep, and pigs. I was fortunate to experience their life as a youngster.

Life takes a few unexpected turns along the way. I married and moved from the farm in 1987 and until 2007 when we separated, I had very little opportunity to enjoy gardening. I moved to St.Paul, Minnesota and lived with my brother for about a year. He let me do whatever I wanted with the yard. Minnesota is a very beautiful state and I grew some beautiful plants. My Nasturtiums grew HUGE and I have never been able to grow any like that since. I spent one winter there and that was CRAZY!!!

In May 2008 I went to work for a retiring Holistic doctor in California, Dr. Suzanne M. Skinner. OH, MAN the landscaping there was AWESOME, too! I really enjoyed driving around looking at people’s yards there. She allowed me to have flower beds at her home there, too, and it was great! Well, not as dramatic as in Minnesota, though.

Dr. Skinner had bought a mansion (really a HUGE house, but we call it a mansion) in Mississippi. Even though she passed away on March 31, 2009, I stayed there until February 2013 when I moved back to the farm in mid-Missouri. The page titled “The Mystical Mansion and Garden” is about the mansion and the yard there… I have not finished it yet… Mississippi was also where I started my first blog at the suggestion of a good friend. It was titled The Mystical Mansion and Garden… 

After the mansion was sold in Mississippi, dad asked me to move back to the farm. So, in February 2013, I gave away most of my plants and moved in with mom and dad on the farm. I had told dad I had a lot of plants and he just said, “Yeah”. Well, he was very hard of hearing and had no clue… I brought a lot of plants with me. When spring arrived he told me I could do whatever I wanted… Again, he had no clue… That was the third time I had been told that and I don’t think anyone even began to know what was about to happen. The only thing that has limited the number of plants I grow is the lack of funds… Space is now not a problem. There are about 40 acres on the farm. 🙂

There will be a growing list of plant pages in the column to the right… It is for all the plants I have had experience with since 2009 (although some have been short-lived) plus wildflowers I have identified. 

I take a lot of photos to show how they change over time and share my experiences with them. I also like doing plant name research, but keeping up with the name changes can be challenging sometimes. I do most of my research online and provide links to sources of information. I try to be as accurate as possible, but if you find an error, please let me know in a comment and I will make the correction.

SO, I hope you enjoy this site and I look forward to having you as a follower. I will be sure to follow back if what you blog about is of interest. Us gardeners, like everyone else, have varied interests. Like all bloggers, I get a lot of views to my blog but a very small percentage of “likes” or comments. Just remember, even though us bloggers like to write and share photos and experiences, your comments and “likes” help to keep us motivated. It lets us know if what we write is interesting and useful to others. 

I keep fairly busy and don’t always take the time to read other posts, and for this, I am truly sorry. Once I get all the plant pages on the blog and get them updated, I promise to do better… It has taken a lot longer with this third edition of The Belmont Rooster than before because it is a continual work in progress. Like life in general…  

SO, enjoy, take care, be happy, healthy, prosperous and… GET DIRTY!