Today it begins...road to self-sufficiency

Self-sufficiency and sustainability are not new ideas to me.  As a high schooler I loved to roam my great grandparent's farm in rural VA and pick berries, cherries, persimmons for making homemade treats.  I would also pick poke berries and use them to paint with.  I thought their natural fuchsia color was beautiful.  I loved reading about pioneer days and Native American culture and their use of medicinal plants.  I wanted to be a wildcrafter like in the book "Where the Lilys Bloom". 
In college I worked on an organic CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm in Floyd, VA living off the land all summer and loving it.  We planted, weeded, harvested, and preserved or cooked the food that we ate.  It was amazing being so closely connected with the food I ate.  I also took a couple Sustainable Agriculture classes along with several other plant courses in my Biology major. 
After college I lived with a family from my church in a little old farm house on their land.  I grew a beautiful garden of heirloom beans, mesclun lettuce, herbs, tomatoes, and squash.  I even sold some of the beans and herbs to a local bed and breakfast.  That same summer I also worked alongside a full-time gardener at another bed and breakfast that grew much of the food that they cooked in their restaurant. 
Then I got married, finished my teaching degree, got a job, moved to a new state, fixed up a house, had babies, and the whole idea of self-sufficiency was put on the back burner.
Until today.  We're in the middle of trying to sell our house so that we can move somewhere out in the country with a few acres of land.  Our house is small and if we have any more children we will have outgrown it completely.  But it's completely remodeled and has a pretty good sized fenced in yard.  So, although we are in town I'm going to make the most of my time here in moving in the direction of my dream.  I'm tired of waiting.  I'm tired of buying food laden with pesticides.  And it looks like it might be some time before our house sells.  So, I'm studying up on permaculture gardening, reading John Jeavons "How To Grow More Vegetables", and researching movable chicken coops for layers.  Today I realized that my garden has been sorely neglected and decided that something had to be done.  I was also frustrated about other things.  So I grabbed my hoe and took it out on the rock hard dirt and weeds that had become my garden spot.  I hacked at the ground, sweat pourng down my face, talking to myself....if someone saw me they probably would have thought I was crazy.  And maybe I am.  But, I have a desire inside me to live simply, grow as much of my own food as possible, and teach my children the value of hard work, consistency, and knowing where your food comes from.  As I work with my hands I want the God who created me and the Earth I live on to mold me into a more useful vessel.
(The pictures are of my garden the spring of 2010, I tried to do the same thing this year but didn't even have that good of results.  My carrots this year did end up being a pretty good size even though I didn't find them until I was destroying the remains of the garden in order to start over.)