Well hey guys, welcome back to Hits a Good Life. If we haven't met yet, my name is Natalie, I'm a modern home center and urban farmer out here in what is usually sunny San Diego, California. Today we've got quite a bit of rain in the forecast, we're in the middle of like a 14 day to 20 day storm, which is pretty unusual for our area. But you know what, it's actually perfect for this story time and garden tour because it reminds me a lot of where we were last year this time. But before we hop in a story time, I just want to acknowledge that there's a lot happening in the world right now and I'm going to be creating some resources for you guys, some mental health resources of how you can deal with the stress and how you can stay grounded in the midst of mayhem. So definitely be on a lookout for that in this moment. I just invite you to grab your cup of coffee, grab your cup of tea and join me as I share with you the story of how we got to this moment where our garden is lush and green and producing lots of veggies for us in the middle of winter and why I'm so incredibly grateful for this moment. So with that, I say welcome to my garden. I'm so glad you're here. Let's hop into a little bit of story time. So how did we get to this point? How did we get to this point in time with this lush green garden? We said yes to our dreams and we said yes to an adventure. Last year at this time, my husband and I were celebrating our anniversary by house hunting in San Diego because he decided to accept a job in his dream industry, which is aerospace, which meant relocating after a lot of searching through torrential downpours. That day, this house came on the market. We put in our application, was accepted and the house was ours. Then with the help of our loved ones, friends and family, we packed up our whole life and we relocated. We were saying yes to a dream, yes to Tommy's dream of aerospace and yes to my dream of farming, although I really didn't know it at the time. Ironically, I thought I was saying yes to Tommy's dream of working in aerospace, but little did I know that God was sending us to San Diego, which has the most ideal growing climate in all of the country and has the highest farm to acreage ratio in all of the nation. I had no idea. So honestly, the joke was on me, but here we are and I'm so glad we said yes to that adventure. So let's talk a little bit about this house and this property. We knew when we got here that we wanted to continue our home setting adventure, which we had started on our apartment patio. Some of you guys might remember my first ever garden beds that I built in our apartment. They were my first build ever. I had no prior woodworking knowledge, but I said, you know what? We want this regenerative farm. I'm going to say yes to it, but a partner with that vision, even though we're here in the city, started learning how to grow food. We started in our apartment and we knew we wanted to continue the adventure here. So building upon that knowledge, I decided to build a new garden. I drafted up some plans, got them approved by the engineer and once Tommy approved those, I bottled the materials and I got to work. So much time, thought and energy went into this project, but after a few months, it was ready. And by summertime, we were able to plant what was our first garden. Now, this is where the story takes a little turn for the worst. Some of you may know that basically the same week that I started hits a good life, I incurred, acquired, sustained. That's the word we want. I sustained a really gnarly sports injury and it has, at times, left me totally bedridden, unable to sit walk or stand and it's been a huge lesson to me in stewardship, stewardship of my body and stewardship of all that God has given me because honestly, if my cup isn't full and I'm not healthy, I can't do any of the things that I want to do to further the kingdom, to further our dreams, to further this vision and to bless other people. And so I've had to learn the hard way over and over and over again this year that my health has to be a priority and taking care of my body has to be a priority. I'm happy to say that finally, almost nine months later, I feel like I'm finally turning a corner with this injury. I'm doing so much better, but I still have a ways to go. So I'll take all your prayers in good vibes and good thoughts, but we've been able to plant again with more knowledge, with better health and the garden is doing so much better for it. Whether you're able-bodied and looking for a little inspiration or you were like me just a little over a year ago and you're just dreaming of farming and gardening or maybe you're not feeling the greatest and you just need a little escape. Invite you to join me for a little tour of the garden. So this garden, there are a lot of lovely things growing in it right now. And as we celebrate another year of marriage this week, I find myself proud and thankful for the work that we've put in to make this marriage what it is and it's something that grows sweeter each year. And one of the ways that we have made this marriage a really sweet place to be is the way that we've decided to embrace our roles. And what I mean by that is that this garden was built upon the role that I really am the visionary and the handywoman of the family. And that wasn't always the case. It took some negotiating and some emotional hard work and heavy lifting, but eventually Tommy and I found our group. You know, there was a time where I let my happiness be dependent on what Tommy did or didn't do. And what I came to realize is homeboy is tired after a 10 hour day and bringing home the bacon and I'm the one that has a flexible schedule and the desire to build and the desire to do this stuff. So why not do it? Why not learn these skills and learn how to be a woodworker and learn how to build quality products to support a homestead and oh my goodness, it has changed our lives for the better. And now it is unexpectedly given me this platform to talk with other women about how they can also embrace a handywoman type of role and build their gardens too, which is amazing. You know, sometimes I'll find myself talking to a woman in the store to somebody online and I love that by me embracing my role and my uniqueness that I'm now able to empower other women to embrace their role and their uniqueness and their vision. So I feel like I've said it a thousand times, but I'm really grateful this week and I'm really grateful that Tommy and I have outlined our roles and really learned to embrace them as a handywoman and engineer, as a visionary and as editor and together we found a really sweet way to collaborate through this thing we called life and through home setting and all of the things. I'm really grateful for the way that we've grown into marriage over these past years and I'm grateful for every little plant growing in my garden. So for anybody who needs to hear it, your dreams are there for a reason. When you say yes to them, oh my goodness, it is such an adventure and a worthwhile one at that and you know what, you don't need a lot of experience. You just need a willingness to keep showing up to chase after those dreams. You just need a willingness to keep showing up. You just have to have the willpower to listen to a just course as necessary to be coachable and to get up and keep going and I'm not saying it's easy, but man, it is worth it. Just like that, I'm out of tea and we are out of time. Thank you so much for joining me today you guys. I hope you enjoyed this anniversary garden tour and I will catch you guys in the next video.