And in our case: Neighbors make good fences too!

JB has been such a huge help in getting this garden going for us. He showed up again on Saturday with his boys while we were out in the garden. I mentioned how I had cleared the brush away from a few fallen locust trees to use as fence posts and he says “They’re in the clear now but in a few weeks they’ll start to get overgrown again so let’s get em now.” He didn’t have to tell me twice.

It took the better part of our day but in the end we got 23 fence posts, and all of our corner posts as well. We cut up and split the larger ones and he helped me gather them all up next to the house.

We spent the rest of the afternoon planning out the layout of the fence and gates. He even helped me broadfork the last row while I spread the last row of compost. Gathering and splitting posts was hard enough work but to help finish the last bed was really icing the cake.

We are beyond grateful for his generosity. I could never have done all of this without his help – and not only does he bring the tools, knowledge and resources to make it happen but he gave up his whole weekend – his time and energy – to invest in our garden.

I’m forever thankful to have my neighbor also be a brother and friend. This is what it’s all about for us – doing it together – whatever it may be. That was a big part of the dream that brought us here. I hope that no matter what happens, we don’t ever take that for granted.