In the beginning...

there was a middle-aged woman who moved back "whence she came" with her retired military husband, two older teenage boys and a big dog.  We had always known we wanted to move back to this area.  

Northeast Iowa is so beautiful with it's rolling fields, wooded hills, limestone bluffs, rivers and creeks.  So we built a house next to his parents, on their rural property, and settled in.  The back of our house meets up with a sloped, wooded hillside.  Our talented excavator was able to produce a gentler incline near the house so that a dreaded retaining wall (cost + appearance = UGH!) wasn't necessary.  Then it occurred to me...what WAS I going to put on that hillside?  I am not-so-very talented in the original creativity department.  I will readily admit, however, that I can and do draw inspiration from others.  An internet search turned up oodles of free garden plans on the Better Homes and Gardens site. www.bhg.com/gardening/plans

I especially seemed drawn to the ones geared toward attracting birds and butterflies.  And that, dear readers, is when the nature bug bit me, clamped down and refused to let go.  I tend to procrastinate, take on way more than I can accomplish in a specific amount of time and obsess.  I'm also easily distracted...oh look, a Junco!

  So this should be fun!