Oh Jungle, my Jungle

Adam and I found our home by accident. I had recently moved to Martin County for my job at the hospital and had not explored much of the area besides what I found in the route between my low budget apartment and my job.  Adam and I had just started dating and while he was basically living with me in my one bedroom apartment we weren't looking to move in together right away.

One random day, Adam decided to drive me around Martin County so I could get more acquainted with the area.  We drove through Jensen Beach, Stuart, Port Salerno and then into Hobe Sound.  I could see the giant houses of Jupiter Island across the intracoastal and asked him to take me there.  

In our efforts to try to find an East/West thoroughfare, we stumbled onto a for lease sign.  For no other reason then curiosity, we started driving into this little old Florida neighborhood until we stopped in front of the house for rent.  It was adorable.  Perfect. Picturesque.  It was really close to the water so when it didn't have the price on the sign we tried to guess how much it would cost.  He and I both grew up in southern Palm Beach County and were conditioned to believe anything by the water would cost an arm and a leg.  For shits and giggles, Adam called the number and asked for more information.  It was way cheaper then either of us thought but still more then either of us, individually, could afford.

Somehow we ended up meeting the landlord a few days later to tour the inside.  It was love at first sight and we knew it was too good to pass up.  I broke my apartment lease and we moved in a week or so later.  To this day I've never regretted our rash decision or as I like to look at it, leap of faith in what the universe had to offer.

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One of the many reasons I love this area so much is because there isn't an over-manicured yard in sight.  Everyone maintains their respective jungle yards but no one really bothers with mulch or planting anything that isn't native.  It's a beautiful thing.  There seem to be more squirrels then people in our neighborhood and that suits me just fine.

Our yard looks like this:

Obviously, having such a jungle-like yard has it's pros and cons.  On the plus side we have complete privacy, very little grass, and hardly anything requires regular watering because they are all native drought-resistant plants.  The down side is trying to maintain the balance between quaintly jungle-like and completely unkempt.  While yard work in general is not my responsibility (Adam takes care of most of it with help from his boys), I could see that with the amount of yard debris collected after just a few hours we needed to do something proactive about our waste.  

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, we had a compost heap in our back yard growing up.  I talked to Adam about it and he was excited to start the project.  With 4 posts, some chicken wire, and a bag of manure (to jump start the breakdown process) we made our very own compost heap.

 It isn't the most attractive thing in the world but it does the job.  We try to maintain a 2 part brown to 1 part green ratio when we can.  For the most part we try to keep food waste out of it for no other reason then attracting wildlife (although with how lazy our worms have been lately I've been known to toss a corn cob or two in the heap without noticing any disturbance). Bringing the bottom contents to the top once a week and making sure it stays moist but not soaked is key to making an ideal environment for composting.

Composting has its perks beyond creating less waste.  The finished product is nutrient rich soil for a backyard garden.  Coincidentally, that is a perfect segue into my next post. Stay tuned for "How Black Thumbs Bare Fruit."