Seeing the trash mountains can be overwhelming. It feels like there is always more trash. But load by load, they shrink and change. After a few days of chipping away at them, I missed Thanksgiving in the US, and made a special dinner: stuffing.

The trash needs to go. I can’t see it anymore. I don’t care that, technically, someone promised to deal with the trash. It doesn’t seem to be happening on any kind of timeline I can work with, so, I’ve filled the car with the first load of trash, and I’m now going to drive it off and just deal with it myself.

Earlier this year, I started a balcony garden. That spiraled into two plots of land to restore and grow on. It’s high time I give you a tour of the land I am restoring, both the growing garden and the overgrown neglected land.

When I adopted the garden, I dreamed of growing food. I had little illusion, I’d get anything done this year. But I did! I prepared the first bed, and got to planting. For now, I’ve planted some garlic, some onions, and a whole lot of alfalfa.

I have a compost problem. Or rather, I have a lack of compost problem. A pile has been growing in a corner but it doesn’t even keep my dog out, so it’s time to come up with a better solution. Or, at the very least, a temporarily better one.

Three months ago, when I adopted this neglected piece of land, I had no idea what I was in for. It was covered in brambles and trash, but all I could see was the potential.

In July, I adopted a neglected piece of land filled with trash, brambles, and a lot of potential. Three months later, winter is settling in, and I am thinking back on the season behind me, thinking ahead to the necessary preparations for spring.

There is a part of my land I’ve been ignoring completely. Hidden between the hazelnuts, there is a second structure on my land. A shed? A hut? When I got here, this thing was filled with cracked rain barrels, and a whole lot of trash.

I removed and inspected the rain barrels, managed to fix two, and then ignored the hut completely. I’d had a roof to fix after all. Out of sight, out of mind.

It was time to change that.

There is an ugly, moldy tarp attached to the garden house. I’d been pretending not to see it for weeks. But now, trash pickup was on the horizon. The sun was shining, and the winds had slowed. A perfect chilly fall day to head to the garden.

I’ve been cleaning up corners of my neglected land for months. But before long, the roof project took over, and I left the rest be. Now, it is time to tackle the trash before the owners of the land come to pick up the piles for me.

When I adopted this neglected land, I didn’t know how to build a roof. I didn’t know how long it would take. I didn’t even know what most of the parts where called. But slowly, I figured it all out, learned new skills, and built a roof. But let’s start where we left off last time.