Jeff Shearouse is in the house!

Well, actually, he is outside the house. He is our new landscaping person.

I love Jeff. I love him because he loves what he does. He is a Master Gardener, Arborist and Horticulturist. Oh, yes, and he is a single dad raising two girls.

I met Jeff when I was taking some guests, young teen-age girls from Namibia, daughters of the couple who owns the hunting camp where Landon hunts in Africa, for a walk around the plantation. We wanted to check out the new house that was going up so that we could short-cut over the dike. There were lots of workmen on location, putting down grass sod at this new house. The yard, the trees, all the plantings, looked great. As we were admiring the lawn and view, a man in overalls came ambling over. It was Jeff -- we got to talking and I asked him whether he would be interested in coming over to see our yard because I'd like to hear what suggestions he might have for us.

A week later, he came over and we walked our property. If you have been reading my blog, you know that I am very intent on wanting to cherish this house and grounds and turn it into a home. So much had been neglected, not the least of which was the yard.

And, our previous landscapers charged a lot for what they did and I didn't like the results. They are not bad people, but it's a company where the head gardener is spread very thin and the people working for her do not have the proper training. If you look at the picture at the top of the page, you'll see that they never trimmed the tops of our Nellie Stevens trees so that they had all these funny spikes growing out of the top -- up to 2 1/2 feet. That looked ridiculous. Compare what they look like here. You see how the tops are all trimmed up?

Check out this before and after:

Jeff and I have a vision for our yard. We are going to consciously recreate, reshape, reform, replant, tend, cherish and nurture the plants that we have and add new ones. All according to our plan.

I am very excited by the prospect of investing my love into and caring for our grounds -- and to know that they will reflect back that investment. I am excited to to see how we, Landon and I, can transform our living environment -- inside and out -- so that it reflects "us" and so that it will be embracing and inviting to all of those we choose to welcome into our space.

Finally, here is a video of Jeff at work: