Our inspiration!!
The following is an email we sent to Dick and Angel Strawbridge, telling them our story and what led us to building our walled garden. This email explains just a bit of how Springer Gardens got its start.
Dear Dick and Angel,
The year 2020, as you are well aware, was a difficult year. On top of having to deal with Covid lockdowns beginning in March here in South Carolina, our son shipped off to boot camp for United States Army and in July I was diagnosed with stage 3 metastatic breast cancer. August began what would become 19 months of chemotherapy, surgeries, radiation and physical therapy. And Covid only amplified the trauma by forcing myself and other patients to go through it by themselves.
My many hours in waiting rooms is what introduced us to “Escape to the Chateau”. Your show played on the many tvs in the various rooms as I waited for chemotherapy or radiation. The first episode that caught my eye and I shared later with my husband was from season one where the piggery was discovered and fixed up. That episode still has my husband planning to add a piggery to our growing farm.
Now fast forward to Summer of 2021. We found an and purchased a property with 35 acres with Mountain View’s, hay fields and a proper space for gardening. I happen to be watching the episode where Dick is tackling the walled garden for the first time. Dick says that the walled garden is roughly 2000 square meters to which I yell at my husband, asking how big that is, about a 1/2 acre. I respond with “we have that now” and so began the plans for our very own walled garden.
December 7, 2021 was my last chemotherapy treatment and in January of 2022 we broke ground on our Garden and I started my healing process. We put in a dipping pond and following Dicks information and lots of research, all of our fruit trees have been planted on certain walls (north, south, east, west facing) based on what is beneficial for the trees. We are growing our pear trees on arbors and we have a cut flower garden that this year in 2024 will officially be used for growing and selling bouquets.
We have built a potting shed and will hopefully finish the greenhouse this year.
We noticed last week that you will be in Atlanta March 1st and so we bought tickets and can not wait for our evening with you. I feel like this brings 4 years full circle for us. I am cancer free and loving every bit of time in our garden. We one day hope to open it up for parties, weddings and garden education.
I am mostly writing so that you two will know how important your show was to my getting through cancer and coming out the other side with goals and plans so as not to waste the life I have been given.
