My biggest regret about RVing full-time has to be Spring. I was in Tractor Supply (an urban farm/ranch store) the other day and it was filled with everything Spring. A big sign read, “Chicks are here” and they were true to their word. There were all kinds of baby chicks, ducks and guineas. But chicks aren’t my biggest regret. My biggest regret about RVing full-time is the inability to plant things. I love to garden!
A little background…
I have been an avid organic gardener all my life. In the 70’s I was a “back-to-the-earther”; an original subscriber to “Mother Earth News” when it was still about how to butcher a pig. I grew vegetables and an orchard, but flowers were my true love. I actually spent about 5 years growing specialty cut flowers commercially and selling them to florists. My farm was about 15 acres with three acres actively growing flowers and four greenhouses. A lot of work, but I loved it.
I also spent a lot of time landscaping with native plants. I was a Texas Master Gardener and a Texas Master Naturalist. (Both programs of the Texas Agriculture Extension Office.) I took botany classes, landscape classes, etc. Gardening was a big part of my life.
RVing was on hold because of gardening.
Jim and I actually started talking about RVing full-time in retirement long before we actually retired. As much as we wanted to RV, we decided we just couldn’t. I couldn’t give up sticking my hands in the soil and Jim loved working on projects in his shop. There are no workshops in RV’s; or at least in the type of RV’s that we were looking at. No toy hauler for us.
There is No Gardening in RVing!
I guess I shouldn’t say “no” as there are some people who travel and care for a few plants along the way. But for me, hauling plants in and out of an RV is way too much trouble. I have one little house plant.
Now, to be clear, there are also no plants or seeds to buy, no fertilizer, no mulch, no tools, i.e., lawnmowers, woodchippers, loppers, shovels, hoes…you get the idea. We also aren’t spending money on large water bills. Living in Texas means watering for at least two months in the summer when it never rains. The advantage of RVing full-time means we don’t spend money on all of the things needed to garden.
My Second Biggest Regret About RVing Full-time.
I miss gardening the most, but I also miss my honey bees. Jim and I were avid beekeepers when we lived in a sticks-and-bricks house. We had about 10 to 20 hives at any time and sold our honey at a farmers’ market. We started and were very active in a local beekeepers’ club,
Again, as much as we love beekeeping, it’s not something you can do when you RV full-time. And, again, we don’t spend money on bees, and many, many beekeeping supplies.
My biggest regret about RVing isn’t gardening—it’s getting old!
I have to be honest here. My biggest regret about RVing full-time might be gardening, but that isn’t completely true. Before we started RVing, Jim and I grew old. We didn’t plan it, but it happened. My knees stopped bending so gardening was very hard to do. I had to stop. Jim spent three years renovating our 100 year old sticks-and-bricks house and was sick of “projects”.
Replacing gardening with living in the wilderness.
Now we spend most of our time dispersed camping in a national forest or on BLM land. I am constantly surrounded by nature and its never ending garden. I enjoy the wildflowers of each season and the trees blowing in the wind. I may not garden anymore but I’ve replaced that love with my live of nature. Whenever I feel sad about not gardening I think about all the money we’ve saved by not having a garden. I guess, in reality, I really don’t have a biggest regret of RVing.
