I should probably start by saying, it's not really 'my' own garden, but 'my family's' own garden because my husband and our two dogs use it too, along with racoons, other people's cats, a bunny, lots of birds like hummingbirds, twohees, robins, woodpeckers, northern flickers and so many more that I will one day identify.

There are also the ladybirds, pillbugs, aphids, wasps, bees, hoverbees, dragonflies... I could go on.

We bought our house in 2005 and a couple years later I built a couple raised veggie beds. Then two more raised veggie beds, then an ornamental bed to create more room because neighbours down the street kept giving us shrubs and perennials. And so it went for a few years. But then my focus changed as I immersed myself into volunteering at a local animal shelter.
I'd plant some veggies some summers, but things started to languish a bit. Then we started going out to visit family on the prairies for a 2-3 weeks each summer and I didn't see the point of growing things I wouldn't be around to water or harvest... 

But then came 2020.
Knowing we weren't going to go far from home, I put lots of time and energy into the back garden - building new beds, hauling rocks, planting seeds and seedlings.
Then it started to grow.

My photography is very documentary based and I've spent a lot of time photographing all the things that make up other people's lives.
So one day I decided to document the garden, like I did for other people.
And I'm so glad I did because it's given me a chance to look back on some of my own life and the hits, misses, accomplishments and moments in time that make up our family garden.

All images © wendy nesbitt | Prints available by request.

my dad turned 90 years old today... although he's not really old.
he still gardens, mows the lawn, mixes cement and build houses for his mason bees

he's also very social so the last few months have been hard, but today my mom organized a drive by/pop in for him on their front lawn so he got to see some friends and family in person

i asked him for the photo wearing the hat, he asked me to take one of him 'sleeping'... 
the sleeping has nothing to do with age, he's been doing it for as long as i can remember

​Happy birthday dad!

What does it look like when visitors come over these days?
We wait for nice weather, then hang outside....

Ollie and his new l'il brother Luke came by for a photo session.

These two weren't really into "sitting" for portraits, and even less so, sitting for portraits next to each other as there was too much fun (and napping) to be had, but I'm all about embracing what dogs want to share when in front of my camera, and then finding a way to capture what I see so I can share it with their humans.

I know my studio can get warm, but this day was weirdly hot and muggy so I was wiping the sweat off my brow as my glasses were fogging up... photography can be so glamourous.
The dogs were cool though and they took turns in front of the camera and got lots of breaks and had a big bowl of water so they also helped wash my studio floor... all in all, a win win!​