most from a tiny space. “In one place we

most from a tiny space.

“In one place we lived, the garden was fill dirt from construction excavation,” said Joyce. “In just three years the soil was rich and black.”

How did they do it?

“We added lots and lots of organic matter,” said Richard.

Joyce remembers driving round and round the city, picking up garbage bags of lawn clippings, which the couple composted and then dumped on the garden patch.

“When we left D. C., our yard was a showplace,” said Joyce. “We had flowers and trees and shrubs as well as the garden. I’m convinced that’s what helped us sell it.”

Richard used gardening as a way to relax after a day teaching school. Joyce, however, was sceptical.

‘To say I wasn’t familiar with gardening is an understatement,” she said. “I was a klutz. In fact, I did more damage than good. I always tended to step on vegetable seedlings.”

As retirement time approached, the Abells looked for a home in the country.

"We knew we Wanted mountains,” said Joyce. “And we wanted to be within two hours of the city. At first we looked in Maryland, but those mountains just weren’t right. So we came out here as far as Madison and started looking within that radius.”

Somehow they found Washington, the Gay Street Theater and the old Nature’s Foods and Cafe.

“The town kind of sold us,” said Joyce. “Those two things — the theater and the restaurant, and the whole town had an interesting atmosphere.”

The Abells bought 20 acres a few miles west of the county seat. They built their house amid gently rolling meadows that they have since planted in rye.

“Now we can grow our own mulch and organic material,” said Richard, remembering the days of the grass clippings. The rye also enriches the soil when it is not cut for hay, but disked and turned under for green manure.

Rural life and the expansion of their farming operation made it nec