Welcome!  What follows, Lord willing, will be a transformation!

My name is Scott, I live in Bel Air, MD with my wife Kim and I have two sons, Chris and Brad.  If age matters, I've been blessed with 50 years of it so far in 2012, but I still feel (and often act) like a kid!

From the moment I realized that someone thought it was a good idea for me to trade 40 hours of my life every week for a paycheck, my dream, plan and prayer has been to be able to work from home doing work I enjoy.

Amazingly, after starting N3FJP Software in 1997, laying the foundation for Affirmatech Inc. in 2012 (more software products outside of Amateur Radio) and my eligibility for retirement as a Management Analyst (bean counter, personnel, report generator, supervisor) from my employer with 27 years of service this past February, I find my prayers have been wonderfully answered.  It is even better than I hoped!

I'm working really hard on my software business now.  That's fun and I love it!  Still, I love the outdoors and nature too.  If I sit in front of the PC too long, I have the uncontrollable urge to knock folks hats askew (my apologies to Herman Melville - not for knocking off his hat, but for borrowing his wonderful imagery from Moby Dick).

I needed a counterpoint to the cerebral stuff and I think I've found the perfect one in the project ahead - transforming our half acre of woods into a woodland garden!  I love nature, I love the woods, I love hard work, I love the beauty and I love the challenge!

But it is more than just a garden transformation.  It is, or I believe will be, a life transformation.  We are just getting started, but I find immersing myself in the garden, or right now, just the dream of it, is already allowing me to reconnect with thoughts, feelings, connections, priorities and ambitions that I had to bury long ago, when I needed to live the role of an "office manager".

So, what I hope to share in the days, months and years ahead is a chronicle, not only of the details of our woodland transformation, but some personal transformation, reflection and growth as well!  I hope that what we do here will inspire you to do some gardening too.  I'll show you how we take cuttings and we will figure out together what plants grow and bloom best in deep shade.  Maybe you will be able to use some of our ideas at your place?

But enough of the touchy feely!  In my next post, we will get down to business!  I'll talk more about where we are:

And where we are headed:

I'll detail the project ahead, the challenges, the excitement and share the vision of what Kim and I hope to create!  I hope that you will have lots of fun following along and enjoy vicariously the creation of our woodland garden!

Thanks so much for reading.  Please come back soon!

Scott