What A Beautiful Day

The Weather Channel online told us it was supposed to be rainy today, but it was really very pretty out.  A few random fluffy white clouds and really deep blue sky.  It was maybe a little chilly, but when you're working hard out there, it still feels pretty nice.  I got each plot marked off and they're a lot closer to the tree than I thought they were going to be (I guess I'm not that great at measuring) and it looks like we might not be able to get rid of that tree this year so I may need to plan around it better.  Shorten one plot and create another smaller plot somewhere else.

I really wish I could just get the tree cut down, because I'm not looking forward to picking up the crab apples that fall into my garden.  But we want to put up some fencing and do a few other things and even though our landlord is a really generous man, we can only ask him to pay for so much at once.  At least it's all improvements to the property that will benefit them if they ever decide to sell.  The house belonged to their parents, though, and Heather doubts they'll ever sell Grandma Stefen's home.  At least they're good enough to let us make all these changes!

Once I've got the plots figured out for certain, I'll take a picture before I do anything to it so you all can watch the progress from the very beginning.  Well, I guess not the very beginning, because I've already raked the area and pulled out all the weeds and chopped down a big ugly bush that was in the way, but still... close enough to the beginning, I guess!

I hurt all over, especially my ankles and lower back, but mentally I feel more like myself than I have in a very long time.  It's kind of weird because I always hated working in the garden when I was a kid.  Maybe it's like Rachel says and it's just the thrill of a new project, researching and learning and trying something new.  Unlike most of my projects, though, this one requires a lot more physical work than I'm used to and I think that might have something to do with it too.  It would really be nice if working this hard made me start losing some weight -- but I'm not going to think about that as a goal right now because I don't want the numbers on the scale to start taking over my excitement in the project.  It's just nice to think about.

I'm Gonna Have A Garden!

I literally cannot remember the last time I spent so much time outdoors in one day.  I got home from Manti at about 4pm, and spent from 4:30 to 5:30 raking yard refuse into piles to get rid of.  Then I was inside for maybe a half hour to have a sandwich when Heather got home from work.  Then we both went out to load piles of dead leaves and pine needles onto her trailer for later hauling to the dump (I kept 3 big black bags full for mulch).  Finally, we measured and staked out the areas for my garden plots.  I'm going to have one 3'x10' strip against the fence with blueberry bushes and then two 4'x10' plots for vegetables, all separated by 3' wide strips of wood chips for walkways.  There's a crab apple tree that we're going to get cut down, and I'm planning a little herb garden around the stump.  Actually, I'll probably mix herbs and flowers in with the vegetables too.  I found an awesome book at the library called Edible Flower Gardens and I'm going to see what I can plant of those, because doesn't a flower salad sound seriously cool?

Anyway, we didn't come indoors until nearly 8:30, and while I realize 3 to 3.5 hours outside in one day is not that long for some people, for me, it's a major accomplishment.  One I can feel all the way from my sore neck muscles to my throbbing feet, and I'm pretty freakin' proud of it.  I'll try to post the progress of my little garden experiment.  I'm thinking this will be a project that can ultimately help me with all three aspects of the original purpose of this blog -- my physical, mental, and spiritual search for happiness.