Happy Memorial Day

It's nice to get a three day weekend, and I have been thinking about the freedoms we enjoy and those who fight to protect them.  I'm grateful for them, because I know I wouldn't have the courage.

I got up this morning to walk -- oh yeah, I guess I haven't mentioned that yet, but I've been walking every morning with a lady who lives a couple houses down.  Started the same day I started work.  We walk for about a half hour, which at my speed is only about a mile.  Still, it's good for me -- no matter how freaking difficult it is to get my eyes open all the way and push my body into motion every morning.  I am SO not a morning person.

So, anyway, I got up to walk and then I spent three hours out in my garden.  I found some big black plastic garbage bags so I cut them open for a ground cover to hopefully cut down on the weeding I'll have to do.  I have six plants each of cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower that I got in, and my two tomatoe plants.  I still need to plant the cucumbers, squash, and zuccini, but it's starting to get a little muggy outside and I'm really low on energy.  I just realized I haven't eaten yet today, so that might have something to do with it...  Either way, though, I'm bushed, and feeling really discouraged at how little I got done in three hours -- I am trying to listen more to the part of me that is glad of what I did get done, but it's hard not to swing back and forth, especially when my legs and back ache and I feel so heavy.

I might have to spend the rest of today working wth clay.  :)

Sore, Sore, Sore -- but Productive

Tons of great exercise today -- I mowed almost all of our yard, probably 80% of it, and for those who've been to my house, you know how huge our yard is!  Couldn't get the mower working at first (yes, checked the gas and oil, and we put some winterizer stuff in it last fall, it just hasn't been started yet this season) but the neighbor had some starter fluid he sprayed somewhere in the engine, and then it started up just fine.  I was out there nearly two hours and was completely bushed, so Heather finished it off when she got home from work.  Then we went to Lowe's and got some 2x6 lumber to make boxes around my garden plots so they'll be raised, and some grass seed.  We spent an hour or so after that spreading the seed on some bare areas in the lawn, and then we had a mini bonfire, burning up the stump of a big ugly bush that I had hacked down a couple weeks ago.  I was on hose duty and got soaked down one leg from the leaks.  Now I'm hobbling around the house like an old woman, barely able to stand up straight, but I do feel pretty good about how productive I was today -- and we saved all those grass clippings to use for mulch when I plant my garden.  I also feel pretty good about finishing off some presents for my sisters' birthdays and for Mother's Day, of which I will post pictures after this weekend when I visit Manti to give them.  :)  All in all, a pretty great day.

Chicken Worries

After spending three and a half hours preparing my garden plots yesterday, I was feeling really proud of the work I'd accomplished only to look out an hour later and see the neighbor's free range chickens scratching the hell out of all that nice new loose dirt.  Since I haven't planted anything yet, it's not that big of a deal right now -- but I'm positive it will become one.  I've been doing some google searches, trying to find tips on keeping chickens out of a garden, but I just don't know what will work and what won't.  The neighbor's have a really huge garden every summer, so they must do something to keep the dratted birds out of their garden... I've never minded the chickens.  I love that they keep the bug population under control -- especially since there's a horse pasture in my backyard -- but I'm worried about them digging up my new seeds and eating the sprouts and munching on the growing veggies.  I'll have to ask the neighbor what she does...

So I got some great exercise yesterday and this morning I'm all sore and achy, of course.  Brother Williams from across the street came over this morning and offered to use his tiller on my garden.  If only I'd talked to him yesterday!  He's still going to till up some areas that I didn't get to, and I spread manure over my plots that he's going to till under for me -- thank heaven for wonderful neighbors!  Then I'll need to rake out the walkways again, cover them with cardboard so we can put wood chips down on them, and figure out a way to keep those stupid birds out.  If their wings have been clipped, a pretty short fence might be enough.  Then I could still reach to weed and harvest, but since it's such a small area, I don't want to try putting up bigger fencing because I won't be able to get in to my plants!  I guess I could try enclosing the entire area, walkways included, but I'm not sure how that would work with the horse cleaning pad which is cement and can't be moved...  Grrr.  I wish they'd built that thing just a few feet east of it's current spot!  Of course no one at the time had any idea that someone might want to try a garden out there some day.  And since the whole backyard is pretty much built around the horses, there's not really anywhere else to put my garden.  :(  Besides, I've already put too much work into that plot to want to move it now, anyway.

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.