Racing the Storm

Although Buck was exhausted from a very long day at work . . . when our friendly neighbor rang the doorbell and offered his mega-tiller, Buck just couldn't say no. I wasn't home at the time (I don't remember where I was?), but Buck went tilling crazy up on our hill. That fenced in garden may be half? of the land he broke up.



He made two long patches on either side of the compost bin--today we filled these spaces with potatoes, onions, cucumbers, and asparagus! Gabby and Brennen did most of the digging and planting of these. We had given the kids little starter seeds for Easter and bought some root plants at the hardware store a month or more ago, too. We were starting to worry that they would not survive their long exodus from dirt and water, so as a storm was brewing on the horizon, we thought--today's the day!



Inside the garden, Caelan planted peas along the chicken-wired edge. Next to that, Graysen planted two rows of carrots and a row of radishes. Caelan then put in some lettuce and spinach.


In another large patch, we moved the planter box Caelan and Brennen had been building to fill with strawberries (but we don't have enough dirt, so that project is on hold; along with her oodles of flower seeds that she can't wait to get in the ground).

On the opposite side of the barn, Buck tilled a large patch to the south of the little fruit trees (which look like dead sticks at the moment :( We have to wait to fill this section, but we're going to go old school and try planting the "three sisters" corn, beans, and squash (sweet potatoes). Somehow they feed, nurture, and protect each other (we learned this in our Native American studies), so we'll see if it works for us!

Also later, we'll try pumpkins again, tomatoes, herbs, and who knows what else? :) If anything grows, I'll be happy and amazed. We may just be growing food for the forest creatures and the chickens, but it is fun to try.

Tendergreen Burpless? From the Burpee brand? What does that even mean!?

Hopefully the solid couple inches of rain we got later this afternoon was sufficient watering for our little plants. As if to seal the deal, God stretched a double rainbow over the space! I would have tried to take a picture, but they are never as good as the view in person. It's not easy to capture a rainbow.

Also hopefully, future rains and roaming animals don't pack down the three sisters' patch before we have a chance to work some seeds into that soil. We have a couple weeks til the weather will be right though, so we can look forward to another round of planting--with maybe a round of re-planting mixed in :)