Using Every Second of Our Day

Yesterday morning Brandon sent me a text saying that he forgot to take out the trash before he left home.  Taking out the trash at our house means pulling the big trash can all the way down our long driveway to leave it near the road.  Wendigo and I had already fed all the animals, filled the water buckets, watered the garden and greenhouse, and fussed with the swimming pool to get the filter running, making a dozen trips to the barn and back.  It was nine thirty, I was supposed to be at the office, and I was a sweaty mess, but we tugged the trash can to the road and breathed deep as we strolled.  

We even stopped to admire the iris and the pretty green lawn.  Someone recently gave me a compliment on my weight loss and asked if I was working out.  Ha!  My life is a work out!

After my hours at the office, I stopped at the grocery, but I didn't have to buy any greens.  Our greenhouse is stocked up with lettuce, peas, and kale.  Dinner prep these days involves picking a giant bowl of leaves and using the salad spinner to rinse and dry them.  With sweet potatoes in the oven, Brandon grills the meat while I assemble two salads in mixing bowls.  We joke that the goats have taught us how to patiently chew our roughage.  

The season for endangered bat surveys has officially arrived, which means I could be scheduled to be out of town for work every day from now until mid-August.  I've been taking stolen moments from my days to get the plants I started in the greenhouse re-homed into the garden.  The brussel sprouts seem to like their new home.  

I moved some lettuce that has sprouted in dense clusters in the greenhouse to the garden too, plus a pot full of cucumber seedlings and another of climbing green beans.  The plants were crowded in their pots, and their roots were intertwined, so I just planted them in one big clump and surrounded them with old hay to suppress the weeds.  Good luck, plants.  

I ordered twenty-five strawberry plants, two gooseberries, and fifty asparagus.  The strawberries were packed in a plastic bag with moist shredded paper.  They looked like a bundle of hairy roots.  The plants arrived on Monday so I asked Brandon to prepare himself for some digging, and I started planting as soon as I got home yesterday.  The storm clouds were gathering so we worked fast, hoping to get the plants in the ground before the rain.  

I read that strawberries like rich well drained soil.  Well, shoot.  I dug a trench in our tight, poor draining clay garden soil, and filled it with good dirt I stole from around the compost area.  I remember reading that strawberries can share diseases with blackberries, so it's good not to plant them together.  Well, shoot.  I planted them right next the blackberry patch, just because I had a good spot without so many weeds.  Good luck, strawberries!  

Did I tell you that one of my hens hatched six chicks?  They are adorable tiny fluff balls, and the momma is super grouchy and bites me when I approach the chicks.  

So many tomatoes!  It's past time to put the tomatoes out.  Last week, I placed flags every six feet inside the garden fence and dug a small hole near each.  Brandon worked hard to cart in loads and loads of old hay so we can mulch around the tomatoes, but we haven't had a chance to actually plant them yet. This weekend we are determined to make it happen.  My goal is to plant thirty plants.  I should have plenty to share.  

Brandon took on the task of digging some trenches eight inches deep in the place we grew tomatoes last year.  It's some of the best dirt we have, so I hope the asparagus will like it.  After digging half of the trenches he was questioning our need for fifty asparagus plants.  What can I say, I like asparagus!

Wendigo had a blast helping Brandon dig.  She pawed the dirt, ate dirt clumps, and put her big head in the way.  We had to take a break to scarf our dinner, but then we were back at the asparagus patch trying to get the plants in the ground before dark and before the storm that was threatening.   

The asparagus arrived wrapped in some waxy paper.  Each plant looks like a long legged spider, with roots over a foot long.  Because our trenches were narrow, I spread the roots in each direction, and covered them with about two inches of soil.  I got the last plants in the ground just before dark, and we were more than ready to rinse off and soak our weary bodies in the hot tub.  Brandon said he gives us credit for using every second of our day.  

As we were preparing for yoga then bed, I checked the weather and saw that we were not going to get the storm that was promised after all.  Sigh.  I went back outside at ten o'clock in my night gown, and tugged the garden hose around so I could water the newly planted strawberries and asparagus plants.  I didn't want to take a chance that the roots would dry out in the dry soil, especially after we worked so hard to get them planted.  Swarms of insect buzzed my headlamp and landed in my ears, so I held the lamp down low, which resulted in a bug flying up my night gown!  By the time I extracted it, it had made it's way up nearly to my neck.  Ack!  Someone drove their car on the neighbors driveway, and slowed down to watch the crazy person dancing on the lawn in their pajamas with a light in one hand and spraying hose in the other!  What a day.