I'm back!

About a year ago I stopped blogging. A year. Wow.

I really didn’t mean for it to be that long, it just ended up that way. I have been working on a book in my copious free time, and last night I finished the rough draft (and there was much rejoicing). I still have a lot of work to do, including probably two more drafts of the book, but it is a major milestone for me and I am excited about it.

Also in the last year I began gardening. The gardens that were for a long time just holes (and sometimes frog ponds) in my backyard have yielded all kinds of fresh fruits and veggies. I thought it would be fun, but I had no idea what a great experience it would be and how much I would really enjoy it.

Along with the gardening I began composting because I wanted to improve the composition of the soil in my gardens. Well the first round of compost is in the ground and it looks great!

The beds are prepared and the first seeds of the fall/winter garden are in – very exciting. This fall I will be growing a plethora of different things, including green beans, broccoli, celery, carrots, snap peas, spinach, loose leaf and head lettuce, romaine, cabbage, garlic, and onions.

Good times.

Despite a very busy year, I haven’t been ignoring what has been going on in the world or the country. There are lots of dangerous and concerning things both on the national and international stage. I’m considering how I would like the blog to look and what changes I will make from how I use to do it. We are two months away from a very important midterm election and the composition of our government is due for a shuffle. Republican hopefuls are also beginning to spend time in Iowa and New Hampshire (if they haven’t been already). We will see a handful emerge from the ever increasing pack in the next few months. The presidential election season has become a very long and tedious adventure and this one will certainly be no different.

So… I’m back!

Thanks for reading. Expect more soon.

Gardening

Yeah, I thought it would be a good idea to maybe plant a garden. I figured it would be a good time, get some fresh veggies, thought the kids would enjoy it...

So, first problem is our soil is bad. Not like, "that needs some fertilizer," kind of bad, but BAD. As in you put water on it and it stays there until it evaporates... caleechee kind of bad. Which, of course means that I had to excavate in order to get good drainage. This had been advised by a neighbor who had dug down 3 feet and back filled with abc, sand and then top soil. Well, I wanted it slightly elevated so that the kids would have some clear borders of where the gardens are, so I decided to go down 2 and up 1. Sounds easy enough right?

Have you ever swung a 5 lbs pick axe and watched it bounce? Ever seen sparks come off the blade when it didn't hit a rock? No bueno. So I soaked it. Two inches of water evaporated after two days and it penetrated... well okay, it didn't penetrate at all. More pick axe. I called Home Depot to see how much it is to rent, get ready for this, a jack hammer (which is how my neighbor got down 3 feet). Well, it's $55 a day. If you want the "clay spade" that's another $8. If you actually USE the clay spade, you have to pay another $8 for a "reconditioning fee". Nice, eh?

So I decided to give the pick axe another go last night. We finally broke through the caleechee at about 10-12 inches. There the clay is much softer, more like normal clay. Nice eh? We have 2, 4 foot by 8 foot gargens. One is about 18 inches down, mayb 22 at the deepest point. The good news is that the water is actually being absorbed now. I filled up the other one last night in a vein attempt to get it to loosen up, it's only at about 6 inches.

I got the kids to come out last night and shovel for me. They had a good time and were actually pretty effective. I put more water in them last night and I'm hoping it will be soaked in by tomorrow night and I'll be back out with the pick axe and the shovels.

Gardening is tough stuff!