Sun And Red Dirt

It was another glorious day in the garden. I started out by putting out some pelletized lime - about 150 pounds of it. So that got the day started off with some exercise! Then I got the tractor out and tilled. It was great - it didn't break this time. It seems that we have finally gotten the problem with the drive shaft figured out.

I went through the garden and tilled, but the level was too high so I was only able to get a couple inches deep. While I was tilling the first pass, Dad asked me to get the really big rocks out of the garden before I tried to go any deeper. Picking up rocks! My FAVORITE... not.

So when I got done tilling I set about the task of getting the rocks out of the garden that grew there since last year when I hauled off three truck loads! Oh, you can say that rocks don't grow, but I know better.

There were also a couple low spots in the garden that I wanted to get raised up so that they were more level to make the tiller more effective. So I asked Dad to work on that while I got the rocks up. He hooked up the front-end loader and did a very fine job if I do say so myself. His job was a lot more fun than mine! After he finished that chore he took the tractor fixed it so that I could get the tiller a little lower and dig deeper. He finished that a little before I had finished picking up rocks. I figure I got over a ton of rocks for my wall today.

I doubt that anyone would say that I am fast at picking up rocks, but I'm pretty sure that I'm a lot faster than I was as a kid. Back then I pretty much stood there and whined about having to do that terrible job. Mom was usually the one out there with us when we were doing it, and since she hated doing it as much as we did I think that our approach generally got us out of having to do it very long. Today I managed to get the majority of the garden done in a couple hours.

Once I finished the rock collecting, (I really need to find a geologist who could tell me if there is anything valuable in these rocks that I am picking up. I have a feeling that there may be some hidden treasure there....) I got to do some more tractor driving, which brought the fun factor way back up again. I got the entire garden tilled. It looks pretty good.

I really wanted to get my stuff planted, but my afternoon in the hot sun (which was gratefully not nearly as hot as I would have expected for the middle of May) had me pretty worn out. I probably would have pushed on and at least gotten something planted, but the weatherman was pretty sure that I'd have a sunny day again tomorrow with showers in the evening. Perfect for planting! I love it when the Lord sends rain on my stuff just when I need it.

I think I have my layout for the garden pretty well figured out now. Dad and I surveyed it yesterday, and he had some really good suggestions that I plan to implement. So, that is the plan for tomorrow. I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to get it planted this year, but the Lord has finally given me a break from the rain. Soon as I have it in the ground He can bring it back!

I love the smell of freshly tilled dirt in the morning....