Working the soil
I feel as if I traveled back in time this weekend. I spent the majority of yesterday working in the soil of my parents' yard. I went in with them on the supplies and the manual labor, and we are planting a joint garden this year. It is a 28'x28' spot, so we had enough for ten rows, which came out to be about 13 different crops. Dad planted raised beds for Mom, also, and those will hold carrots, onions, radishes, and strawberries.
We first went into the notable (circa 1915) City Seed Store here in our town. They weighed out enough seeds of each chosen variety in order for us to have enough to complete our plans. I perused in the back of the musty, fertilizer-smelling room at a table full of old knick-knacks for sale. I found a 1953 edition of the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook....a cookbook that I have been looking for to add to my kitchy collection. It is tres magnifique. I can't wait to prepare some of those (less than weird, and do-able in this decade) recipes (or should I call them "receipts?" Nah, they're not THAT old).
I got home with a red neck (really, I know where the phrase came from now) and a red lower back, where my shirt had come up as I bent over for those few hours in the garden. Oh, and I also came home with dirt clods all in my socks, a sweaty ballcap, and aching shoulders.
But when those vegetables and fruits start to show their lovely faces, and we can sit down this summer to a bountiful table full of nothing but home-grown vegetables for our dinner, all of the sweat and toil will pay off. Ten-fold. I have always been a gal who loves to get outside and get in the dirt. I just like to take a shower within an hour or so after I am through. ;)
We first went into the notable (circa 1915) City Seed Store here in our town. They weighed out enough seeds of each chosen variety in order for us to have enough to complete our plans. I perused in the back of the musty, fertilizer-smelling room at a table full of old knick-knacks for sale. I found a 1953 edition of the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook....a cookbook that I have been looking for to add to my kitchy collection. It is tres magnifique. I can't wait to prepare some of those (less than weird, and do-able in this decade) recipes (or should I call them "receipts?" Nah, they're not THAT old).
I got home with a red neck (really, I know where the phrase came from now) and a red lower back, where my shirt had come up as I bent over for those few hours in the garden. Oh, and I also came home with dirt clods all in my socks, a sweaty ballcap, and aching shoulders.
But when those vegetables and fruits start to show their lovely faces, and we can sit down this summer to a bountiful table full of nothing but home-grown vegetables for our dinner, all of the sweat and toil will pay off. Ten-fold. I have always been a gal who loves to get outside and get in the dirt. I just like to take a shower within an hour or so after I am through. ;)
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