Garden Part 1

 Earlier this week, I borrowed Tom's rototiller and on the one non windy day of the week, I got my garden rototilled. I ran over the garden plot 10 times with the rototiller, plowing in the three loads of horse poo, a bag of vermiculite, half a bale of straw, a big bag of Miracle Gro garden soil and 20 pounds of 16-16-16 fertlizer. Then we put 50 gallons of water on the plot, let it soak in and then rototilled again.

 We fenced in the entire  garden area and installed two of our raised garden beds. Making your own containers is so much cheaper than buying them ready made. We made ours for around $10.00 using 6 foot long, 6 inch tall cedar fence slats. We put two together making them 12 inches tall. I have one more left to put together. I dug out the soft earth all around the garden by the fence to make a walk way. That dark spot inbetween the two beds is where I planted my onions. I made a raised bed and then hollowed it out a bit and planted the onions. I figured that would help to hold in the water. Other than potatoes and shallots and asparagus, that's all I can plant until the end of the month. We have a 250 gallon water container right by the garden to make for easier watering. If we ever get our gutters up and if it ever rains, we will have lots more water.

 Hmmm, you can't see it here but there is the walkway all around the garden. I sure hope we have success in our first year of gardening. I am going to start stocking up on canning jars just in case. And before they go up in price. Good grief! We went to Springerville on Wednesday and bought groceries. We may have to give up drinking coffee at the prices these days. It is always sticker shock to go grocery shopping here. We were so spoiled in Vegas with the 99 cent only stores.

I made myself a clothes pin bag using the fabric my friend sent me from Australia. Their cotton fabric is much better quality than what we have in the states. It just feels thicker.
I was planning a trip to Vegas this week but talked myself out of it due to the price of gas. Good thing too because Pa will have to make a trip this week instead. Vegas was the only place we could find that would work on our big 17kw generator under warranty. Generac's customer service is terrible. Their attitude is
" Not my problem, man". The guy in Vegas was more than happy to fix it under warranty. So now Pa can pick up my house plants at our neighbors and maybe make a quick trip to Costco and get some hamburger and olive oil. He can also pick up two gates at my friends house so we can start enlarging the dog pen. While he is gone, I will plant my shallots and asparagus.
It is supposed to be in the 70's today but was freezing this morning. We had to have a fire in the stove to take the chill off the house. The bird bath was frozen. The birds have found the bird bath after all so we can watch them as we eat  at the kitchen table. Now that the table is done, we don't eat in the dining room anymore.
Life in the country can be exciting but it is mostly like life anywhere. Mundane with chores to do. Every day goes by so quickly it makes it feel like the earth must be spinning faster. Where does the time go? Everyone you talk to, young or old, says the same thing. The days go by so fast. I remember when I was a kid, I thought the days were soooo long so it surprises me to hear a young person say that the days are going fast for them also.
That's our exciting (mundane) news for now!