So Shawn and I had this great idea that we would put in a vegetable garden this year. We’ve done a few tomato plants in the past, but we were feeling ambitious and decided to do the whole shebang.  Shawn got an area in our back yard ready by tilling and then retilling the clay soil and getting it good and prepped. 

And then we ignored it for a month.

So then we had to till it AGAIN but this time we did not ignore it.  There was a lot of grass in it, so guess who got to rake the grass out? Me, that’s who.  Have you ever raked a garden before? It’s not the same as raking the light, dry leaves of fall, oh hell no. You have to break up the clumps and then pick up the grass and throw them far enough so they don’t land in another part of the plot. It was hard, sweaty, red-faced, I-think-I’m-going-to-pass-out work. I raked, and then I had to get the hoe (snicker snicker) and break up the harder clumps of grass and dirt, and then I had to pick up the rocks, and then I got to run the big gas tiller – excellent bicep workout by the way – while Shawn raked some more.  It was very difficult, but really gratifying…

…until the next morning. Holy cow guys, even the muscles in my hands were sore!  The muscles in my back, my hamstrings, my chest – all sore, but in a really good I-did-something-productive kind of way. 

We planted tomatoes, corn, carrots, peppers, squash, okra, and cantaloupe.  Surely out of all that, something will grow. I hope.

First knitting, now gardening?  Who is this strange new person inhabiting my body?

Oh, well, I guess that explains the raging mood swings too.