Yesterday I gave up trying to till up the sod on two sides of the field garden. The worst two sides, of course. I got the "easy" sides done and then gave up for the day. But today . . . I tackled and conquered those two sides where the sod had grown in to almost a width of a foot in some spots. Me and my wonderful Mantis tiller did it. Truth be told, I got shaken and tossed around something awful. To the extent that I think a couple of my internal organs may be residing in new locations now, but darned if I didn't get it done!
I also got our first picking of rhubarb today. Even though I felt like getting right into a hot shower and then my jammies after dinner, I just had to make a Rhubarb Cream Pie for tomorrow. I had enough rhubarb for some sauce, too, so I cooked that up.
This is just a random picture I snapped tonight at chore time. That's our handsome Light Sussex rooster. He's the last of the breed (sob) after the last Light Sussex hen got picked off by that blankety-blank hawk last week. With him are two male wild Mallard ducks who have taken up residence on our pond. We're pretty sure their mates are across the driveway in the woods sitting on nests right now. The ducks always come up into the poultry yard to help themselves to the scratch feed we toss to the chickens morning and night. They've become pretty tame and when they hear someone come out shaking the scratch in a can, they come waddling up from the pond.That's all to report for today. If it doesn't rain, I think I'm going to plant potatoes tomorrow.
We're on the same wave length-I'm spending the day today planting taters. If I had one of those headlamp things, I'd do it now. Darn insomnia!
ReplyDeleteWow...You're one tough cookie. I don't think I could manage holding onto the Mantis. I watched SM do it and was scared for him, all that kicking around. Your dirt looks great BTW. (How weird is THAT to say to someone?)
ReplyDeletetough ,doesn't even come close to Mrs, Pea ,I'm still holing out for that story where you took on a bear or a wolf to defend one of your own ,be it fowl or fair,not talking baseball either.we have a pair of ducks too,and so much rain that the forgotten uncovered sandbox became there lake
ReplyDeleteJimminies, that was some tough sod! Glad to hear you won though:) Hope you were able to get some rest and all the organs settled back into their respective places.
ReplyDeleteI hope your internal organs enjoy their new arrangement...you're quite the homesteadin' woman! Holding on to the tiller is something I've not yet mastered. Looks like a productive (albeit wrongly forecasted) day!
ReplyDeleteSue - You out in the middle of night working in your garden by the light of a headlamp WOULD give your neighbors something to talk about! My need to move ahead on the remodeling has won so today . . . no gardening. I'm gonna paint the ceiling in the living room. (I'd rather be playing in the dirt, but I want the house done, too. Where's that crew of 6 I hired for the summer??)
ReplyDeleteTami - Only a dyed-in-the-wool gardener would puff up their chest when someone said their dirt looks good. Thanks, it hasn't come easy since our "soil" in this county is 95% rock and 5% heavy clay.
judy - Thinking of those ducks paddling in the sandbox is quite the picture!
Stephanie - Yep, the sod is super-tough, but what makes me flinch is when the tiller hits a good-sized rock. (Please, please, please don't let my tiller break!)
Mama Tea - The first time I used the tiller this season my forearms had such a hurtful ache in them for a couple of days that I thought I would have to scratch "tilling" from my resume. But, hallelujah!, I've toughened up enough that it no longer bothers me. I be very thankful for that!
That Mantis reminds me of those "shaker belt thingies" I see on infomercials LOL if those people would instead just use a Mantis and then eat the resulting healthy food, voila! - weight loss LOL
ReplyDeleteErin - That's funny because as I was using the tiller and being shaken to bits, I was thinking of those "shaker belt thingies" and was going to include that in my post but didn't think they were around any more and no one would know what the heck I was talking about!
ReplyDeleteHey Mama Pea ~ we've got too much rock in our soil (what little soil we do have!) to till anything by machine even though we own a tiller - and after your description.... maybe that's a good thing?! I do like the way you think though..... dessert for the next day before shower and jammies! Your Light Sussex rooster is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteLisa - So why do we (who all live in parts of the country with no dirt) try to garden and plant lovely flowers? Must have something to do with "bloom where you are planted", huh? ;o}
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