At Home in Georgia

A Day's Work

I'm so very tired tonight!  But it's that wonderful, we-had-a-hard-day-of-work kind of feeling.  We all worked outside today clearing out a wooded section of our lot that has just been taken over by nasty vines and briers.  I took before and after pictures, but they do NOT do it justice!  Cassandra stuck with Carter and me and worked with us the whole 3 1/2 hours we were out there.  Which is especially great since she'd been helping me with housework all morning before we'd gone to work outside.  The other two little ones gave up fairly quickly (Garrett wanted to use the chainsaw and wasn't happy that he wasn't allowed to, and Emma wanted to hand saw the swing set apart and wasn't happy when SHE wasn't allowed to) and played outside for a while, then got a little cold and went inside.  That's another story... 

Anyway.  We cleared a corner section that was just old dead, cut down trees and junk covered in vines.  And then we worked our way into the rest of the area cutting and pulling stuff out of the way.  I love that kind of work (once in a while!).  It was so good to be outside.  It was about 58 degrees and I stayed plenty warm in a sweatshirt and headband to keep my ears warm.  It was pretty windy, so we couldn't burn the "ginormous" pile of stuff we cleared out.  We'll have to do that another day.  The wood will burn well, but all the thorny stuff usually smolders.  And thankfully.... no one got hurt except for a few thorn-holes in hands and scratches on legs and faces and arms.  :)  Whenever the chain saw is out, I get nervous!

This is the area we will be having our chickens, and it will be a great place for them to find lots of bugs!  We talked to our neighbors and they think it's great that we're going to get chickens.  That was good... you always wonder if your neighbors will disapprove when you live in a subdivision!

And I was reminded today by Robyn (www.lentilsandrice.blogspot.com) of square-foot gardening.  I'd read the book a few years ago and decided that was the way to go if we ever tried a garden again.  We know we want to do "raised" garden sections, so that is already the first step to square-foot gardening.  The idea is that you plant in square sections instead of rows.  You can plant more, harvest more, and water less, plus you start out with a special mix that doesn't involve (in our case) planting seeds in brick (hard, dry GA red clay).  So we're excited about this, and hope to get this going pretty soon, too.  If Carter just didn't have to work, we could probably get everything done!  :)

Well, it's an early-to-bed evening.  I probably won't be able to get out of bed in the morning....

~Michelle

I love the title...

11:40, Thursday, February 21, 2008 .. Posted by specialmom42000

Blessings,

We I was growing up, we lived in the Suburbs of Detroit...my dad ALWAYS had a garden in our backyard. He would "toil" for hours in there...Something about that made it seem like we had a piece of farmland in the city.

I can't wait to get my hands back into the garden this year...however, we must wait for the several feet of snow to melt first!

keep us posted on your progress!
Blessings, Kelly