yard work

today is THE DAY. we are beginning to unload the massive amounts of soil, rock, humus/poo, & mulch. (well, the mulch will be a bit later.) already today we have moved 18 50-pound bags of small river rock under the hop hut & then another 5 around the grapes/berries... & then we moved a dozen or so bags of soil & 4 bags of poo. wes has built one new raised bed & is now planting two more hop mounds under his beloved hop hut. & it's not even noon yet! gee, think what we could get done if we weren't pushing addy in the swing half the time, lol.

btw: his hops from last year are going crazy already & two sets are nearly a foot tall! can you say B-E-E-R. lol.

we have two more raised beds to build & then more soil for those beds...& then plant some spring veggies & lettuces. then fill in another bed for asparagus with soil & compost & then wait until my asparagus roots get here in a few weeks. i'm a bit nervous about the asparagus b/c it's a lot of work the first year (buying roots already established takes a year of waiting away). for those who don't know, it takes 3 years from seed to the plate & in between then will be months of trimming the wee asparagus plants. so i ordered roots ... if all goes well, we may have some edible asparagus next spring! i think.

did i mention that the soil is nothing but MUD (as is most of our back yard)? we all have two sets of clothing today: outdoor & indoor; just strip down as you enter the house. oh yea, & dog crap piles somehow look very similar to mud clumps today...so we have that all over our shoes as well.

we will post some pics at the end of the day. & i see the first lily of the valley bloom peeping through.

all of this will help with our goal to lower our grocery bill this summer in addition to cutting our electricity use by 40% using less a/c & a clothesline instead of the dryer. there's this awesome retractable clothesline out there. i want it! but it's a bit over $200! egads. does less dryer use allow for an expensive clothes line? & using less a/c shouldn't be very difficult as last summer i was in my 3rd trimester & would start sweating & overheating in 72 degree heat. i insisted our house was nearly as cold as a fridge...normally i don't really like a/c because i'm cold constantly, even in the summer. so we shall see if we meet our goals:

1. cutting electricity use by 40% for the summer months (compared to last summer).
2. lowering grocery bill & eating more food out of the garden & having more variety to choose from (we are planting peas & beans this year & our strawberries should be edible this year).
3. have the ability to move tomorrow after hauling all this rock & soil & boards around...i think this may be the most difficult of all!

did i mention every time we made a trip to get more bags you have to add 30 pounds to account for adeline sitting in the wagon. yea, it's heavy. but i only tipped her once so far!