Breaking Ground

We are so happy! Don't let the photo mislead you. These two clowns are giving me their version of Gary Wood's famous American Gothic painting. They think I should paint them. Don't you just love it? I love Papaw's shirt too.

This week has been a great week for getting so much accomplished around here. I was so grateful to Home Depot for their sale on Cyprus mulch. Yipee! I say that now, as my back and knee throb and ache. My flower beds around the house are weeded and almost finished. We have a bit of landscaping to do along the front of the house. Also, a bed used for a retaining wall out back needs to be cleared and something done to it, before I can truly declare that job is truly finished. We have several bushes that have to be moved. I am turning our front flower bed into a salad bed. I think it will be the perfect spot to do that. We have some very big bushes that really need to be taken away from the house so, it will be perfect time to give the salad bed a try.

I am overly joyed to report that we have our very first real garden spot tilled and the soil amended! Papaw, Doodles and Joe Joe worked on that project Tuesday and Wednesday and it is done. We will be dropping our first seeds in the ground this afternoon. Below are a few photos of the big event. And believe me, it was a very big deal for us to reach this milestone. Our grounds here are very hard and full of clay. It is almost impossible to get a shovel in the ground. We had tried with a small tiller, several times to till a little spot over the years but it was impossible. We saved and finally bought Papaw, that well needed tractor he had been dreaming of. Heck, who am I kidding? It was my dream too, to see him on that big tractor. I am already thinking about what I will like to can and preserve for fall and winter.

Meet the boss of this job, or so she thinks. This is Doodles and she loves gardening. Who am I kidding, this kid just loves dirt, no matter what she may be wearing. You'll see what I mean in the next few photos.

Yep, that's her out there in her new Sunday skirt that I just made her, giving careful thought to Papaw's chore at hand.

She starts helping him line up his tractor to move around some of the composting material. Since he was new at all of this, she really thought he could use the help. *grin*

 

She may think she is the boss of this project but she still don't mind jumping right in there and getting a bit dirty, IN THAT NEW SKIRT and flip-flops.

She did quickly realize, with a bit of suggestion, that she really needed to take that skirt off. Lucky for  us, she had a pair of shorts on underneath and just stepped right out of it in the middle of the garden.

 

Yep, that Papaw is wearing a John Deer hat on his Massey Ferguson tractor. He said he didn't want to get his good hat, (his Massey Ferguson hat) dirty. 

Papaw and Doodles work and play well together. He spent so much time teaching her about the tractor and even letting her help turn the composting material under. She thought it was the coolest thing ever. She really loves the new beginnings of our farming days.

 

Isn't this a thing of beauty?

Job well done, you two!

After all that work, they had to do a bit of cleaning. First of themselves.

Then they cleaned their tools and tractor.

 

I knew this would quickly go down hill if Papaw got his hands on that garden hose.

 

 And I was right. It was all out war or at least until...

she got her hands back on that hose.

 I do think she lost. That big guy can be scary when he points his finger at you.

Mean old Papaw!

Blessings to you all!