Gardening

Last Saturday we set out on little adventure that was suppose to be a 4 hour thing but ended up going for 12 hours. I've made an event list for you. :)

1. Start at 1045 digging up the sod.

2. Find millions of little pebbles under the sod, making digging almost impossible.

3. Rent a bobcat, that will dig a hole for us!

Matt loves this part!

4. Break a sprinkler with the bobcat.

5. Go to the city dump to get rid of the sod we dug up and picked up a truck load of compost.

6. Dig up sprinkler trenches because they're too close to the surface (hence the reason why we broke it.)

7. Buy new sprinkler parts.

8. Dig out more rocks before we lay down the new compost.

9. Unload the truck.

Much harder than it looks.

10. Wash out the truck.

11. Project completion.... 1045pm 

12. Decide to put in plants another day.

This is what it looked like today!

We are still thinking about what else to add.

Interests

Gardening on the patio! :)

I'm pretty sure that Matt would like to recreate Thoreau's Walden pond and live off of the meat of the land. I'm not sure I know too many people who are as crazy about gardening as he is. Often times he comes home excited to show me the new plants or seeds he has recently purchased for our house. We've gone through this phase every Spring for the past 2 or 3 years. I'm sure it is something we will always go through.

We started growing some plants in January at a green house close by. We had a couple of pea plants that did well and radishes. When we planted them I was sure we would have more peas then we knew what to do with. We had a couple of planters filled with peas and beans. I was thinking, "We're going to have to can the ones we dont use! I hate canning!" I even tried to tell Matt we didn't need so many peas. Well as time past, we barely got a handful of peas from our harvest! Based on this single and personal experience, I have decided that maybe you need at least an acre of land to really be able to live off of your own produce alone. Since we live in an HOA we're not allowed to do much to the property around us. Needless to say, we dont really have a backyard either. They've given us a limit of planting a garden around our house, but the garden itself cannot be more than 3 or 4 feet away from our home. As you can imagine, that is not nearly as close to an acre as I think we would like, but we will do what we can do.

Yesterday I ran the Salt Lake City Half marathon. I think I have decided that I don't really enjoy running. I run half marathons for two reasons 1: Because I noticed I gained 10 lbs from September to December and 2: I have this 30 by 30 list... I figured, the sooner I can feel that quota/goal... the less I have to worry about it. I decided this while running up to mile 10 on State Street, going up hill... I blame the pain I am going through still and the pain I experience on the course as a result of my under devoted training. At least I can say, that running a half marathon really forced me to get out and exercise on days when I felt too busy and too tired to do anything. Will I be doing more half marathons in the future....? Unfortunately, yes.

This is Richard. He is 79 years old and has ran at least 2 marathons (not half but FULL marathons!) in every state. He started when he was 63. The Salt Lake marathon was his 7th one this year. Aye, aye.... to live a full and extended life takes a lot of work. Here's hoping that I learn to love running so I can be like this guy.

Easter Weekend

This weekend we planted a garden!!

Well, it's not our 'own' garden, per se, but we went up to Burley, ID and helped Matt's Dad put in seeds for the upcoming year.

I, Rhiannon, had never planted a garden before. I learned how plant squash! I even learned what rototiller is, a machine that digs up dirt. Matt showed me how to dig up dirt and Scott (Matt's brother) showed me the ways of planting squash seeds in 'mounds'. (When I say 'mound' you should think of something like an ant hill with a trench around it.) It was excellent. A life changing experience.

Included in planting this amazing garden, with peas, carrots, many types of squash, and of course your Idaho variety of potatoes, we had an Easter egg hunt that Matt's family does every year. With your assortment of hidden eggs, both plastic filled with sweet goodies, and hard boiled, that you hope find now and not later when it's been sitting out for more than 1 week's time.

>'.-<