Adventures with Angela - A Hot Mess of Homesteading and More...: June 2020

7 mo pregnant and happily
digging in the dirt

So... COVID-19 Stay At Home Order... It's been... Interesting. I am currently 35 wks pregnant and have been working from home since Mid-March. That has had the unforseen bonus of spending much more time in our yard with the kids and the gardening bug has struck hard. I had so many amazing gardening plans for our new property that we were house hunting for but seeing as we are placing that on hold for a moment, I figured I might as well grow a produce section in my yard... and so it began.

Here was the very begining of the garden space. I dug down about 6 inches and realized I actually have pretty good soil. NICE!

I added another 2 wheelbarrows of the sandy soil that had 15 years of black leaf compost in it from out by my shed - (black gold there folks), 2 wheelbarrows of top soil and an entire day's worth of wood ash from the fire pit and mixed that together really well while digging down a bit further... I mean... I was already there so what the heck.

As a side note, I am pretty sure my neighbors were like "Woman! you are 7mo pregnant, but honestly it made me feel GREAT!" What's good for the goose is good for the gander?

I squee inside with pure joy when I look at these.

And then my husband and step-son were absolute angels and built me raised beds for my garden as a Mother's Day Gift!!! So much love there! These beds are 40"x10' and 8" tall. The post are 4x4 and 16" tall so I can add another 2x8 and raise them up to 16" when I am ready... (I figured I better pace myself with a toddler and a baby on the way - errr something like that) So then I added 40lbs of manure/compost and 25lb of peat and some perilite and mixed it in really well. I knew it would be raining for the next couple of days and that would be great for the soil and help to marry all the ingredants together. There are already a bunch of earthworms in there so that is a great sign.

You know... There is something about freshly cut wood that immediately brings me back to my childhood and reminds me of my father working on the house I grew up in. Nostagia there folk. Watching my husband get down with a circular saw was pretty hot too... yep. Hmmm Hmmmmm... sorry rabbit trail

Now speaking of rabbits... or rather to keep them out... because we have LOTS of those pesky critters... I suddenly feel so much less sympathy for Peter Rabbit... Perspective there.

T-Posts are my friends and it was COMPLETELY worth the purchase of a post driver. Serious satisfaction at watching those T-Posts go into the ground as I pounded them down. Progress is being made every day.

I ended up moving some of the T-Posts when I put up the fencing. I used a whole 50' roll which covered 2 sides and used part of another roll to complete the third side which also had the gate. The gate is kind of a makeshift gig, but it does the job and I rather like that it looks rustic.

There is enough space around the garden beds to place pots to grow flowers and herbs in and still push a stroller around the perimeter of the garden beds.

We were enjoying the coolness of the morning. The air smelled like lillies of the valley and lilacs. There was a tiny breeze and the birds were chirping happily in the morning sun. It was quiet peaceful... A perfect time to take a little morning snooze.