"Getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter allows you to remember who you are. Simplicity doesn’t change who you are, it brings you back to who you are."

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Men At Work

Is there anything better than a man at work? 

He can be in a suit and tie, scrubs and mask or jeans and a sweaty tee. 

Nothing is better than a man at work. 




Except if he's YOUR man and he's working for YOU.

Spring has hit us hard and fast this year at 500 Dollar Tomato.  So many things to do but the garden always has top priority.   We needed to expand the garden this year, hopefully for the last time.  Expansion equals physical labor and while I may have endurance and persistence on my side, what I do not have is strength.

Period.

I am, my friends, a pussy when it come to physical labor.

All these gardens, these trees, this home...none of it would be here if it wasn't for the one man in my life who listens to what I need and gives it to me.  Mostly because I ask for it and (more astonishingly) because I don't.

He does it because it he knows it's important to me and therefore important to him.  He's invested.

Happy wife?  Happy life.



So the long awaited garden expansion project happened this past weekend.  SM had already "double dug" a new strip of ground a few months ago.  This new patch of clumpy clay now needed to be tilled.




SM rented a Mantis from the local hardware store to do the job.   After lots of kicking and starts and stops due to the grass matting up, SM tamed the beast.

The next day was "move the fence" day.  What a pain in the tukus!



Thankfully the sky was overcast as SM pulled stakes, yanked fencing and pounded the stakes back into their new position.  I helped as much as I could but the simple fact of the matter is that this was man's work.

Once we were attaching the fence it became a team effort with SM stretching the fence and me tapping landscaping staples through the fencing into the cardboard and into the ground.



Have I mentioned before that there is just not enough cardboard in the world?

You can never have enough cardboard.  Or newspaper for that matter.

Monday morning found SM and I again tag-teaming with me trying to hold the newspaper on the ground in a stiff breeze while SM shoveled compost onto the new strip.  The newspaper would act as a bit of a weed and grass suppressant.

"Look at you go Frontier Girl!"  SM says encouragingly.

"Ha!  If I was born in the frontier days I'd be dead by now."  I responded.  "You'd be on your third wife.  And 14th kid.  Plenty of hands to help you on the farm."



"This is a huge-ass garden for just two people."  SM observes, shovel in hand.

"Tell me that after all the plants are up and mature."  I respond.  "And remember, you're looking at two gardens here.  One for Summer, the other one for Spring and Fall (raised beds).

I plan on buying a few loads of pine bark chips and tossing them onto the cardboard to create walkways. 




You can't believe how big it all feels now.


"You rock Squeetie Man."  I raise my hand to give him a high five, which he returns than swats me on the bottom with a "You're welcome.  Now get in there and make me some dinner."

12 comments:

  1. Yup, couldn't agree more. Most of what I do would be useless with the able assistance of RMan!

    I blame it on a tennis elbow (no, I don't play) injury I got a few years ago, but it is also age creeping up on this skeletal frame. I have been known to manhandle a pick - but I was m-u-c-h younger then LOL

    Your vegetable patch is coming on - I'm so excited for you :)

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  2. Too funny! The garden looks great! I think you will be one busy lady when canning and freezing time comes around!

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  3. Humm, perhaps I should try more bottom swatting cause sometimes it is like pulling teeth around here to get my man to finish a job. Making note to self ;)

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  4. Humm, perhaps I should try more bottom swatting cause sometimes it is like pulling teeth around here to get my man to finish a job. Making note to self ;)

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  5. Opps, sorry about that double comment. You dont seem to have a delete comment button on your posts or I would have wiped that sucker out.

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  6. Gotta love a big garden. We are expanding ours this year too.

    @ 3Beeze Homestead

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  7. I know there are very capable women out there who are farming/homesteading/gardening quite successfully on their own (with maybe a little help now and then from their friends) but even with the man I live with and me working side by side, it's hard work and that male frame and musculature comes in mighty handy!

    And too much gardening space? NEVER! Fresh garden produce as a bartering item will always be valued.

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  8. Wow. You guys have definitely added a lot more space. I am envious. Looks great.

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  9. It looks fantastic. What a great job and oh how much you are going to be able to grow!

    That was a lot of hard work as well; thanks for sharing the journey.

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  10. Oh my, I wish I had a garden that big. What must the neighbors think? A lot of this post sounds like "flirting". No wonder SM works so hard.

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  11. There is no such thing as too much garden. You'll have that sucker filled up and it's going to be great. Glad you have a good sidekick. Men are indeed wonderful!

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