Saoirse's Primal Journal page 136

[Urban Forager]

Weeding and pruning is a big part of the maintenance. I couldn't believe how hard the soil is, it only stopped raining a few days ago and now the soil is so hard. The front yard landscaping was here when we bought the house. We are slowly changing it but it takes more effort than I seem to have. We've done a lot more to the back yard; put in vegetable beds, grapes, plum, apple and pear trees. I said we but in truth I haven't done much DH does it all. I do cook and enjoy the produce!

[Saoirse]

sorry i didn't mean to come off with the attitude that i did. i'm really a newb when it comes to this stuff, and my yard is almost the ugliest on the block. little by little, i'm making improvement, but my lawn is super weedy and a little patchy, which accentuates the dilapidated fence nicely. i just wanted to give you a little encouragement.

[Urban Forager]

No offence taken, I appreciate the encouragement. I managed to get some more yard work done today. But it got hot quick! Went for a walk in the woods with hubby and son and son jumped in the creek several times. April is way too early for me to go swimming!

[Saoirse]

oh i bet that was frigid! i managed to go for a bike ride with the kids today, it was a lovely evening!

[Saoirse]

hubby's here, so i might be MIA for a while. or at least i will be posting significantly less asinine crap on random threads.

[Saoirse]

what a great evening! we had a bbq for hubby's birthday and invited a number of friends and their kids. we offered to provide meat and cheesecakes if everyone brought a dish, but of course our wonderful friends brought meat AND other food: organic beef hot dogs; local, slow cooked beef ribs grilled with homemade bbq sauce; plus our steaks, burgers, and bratwursts. then there were vegetable platters, kalamata olives and artichoke hearts, lots of fresh fruit, homemade salad dressings, two cheesecakes, caramel (made from cream and honey), and a gluten free angel food cake. my hungarian friend brought some hungarian liquor: palinka, a few others, and unicum. that was, of course, the joke of the evening. oh, and i brought the angel food cake out of the oven after everyone arrived, and then inverted it over a bottle of wine, as i always do, while being asked multiple times "isn't it going to fall?" no, this is what i was taught to do, and it has NEVER fallen! guess what fell? it was hilarious. the kids all had a blast playing in the yard, digging in the dirt, and playing with water balloons. all in all, it was a good night, and i'm feeling blessed to have such awesome friends.

[Pebbles67]

Enjoy the time with your husband. You gals are reminding me that I should work in my garden. I've blown it off the last two years.

[Mud Flinger]

My advice on gardening work that you may not want to tackle (like weeding) is to set a timer or small goal, do it, be proud and move on. A big weeding job may be too overwheliming but 5-10minutes just before taking your shower can make a huge difference. Also, if the weeds get too big (big weeds can be easier to pull) or the area too large, weed wacking will make it look ever so much better, even if just for a week or so and you will feel better about the whole process. I do this for planting the garden too. It seems too big a job all at once so I just plant one packet of seeds at a time. I pick a 5 gallon bucket of dandilions each day and feed it to my turkeys and chickens (they really love their greens). I figure it would cost me like $5 for that much salad greens so I feel like I'm kinda earning money and also picture dandilions turning into eggs. When I look at the grass it seems like I'm not making any progress, but the bucket full of money and happy critters make it better. Also, since the kids want no part of weeding, they leave me in my solitude

[Saoirse]

I decided this year to do only the gardening that i enjoy. I'm sure i'll end up pulling some weeds, but the population is significantly reduced (so far) compared to how it was at this time last year. i also plan to make more use of cover crops and mulches to reduce weeds. also remember that weeding this year is a time investment on next year's, because if the weeds aren't in the ground, they aren't reproducing (though it helps if you're able to get the entire root).

[Urban Forager]

The timer really helps me. I set it for about 30 minutes then I am done. I also give the weeds to the chickens. My main goal right now is to get rid of this one type of weed before it seeds, the seeds go every where and they are the type that get stuck in my dogs coat. A real pain! I got a weeding tool yesterday and that helps a lot because the ground is already very hard and the area I'm weeding is a sort of rock garden, very tedious, but I am making progress.

Sounds like your party was lovely what a nice welcome home for your husband.