Gardening and Troops

I can see already that my blogging time is going to be severely challenged as summer comes on.  There's just so much that needs doing.  Right now we're still in the spring pattern of a few nice days followed by snow/hail/freezing winds, so we still have forced resting, but I'm thinking ahead to weeding and harvesting and canning and drying and *yawn.*  Just for a second there I was wishing for winter to be starting instead of ending. . .just for a second though.

This weekend we finished pulling sagebrush out of the garden area, and then my father-in-law came down the road with the tractor and dug up soil.  He came back later with some kind of leveler thing and smoothed it out.  We were so thankful!  I sent him home with a jar of pears.  Kids and I picked out rock for a while until I got bored.  Next up, fencing, more rock picking, compost, tilling, and THEN raising beds and planting.  Whew!

In case you think we are totally crazy (which might be true, but not for this reason), this garden is for two families.  We have some friends who will be helping out with the work and the eating.

This weekend we also went into town to welcome home a group of Oregon National Guard Troops returning from duty in Iraq.  Even for our little town, we had a big crowd lining the main drag.  Whether you agree with this war or not, it is hard not to be flooded with gratitude that these men and women would offer up their time and possibly their lives.