An empty garden

Day Eighty: We are officially ready for spring. The garden is prepped for planting.

My dad drove down this afternoon with his brand new "super" tiller and his mini tiller. He tilled the whole garden up really good with the big one.

Truck jumped, barked, growled, and bared her teeth at it...though she always left a nice safety gap of about 10 inches for her own sake. She likes to bark at noisey appliances...inside and outside.

We tried to pick out some of the big clumps of grass. Then, he used the little tiller to make nice neat rows.

Truck was more brave around this one, so I had to put her inside. Halie joined her because she thought it was way too fun to run joyfully back and forth in the fluffed up dirt...then take it all inside. I'll be vacuuming my couch tomorrow, thanks to this dear doggie.

While he formed rows, I spread some lime, plant food, and weed preventer onto the dirt. Then, worked it in with a rake...I tried adding the weed preventer to the path between rows (just hoping). Last year, weeds made our garden ugly. It was very productive. But unattractive to my eye.

Then the wire fence when up to keep the dogs (and anything else that wants to mess with our veggies) out. The rain started within five minutes of us finishing. Amazing timing. All my additions will be worked into the soil even more.

I'm hoping to get the onions planted tomorrow and maybe a couple other things. I'll try to put out some seeds for salad greens, too. So exciting.

Thank you, God, for healthy, edible plants. Thank you for tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, onions, potatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, strawberries, spinach, and carrots. Thank you for freezers that make them available to us year round. Thank you, God, for all the meals that will come from this garden. Thank you for tools that make gardening easier. Thank you for Dad and his willingness to help. Thank you for the hard work that goes into growing our own food and the sense of achievement we feel from it.

Thank you, God, for doing the growing. I can till, I can water, I can weed, I can prune, I can pick, I can eat. I cannot make anything grow. Thank you for letting me be involved and make valuable contributions to the process. Please bless our efforts and help us to be generous with the fruits of our labor, remembering it is all Yours.


What's this about? I decided on my birthday to make a commitment to being intentionally thankful. I challenged myself to post one thing I am thankful for everyday this year.