The first week... Done

It is the end of my first week of freedom and now moving on toward my second week.  I had a decent week.  I had a bike accident on Tuesday that detained me from physical activities but all is well.  Wednesday, I really didn't do anything but go to Sam's Club.  It was pretty nice not having to do anything but I really wanted to run, but alas my knees were unfit.  Thursday, I was feeling pretty good so I went for a run.  Unfortunately I came back and my knees were hurting.  This was also Chris's first day on the job! He had a pretty chill day and I was able to go and have lunch with him.  He gets off work around 5p.m. sometimes a little after but let me tell ya, WAY better than 6:30p.m. or later.  We then proceeded to go grocery shopping.  On this day though look what was occurring...

My Lettuce is growing!!! It actually started on Wednesday, the DAY AFTER I planted them.  There is a lot more now too.

Friday, I decided to listen to my body for once and opted to not go run.  Instead I started my big garden.

Before

After

I made the frame from two pieces of 4x6x8 wood boards cut in half and then used four "L" braces that I screwed in.  This was the hardest part because the wood was so thick I had some trial and error.  But finally got it all together.  Then I proceeded to dig a hole.  Went down about 6 inches but wait... what did I find hidden under the dirt within minutes of starting?  OH yes a whole cinder block.  So I had to dig that out which was quite the task.  I finally got to the depth I wanted and Chris was home for lunch so I stopped to have lunch with him.  Then I took him back up to work and headed to Home Depot because I needed more compost.  When I was going up to the check out it started to PORE!  I was all nervous because I left the gardening tools outside and we're borrowing them right now.  I waited a little bit and then just ran for it.  Thankfully, the down pore at Home Depot didn't occur at home.  

I started filling up the hole with the frame over it.  I mixed the existing dirt (actually mostly clay which made it hard to dig too) with the compost I bought.  I thought two bags would be good but I used four bags.  I planted corn on the right and carrots on the left.  Our hose is at the front of the house so I had to stand on the other side of the fence and spray it that way.  

Saturday, we went to the temple.  We meant to wake up and leave by 5a.m. however, we didn't hear the alarm go off and woke up at 5:36a.m.  Opps! Oh well, it was a lesson on not having to rush but to just take the day.  So we did.  We got there in time for the 10:30a.m. session.  After the temple we had a packed lunch out underneath a shady tree, which was like 20 degrees cooler.

Chris with his turkey sandwich and myself with a veggie one.  Very yummy! Fruit and carrots and celery were included.

We arrived home around 6p.m. and knowing it was a hot sunny day I wanted to water my plants.  Guess what!

My tomatoes started growing!!! I'm so excited.  Also, my basil is sprouting too.  Today I found my oregano making an appearance as well.

Chris was kind enough to move the hose to the back, except it has a hole it now and we had to duck tape it.  He had fun watering the garden.

I am so grateful for this new skill I'm learning of gardening.  I have been really thinking about (more like worrying) self-reliance and preparedness (i.e. food storage).  It is something I see as very important and if the prophets have counseled for us to work on these things it must be imperative.  I give all my thanks and knowledge of gardening to Brother Tew and his family.  They have the gardening thing down pack and really helped me to know what to do to get started.  I hope that at least half of what I harvest I will be able to can.  When I was all done I knelt by my little plot and said a prayer that it would yelled up the veggies that would help Chris and I with not only just having food but to help out our foot storage.  

I'm keep you updated on how it goes.  I have another frame that I need to make and I'll be digging again this week.  I hope I don't find anymore cinder blocks though!