community garden update

yesterday was a wildly productive day. i woke up at the crack of dawn and couldnt get back to sleep so i just headed to the kitchen and started baking some cinnamon rolls. i mean that seems reasonable right? i am getting much better about being patient and letting dough rise ill add. so the family ate breffis and i headed out to do some gardening. first stop, Oakland Nursery. the trip was two-fold. first i really just love going there and browsing even if i dont buy anything - it's an addiction! most importantly i wanted to talk to them about contact info for local soil testing facilities because we need to get on that chop chop for the community garden plot. while getting that i noticed that flats of strawberries were on sale so i bought like 16 more plants - another addiction though no one complains :) by the time i got to the garden austin was already out there weeding and i barely had time to get the plants in the ground and weed one measly area before i had to head back to the house. i need to nail down a routine - im thinking if austin and i can each put in 4 hours a week in weeding the garden will be manageable. that and daily watering, but that is more on him since that garden is at their house.

came home and took a quick (cold!) shower and as a family we headed to studio 35. they have a summer series of children's movies running and the day's movie was horton hears a who. good times.

while the kids napped david worked on replacing the water pump in our car (saved us $300 by doing it himself!) and i planted some irises, watered the plants at our house and cleaned because some friends were coming over (aka the community garden planning committee). we headed out to the land together and walked around it, met some of the neighbors, brainstormed for a few hours, sketched, made lists. it was really exciting to generate a plan like that. the plot is 9,000 sq/ft and i think we're going to more of a farm model than a garden one - where long rows are planted with a healing ground cover (alfalfa? clover?) is grown in between then the following season the paths become the rows and rows become the paths. it's a more sustainable model of growing and i know jared is particularly into giving that a crack - i surely have no objections. there is a lot to do and a lot of ongoing needs - networking with neighbors (hi can i hook up a rain barrel to your house, use your mower, and use an extension cord?) and of course generating interest, gathering a lengthy list of supplies (clean soil & compost, bricks, picnic tables, rain barrel equipment, and so on), organizing fundraisers, events and volunteers from our core group. so you know, easy stuff (guff gaw). the next step is to commit to one of the two designs we came up with and submit it to the city.

also today i get to step down on the steroids im on. the hives are totally gone by ive got to keep taking them. they make my head and neck so tense, and my heart races. it's driving me nuts. just three more days and im done though.