This was a big day. I had to figure out which way to put my row and decided in the same direction as the garden in the little fenced area. This would give the most sun exposure for the winter which would be doing a small arc in the southern direction. In the summer, the sun would be directly overhead. Living in the gulch means that the mountains on both sides will block the sun and it will come up later and go down sooner than it did for me in Fallbrook, CA. The first thing I needed to do was to use my tractor to level the row since it was still going downhill towards the east.
Bear in mind that I didn’t have any training on how to level a row or a garden plot for that matter. I was just trying to figure it out and use the best tool I had for the job which was my John Deere tractor. If I was still married, my husband would be the one to do it. But, really, why should the guys be the only ones to have all the fun?
In the following video, as I was digging deeper with the tractor, I came across a mouse hole and the mouse died instantly from a head injury. I love all of God’s creatures and don’t like having any casualties from preparing my garden.
In the next video, I share about the plan for the hugelkultur bed and how it is made by digging a trench, putting in logs, then branches and twigs, leaves, and then compost, manure or green matter like grass followed by dirt to cover it all. I have never made one before, so this is all a learning process for me. I know it will be a lot of work, but I am up to the challenge. I have considered the ant and I realize that the ant accomplishes many things with one little step at a time.
I thought you might like to see how I was digging the trench from the front view. It is such a blessing to do all this work with a tractor. I can’t imagine how long this would have taken to do by hand with just a shovel and a pick ax to dig up the rocks.
As I continued doing the trench, I came across two more mice and I will tell about it under the wildlife section of my blog. The next video shows the work I did sawing up some large fallen trees that fell during last winter’s heavy snow. It was an exhausting day and I had to stop to keep from over-working. If you appreciate my blog. Please go to the homepage and click Subscribe so you can be notified of new posts.