Muscle Bound - Part 2

I am rather a philistine when it comes to gardening.  Having had no time or inclination to learn other than watching the occasional BBC’s “Beechgrove Garden” when nothing else was on TV, I generally bought pre-planted hanging baskets in my previous sedentary life.

When Jill, Richard’s cousin Mark’s wife, with whom we were staying (see previous blog here), asked me to plant up four baskets, to hang outside the felting studio, tremors of trepidation ran through me.  I wanted to show willing, but was afraid to reveal my ignorance.  I thought I was onto a reprieve when she told me that she still needed to get the old liners from last year replaced, as the coco-nut fiber lining only really works for one season.

Coco-nut fibers?  Liners?  I thought I might slink away into their cottage and read a book; change my mind about offering my services.  But no, the naive, creative part of me suggested that her felt off-cuts (which I had spied when I was helping her pack up some orders the previous day), might serve as an alternative liner.  When Jill’s face lit up, I knew there was no escape.

However, I was rather proud of the relining job Jill started and I finished, and a few days later, when the petunias that I had planted started to appear over the top of the baskets,

I wondered if my stiff old thumbs might just have a tinge of green to them.

Once I had finished the baskets, I was emboldened enough to join Jill as she was planting beans in one of her vegetable beds.  The WOOFers (voluntary organic farm workers) were weeding in the hitherto unclaimed part of the vegetable garden on the opposite side of the road from the house and felting studio.  This had only just become available for cultivation because of the new extended high fencing erected to stop the deer from eating any tender shoots or produce.  In fact, the whole property is a haven for deer, geese, turkey and other local wild critters.  They come to drink from the ponds that are fed by the natural spring that bubbles up from the earth and tumbles down past the house and through the garden - all of which sounds wonderful in a back-to-nature kind of way, but wreaks havoc when trying to grow a flower or vegetable garden.  Hence, Jill has resigned herself to raising flower beds under netting. Poppies and peony roses seem to be the only blooms that deer will ignore, so there is an abundance of these in the stone terraces which snake their way down the tree covered hill behind their house.  The profuse amounts of stone lying around the property had led to Jill creating all kinds of decorative walls during the unusually cold spring months waiting for the soil to warm up ready for planting.

Well, I was assured the peonies were there, but weeds covered the landscape and the WOOfer’s were soon put to work digging them out of both the vegetable and regular garden.  Sam and Laura alternated that rather boring job with grass mowing; weed-wacking; cleaning out the weeds and bull rushes that were choking the stream; strengthening the sides of the newly cleaned stream with rocks; digging up a long ditch to lay an irrigation pipe, and generally helping out as and when requested. They deserve the utmost respect for their unceasing hard work, and I very much enjoyed their company.

Sam

Laura

Of course, my weakling arms were far too delicate to attempt any such strenuous activity, but I did think I was capable of helping Jill move the stone borders of her vegetable beds so she could access them from all sides.  She asked me what I thought about the possible layout of further vegetable beds. Of course, creative me was challenged again, and I laid out a map in my mind as to where the eight by four planks of wood Jill thought she would use as a more speedy alternative bed border, might reside.

Very clever, is Jill.  Before I knew it, I was weeding, digging, shoveling and mixing Alpaca poop (freshly delivered from the local alpaca farm), and within 8 long working days I had built 7 new vegetable beds, and walled off a section of fruit bushes.  I don’t know where this new found energy came from but I was happy as hell to see the results of my work.

Before...

Almost finished last bed

Who's a clever madam, then?

Of course, Richard was also busy.  He worked on decking around the hot tub, helped fell a branch off a willow tree that had split under the weight of a recent snow storm, added new fascia onto the felting studio, stained posts, painted a shower room, cleared ground, and used his muscles to move alpaca poop, dirt and stones as and where required.

shoveling shit - luckily Alpaca poop doesn't smell

Tree Huggers Club

It wasn’t all work though.  We all enjoyed relaxing in the hot tub and eased our aching bodies every evening before tucking into Jill’s delicious cooking. Some took the opportunity more than others...

We went white water rafting on the Arkansas River.  And whoever would have thought I would have the nerve to do that!  Richard was certain that I would wimp out after seeing how the melting snows had raised the level of the river, and I had to sign a waiver in case of injury and death.  But I was determined to carry on, even after the raft guide told us what to do if we fell out of the raft into the freezing class 4 rapids (class 5 being the largest).  Sam and Laura sat in front, then Richard and I, and Jill and Mark behind.  We paddled as a team and after hitting the first monster waves and realizing my feet were solidly wedged in and I was NOT going to fall out, I had the time of my life.

We also went to visit the highest sand dunes in North America in the Great Sand Dunes National Park – what an unforgettable image to see the sand dunes dwarfed by snow covered peaks.

It was a windy day and we ran the gauntlet of being caught by rain storms all afternoon, but still managed to take some lovely photos.

I am happy to say that the weather was kind to us the rest of the time we were at Mark and Jill’s.  Short thunder storms afforded a cooling break during a few afternoons, when temperatures had climbed into the 80’s (26 C), and Jill was forced away from planting seeds, to give me and Laura a felting lesson. http://www.outbackfibers.com/  We created our own scarves over a couple of days, and the results were amazing.  You can see Laura was the creative one this time!

Laura's scarf

So it has been an eventful fortnight.  And I didn't even have time to mention the black widow spiders, the snakes and the gopher traps...

Richard and I move on to Denver tomorrow, and it feels strange to leave behind a place we have helped to transform.  But what a feeling of satisfaction runs through me.  I have experienced a little of what homesteaders go through each year – the transformation of land, being challenged by the elements and everyday problems of self sufficiency, and being able to go to sleep knowing that your daily work will pay dividends.  And what a deep and restful sleep you get!

Oh, and I nearly forgot…

You can forget Popeye's spinach!  Gardening gives you muscles!