The Best Kind of Tired

The past few days, I have woken up with sore hands. Not sore as in "my hands hurt" but sore as in "these hands have been working hard". It is a good kind of sore. I've been diggin' and weedin' and pullin' out weeds and rocks. Lots of weeds. Lots of rocks.

Yesterday a friend offered to help. She and her husband brought over their large tiller to help speed the process of making a bed for potatoes. I am not much for tilling. I suspect it does more damage than good. but when someone offers to help in the garden, I say yes even if it includes machine tilling. The funny thing is, even this large, powerful machine couldn't get through the clumps of black knotweed. It bucked and jumped and ran away. In the end, we did by hand. This experience confirmed for me that, with gardening, it is almost always just as easy, if not easier, to do things by hand than with a machine.


From the height of our porch, it all looks so tiny but it looms large in my mind. For the first time, it feels like I might actually have a real garden that will carry over from year to year. It is a nice feeling. And check out those rocks! Our collection just from yesterday. My, my.


The fog rolled in, bringing cold rain. Temperatures are still well below 70F/20C. Well below. I am hoping they will climb just a bit for the weekend workshop.


Yes, it is happening and happening soon! I am prepping some materials, including these alder twigs. Unfortunately, the timing isn't great for collecting dye stuff from around the yard. I really want to have something that is 100% local, so I am soaking these twigs for a week in hopes that they will ooze out enough colour. Of course, I have other materials but there is something pretty amazing and magical about picking some plants in your yard and making colour with them. C'mon alders! Do your thing!