A Good Day

Dirt under my fingernails and compost in my hair--it has been a good day.

The weather guessers were just a little off this time; instead of rain today, it came during the night. When I woke, it was sunny & warm out. After a delicious breakfast of bacon & onion pizza w/5 cheeses, I headed out to my vegetable garden to try to erase some of the evidence of neglect.

The b/f claims I have a garden just so I have an excuse to play in the dirt, and I can't say that he is entirely wrong. When I started gardening here, the soil was just horrible. Hard hard clay and, I swear, absolutely no earthworms. I started composting, and I went to the bait shop and bought some worms. The worms were added to the compost, and the compost was gradually added to the garden, and now I have lots of lovely black garden soil teeming with earthworms. I enjoy plunging my hands down into the soil and admiring the tilth (this helps to explain the dirt under the fingernails thing). I'm pleased as punch when a worm slithers through my fingers. It is such a beautiful change from what I started with. I can only describe my emotion as joy, knowing that this little piece of the planet is in better shape because of my efforts.

Yes, I plant stuff in my garden. I enjoy watching that stuff grow, knowing that it is nourished by all that lovely compost I have been making all year long. If I get anything edible out of the garden, that is a bonus. The biggest joy, for me, was playing with the lovely dirt that I planted the stuff in.