Freja vs. Gaia

Since we moved into our house 5 years ago, Rick has toiled, watered, seeded and fretted over working toward a livable lawn. And by golly, we think he has finally succeeded. However, there was one patch of grass that just wouldn't take and the whole stretch was nothing but scraggly weeds. If you look above, the grey is our driveway, and immediately behind the tomato pot is our garage. The backside of the two gardens is the fence between us and our neighbor.

That patch of sadness is the first thing you see when you walk out our back door, so we finally gave up on the parched piece of earth ever being lush lawn. Behold! Our big plans for a small patch of veggies. Seeds have been started and as you can see, plans have been made! Right now the only thing that is done is that the rocks have been placed, dirt and manure raked in, and pretty red mulch has been laid. Even if our farming efforts are a complete flop, the raised rock beds are so much prettier than the ugly crab grass that was there before.

On the opposite side of the driveway, my herb garden flanks our back porch so I am very excited to see what our bounty brings this summer. I have high hope for pickles, but I'm kind of dubious of what our harvest will yield. Call me a pessimist, but I've been spanked by Mother Nature before when it comes to my gardening endeavors. Let us hope that this is the year she decides to laugh and give me more zucchini than I'll know what to do with it.

I very much enjoy the feel of the warm earth in my hands, and I love to bask in the sun while weeding. Ava flitting around or blowing bubbles behind me. Rick patiently watering every in of our property. This is the summer that I live for and finally it has come around again! As all of our seeds pop their little green heads out of the dirt, all three of us smile giddily with a glint of greed in our eyes. I'm not sure who will be the bigger garden pest this year, the vermin or the nibblers of a human variety. Either way, we're pretty excited.