Digging In to 2021

The new year opened with a fair bit of rain and wind, but also with some windows of opportunity to work outside between stormy stretches. Not good enough weather to be working with panels of polycarbonate, but perfectly suited for doing some groundwork.

I’d previously covered the turf within the hoophouse footprint with cardboard to help break it down, and that has mostly worked. But as it had never been planted in, and is fairly rocky, and is going to take a little work to get it ready for all the things I hope to grow there!

So first I had to dig out and haul off some of the gravely-ness.

Then I harvested a bunch of our compost to add to the mix

I felt a little bad disturbing the worms from deep within the compost pile, but really need their help getting the hoophouse soil in shape, so once I spread the compost out in its new location, I tucked them in with a layer of cardboard.

Looking at he structure from the south

The soil just to the right of the long slab is feeling pretty good, as I dug in a thick layer of aged chicken poop back in August, but I’ve still got about a third of the area to dig and amend. And I want to do that before we get the plastic on, so it can get thoroughly rained in.

Just ordered our garden seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, so the thought of all that good stuff growing in our garden this year is keeping me motivated.

I also kicked off the year with a bit of feelgood spinning- soft and squishy Esther heavy worsted two-ply

This time of year Esther is always a little grungey-looking, as she seems to pick up more mud and crud in her fleece than the rest of the gang, but she cleans up marvelously well, don’t you think?

I should go and give her some butt scritches (her very favorite thing) and tell her what a pretty girl she is. 🙂