Today on J.'s lunch hour we came out to the field to consider the garlic and ... something else not quite gelled yet... bed that he created yesterday afternoon - one pitchfork at a time. HA!! I have convinced the usually-has-a-better-idea sorta virgo man in my life that pitchforking rocks everything else if you're truly serious about healthy soil. He said he saw worms everywhere as he was working. We stood and considered his accomplishment in silence for awhile. Silent - or nearly so - brains as well. Studying soil we played an active part in creating.
We looked around without speaking much and eventually mulched the new bed with a generous layer of straw. Yesterday while Jim made that bed I eradicated all the sumac trees that have begun to block light on the garden's eastern edge. Marked places where the sumac runners should be pulled ASAP and also pulled as many as far and wide as I could. Usually I do that for three hours and then do nothing for another two days. But I did that for about two hours and then pulled up/cut down dead remnants of last years garden. I needed to do that in order to mentally divide it into a nine patch grid. That will make it easier to keep track of what needs doing - where and when.
Everything in the natural landscape feels vibrant and fully perked to keep the waking process going. In the image above the garden bench has been moved farther from the bed. There will be a strip of grass path there into the original square growing space. In my head I see the whole thing dug, tilled and dug, mulched and replanted. In my heart it blooms to sustain us.
Later in the afternoon J. wheeled around a corner of our house quite suddenly when/where I didn't expect him but that's how he rolls so I've learned to do the same. He told me to stay away from the news if I was already upset and so of course I asked why and he told me and then I needed another vigorous eradication sort of project in search of calm or at least some clear space.
I have plans for the space beneath the Japanese Dogwood that's part of the original landscaping and her two self-sown daughters. I also have plans to get as much of this small corner of pachysandra outta here before everything's too grown around the plant to get to it effectively. The soil here is SUPER rich and perfect for my intended purpose.
[thought I posted this last night. today it's snowing but very lightly. Was expected...]