So... there's some stuff I can't talk about getting ready to go down. Maybe next time.
But I can talk about this...
We put in the garden - actually we put in about one and a half times the amount of garden we normally put in - in roughly the same amount of time. Having Anna around helps a lot, she's really good at garden work. Jack was almost tempted to put in twice the amount, but if we didn't eat the overstock he wasn't sure if he could trade enough of it without spoilage. We are going to try to get a second crop though. That was big last year. We've also started laying in the foundation for the expansion of the barn, and Jack and I started talking about the greenhouse I want to build more seriously.
We decided we'd add it on to the barn, which means I really need to get the glass thing figured out fast. The original barn was built with concrete footings and while we could get some of that from Bottineau, Jack decided to try using locally sourced stone - its hard labor, but it should work. We're digging slit trenches down about four feet, then drilling another foot below that with a post hole digger. Then we'll put in the posts we're going to use as our wall supports, fill the trenches with three to three and a half feet of stone, then backfill the rest with dirt. We've got one wall segment done and the posts are really sturdy... but its really hard work. We've also had to pack more dirt down then I expected as it settled. Thats made things even more sturdy, I think. Still... work like that is going to take us most of the season.
Tomorrow we're going to take one of the horses over to the Odegaards and get them started plowing the field. The garden tractor we've got could do it, but we don't have enough gas that either group is willing to burn, and we do have a horse and the proper plow. Neither of those boys has ever done it though, so Jack is going to have to give them some 'dual'. I still don't really understand that use of the term.... hrm. I suppose that'll mean more reading for me.
I was going to go with and learn some myself, but Anna asked if she could go - and Jack doesn't like leaving the Farm unattended since the bandit incident so I'm elected to do the daily chores alone and keep watch.
Thats ok, though - I've been looking forward to a little alone time.
