Saturday, August 8, 2020

Lucky Me!

Ever since my parents helped me plant my first vegetable garden almost thirty years ago, I've felt drawn to gardening.  I love planting things and watching them grow and change with the seasons.


Recently, when I was admiring a neighbor's professional nursery in her backyard, she offered to teach me how to start a small nursery of my own.  I liked the idea of earning a little income doing something I already love, so I leveled a portion of our back yard.  Then Phillip and Joy built a couple raised beds . . .


. . . and the hammer crew . . .


. . . helped pound landscape spikes through washers to hold the weed mat in place.


Anna and Joy helped me mix course sand with compost, then haul it out back . . .


. . . to fill our new beds today.  It all seems pretty simple, but it actually took a lot of time and effort to prep the site, buy the supplies, and do all the work.  Filling those beds today felt like a huge achievement, even though I won't actually plant anything in them until next week!


As I stood back admiring those filled beds, it occurred to me that we reached this major milestone on 8/8.  My dad once told me that in Chinese culture, 8 is considered very lucky because it rhymes with the Mandarin word for "good fortune."  I feel fortunate indeed that I finally achieved this goal after lots of hard work and help from my family.

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