Busy, Busy, Busy

Well it has been really busy around here lately. I truly lucked out in the compost department, but that luck has cost me a lot of time and energy. I was at the feed farm and ran into a guy that was trying to get rid of his horse manure pile. Said he had run several ads in the paper and nobody wanted to come get it. I told him I would come and get it. I got over there and saw the pile, absolutely huge. He asked how much I wanted and I told him I would take it all. He said if I would take it all then he would get it to me. He has been bringing me a 20 ft. flatbed trailer load every single day for the past couple weeks. Each day I unload this gorgeous compost. He started with the oldest part of the pile first and that is going straight into the garden. When we get to the newer stuff then we will pile it up in one of the pastures to finish and then spread it on that pasture. I will keep this man in veggies this year, but since nothing is planted right now he has been delighted with fresh eggs and homemade bread. Believe me I have gotten my workout. I have lost 3 pounds, gotten countless headaches and my muscles hurt beyond belief. It would help if the tractor were running properly and didn't have all sorts of problems. Today I need to go and get new tires for the front. We have been nursing along on the tires we had and they finally just gave up the ghost. I hate to spend the money right now, especially since this is our no buy month. However, I have got to have that tractor for this compost. There are several tons of the stuff and I simply cannot unload it everyday with a wheelbarrow. The pastures are too wet to get the trailer into so it has to be unloaded and taken to where it needs to be. In fact, the garden is so wet in some places that I can't even get the tractor in those areas. I get as close as I can and then still have to work with the wheelbarrow. Uggh! and there is more rain supposed to come today and tomorrow. The pond is so full that it is overflowing each time we get more rain which is making that part of the wet garden even wetter. All this rain really has me worried about my spring crops that I will be planting soon. I think I am gonna have to redo my planning to put spring on the side of the garden that doesn't get so wet and wait for the summer garden to go in the wettest areas. I certainly don't want to get the planting done and then have everything drown because of too much water. It certainly is crazy after so many years of drought conditions to be worrying about too much water. It seems as if we have gone from one extreme to the other. The weather sure has been nice though, more like early spring weather than late winter weather. Makes it pleasant to be outside. It will be nice to hang clothes outside again and get rid of this clothesline in the house. By the end of winter I get tired of seeing clothes hanging in the house. I am finishing up getting the seeds started so I should be planting in a few more weeks! Yippee! I really look forward to gardening season again and being outside more in nice weather. We'll just have to see what this year brings. Have a great day and God bless.