May Showers

Just an update on the last post--we had to drain the dog's ear one last time, but now it has completely healed!  Thank goodness for that. I hate spending lots of money on animals, but my heart can't bear to see them anything less than healthy. 

In the meantime, we found out that our master shower is leaking-again. This means we will have to tear it out and have to replace the whole thing.  Cha-ching.  That's okay. I didn't need any of the scant amounts of money I've managed to save so far, right?  Geesh...

As far as the garden goes, we've been getting rained out quite a bit.  We braved the elements (okay, it was as strong breeze with a few raindrops) in order to plant a few more plants this week.  I've been pretty good about getting pictures every week, but this week I was in a hurry to be done before it really started to rain that I didn't get any.  Just imagine me planting potatoes and we're good to go.  I will share a few pics from the last couple of weeks, though.  Here's a picture of our blank slate. The garden is divided into two halves, and the rows are about 50 feet long. That's 50 feet to the first white irrigation pipe, and another 50 to the second.  The trees on the left and the right are fruit trees.

We've been working pretty hard at getting the kids to work in the garden.  My boys probably won't spend much time in the garden this year because of schedules, and SE will be at work most of the time as well, so it's just me. The other families with children have been encouraging (okay, maybe forcing is a better word) the kids to help with the tasks.  In the past, they have had crafts  and games and been allowed to run loose, but this year we are shorthanded and we all very strongly feel that it's good for them to learn how to garden.  They have responded quite positively and have been pretty great about helping out. 

Here's a picture of three kids and one of the moms planting tomatoes:

Here's the garden master and his apprentice, my brother (he is on the left).

My sister-in-law and I building up the rows. We did most of the rows, and my abs and lower back complained about that for a couple of days after.  I bet my SIL wasn't even stiff. She's tough as nails.

Two of the kids planting tomatoes:

I may leave something off the list, but here's what I can remember that we've planted so far:

strawberries (filling in the bits that didn't make it last year)
raspberries
tomatoes
onions
shallots
potatoes
peppers

Here's hoping for a bountiful harvest!