Keep on Digging!

I should have taken pictures. Yesterday we sort of "fell" into a major project that has needed to be done for about 15 years (how long we have lived in our home). It all began when I had a wild hair to pull some weeds in front of our house. The forecast for the weekend was rain, rain, and more rain. Randy usually sprays for weeds, but for that to be effective, it can't rain for 24 hours after spraying. There was a tall, ugly patch of weeds right in front of our house. This is an area that is in desperate need of a landscaping make over. I began pulling weeds there and one thing led to another. What started out as a small project, turned into an all day activity. Randy ended up climbing on the skid loader and hauling multiple loads of dirt into this area. Since the kids were with us, and their Dad promised them some evening fishing, we doubled duties and looked for worms and grubs for bait. Each load of dirt Randy brought was like an adventure in science. With garden shovels, the kids dug and dug in the dirt looking for bait. As they dug and Randy hauled dirt, I separated unwanted materials out of the soil (roots, bark, sticks) and spread the dirt in the project area. We worked all day on this. The fill was scavenged from other areas of our farm and was rich and black. The final step after leveling was to spread straw over the area to prevent erosion if it rained. The kids had a blast. Each new discovery in the dirt brought exclamations of excitement. The kids learned about grubs, centipedes, regeneration, erosion and earthworm's usefulness to the earth. I learned that I am too old and out of shape to be doing that kind of labor all day. Randy learned that his "crew" was less than skilled at this type of work. All in all, it was a great, dirty day. The only sad note was the fishing did not go so well. In spite of the "fresh" bait, no fish were caught from the pond. It is a day I am sure the kids will remember for a long time. I only wish I had taken the time to get some pictures! I will photograph the end result when it is done.