Digger.

I've forgotten to mention that this is Whats Growing's 4th or 5th home in as many years, but we really like this one. Some day there will be a bunch of pictures from this and previous ones. The new homestead was incredibly overgrown when we first arrived. The whole summer has been spent weeding and just trying to take stock of what is here.

This past weekend, a long one, we finally got rid of the enormous pile of yard waste that has been, well, piling up. I used my extra-special method of chopping it up with an old electric lawn mower--for which L thinks I'm crazy. But at the end of it, just before heading to a last-minute labor day bbq, I had a 2 inch layer of mulch covering fully half of the yard.

The other half has a large trench, where I've been burying what I suppose the previous folks thought was a compost pile. Things uncovered include:

• Whole zucchini squashes
  
• Restaurant crackers in their plastic envelopes
  
• (plastic) Grocery bags full of hamburger buns
  
• A huge amount of eggshells
  
• Charcoal ash
  

Well, now I have a 3 foot burial mound started. I've also started digging out a dead shrub that is right up against the garage, and am trying to re-grade the area behind it. Soil has built up against the bottom course of siding and started to rot it away. So, I'm moving it. Slow and steady wins the race.

Two days till vacation. I'm not sure what I'm more looking forward to: the new landscapes I'm anticipating, or the fishing. Judging from the folks that I've told about my itinerary, this is an epic fishing trip. But the road trip is appealing as well. I'll try post details before leaving.