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Earth Gym Day Two
Don’t worry, I don’t plan on updating you on my garden every day but I did feel like sharing what it looks like now that I’ve pulled out all the grass. Too bad it doesn’t look like much because it was a LOT of work! Phew!
Today I didn’t work in the garden. That was yesterday. Today I worked out at Mom’s Junk Gym, meaning I helped my mom clear out some of her old boxes that she’d been keeping hidden behind some metal closets in my carport. It was a lot of work and dusty too but now I have a whole four more feet in my carport which is like having a whole other room! AND! My mom bought some old wicker furniture that she’s going to move to her other house one of these days but in the meantime I get to have them on my carport! They look so cool. If I screw up my eyes really tight I can almost conjure up a veranda and a long winding driveway and maybe even some Spanish moss hanging from the trees. Just kidding. It is pretty cool though. I’ll take pictures tomorrow when it’s light. Right now it’s dark.
In other news, I’m donating some play date cards over at Tiny Oranges to help raise money for Pediatric Cancer Research. One-hundred percent of the profits go to Team Tiny Oranges (a team I will be on when I run the race on May 1st! Woo Hoo! Go me! I even have a tiny orange tank top to wear.) So you read that right. I will be donating my labor for FREE. Make me work! There are a bazillion of them to choose from. Okay, maybe not a bazillion but 26 at least! The pirate ones are my favorite.
On a serious note, this is something I couldn’t not give to. It really is true that you are more inclined to give money to those you can identify with and since I have a five-year-old daughter myself, I couldn’t read the story about Maddie without tearing up. This is close to my heart. Maybe you understand. We live in hard times. Do me a favor and consider buying some play date cards. They’re only $35 and all of the profits go to Pediatric Cancer Research. All of it!
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Working out at Earth Gym
Here I’ve been complaining about how much I miss my old beach town and how I used to walk all over the place to burn calories and I’ve got my very own gym to work out in right in my back yard! I’m so dense sometimes. All I needed to do was pick up a shovel and hack at the ground for a few hours and I got the best workout I’ve had in years! My arms hurt, my legs hurt and I went to bed with that tired-muscle feeling that lets you relax into your pillow like butter melting on a hot summer day. There is nothing better than a good hard tired. And I didn’t even have to pay an astronomical gym membership fee to get it!
Really, I should be paying my mom for this workout. It’s all her fault. She keeps buying plants for me even though I protest over the money she’s spending. She sets them right in plain view of my desk and as soon as I clock out for the day from my freelance projects I can’t wait to hit the backyard and plant them. It’s the best incentive ever because I can’t just let them sit there in their packages wilting. They must be planted! Nothing gets me bothered more than a poor sad plant dying because it needs some water and some soil to rest in. So thank you, Mom. Do you know how much money you could be making as a personal trainer?!!
Seriously though, not only is a workout at Earth Gym good for the body, it’s good for the soul. My mom and I probably spent four hours together planning and digging and daydreaming about what our garden will look like come summer. I’m so excited. It’s the best mood lifter ever.
We had wanted to put in raised garden beds but we just couldn’t figure out a way to make them inexpensively. I’m not very good with a hammer and nails and lumber costs a fortune. So in the end we just figured we’d spend more time weeding and do it old-school style in the ground. I mean, really, we have all this dirt to work with, it was a shame not to plant in it. So what if we can’t afford fancy garden boxes? What we’re short on in money, we make up for with time!
At first I was intimidated by the rock-hard dirt and the foxtail infested grass that grows so rampantly out here but after hosing it for an hour it finally gave way to my willpower. I just imagined I was on a elliptical machine and somebody had pushed the “hill mode” button to challenge me. You think you got the best of me, rock-hard dirt? Have some hose water and eat my sweat!
It doesn’t look like much so far but I think if I keep putting in regular workouts every other day, it will probably be the best-looking garden around. Who knows, maybe I’ll have to charge admission and start taking on other customers who want to get a good work out.
Of course I’m the one who will be paying the water bill this summer so I might be paying for this workout in the end but I will be eating fresh fruit and vegetables knowing where they come from and that they have not been treated with chemicals, so there’s that. Not to mention the hours and hours of child care this backyard has provided. That’s a huge savings.
Bug and the neighborhood kids had a blast digging “moats” around the tomato plant “castles.” Shoot, I had a blast too! I love playing with mud and water! It takes me back to my childhood years when my brother and I used to spend whole summer days making rivers and dams and massive cities in the runoff water in the ditch in front of our house. There is nothing more fun than water management.
And then to celebrate a long hot workout, we sprayed water in the air and got everybody wet. It was like champagne without the calories.
I kinda like this healthy Garden Girl look on me, I think I’ll be back at Earth Gym tomorrow!
