Hard work.....

No matter how you feel about the American Pioneers, you have to admit that if nothing else they were hard workers. Out here where I live, which is essentially on the praries of the Mid-West (near the Mississippi River), although modern farming has turned the prarie into miles of crop land, I can still appreciate what the pioneers must have gone through. Let me explain...

As you all know, I have been working on a garden, and chickens. And I must say, it is a rather large garden, but hey, if you're gonna do something, do it big. Anyway, the dirt here in the mid-west is good black dirt. Its the kind of dirt that is rich, holds moisture, and generally good for farming. But it has one drawback....when the top layer dries, it becomes hard as a rock. I mean that literally. It forms a top crust that yes, holds in the moisture, but also makes it impossible for sprouts to penetrate. Now, I was given an interesting contraption....and although at the moment I don't have any pictures (more on that later) I'll do my best to describe it to you.

It consists of a wooden T handle, and at the bottom are 4 tines for digging into the dirt....in front of those tines is a roller with teeth, and a sort of 'beater bar'. So here is how it works...as you push it across the dirt, the roller grabs dirt clods and crushes them to dust ( or smaller pieces) against the beater bar (all of this is metal). Or, you can flip the handle to the other side, and the roller will break the dirt, and the tines with 'plow'. When I get pictures of it, you'll understand, until then, just go with it. Anyway, its operated by human power..no gas, no electricity, etc. It only works as well as you do. And after getting the hang of this thing, you can actually dictate how deep it goes, or how much of the crust to break up. Quite a handy device if you ask me.

So lets move on with this new hand tiller, and I'll tell you about hard work.

I started out on Friday putting my dog's old whelping bed back together in order to move the baby chicks out of the house. Lord were they stinking up the place!! So my ohsosmart DH gave me the idea. I took the plywood off the frame of the floor, filled in the spaces with straw, then covered it with chicken wire. In retrospect, I did it backwards, as I put the sides on then tried to attach the wire on the inside...DUH, put the wire on first, then attach the sides. *rolling my eyes at that stupid move* So after fighting with the stapler, the wire, the dogs who felt they had to give their input (Ben whispering in my ear, knowing that it makes me laugh) I finally got it done. Got the babies moved out, fed and watered, and moved on to the next project.


I decided to put plastic netting around my garden to keep the rabbits out. Most of us know that you don't need a 4 foot fence for this, just something lightweight and low. So I had this netting laying around, and was able to attach it to an existing fence with wire ties, and then cut it lengthwise so I had twice as much. I was able to wrap my entire garden (minus 5 feet, dammit) with this mesh. Its thin and light, and I was able to temporarily attach it to the steel rods that my bro-in-law had set out on the pasture side in prep for the electric fence. This 'hot wire' was put in place hastily to keep the cows/calves out of the garden. However, he failed to hook it up and make it hot, so it was just a wire stretched between rods. ANYWAY.....I had the mesh pulled tight, and wiretied to the posts and fence...spent half a day working hard on it...the first part on the baby chicks' new digs....

So Friday comes to a close, and I sit down to hands that are raw. After working with the wire, mesh, dirt, etc, my hands feel like I spent the day wadding up balls of sandpaper. They are sore, raw, and dry...full of cuts, scrapes and splinters from the wood. I couldn't hardly type a thing on the computer. And my body? HA It was worn out too. I finally made it to my hot tub for a good soak, and although I didn't go under, I did fall asleep in it! I really need to be more careful.

Saturday morning is a new day....I had planned to work in the garden. After morning chores, and breakfast, I went outside and what has happened???? The damn calves have tromped through my garden...tore down the wire, the mesh I worked so hard to put up, and it appeared that they had a freakin barn dance with all the footprints. I was PISSED. So I call the DH, and he isn't happy, either. Anyway, I call the BIL to tell him to fix the wire, and PLEASE make it HOT!! I get blown off, as usual, because I am not important enough to worry about. So....I load up some steel rods into the car and head over to my MIL's to cut them in half in order to fix my mesh. And who is there but my MIL and she just happens to ask about my garden. When I told her about the calves, she was none to happy. Lets just say that within 2 hours, the wire was fixed and HOT...LMAO.

In the meantime, I took my handydandy tiller out and was working the dirt. Its great for going inbetween rows, as its only about 12 inches wide. So it gets the weeds and clumps all broke up. And let me tell you, that is better than any structured workout I've done! I worked muscles I didn't know I had, and of course it reaked havoc on my hands. I was busting up clods, and then going back to through the big chunks of grass out. So between pushing the tiller, bending and throwing, not to mention duck-walking around...WHEW!! Did I tell you my hands are trashed? LOL...muscle bruises on my palms from the handle on the tiller (pushing) raw from the dirt and the wire the day before, dirt in my cuts, fingernails are now non-existant. And after all of that, I hand hoed 2 more rows for beans and peas. Got it all planted and watered by 1800.

I came in afterwards, ate some tuna with crackers, then layed down on the couch to wach NASCAR....HA! I didn't make it 10 laps and was sound asleep. I woke to the phone ringing at 2025 and it was the DH telling me to go to bed!! We talked for a bit while I made the coffee for in the morning, and I was back in bed by 2045..SOUND ASLEEP. Didn't wake back up til 0710 today!! I am still tired, but I have another long day ahead with it being Mother's Day and all.

So my whole point was to share with you all about my new appreciation for the hard work of the pioneers. They didn't have the hand tillers...they had hoes. They worked acres of ground with a horse and plow, and their smaller gardens by hand. They had to rely on Mother Nature for the rain to make the grown soft enough to work. They were tough. They went to bed early, got up early, and worked their asses off. I can only imagine through my small taste of this work how it must have been for them. They were some tough cookies, that is for sure.