Finished!

I finally finished the front strip by the street today! It took another 3 bags of manure and 3 bags of shredded redwood, and a little bit of time to hoe out the grass and weeds that were starting to grow - I just skimmed the hoe over the seedlings to kill them down and dislodge them from the ground. They'll decompose under the compost and feed the worms.

Women's Work Day - there are 3 women in my group. Each month, we trade our slave labor to one of the other women. We all go to her house and pull off whatever project it is that needs to be done. This may be painting, building, sanding, gardening, moving, weeding, pruning - pretty much anything goes. At my house, we've built lawn chairs, weeded, pruned, cleaned out the summer garden in the fall, planted summer gardens in the spring, and moved a lot of heavy lava rocks out of that front strip that is now full of manure and shredded redwood.

Yesterday I went to Janet's for Women's Work Day and we completed her front courtyard. She'd had her landscapers come in and move all of her plants to the left so they could tile the right. Then they moved all the plants to the right so they could tile the left. Now that the tile is completed and sealed, and the landscapers gone, it was time to move the plants all back and organize them in a visually pleasing fashion. Printing before pictures of the courtyard, so we can refer to where everything was, we had to clean out the many weeks of leaves and debris that had collected in the pots. Then we had to dolly the heavy pieces, move them, place them, and put ceramic pot feets under them. A few times we made progress and then decided some pots needed to be exchanged for other so transplanting was in order. By the end of the day, all of the pots were cleaned of leaves, all of the big pots were moved and situated in their old permanent homes, and there were only 10-15 small pots still in the middle of the courtyard that needed placement at later date. It was a big relief for Janet to have her courtyard back to it's old organized self, and we got treated to a fabulous homemade lunch of smoked salmon, salad and a special mushroom dish. I'm blessed to have these friends that I enjoy spending time with, exchanging work with, and improving our homes and lives.