Digging in the dirt

Henry Ward Beecher once said, “The first hour is the rudder of the day.”

 I like to start mine early.  Alone.  Quiet.  No distractions.  I get my cuppa tea, and start the day on my own terms.
It is good to know what you need.  It is even better to listen to that voice that tells you.

I have loved to roto-till for thirty years.  I have no idea why it makes me so happy.  But it does.
Back in the early 80's, I bought a Troy Bilt 8 HP rototiller.   BIG BOY.   I tilled up an acre or so.  I had 80 tomato plants at one time.  As a matter of fact, when my middle daughter was just a few weeks old, I canned about 100 quarts of tomatoes from that garden.

For 20 years, while I lived in my little house in the country, I rototilled my garden every year.   My garden was so big, that I gave vegetables away at harvest time.
I loved it.  I loved going out there, and tilling up the earth  to prepare it for receiving all my seeds and plants.   It was just heavenly to be out there in the early morning tilling up the weeds between the rows.  It was a meditative experience for me, and a huge part of my life. But when I moved from the country house 9 years ago, I gave up my old tiller, and my garden.

I've missed it terribly.
I tried having a small garden at the studio when I first bought it, but I never had enough time for it, and the woodchucks ate it as fast as I planted it.
This year, after dreaming of a garden all winter while recovering from brain surgery, I decided to go for it.
First off, I called someone to come till the space up.  It wasn't exactly a fulfilling experience.
So then I went to the local Agway, and they had a rototiller I could rent.  But when I called my husband, it wasn't a good day for him.
All my efforts to have a garden this year seemed thwarted.
So I went and bought myself a rototiller.
News bulletin:  You do not have to lose spontaneity as you age.  No, you absolutely do not.  I needed a rototiller.  For my garden.  FOR ME.

I now have a sweet little garden, fenced to protect it from the critters.   I have tilled it up three times so far, and can I just tell you that it is just as joyful today to be out there digging those tines into the rich earth, as it was with my old Troy Bilt all those years ago.

The weaving weekend over, we are back to normal at the studio.
I am working on 50 new rugs for the web site..............
Can I do it???
Sure, but it might take a while.

 It sure will be fun, though.