Lay Straw While the Sun Shines

It's January 8th. The sun is shining and it is a warm 51 degrees outside – so warm in fact, that I shed my fleece and work in just shirt sleeves. My goal for today is to stake out the garden for the upcoming growing season and spread some straw on it so that it decomposes over the winter/spring and improves the soil underneath.

I pound some left-over tomato stakes into the four corners and string some twine amongst them to get a sense of the size plot that I am undertaking. I know I want it big enough to support a variety of vegetables, big enough to feed us, and big enough to share with friends -- but not so big that I get overwhelmed (yes, it happens easily to me.) I settle on a plot that is 25'x50'. It feels right. Time will tell.

I hoist the straw bales from the truck bed and march them one-at-time out to the staked-off area beside the cottage. I clip the twine that holds the bale together and begin laying the straw, working my way left to right, top to bottom of the plot. Four bales. Works out perfectly. 

Next steps include sitting by the fire and thumbing through seed catalogs and dreaming of what I want to plant, adding a layer of compost, starting seedlings from seed, nicely asking Danny to come plow, planning out what gets planted where and when, actually planting either the seeds or seedlings, weeding, watering, weeding some more, planting some more, weeding some more, harvesting, sharing, cooking, and offering thanks for the (hopeful) bounty. I can almost taste it now.