Sorry it's taken me a little while to post again! Things have gotten busy around here! A very quick update on my life for the past few weeks: Last week, we did tons of planting!  We got summer squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and watermelons in the ground. We also hilled potatoes. That means we piled a bunch of dirt on top of the potatoes with hoes, like this:

The reason we hill potatoes is because they like to grow in dark places. If you continue to pile dirt on top of them, they will continue producing more potatoes under the dirt you've just piled. It's pretty cool!

I also got to shoot a bow last week! Walker and Cameron each have a bow and arrows, and they taught Jessica and I how to shoot. It was really nice of them to do that, and it was a lot of fun! We all shot at a target for a little while, and my Girl Scout skills came in handy! This past weekend was also the TLA fundraiser.  It was a potluck dinner/dance/silent auction/gathering of wonderful people. There was a lovely band playing, Franklin called the square dance, and a fun time was had by all!  It was held at the historic Sherill's Inn, which used to be used by stagecoaches and cattle drivers as a pit-stop in the 19th Century.  It is a beautiful structure, with fantastic gardens surrounding it.  I hope to go there again and wander around. I could easily spend a few hours there.

This week, we've been finishing up a lot of planting at the garden-preparing the last of the beds and then getting food into them.  Yesterday, it was raining in the morning, so we went to the North Carolina Arboretum.  It reminded me a lot of Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh- there were lots of plants spread out through several different garden areas. They had an exhibit of "wicked" plants.  The exhibit talked about plants that could make people sick, or were associated with very negative things, historically.  It was incredibly informative and interactive. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I worked at someone's house in the afternoon, helping them weed their yard.  I hope to return to do some more yard work for them; they are a very sweet couple!  It wasn't raining in the afternoon, so after the yard work, I returned to the garden to help Jessica and Susan continue planting. We planted okra, more squash, more tomatoes, eggplant, and basil. It made for a long day, but I am really happy we were able to get things into the ground.

Today we walked around the garden to assess what would need to be done.  We do this to prioritize the work in the garden, and probably to keep us all sane and on the same page about the work that needs to be done.  It was very helpful to talk about the pros and cons of starting with this or that; it got us all thinking about what our individual priorities might be for the garden.  I decided to thin out the beets. Usually, when we plant, we put in more seeds than there is actually space for. The idea behind this is to increase the number of seeds that will potentially germinate. That way, if some of the seeds don't germinate, we don't have huge gaps where there could be food growing, and we don't have to deal with transplanting to fill those gaps. So this is what a bed would typically look like that hadn't been thinned:

They look a little smushed, right? Well, we took out lots of plants so the remaining ones would be about three inches apart. This is what the end result should be:

They look a lot happier, not having to compete for space and sunlight. And we get some really tender, yummy beet greens to eat!

Just make sure you wash them really well; they like to hold on to all the dirt they were just in!  Emily (one of the town interns) and I also thinned some carrots:

I didn't get through the whole bed, but it was time for lunch! Susan and I ate lunch, and then she dropped me off at the library so I could find some children's books. We are starting the "Sprouts" program this week, which is a program for kids to come to the garden and explore for about an hour each Friday morning.  I am very excited about it! I got three books from the library, so I'll have to decide which one will work best! And now we are back at the house, relaxing until work night tonight. Jessica is making dessert; I'm pretty excited about it.

Happy Wednesday!