So I've been starting to develop a bit of a green thumb lately. I don't particularly think I'm any good at growing things, and they tend to get eaten pretty quick after they sprout, but I'm giving it a go at the least. To that end I built another garden to compliment the one you saw in last month's edition.
Here we see the back right corner of my yard as it was, just asking for something to be done to spruce it up!
Post raking and weeding with the sun up higher in the sky.
Next came marking out the bed and checking for rocks.
Finally laying in boards to make the bed, some rocks for decoration, and lastly...
Fill it in and add a plant! This is going to be a spice garden if any of the seeds sprout, but I've started with a transplanted rosemary sprig I got in a neighboring town. The little guy has taken pretty good root so far, and hopefully I'll be harvesting some fresh rosemary soon.
This garden was a fun little project, but it seemed to be lacking something to really tie it together, so that's where my next idea came in.
Naturally when I have an idea it requires a trip to a lumber yard, and here's the result, a pile of beautiful wood that is very similar to maple.
Here is the shop where I purchased the wood, and you can see the awesome open air operation these carpenters have set up. They're running a board through their joiner right now as they don't have a planer, but that is one big joiner! The tablesaw at front is what they use to do the re-saw cuts to mill boards.
Unfortunately for me, they aren't the most accurate of re-saw cuts, so it requires quite a bit of planing by hand beyond the milling. I think next time I'll ask if I can't run the board by the joiner once or twice before I bring it home! You can get a better idea of the grain in this shot too on the bottom board.
I even had some help planing the boards from my ever faithful assistant Snow. As you can see I worked, and she got tired. Naturally this meant nap time!
So what did I do with all this woodwork you ask?
I made a bench in my garden! Now I can sit outside and eat breakfast or read a book while looking at my, hopefully, beautiful spice garden! It was quite a fun project and I even had a few neighbors stop by to see what I was up to and lend a hand every once in a while.
The support posts are buried about two feet into the ground and were cut down by me and my neighbor a few weeks ago for this and other projects I've had in mind. After finishing installing the bench, I put a few coats of a sealer on it to help it weather better, so hopefully it lasts and looks beautiful for a long time.
That wasn't my only successful project though, I also turned out this guy.
A brand new kitchen shelf! I can actually see my table now and have room to do things like cook and work on my project designs. I haven't completely finished this as I plan to add a lip on the front and sides of the shelf to prevent anything from jumping off, but I can't get the wood for that until after the rainy season is ended as it is taboo to harvest in my town right now.
It is not, however, taboo to harvest bees, so my neighboring volunteer and I set to assisting my neighbor building a bee box.
Here it is finished and hanging in a tree nearby to attract bees. No idea how long it'll take for them to show up, but once we have them it will be honey harvest time!
Speaking of my neighboring volunteer, he has recently started working with the local elementary school to help them with a school garden. Here he is surveying the land to decide how to layout the garden beds.
And here are the school kids working on getting the beds cleared and ready to plant.
All these gardens, but what is the result? Well, look no further than this.
This is my tomato plant. From left to right is about a month of growth from around three and a half feet to about seven! This beast is like a weed, and I keep tying it up to my kabone so it doesn't fall over from all the tomatoes hanging off it! I can't wait until they start to ripen because they are already looking very big and delicious.
The people of my compound are really excited about the new gardens and improvements to my house, so I thought I'd introduce you to my compound. On the far left is the eldest brother's house. next is his younger brother's house, and just to the left of that in the distance you can make out one of the grandmother's houses. To the right of the younger brother's house, hidden by some bushes, is my slice of paradise, and off to the right is the sister's house. You can also see our water pump in the middle of the compound with a line of jugs to be filled and on the far right the road out to the main paved strip through town.
Of course it's now time for the monthly animal roundup, so I'll start with puppies since they're now milling around the compound! Here's one giving a nice long and super cute howl!
And his brother doing the same! These little guys are just discovering their voices and it's very adorable. Also, they like to lick your hand if you go over and say hi!
There's always my favorite girl Snow! Here she was taking a nap in an unbelievably uncomfortable looking position. She liked it though, and slept like this for a solid 30 minutes or so!
Here was my work supervisor while I was building my new garden. I don't know what kind of snake it is, but he was sitting there watching me for a good long while as I got my garden just right!
Lastly, a puppy hug to end the month! These guys are so adorable and precocious. I love being able to go over and get a puppy fix when I've just had a long bout of working on my gardens or a stressful day. They are amazingly soft and they make faces like this all the time! I don't know that I could have a much better puppy situation than I do at my site, and for that I truly am a happy PCV!
