Tree Planting and Gardening

This past month we got trees in the mail from the shelter belt program!  We received 30 white spruce and 30 golden willows!  The shelter belt program is no longer free but we didn't have to pay a ton for them.  Now we just have to keep them alive!!  The trees we did get for free from the shelter belt program a few years ago have all perished!  Even after watering them semi diligently they still died because gophers and rabbits ate them :(  thankfully all we were out was our time but that is still fairly priceless.

This year the boys got right into helping us, Armin even had a system down.  He would wheel his wheel barrow to each hole, fill it with a scoop of potting soil, Jared would put a tree into the hole and fill it with dirt, making sure to pack it nice and firm around the tree.  Armin would then cover the ground around the tree with mulched up bark and water it!  He had the potting soil and mulch in the the wheel barrow and the hose hooked onto the handle!!  It was a very efficient way to plant trees!  He stayed with Jared until the bitter end.  And after, the boys were rewarded to a campfire with marshmallows!!  I was away at the CCHS Drama presentation with friends and Emry was at Stake Youth Conference!  So we were not much help at all!!

May long weekend we put our garden in the ground!  Again Armin was out helping Jared and this time Emry!  What I thought would be a small garden turned into a huge garden!!  I didn't help much because I was making a meal to take to our new neighbors!!  We also helped them move into their temporary home until the renovations are finished at their forever home that same day!!  It was a long day but very productive!!!

I hate gardening, I did not get that bug from from my mom or my grandma's!  But I do love the fruits of our labors from having a garden!!  Emry is using this opportunity to pass off a 10 hour value project from her Young Women's personal progress so I am leaving a lot of the weeding up to her, with the help of Jared of course, since it is he who always wants to plant the garden!!!  I will help when and where I am needed!!!