How real women prevent power tool rust.

Yes, I cover my power tools in lady products then put them in a garbage bag for the winter (workshop is in the garage). I suppose if I were a lot younger or older, I'd use diapers.

Free not-new mulch

I was able to get almost all of the pine needles I needed to mulch the beds with this year. My soil is alkaline, so the pine needles help give it the acidity it lacks. Plus, they are a lot lighter to lug around and they are free! The pooch seems to really like them (which could be a problem come Spring). You can also see the half-arsed repair job I did on a birdfeeder. I repaired broken glass, replacing some with acrylic from another too-old-and-broken to fix feeder. I still need to find a part to make the top fit better. Oh well...cost me nothing so far.

This pair of handknit wool socks only cost $1.29...

and 48 hours of my life, some (hopefully temporary) carpal tunnel syndrome, and several days of heightened arthritis pain in my hands. So, I might not be knitting another pair any time soon. I do have to say, I enjoyed the process and the fact that it kept me away from snacking. This pair is going to the homeless as I can't imagine putting up with all that discomfort for just silly old me.

The cheap hand-knit sock is too expensive for me.

I don't knit. Or, I didn't until I made this sock. I made it on a knitting loom, so I'm still not sure if that qualifies as knitting. Anyway, as near as I can figure out, it took me about 24 hours to make this ugly sock. It is 100% wool, so it is warm...and the yarn was on sale, so it only cost about $1, but it's that 24 hours I can't afford. Sure, those were hours that I wasn't snacking, but I did get carpal tunnel syndrome while "knitting." Perhaps, if I take it real slow and only do an hour of knitting a day, I might find the time easier to spare. But right now, I think my time would be better spent looking for someone else who only has one sock than to knit the mate to this.

The plot thickens.

I forgot to take a pic until after I started putting the plastic back on, but I think you can get the idea of how much dirt there is piled on my plot. I'd say a little less than half of the purported 10 cu. yds. is spread out over the approximately 220 sq. ft. I tried doing the math to figure out just how high that should be and I discovered that I can't perform math in 3 dimensions. I ran out and bought a bit more plastic to cover the plot and tried to secure it down as best I could, but I'm nervous. They are predicting torrential rain and wind gusts up to 60 mph tomorrow. I guess I'll see how it holds. (Probably shouldn't have bothered raking the leaves?)

Get a load of this dirt.

I was very nervous about ordering my topsoil off craigslist, but--by the looks of it--I have nothing to worry about. This 10 cu. yd. load of 50/50 topsoil/compost looks pretty durn good to me. At $395 delivered, I think it was a decent price for this area. I did think 10 cu yds would be a bigger pile, but this will certainly be enough for the time being (I want to spread it in several other places besides my 220 sq. ft. front yard veggie bed). If it were just a matter of spreading it out on this bed, I might have been able to do it myself...but since it's going all over the place, I hired some muscle to help. Gonna pick up some sand to spread on my clay soil as well (not sure how I'll get it under the existing pile...maybe I'll just sand the open section). In any event, feeling like I'll have a chance at a decent harvest next year.

The plot turns: got my clay soil rototilled and actually found some real dirt.

When I put a shovel in my plot, I found about a 1/2" of soil over solid grey clay. I knew that digging that myself would likely kill me. I wasn't even sure that rototilling could turn the land into anything close to arable, but knew that was the only route remotely possible. It would cost $45 to rent a machine and I have no easy way to transport it, so I was thrilled to find a guy on craigslist willing to rototill for $65. He had to do several passes to get it to look like dirt. He was surprised it came out this good considering all the clay. So was I. Now, I just have to get topsoil/compost delivered. The company I called wasn't sure they'd be able to do it before closing up for the winter. I'd really, really like to have it done in the fall rather than the spring. We'll see. They are supposed to call me.