The Brothers Scott: Gardenin' fools

So we started the Great Gardening Fiasco of 2008 today. I mentioned here a few posts ago that we had reserved a plot in Dallas' newest community garden in the Lake Highlands neighborhood. After a few weeks during which people other than us worked to clear off weeds and debris and build garden beds (at least we had a good excuse for our laziness ... "Oh, we would have LOVED to pull weeds and perform back-breaking manual labor, but alas, we were having the baby!"), there was finally an official groundbreaking today, complete with city officials and politicos coming out to "blah blah blah blather blather blather" about what this means for the community. Don't get me wrong ... I think it's great and I'm excited to be a part of it. But I can ALWAYS do without the self-promoting white guys in suits tooting their own horns.

So we arrived an hour late.

So in no time at all, the whole family had found our plot and dumped out 12 bags of gardening soil and couple bags of peat moss, spread it around and called it good. We need more soil (in fact, Jerry just got back from picking up about 10-12 more bags) and we'll go back later and spread that out. We're not planting until the irrigation system gets put in.

So here are some observations from today:

1. Thankfully, we are not even close to the only people with younguns out there. There were TONS of kids pitching in and running around in other peoples' plots and having a fine time in the way that kids are supposed to. Wilder, who is going through a super-sweet and obedient phase right now, was even pretty good and stuck close to Jer and I and had not one meltdown.

2. At 3 weeks, Hunter probably takes the youngest "gardener" prize.

3. Speaking of Hunter's age, our very nice plot neighbors introduced themselves. They're a young married couple that have two little girls and a dog. The male half of the couple mentioned that it was impressive that I was out there working three weeks after giving birth. I told him I was a fast healer and, as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized that -- he not knowing I'd had a c-section (how could he? He just met me ... dumb Kris dumb!!) -- this implied my, err, vajayjay was a super-speedy bouncer backer. Which would explain why he got away from me as fast as possible. Oh well ... I guess they might not be sharing fertilizer with us, eh?

So, all in all, it was a good trip, particularly for a girl who hasn't been out of the house much lately. I could have stayed all day. There were people to talk to who weren't attached to my breast (ahem, HUNTER ... JERRY ... kidding about that last one), and the noise of chatter and electric tillers lulled the baby into a deep sleep that gave me an hour of freedom.

So, without further ado, here are a few photos: