October 15, 2007

This weekend, we undertook the biggest home improvement task to date. We have done a lot of smaller projects all along the way, but this was the biggest one-day task ever. We tilled up our entire front yard, and planted grass. We didn't really have grass to begin with--we had a yard full of dust and weeds. Then the drought hit, and we just had dust. Since our house was moved from another location across town, the heavy machinery used to move the house compacted the soil making it feel more like concrete than vegetation.

So, we rented a tiller and got to work with the help of Dan's family. His dad manned the tiller. I didn't think to get pictures of that :-( And Dan's granddad (as the hardest working man alive) helped us out too. We found construction debris, bricks, concrete chunks, rebar, rusty hinges, rocks and all manner of things in the ground.


We pulled it all up, and put down soil amendments (top soil, mushroom compost, manure, etc.).



We tilled that in, and put down more.


Then, came the grass seed and the straw to cover it.


And now, my least favorite part--paying for the water to get the stuff growing.


Otherwise, all of the work is for nothing...

Keep praying for rain so we can have some grass and the poor Tennessee farmers can at least have a fall crop.

We are so proud of ourselves for finally getting such a big project finished. I think we'll take a little break for a while after that.