Early Mother's Day Gift: Farmer's Edition

For years and years I have wanted my own tiller.  After we got a rather generous tax return I decided that this was the year.  I was even willing to claim it as my Mother's Day gift!  So I did some tiller research, discovered the one I wanted on sale (!), and then dragged Lance and the kiddos (sans Josh - he was at a birthday party) down to Sears last night and bought it.

I could tell the guy who sold it to me was amused that the wife was buying a tiller.  I guess a tiller isn't a very feminine purchase.  (It totally should be.)  But I didn't care because I was so happy to be getting my tiller!  Plus, when he brought up my record of past purchases from Sears he was quite a bit more polite.  (We buy lots of our major appliances and such from Sears; we're Craftsman people.)

I woke up this morning totally excited to use my tiller!

Is that weird?

No, no it is not.

But first I had to put it together.  It really wasn't all that complicated, but I ended up having Lance help me because it was a project that really needed two sets of hands.  Plus, he's much more mechanically minded than I am.  This is why you get married: to find someone who complements you, who completes you in the areas where you lack, and who is willing to put your tiller together while your almost-two-year-old daughter rubs her hands all over the filthy cars in the garage, climbs on you, and generally just gets in the way.  That's love, people.

After that Lance was off to Menards (more on that later) and I was ready to till!

Oh man, it was so fun. Seriously, tilling with a machine you own is WAY more fun than tilling with a machine you've rented.  And my tiller did such a great job!  I didn't even mind it (much) when each of my four children tried to get me to stop for one silly reason or other - twice each.  Seriously, without fail, whenever I am using some sort of noisy machine that is kind of a pain to stop using (blender, vacuum cleaner, lawn mower, tiller, etc.) my children suddenly all need to talk to me.  Right then. Of the utmost important things like "Hey, it's 10 o'clock!" or "Cole's climbing UP the slide!" or (my personal favorite) "My arm itches".  Dang children.

My tiller made short work of my garden.  Well, shorter work than my shovel would have done.  Spencer took a picture of me to commemorate it.  I'm pretty sure my eyes are closed.  And aren't my gardening clothes/hairdo lovely?  Oy.

I really love my tiller.  (Making this pose made Josh roll his eyes at me.  Which is why I did it in the first place.)

Per my father's suggestion, I am currently in search of a name for this lovely piece of machinery.   Suggestions?

Part of the reason I wanted to till this early in the season is because I wanted to get some peas into the ground.  Which is also the reason Lance was at the hardware store on a lovely Saturday morning: he was buying the supplies to make this:

That, my friends, is a pea/pole bean pyramid.  I want my peas and pole beans to grow up it on all sides.  Why?  Because pole peas and beans apparently have higher yields.  Plus, I just think it'll look cool.

I gave Lance a rough idea of what I wanted and he went from there.  Isn't it so cool?  I'm sure the neighbors are wondering what the heck those crazy Mormons down/across the street are doing now, but oh well!  I had toyed with the idea of leaving one section open so the kids could climb in and out, but Lance talked me out of that craziness.  (At least craziness for now - maybe next year Tess will be old enough not to destroy my garden!)

I just really hope my peas grow.  I've never grown them before.

I also need to give a shout out to Santa.  Last Christmas he put these Atlas 370 Gardening Gloves in my stocking and I finally got to use them today.  They. Are. AWESOME.

Seriously, the best gardening gloves I have ever had!  (And I've had many.)  Here's why.  They fit really well.  And the nitrile coating is super-tough but super-flexible.  I could use them to till the garden, hoe the rows for my peas, and screw the unwieldy hose into the faucet; but I also wore them to actually put the pea seeds into the ground.  I could never do that with my other gardening gloves because they were too bulky and awkward.  Also.  See how the gloves are tight at the wrist and up a ways?  That means no rogue dirt can get in, which drove me nuts with my other gloves.

After using them all afternoon I'm about ready to go toss out all my old work gloves and buy a four pack of these bad boys. Love them.

Almost as much as I love my tiller.

p.s.  I just bought the four pack.  Totally worth it.