Garden: Finished!

I spent a large portion of my Friday off working in the garden. I finally got up the energy to tackle the other half of the garden. After a couple hours, I was finished amending the soil. It was certainly interesting what I dug out of the ground while digging up the soil. Approximately six beer cans (various brands including Schlitz, Colt 45 and Budweiser), a can of strawberry flavored Shasta soft drink (which is a brand that I've never heard of), a liquor bottle, a knit hat, several styrofoam cups, a few plastic bags... It was ridiculous. I don't understand what all the junk was doing in there, but I suspect it had been down there for quite some time...

Saturday at the Farmers' Market I picked up several plants. Mostly herbs this time (rosemary, lavender, lemon verbena, oregano, parsley and mint) and then some Dianthus. Today, Sunday, I put everything in the ground. I think it looks really wonderful. I'm pleased with how it all turned out. It was well worth all of the time and energy. Our potted plants are also doing fantastic. We have lots of little tomatoes on our tomato plants, the bean plants are growing like crazy and our basil is doing fantastic. It feels great to be able to grow so many things on our own!

A Twin Cities Independence Day

I decided to spend my 4th of July here in Minnesota this year. It's my first summer living here, so I thought it would be nice to stick around and celebrate the 4th here. Ironically though, I ended up spending most of the day in Wisconsin. In the morning Mira and I hit up the St. Paul Farmers' Market, as we do most Saturday mornings. It is nothing like the Dane Co. one that I had become so accustomed to, but it is certainly sufficient. I bought delicious strawberries and a whole bunch of plants for the second half of the garden (see next post).

After our venture to the market, Mira and I headed to downtown Minneapolis to the Sculpture Garden. The Sculpture Garden, best known for its giant cherry in the spoon, is part of the Walker Art Center. This year, among other festivities, there was going to be a free concert in the garden. The musician performing was an artist by the name of Haley Bonar, a popular local musician in the indie-rock scene. It was beautiful out, and so much fun to sit back and enjoy a free concert in the park. There were lots of families there, with little kids running about and enjoying the day.

From there we headed straight down I-94 towards Wisconsin. We were off to our friend Ellie's cabin, which is near Hudson, right on the St. Croix. Every year her family has a big July 4th celebration with lots of family and friends, and we were invited. Apparently once-upon-a-time, Ellie's great-grandfather owned all of the land along the cove and when he passed he gave a portion of the land to each of his children. So now, besides two properties that were later sold off, all of the cabins down the river belong to Ellie's relatives, although some are fairly far removed by now.

The further east that we went, the more cloudy the sky became. As soon as we pulled up to the cabin, it began to rain. It continued to rain for quite some time in a heavy downpour. Once it finally stopped a whole bunch of us headed out onto the boat. It was me, Mira, Ellie, Ellie's brother Andrew and several of his friends, including a couple of his friend's wives. After a while on the boat, the clouds started to clear and the sun came out. By about 5:30 it was absolutely beautiful. It was a fun evening, going out on the water, sitting on the beach, eating, setting off fireworks and roasting marshmallows by the bonfire. Although I missed the Tosa parade and fireworks at Hart Park, it was overall a very enjoyable July 4th!