Dirt update

On Tuesday, the husband left for work at 5:30 AM. Some problems at work kept him there ALL night and he got home about 8 AM yesterday. He took a nap for about an hour or so and then spent the rest of the day working with our dirt.

What a trooper!

Here's how things look now. We have pretty much finished the bottom row of railroad ties (and by "we" I mean "he"). We need just one or two small pieces to finish off the end of the row at the edge of our property. Our neighbor behind us loves our progress. He says it looks like we're building a giant sea wall!









Today I will be taking a sample of the soil from this area to my local extension office. They'll send it off for a full soil sample, but they can also test it in their office for salt. This area was overgrown with old tamarisk trees, also known as salt cedar, which our county doesn't allow at the compost facility because they throw off the salt levels in the compost they make. So I'm worried the soil will be too salty. Once I know the salt content we'll decide whether to move the good dirt to the bottom row or the top row, and make a final decision on what to plant in each place. We'll fill in the rest of the space with a giant pile of dirt we have left from digging the leach fields for the new septic system last year. 

Hopefully this weekend we'll be able to get the next load of railroad ties and be able to complete this project. I'm pretty excited about finishing this project for obvious reasons, but also because it means we get to start on the next big project, which has me super excited! I'll give you a hint: It involves a phenomenal new space for outdoor living AND a new studio space where all my letterpress things can live together. Yay!