Reorienting

Being in the nonprofit and activist world these days requires a lot of time on the computer. When I was living in Panama working in agroforestry I had callouses on my hands, a dark sheen on my skin, and plenty of room in my lungs from all the laboring on the land. Not anymore. Now my body is soft and underused. The mind is dominant. Exercise is rare. But yesterday began my reorientation and that of my garden. I dragged out the pick, spade shovel, round shovel and rake and went to work. My body aches today. But it is a good ache.

I wanted to reorient my garden beds to a north-south orientation to see if it makes a difference. I also dug paths down 2 feet rather than having flagstone throughout the garden taking up space. This gives me more access across the beds, and hopefully will encourage me to be more efficient in the growing space. In years past I've always had blotches of empty space left after everything was planted. Going for a more intensive garden in an already intensive space.

Here's the result. This is looking out my front/kitchen door.