Oh, how that BUMP made us JUMP!

A few weeks ago, the Pacific Northwest experienced an early heat wave. I realize that most of the country is harvesting green beans and secretly leaving their unwanted zucchini in unlocked cars, but for us, the gardening season didn't begin then. Even though we had record-breaking temperatures at the time, I knew that the chances of a late frost were still a very real possibility.

That, and I was procrastinating again. (But I was right. We did have a late frost. So my procrastination turned into intuition. I'm makin' lemonade here...☺)

Other than some beets, spinach, lettuce, and onion sets, the garden was pretty bare. So today we decided to git 'er done. When in git 'er done mode, a few bumps along the way are to be expected. Some of them are minor. Some however, can be real game-changers and you never know how the day is going to end. You just pray that it ends as quickly and painlessly as possible.

The new garden area

In April, my Mister and I plowed a new garden area for corn, potatoes, and sunflowers. The boys then put up a temporary electric fence to persuade the cows to keep off the freshly tilled ground. A few days ago, they put up the permanent field fencing and electric tape while I was running errands in town. Today I realized the problem. Look closely at the above picture. See it? Look closer. Try looking at all 4 sides of the fencing. See it yet? No?

There is no gate. None. Nada. Bump #1~In order for me to plant the garden, I would need to climb over the wooden fence and try not to get hung up on the electric wire on the other side. And to get out? Here's the thing. Oompa-loompa's don't climb. I would have better luck trying to dig under the fence than trying to scale it.

So I fixed it.

Actually, I had my son fix it...with a chainsaw.

Or so we thought.

The electric wire? It has to stay. Which doesn't leave much room for rolling a wheelbarrow into the garden. I also understand the term "got clotheslined." We'll call this Bump #2. So for now, the corn, potatoes, and sunflowers are still in seed form.

On my counter.

The kids and I decided to let the responsible party fix the wire first, so we opted to plant the main garden instead. Since we had covered the raised beds that were built last year, there would be no weeds to pull, dirt to fluff, or fences to chainsaw through.

Meet Bump #3.

Bump #3 made us jump.

This bump was ominous. And it was in the garden. It was loud. And it was angry. It also decided to use some intimidation tactics by swarming around our heads~the equivalent of an almost drive-by shooting in bee behavior.

Same swarm, different branch

 
Since I was sporting my trusty tie-dyed skirt and didn't fancy a stinger in my nether region, I called in the big guns.

My beekeeping Mister and his beekeeping brother

Hive #3~secured.

Planting a garden is exhausting. I'm not sure what I've done today, but I am sure I've done all I can. 

Except for planting the garden.

That will have to wait for another day.☺