Sometimes simple things aren’t so simple. Take, for instance, our vegetable garden. It all started with my parents’s raised beds that they just built this year. They are beautiful. Although I didn’t know where, exactly, I would put them I knew I had to have some of my own. I thought it would be a great summer project for all of us, especially the kids. My parents are always incredibly generous, and they came up on a rainy afternoon and built us some beds of our own.

I picked what I thought was the perfect location. The backyard doesn’t get enough sun to grow vegetables, so I knew I needed to put the beds near the front. I picked an out-of-the-way location on the side of the front lawn, not too near my neighbor’s property. The first major obstacle occurred when the loam delivery guy took it upon himself to be “helpful” and dumped a ton of dirt directly into the beds…which I hadn’t prepared yet. So, I spent that whole afternoon shoveling the dirt out of the boxes, putting down the landscape fabric, and then shoveling it back in. I was pooped.

A couple of rainy days and a week of dance rehearsals and performances kept me from getting anything planted for the rest of the week. Then, yesterday, I finally made it to the store and picked up some already started plants (cheating, I know, but I’m doing the best I can here). Zane and I hauled all of the plants over to the beds, and set them in the dirt where we wanted to plant them. Then, with Zane literally holding the trowel in mid-air ready to dig the first hole, my neighbor came over and started giving me a hard time about where the beds were located. Long story short, in the end Damian and I decided that it was best to move the beds (the situation is complicated by several factors and I’m not going to go into detail). Being a good neighbor means knowing when to fight and when to compromise.

So, last night my whole family came over and helped me to dig up the beds and move them to the other side of the house (I had previously asked the neighbors on that side if it was okay with them, and they were so understanding and supportive, which was wonderful). This morning, Zane and I planted most of what we bought (we still need a little more dirt for the second bed, since we lost some in the move). I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this will turn out to be fun for the kids, and we’ll get some yummy veggies to eat, too. So far, despite the obstacles, so good. I’ll update the garden’s progress throughout the summer.