Introducing Kitty

"What do you mean those giant litter boxes aren't for me?"

Meet our cat Mira. She doesn't really know her name (or her place) and occasionally deigns to answer to Kitty. She does get to go outside, but only under supervision. She's quite agile and can hop a 6 foot privacy fence before you know it. Kitty's favorite game is playing fetch with a hair rubberband (stolen and usually stored in her food bowl). For some reason the game is best played in the middle of the night with a wet rubberband, which she usually drops on our forehead. That's a nice wake-up call: cold wet rubberband in the face! She wets the rubberband by dipping it into the critter's water bowl. If we are awake and she wants to play, she'll drop the rubberband at our feet and meow incessantly until we shoot it across the room. But, she's a great kitty. Last year her favorite place outside was sitting under our giant sunflowers. So, we'll plant some more for her this year. She just has to wait for them to grow.

The Dirty Work

One wheelbarrow at a time! It has been quite a bit of shoveling, but the boxes are filled. Jason did most of the hard labor, but there were several large clumps of soil that I broke up as he filled the wheelbarrow. I used my trusty "Claw" for this (most people know this as the three pronged cultivators). Once he dumped the dirt in the beds, I used the rake to smooth and level it. It took us 36 loads to get all four beds filled. We over-filled the beds just a little since the soil would settle some. Our veggie book recommends waiting a week before planting. As it has rained the last couple of days, this wasn't a problem. By the time the soil has dried out again, it should be well settled into its new home.


It took us two days (working in the evenings) to fill the beds. The picture above shows the beds almost full. We're so excited to be closer to actually planting! Even if we are tired, we're still excited. The critters haven't been too much of a problem with the beds. Although, the Kitty did try to use one as a litter box!

Down & Dirty

That's one big pile of dirt! The topsoil and compost mix arrived. We ordered 6 cubic yards of soil to fill in our beds. The beds are behind the gate doors and about 35 feet away. Luckily it's down hill that way! We went with the topsoil and compost mix to add more organic material to the soil. I wanted to add compost anyway and with it pre-mixed, it saved me the work.

Happy Anniversary

Four years ago today my wife and I got married in Bowling Green KY. We met while we were in college at Western Kentucky University. We had a couple of classes together and were friends long before we ever started dating. Now, even after seven years together, we still get along great. I'm surprised I have been able to put up with her this long ;) The truth is, we're both very thankful to have such a strong relationship and to be able to do things (like the garden) together. Lastly, as she sits down to read this post later tonight. I will be sneaking into the other room to get the flowers I bought for her and waiting to see her reaction.

Breaking Ground

Jason shows off his tiller handling skills. Even though we are putting in raised garden beds, we decided to add greater depth of soil by tilling the existing ground. This should give us an extra 5 inches of soil in addition to the 10 inches that will be added into the garden boxes. It took about 4 hours to get the ground completely tilled and raked smooth. Luckily there are several earthworms in residence. They should help keep the soil healthy.

Josie and Seamus make great site supervisors. While we worked, the dogs kept us company. Josie thought the smallest bit of shade was the place to be. Seamus, however, had to check out our progress every so often. No slacking allowed here!

After working all afternoon we finally got the beds tilled, raked, and the bed frames back in place. The top soil & compost mix should be delivered in a few days. Thankfully the weather has been beautiful here. Let's hope is stays beautiful until all the beds are filled.

Happy Earth Day!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Earth Day. Please take a moment to reflect upon how you affect our planet. We can all make a difference. After all, we only have one Earth.

Building the Boxes

Jason got to have the most fun building the boxes. I mainly just handed him tools and nails. Our boxes are 4 feet wide, 12 feet long and 1 foot high. We built four boxes. It's only the two of us, so that should provide plenty of garden goodies.



After we got all four built, we put them in place in the back. Those suckers are heavy! Now we're ready to till the ground beneath to add about 6 inches of tilled soil. Our goal is to have about 15 inches of depth in each bed. With the added topsoil in each box, we should have it covered. Off to rent the tiller.

Welcome to Our Garden

Welcome to Locally Sown. Follow along as we build and plant our first garden. We've chosen to have an organic garden to keep our diets as healthy as possible. Also, we'll include recipes to showcase the vegetables from our garden. Occasionally you may also get a glimpse of our critters: dogs Josie and Seamus and our cat Mira (aka Kitty).

Our endeavor began last summer as we bought produce at the grocery. Most of the produce had to travel thousands of miles to reach us, so we began to shop at a local Farmer's Market. While shopping at the market we thought how wonderful it would be to grow our own veggies. And so began the winter spent planning for spring.

After much research, we decided to build our garden in raised beds. The increased amount of vertical dirt into which the roots can grow should allow us to plant more in a smaller area. A great book on this subject is The Vegetable Gardener's Bible by Edward C. Smith. And it has become just that...our veggie bible. It's full of instructions and advice on growing organically and in less space. Now that Spring is here with its warmer weather we're eager to get going. We hope that you enjoy gardening with us. I've always found it enjoyable to watch plants grow and produce. Plus, you can't beat the taste of a home-grown tomato!

Here's the area where we'll put the raised beds.

Here we've staked the area for the raised beds.