A Proper Entry

One of the troubles we had concerning the entry to the backyard from the driveway was that there was a considerable downhill slope from the driveway.  The garden wall with its arched top door made for a nice entry point into our backyard but the slope made you feel uneasy particularly since it was mostly exposed dirt littered with gravel.  It certainly wasn't worthy of what should have been a grand entrance.

So, to remedy the situation, we dug out the area and poured some concrete curbs which will double as a retaining wall holding back the higher ground of the driveway while also serving as a proper step.

I like doing concrete even though I have little experience with it.  The most time I spent on any significant project was during my first trip overseas to Haiti.  I traveled with Global Go Team to help pour piers and a concrete slab floor for the first building that was going in to the soon-to-be campus of Shepherds House Ministry.  The experience was invaluable and life-changing for a ton of reasons too numerous to attempt to list.  I even learned some practical tips on how to work with concrete.

I'm not done just yet.  I need one more 80 lb bag for a finish coat which I will pick up on the way home from work today.  I plan on using it to smooth out the sides of the vertical walls and to create a slight slope towards the brick patio so that this area won't hold any water.  It wouldn't be a very good entry if it just became a puddle every time it rained.

Jodi and I plan on writing all our names in the concrete along the back of the curb.  We haven't really signed anything on this house, but thought that this masterpiece of ours deserved to have an artist's signature on it somewhere.

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Finished Deck Photo (Finally)

One thing that keeps me from writing a lot more blogs about our home improvement projects is that when we get done with a project, another one usually has already begun.  Such was the case with the deck.  Although, another reason the finished photo never got taken was because the siding wasn't done.  I didn't want the newly finished deck to be overshadowed by the house that was in desperate need of a facelift.

So, the last photo of the deck I wrote about was while it was still under construction.  As you can see, the railing wasn't up.  The privacy fence wasn't complete.  The gate hadn't been built.  The right door needed painted.  The siding needed replaced.  And, the yard was a mess.

All of these are fine for a photo while it is under construction.  But, the level of expectation goes up for the finished product.  Take Extreme Home Makeover for example.  Imagine if they still had tools lying about during the unveiling.  Picture them "moving that bus" to reveal a beautifully renovated home with a ladder leaning up against the roof, bare patches of dirt in the lawn, and a short stack of paint cans on the porch.

This is my dilemma.  I don't like taking that finished photo until it's TV quality.  But, perhaps, I'm too hard on myself.  Maybe it's ok to see tools lying around.  Maybe no one but myself cares, after all.

So, here it is.  You might take notice that it's not 100% complete.  I still have to finish the underpinning on the east side (or bottom-right to you).  One thing that came as a surprise to me is that the two brands of wood that we used for the decking both weathered to look the same.  I knew that they would weather closer to the same, but I didn't at all expect that I wouldn't be able to differentiate between them after a single season.  Not that I'm complaining.

We just started prepping the ground last night to lay our brick patio.  That's pretty exciting.  We got the masonry lines ran for leveling, the ditch dug for the buried drain pipe, the pile of pea gravel moved out of the way, some of the leveling complete, and the perimeter line laid.

When my father-in-law saw the size of our deck for the first time he humorously asked, "You trying to get out of mowing?"  Jodi and I just figured that if you're going to do it, then you might as well go ahead and do it.  You know?  The deck is a great size and is a perfect spot for outdoor entertaining.  With the installation of the brick patio, our outdoor space will finally be complete.  However, with around 1100 square feet of combined deck and patio space, my father-in-law will most likely be certain of my disdain for mowing.

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Free Will

The Garden of Eden.  Most people are somewhat if not very familiar with this story whether they are readers of the Bible or not.  For those of us who hold that it is an historically true location and event, we may differ on how we view the Garden in our minds.

I, for one, always pictured it as a little forest teeming with animals of all kinds.  In the center of this little forest was a large beautiful tree plump with juicy fruit that was practically begging to be eaten, despite the fact that it was forbidden by God to do so.  Since, the Bible doesn't specifically mention any other fruit in the creation story, it never occurred to me that there was any other.  And, though it's irrelevant, I also always pictured this forbidden fruit to be an apple.  What a poor rap for the apple.

I blame my distorted view on the many illustrated accounts that I have seen over the years.  It's not to say that these illustrated accounts are wrong.  It's just that they only typically illustrate the tree, fruit, serpent, Adam, and Eve.  The context is completely left out.  What were the surroundings like?  What was the garden really like?

Let's take what we do know and work from there.  God gave us free will.  The Bible is chock full of commandments to choose right from wrong, good from bad, and righteousness from evil.  It never mentions the phrase "free will" but the ability to choose and the responsibility and consequences of those choices is made very clear throughout scripture.

Some argue that God set us up to sin ever since the Garden of Eden.  They'll take this argument to the extreme and say that an all powerful, all loving, benevolent god (APALB god, herein) would not have placed the tree in the Garden nor would he allow "bad things" to happen to people throughout history.

The argument is a logically good one, I admit.  However, the problem with this argument is that it assumes one of two things:  that a free creature can be created to always choose the will of this APALB god OR that a free creature can be created and have all their "poor" choices thwarted by this APALB god.

The obvious problem here boils down to the assumed contradiction.  There is no such thing as freedom without choice.  It's a square circle.  It's a logical impossibility.  One cannot be free to choose if there are no options in which to choose.  One cannot be free to make a choice just to have that choice changed by an external force at the last moment.  The problem of the argument is not in the logic, but rather in the assumption that the logic is built upon.

I've heard debates go on and on about this and I have heard atheists never "hear" the answer.  They accuse of avoiding the question, but it's not an avoidance.  They simply don't want to understand the transfer of responsibility.  They want to illustrate with the question that God is responsible for sin since he created Adam & Eve and the scenario in which they found themselves.  Their logic points to this blame and is only secured by their understanding of God being an APALB god.  And, they're not the first to blame God in this manner, rather Adam was the first to use this logic when he blamed God for creating Eve.  But, notice that God didn't say "Well, would you look that?  Adam, you're logically right.  It is my fault.  I see that now.  Thanks for being so astute."

While God is all powerful, all loving, and benevolent, He is not self-contradictory.  He created a creature with free will and thus must allow said creature to make its own decisions despite the consequences.  Does this make God the object of blame when the creature willfully chooses against the will of its creator?  No.  The responsibility falls on the agent of free will that chose to do that which was explicitly forbidden by its creator.

We understand this very well outside the realms of theology.  Employers are not punished for the actions of their employees.  Lawmakers are not held accountable for the ones who break the laws.  Yet, many people battle internally with the theology of original sin and the problem of evil.

Coming back around full circle, I don't believe that the Garden of Eden was a little forest with a huge beautiful tree in its center enticing the inhabitants of the Garden with it's appealing fruit.  I believe that the Garden of Eden was very large and was full of wonderful and life sustaining fruit of all kinds.  I believe that the forbidden tree was probably sickly looking and small.  It might have only stood out in the sense that it was probably the only tree that didn't look good.  Though, let's not forget that God, Himself, must have pointed it out on the Garden of Eden tour.

But, why did God put it there, you ask?  He put it there out of love.  If God had never provided Adam and Eve the ability to sin, He would not have made them free.  They would have been no more than flesh wearing robots.  They wouldn't have loved God intimately and they would have never known God's intimate love.  The tree was inherently necessary.  And, today, though having been born with a sinful nature, we can all know God's love intimately, too.  But, not until we choose to be reunited with Him, redeemed by Him, and reconciled to Him.  Just like the taking of fruit from a tree, the choice is simple and made available to us all.

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Back to Eden (part three)

Part three of our Back to Eden gardening style adventure, was the planting!

I must admit that we did some major procrastination on getting our seeds for two major reasons.  The first was the fact that this year spring came way earlier than expected.  Everyone was pretty thrown off by it.

The second was that we didn't have the slightest clue as to where we should get our seeds from.  We finally were recommended Bakers Creek Heirloom Seeds by the owners of a small natural foods market, Wild Root Grocery.

We headed out there attempting to make it in time for a lunch that they serve, but we arrived and made it to the restaurant minutes after they were done for the day.  This was due in combination of allowing just enough time to arrive at the very end of lunch hours and getting lost from taking a shorter path that happened to not have any signs of any kind, including road signs.  You definitely have to leave pavement miles before you come to Bakers Creek.  Luckily, a woman offered to make us some cinnamon rolls despite the bakery being closed for the day.  Mmm.  And, WOW, they were large.  Thanks, Debbie!  So, we ate cinnamon rolls in the sun and enjoyed the day.

Then, came the seed buying.  This was a little overwhelming.  As you can see from the photo, there are seeds galore.  We stood before about thirty varieties of tomato seeds and finally made our decision, only to find out moments later that we had just been looking at the overflow of the real tomato seed section that housed well over a hundred varieties.

At the end of the day, we had purchased a blackberry bush, a raspberry bush, a bag of Yukon Gold potato seeds, about 25 strawberry plants, and lots o' seeds including tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, carrots, 3 varieties of lettuce, sugar snap peas, green beans, and a lot more that I can't think of at the moment.

It was a lot of fun and I was very impressed with what all they had built out there at Baker's Creek.  It's a neat little village that was well worth the drive.

Once again, I have made a little video using time-lapse photography for your viewing pleasure.  Check it out at this YouTube link.

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Back to Eden (part two)

The second part of our gardening adventure was to put down the covering. We chose to use un-screened wood chips from Springfield Recycling Center. They were $5 per yard which equates to $15 a truckload. They also have screened wood chips which gets out all the big chunks and leaves much smaller wood chips that will break down and compost much sooner. They run $12 a yard. We decided that it was so early in the season that the larger chips would have time to break down before next year and we were afraid that our covering would break down too soon if we used the screened. We'll see how our decision turned out next spring.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, the covering is what protects the garden and the topsoil underneath. It acts as a fairly decent weed barrier, too. How it protects the garden is pretty simple. Have you ever moved a pile of leaves or even a pile of construction scraps or a pile of virtually anything that has sat undisturbed for a few weeks. You'll notice that when you do, it's always moist underneath. The dirt is always dark and rich in appearance. The reason for this is that it was protected from the crazy environment.

Think of the wood chips to the garden just as our skin is to our body. Our skin protects us. If not for our skin, our bodies would dry up and die. So our gardens go. If they are exposed to the air, they will dry up and the top soil will erode away with the wind and wash away when it rains.

However, if you cover your garden with wood chips, the wood chips retain moisture for the dry periods, keeping your soil moist and rich, while also diverting excess water away when it rains. And, every time it rains it composts and breaks down those wood chips a little bit. And all that organic material acts like a compost tea with all the nutrient-rich tea flowing down into your garden. Your plants will thrive on it. Also, it keeps your soil from becoming compacted. The wood chips evenly spread out your weight and keep the ground from becoming compacted and unworkable. And the plants that grow in it will keep it nice and aerated.

It's been a couple weeks now since we put the covering on. Sorry for the belated posting of the video. I actually put the video together the next evening, but have been preoccupied with other projects. But, here it is. And now all we do is wait until it's time to start planting!

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Back to Eden

Jodi and I recently watched a documentary online called Back to Eden. They have the documentary available for viewing directly from their website. In short, they convincingly show how to garden in a more natural, less toilsome way without the need to till, water, or struggle against dug in weeds.

Yes, it does sound too good to be true. But, feel free to watch the video yourself for all the details on why this is NOT too good to be true.

We're thoroughly convinced and have already begun the process to build our new garden using the methods that the documentary demonstrates. We'll be documenting our progress success throughout this season with some cool videos, photos, and blogs. Come back here to this blog for updates on our garden. To start things out, we've already created a cool time-lapse photography video for your viewing pleasure.

This video shows us going through step one, which is to wet three layers of newspaper and layout over the desired garden plot. It's important to overlap all the connecting edges since this will be necessary to suffocate out all the growth underneath it. This newspaper will itself break down and compose the first season, but not before it's killed everything growing under it. Once the newspaper was down, we placed roughly three to four inches of composted horse manure. This stuff was great. It was already composted so it was pretty much unrecognizable from just regular dirt. I got it from a local horse ranch for $20 a truckload. Two truckloads was enough to cover our huge garden plot which measures 22' x 41'.

We all were able to pitch in and knock it out over the course of a few days. It made for a fun video and I look forward to making a lot more. We've already begun the second step, the covering, and will have it completed soon.

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