The Origins of the Stronghold
When my 24th birthday was coming up, my wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday. “A house!” I blurted out. She blinked a couple of times and said “Well, okay.” The hunt began. We’d been living in an apartment for two years and while I didn’t mind it over all, I was really wanting to stretch out and have room to do STUFF. I grew up on 80 acres, a mix of pasture and woods with a spring and pond. Most of my childhood was spent outside and by my mid 20s my need to be playing in the soil was returning. We had to make some compromises though. At that time, property was expensive and we didn’t have much time or expertise to take on a fixer upper project. We also wanted to keep close to our respective jobs. Most of our search was within city limits…
Raised Beds for Anyone!
Here’s a simple method to building a raised bed that you can accomplish in a weekend or less. Materials: wood (treated or untreated/salvaged/whatever suits you) Decent dimensions are 2×6 planks for depth and having something that’ll hold up for a few years. Stakes. You can make them or buy packs at the big orange store for a few bucks. Cardboard or lots of newsprint. No glossy. No tape. Screws. Self driving makes things easier. Once you’ve sited where you’d like your garden and determined your bed sizes (I recommend no wider than four feet and six to eight feet is a decent length.) If you opt for four feet, make sure you can reach it from all sides. The idea is to never step into this bed and compact the soil. If your soil seems pretty dead (only a few worms, compacted, etc, throw down some laying hen feed or…