Measuring Twice, Cutting Once

Our neighbor, M, lent his spectacular woodworking skills to the building of a new raised bed for our garden. Here he and Mr S are cutting the end pieces. Once they make the frame they will fasten gopher wire to the bottom, making it safe from burrowing creatures. We have a horrendous gopher problem this year. Luckily our food crops are all in protected areas, and many of the trees and ornamentals are planted in wire gopher baskets, but we have lost a lot of plants, and it seems like there are more mounds every time I go out there. I’ve sunken into places on the paths where they’ve tunneled. This new bed will be for an herb garden, since we lost most of what was in the regular ground. I’m glad we aren’t trying to make a living at this—gardening is fraught with things over which we have no control. But it is terrific to dig in the dirt and to eat what you have grown.