If you’ve been reading for a while, you may remember that almost a year ago, a car crashed into our sunken back yard. T’was quite the event! Regardless, the police tore out our fence to tow it away leaving us to fix it. (No, insurance did not cover it.) Fortunately, our friend Greg did it for tacos and rum punch, we just bought the material.

Well, there was wood leftover! It’s been in my shed for nearly a year. I decided to make raised garden beds.

After planning for an obnoxious amount of time (adulthood) Greg was once again concripted to help me build the things. Husband Dean was once again conscripted to make fancy surf and turf tacos. Greg requested margaritas this time. Adulthood reared it’s head again: Greg had a meeting, Dean was invited to take a workshop, but both were in Nashville and both would get back around 4 p.m. My friend Lauren (married to Greg) is very good a plants. So I proposed Greg drop her off and the two of us head out to get plants and dirt while they did their thing.

This turned out to be an epic day.

After deciding how big the beds would be, Lauren and I piled into my little hatchback and headed to Home Depot. We picked out the soil we wanted and then left it there to go get plants. (Lauren wisely said we weren’t going to want to haul around 15 bags with 2 cubic feet of soil each through the aisles.)

I know. Flip flops weren’t the strongest choice. (Photo by Lauren)

We got so many veggies! I’m super excited to have dedicated beds for them. I cannot wait to make tomato sauce. Then we put them on a handcart with three bags of soil. Why three? Because they were back-breakingly heavy and I work out every day. We asked the cashier if we could just pay for 15, unload, and go back for the rest. She said yes with all the apathy of a teenage summer job holder. Lauren waited by the car while I got the remained twelve bags.

I really considered myself a strong person until I tossed twelve of those bags on a handcart one by one. I had to fling myself against the handle to stop it once we reached the car and it pushed me back several inches.

Somehow we fit everything into the car. It was CLOSE, but we did it.

(Photo by Lauren, she cannot blame me for how we look in it.)

Once we arrived home, Lauren asked if I had a wheelbarrow. I do not have a wheelbarrow. She pointed out that we would have to carry all of this dirt to the back of the house. I texted my neighbor, who didn’t respond and finally said, “No one is coming to our aid!” So one, by one, we carted all of the dirt to the back. We still had loads of time before Greg and Dean were due, so we set about potting all of the flowers and the herbs that weren’t going into the ground. We finished precisely as they arrived.

I got to use a nail gun.

Greg cut all of the wood and basically told me how to put things together and then voila! We had raised beds! Dumping all of the dirt inside was fun. Lauren helped me avoid crowding my tomatoes. (I always crowd my tomatoes.) By the time we finished, tacos and margaritas were ready.

The next day I was exhausted and sore. (I had run eight miles before the gardening, but it was definitely the hauling of dirt.) But I was glowing. It was such a good day! Everyone got to do something they enjoyed, we got to spend time with friends, and now my back yard is awesome.

I really enjoy productive friend dates. I think the ‘raising the barn’ type stuff that we do together is just as important as going out for coffee. Even something like bringing snacks over and sitting with a friend while they unpack after moving. And yes, there is something to be said for just relaxing together, that is joyous, but working together can be just as fun.

That good kind of sore, the fun kind of work.