Three years ago I posted some photos of a Mudmaid that was build in The Lost Gardens Heligan.
(the old thread - http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/581494/#top )
I was so enchanted by the mudmaid I decided to construct my own. Three years and several 100s of miles later I have finally began my project.
Here's the story
The past two days Matt and I have been working to remove two tons of sod to make a huge vegetable patch.
(side-note)
Yesterday we were suppose to go to a meeting to hear T. Boon Pickings speak. He was in Columbus taking about his wind power plan.
We were only 1/2 way though the vegetable patch so decided we would have to catch him another time because needed to finish before the rains came today. Sorry T Boon.
(back to story)
Monday we rented a sod cutter thing, oh my gosh pealing up chunks of sod and lifting them into the wheel barrow is back-breaking! Wet sod would have been back-breakinger, so we were in a race with Mother Nature.
For awhile we were shaking the soil off the back of the sod, (I was carefully picking all the worms out and tossing them back into the garden area) we finally said screw it... it all goes into the wheel barrow.
Now here is the problem... or one of them anyway.
Our work truck is full of horse manure, before we can empty the horse manure out of the truck, the sod has to gone, but we have no where to put the sod because there is horse manure in the truck... so we were going to have to move the sod twice... Or the horse manure twice, we opted for the multiple moving of sod... isn't that the horse's manure? (ok class - how many horse manures in the last paragraph?)
As the pile of sod was growing hubby reminded me of the mud maiden plan I once had.
My idea was to build a berm, my maid would have less detail, and sort of just melt into the garden. She would be subtly visible I'd call her my Meadow-maid. I chopped, and poked and scrapped dirt until I was too tired to chop, poke & scrap any more.
The project made our sod removal a lot more time consuming, but using squares of upside down sod I have the general form of the maiden.
True to the weather man's report, it rained all night and is suppose to rain all day, Matt did get the horse manure out of the truck and spread all over the garden area. So sometimes things all work together perfectly, the sod is up - the manure is down and the vegetable patch is getting a good soaking before we till it and plant next week.
Later we soaked in the jacuzzi (trying to appease sore muscles and lower back pain) and talked about what ground cover would work best for her skin, what to use for her hair (fern maybe) and how could we define her face.
Isn't she lovely?
Dove
